Broadband DATA Act
Latest action. Became public lawWhat a bill becomes when enacted, numbered by Congress and order of enactment: Public Law 119-4 is the 4th law of the 119th Congress.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) No: 116-130.
Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act or the Broadband DATA Act
This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to change the way broadband data is collected, verified, and reported.
Specifically, the FCC must collect and disseminate granular broadband service availability data (broadband maps) from wired, fixed-wireless, satellite, and mobile broadband providers. To do this, the FCC is required to establish the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric (a dataset of geocoded information for all broadband service locations, atop which broadband maps are overlaid) as the vehicle for reporting broadband service availability data.
Additionally, the FCC must put forth specified requirements for service availability data collected from broadband providers, and it must create a challenge process to enable the submission of independent data challenging the accuracy of FCC broadband maps.
The FCC must conduct regular audits of information submitted by providers, and it must develop a process whereby entities or individuals may submit information about the deployment and availability of broadband service to verify and supplement information submitted by providers. The FCC must also provide data collection and submission assistance to Indian tribes; small service providers; consumers; and state, local, and tribal governments.
The Government Accountability Office must report on identified locations where fixed broadband can be installed to improve the quality and completeness of data sources for the fabric.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Public Law" stage on March 23, 2020. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill has been enacted. It is law.
The record's latest action, on March 23, 2020: Became Public Law No: 116-130.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced it on June 12, 2019, and 69 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 32 Democrats, 35 Republicans, 2 independents.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenatePassed
- HousePassed
- PresidentSigned into law