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Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2025
S. 98 To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service program funding.
Summary
This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting process for applicants seeking high-cost universal service program funding for rural broadband deployment. The FCC must complete rulemaking within 180 days to establish standards requiring applicants to demonstrate they have the technical, financial, and operational capabilities and a viable business plan to deploy broadband networks and deliver services as pledged. The FCC must evaluate applicant proposals against established technical and financial standards and the applicant's history of compliance with previous government broadband funding programs. The bill also requires the FCC to set penalties of at least $9,000 per violation and at least 30 percent of total support for pre-authorization defaults, unless the FCC demonstrates a need for lower penalties in a particular case.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
4 cosponsors
- Sen. Curtis, John R. [R-UT] (R-UT)
- Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] (D-MN)
- Sen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI] (D-MI)
- Sen. Warnock, Raphael G. [D-GA] (D-GA)
Actions (19)
- May 11, 2026 Became Public Law No: 119-89.
- May 11, 2026 Signed by President.
- Apr 30, 2026 Presented to President. · house
- Apr 20, 2026 Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection. · house
- Apr 20, 2026 On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2977) · house
- Apr 20, 2026 Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2977)
- Apr 20, 2026 DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 98. · house
- Apr 20, 2026 Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H2976-2978) · house
- Apr 20, 2026 Mr. Allen moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill. · house
- Jul 3, 2025 Held at the desk. · house
- Jul 3, 2025 Received in the House. · house
- Jun 27, 2025 Message on Senate action sent to the House. · senate
- Jun 26, 2025 Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote. (consideration: CR S3570; text: CR S3570) · senate
- Jun 26, 2025 Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Voice Vote.
- Apr 28, 2025 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 48. · senate
- Apr 28, 2025 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz without amendment. With written report No. 119-14. · senate
- Feb 5, 2025 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably. · senate
- Jan 15, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. · senate
- Jan 15, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
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Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 15, 2025
Mrs. Capito (for herself, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Curtis, and Mr. Peters) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
April 28, 2025
Reported by Mr. Cruz, without amendment
A BILL
To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service program funding.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. VETTING PROCESS FOR PROSPECTIVE HIGH-COST UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND APPLICANTS.
Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(m) Vetting of High-Cost Fund Recipients.—
“(1) Definitions.—In this subsection—
“(A) the term ‘covered funding’ means any new offer of high-cost universal service program funding, including funding provided through a reverse competitive bidding mechanism provided under this section, for the deployment of a broadband-capable network and the provision of supported services over the network; and
“(B) the term ‘new covered funding award’ means an award of covered funding that is made based on an application submitted to the Commission on or after the date on which rules are promulgated under paragraph
(2).
“(2) Commission rulemaking.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Commission shall initiate a rulemaking proceeding to establish a vetting process for applicants for, and other recipients of, a new covered funding award.
“(3) Contents.—
“(A) In general.—In promulgating rules under paragraph (2), the Commission shall provide that, consistent with principles of technology neutrality, the Commission will only award covered funding to applicants that can demonstrate that they meet the qualifications in subparagraph (B).
“(B) Qualifications described.—An applicant for a new covered funding award shall include in the initial application a proposal containing sufficient detail and documentation for the Commission to ascertain that the applicant possesses the technical, financial, and operational capabilities, and has a reasonable business plan, to deploy the proposed network and deliver services with the relevant performance characteristics and requirements defined by the Commission and as pledged by the applicant.
“(C) Evaluation of proposal.—The Commission shall evaluate a proposal described in subparagraph (B) against—
“(i) reasonable and well-established technical, financial, and operational standards, including the technical standards adopted by the Commission in orders of the Commission relating to Establishing the Digital Opportunity Data Collection (WC Docket No. 19-
195) (or orders of the Commission relating to modernizing any successor collection) for purposes of entities that must report broadband availability coverage; and
“(ii) the applicant’s history of complying with requirements in Commission and other government broadband deployment funding programs.
“(D) Penalties for pre-authorization defaults.—In adopting rules for any new covered funding award, the Commission shall set a penalty for pre-authorization defaults of at least $9,000 per violation and may not limit the base forfeiture to an amount less than 30 percent of the applicant’s total support, unless the Commission demonstrates the need for lower penalties in a particular instance.”. Calendar No. 48
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 98
[Report No. 119-14]
A BILL
To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service program funding.
April 28, 2025
Reported without amendment
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