Section 6101 of the House of Representatives’ proposed “Agriculture and Nutrition Act” (H.R. 2 or the “Farm Bill”) would require the U.S. Department of Agriculture to “establish broadband service standards for rural areas which provide for…a minimum acceptable standard of broadband service; and projections of minimum acceptable standards of service for 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 years into the future.” The proposed legislation further prohibits the Secretary of Agriculture from making any loan to finance a project that cannot meet the projected minimum acceptable standard of service equal to the length of the loan. The bill allows the Secretary and the applicant to agree to substitute standards if the standards are cost-prohibitive to meet. Finally, H.R. 2 requires the Secretary to require, for the lifetime of the loan, that the project is capable of meeting either the minimum standard currently in effect or the projected standard in place at the time the loan was agreed to.
H.R. 2 has been referred to the House Committee on Agriculture for consideration.
