RBI Act of 2013
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Rural Broadband Investment Act of 2013 or the RBI Act of 2013 - Suspends regulations of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that resulted in a revised method of determining levels of support for rural telephone carriers under the Universal Service Fund by allowing study area unseparated loop cost to be limited annually pursuant to a schedule announced by the Wireline Competition Bureau. (Thus, eliminates a distribution analysis method provided for in the FCC's Transformation Order known as the Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking of the Federal Communications Commission adopted on October 27, 2011.)
Requires the FCC to initiate a rulemaking to adopt a revised proposal for rural support that does not deprive a rural rate-of-return carrier (a rural telephone company that is an incumbent local exchange carrier not subject to price cap regulation) of the opportunity to recover reasonable investments and operating expenses incurred prior to the proposal's adoption.
Directs the FCC, to the extent required under the Communications Act of 1934, to consult with: (1) the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service; and (2) if the limitations in the proposal submitted by the FCC to such Board result in a revision of the jurisdictional allocation of expenses, the Federal-State Joint Board on Separations.
Directs the FCC to submit to Congress: (1) the revised proposal for rural support published in the notice of proposed rulemaking, and (2) a report that describes the amount of universal service funding necessary to achieve universal service objectives during the next 10 years. Requires the report to include a quantitative and qualitative analysis as well as an identification of the unique circumstances and resulting high-cost loop support required to provide and maintain universal service in Alaska and on tribal lands.
Sets forth interim limitations on study area total unseparated loop costs that are to apply until the final rule takes effect.
Directs the FCC to amend regulations relating to high-cost loop support adjustments for rural rate-of-return carriers to require, beginning on January 1, 2012, the calculation of safety net additive support for such a carrier to include all just and reasonable investments made by the carrier prior to 2012.
The summary continues for 1 more paragraph. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on December 18, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 18, 2013: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
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?
Mark Begich (D-AK) introduced it on December 18, 2013. No cosponsors are recorded.
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.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on December 18, 2013, 4649 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4649 days ago, on December 18, 2013.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers