Special Authority To Enable Funding of Broadband and Smart Utility Facilities Across Select Rural Development Programs

The Rural Utilities Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Service, and Rural Housing Service, agencies that comprise the Rural Development (RD) Mission Area within the United States Department of Agriculture, published a final rule with comment in the Federal Register on September 15, 2020, to establish the special authority authorized by Section 6210 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which will assist rural families and small businesses in gaining access to broadband service by permitting recipients of loans, grants, and loan guarantees from RD to use up to 10 percent of the amount provided to construct broadband infrastructure in areas not served by the minimum acceptable level of broadband service. The final rule described the procedures by which these agencies will consider projects eligible for special broadband authority. Through this action, the agencies are confirming the final rule as it was published and providing responses to the public comments that were received.