Home Internet Accessibility Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9493 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9493

 To require the Comptroller General to submit to Congress a report on
    the capacity of federally assisted housing to support broadband
                    service, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 25, 2026

  Ms. Williams of Georgia (for herself, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr.
Magaziner, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Vasquez, Mr. Carson, Mr. Lynch,
 and Mrs. Hayes) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
                  the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To require the Comptroller General to submit to Congress a report on
    the capacity of federally assisted housing to support broadband
                    service, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Home Internet Accessibility Act''.

SEC. 2. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT ON THE CAPACITY OF FEDERALLY
              ASSISTED HOUSING TO SUPPORT BROADBAND SERVICE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States
shall submit to Congress a report on the capacity of federally assisted
housing to support broadband service.
    (b) Contents.--The report required under subsection (a) shall
include--
            (1) an analysis that identifies which federally assisted
        housing has access to broadband service and which such housing
        does not have access to broadband service, disaggregated by
        State, congressional district, ZIP Code, and census tract, that
        includes demographic information and any Federal agency
        responsible for such housing;
            (2) an analysis of which such housing does not currently
        have the capacity to support broadband service deployment and
        would require retrofitting to support broadband service
        deployment, disaggregated by State, congressional district, ZIP
        Code, and census tract, that includes demographic information
        and any Federal agency responsible for such housing;
            (3) an analysis of the estimated costs and timeframe
        necessary for all federally assisted housing to have the
        capacity to support broadband service;
            (4) an analysis of the challenges to more widespread
        deployment of broadband service, including the comparative
        market dynamics to expansion in rural areas and low-income
        urban and suburban areas, and the challenges to pursuing
        retrofits for all federally assisted housing to have the
        capacity to support broadband service;
            (5) descriptions of lessons learned from previous
        retrofitting actions;
            (6) an evaluation of the ConnectHome pilot program of the
        Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and
            (7) recommendations for Congress to allow for all federally
        assisted housing to have the capacity to support broadband
        service under a range of specific projected timelines.

SEC. 3. PLAN FOR BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUSING.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in
consultation with the Comptroller General and other relevant heads of
Federal agencies, shall--
            (1) develop a plan for retrofitting federally assisted
        housing, as necessary, to support broadband service; and
            (2) submit such plan to the Congress not later than 18
        months after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Definitions.--In this Act:
            (1) Broadband service.--The term ``broadband service'' has
        the meaning given the term ``broadband internet access
        service'' in section 8.1(b) of title 47, Code of Federal
        Regulations, or any successor regulation.
            (2) Federally assisted housing.--The term ``federally
        assisted housing'' means any dwelling that constitutes or
        contains a housing unit that is assisted under a program
        administered by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
        or the Secretary of Agriculture.
            (3) State.--The term ``State'' means each State of the
        United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the
        Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of
        the Northern Mariana Islands.
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