[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3074 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3074
To prohibit schools that receive certain support from the Federal
Communications Commission from allowing access to social media
platforms on subsidized services, devices, or networks, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 18, 2023
Mr. Cruz (for himself, Mr. Budd, and Mrs. Capito) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit schools that receive certain support from the Federal
Communications Commission from allowing access to social media
platforms on subsidized services, devices, or networks, 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 ``Eyes on the Board Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Communications Commission.
(2) Covered support.--The term ``covered support'' means
support from--
(A) the E-Rate program; or
(B) the Emergency Connectivity Fund.
(3) Emergency connectivity fund.--The term ``Emergency
Connectivity Fund'' means the fund established under section
7402(c)(1) of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (47 U.S.C.
254 note).
(4) E-rate program.--The term ``E-rate program'' means the
universal service program for schools and libraries established
under section 254(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 254(h)), the rules of which are set forth under subpart
F of part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any
successor regulations.
(5) Social media platform.--The term ``social media
platform''--
(A) means any website, online service, online
application, or mobile application that--
(i) serves the public; and
(ii) primarily provides a forum for users
to communicate user-generated content,
including messages, videos, images, games, and
audio files, to other online users; and
(B) does not include--
(i) an internet service provider;
(ii) electronic mail; or
(iii) an online service, application, or
website--
(I) that consists primarily of
content that is not user-generated, but
is preselected by the provider; and
(II) for which any chat, comment,
or interactive functionality is
incidental to, directly related to, or
dependent on the provision of content
described in subclause (I).
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF SCHOOL BROADBAND SUBSIDIES FOR ACCESS TO
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS.
(a) Prohibition.--
(1) In general.--Except for purposes of complying with
section 254(h)(5)(B)(iii) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 254(h)(5)(B)(iii)), a school that receives covered
support may not allow access to a social media platform to
students on any supported service, device, or network.
(2) Rule of construction.--Nothing in paragraph (1) may be
construed to prohibit parent-sanctioned learning management
systems and school information systems used for purposes of
schools conveying content related to the education of students.
(b) Certification.--
(1) Certification for e-rate applicants.--Beginning in the
first funding year that begins after the date of enactment of
this Act, each school applying for support under the E-Rate
program (without regard to whether the school submits an
application directly for that support or such an application is
submitted on behalf of the school by a consortium or school
district), as a condition for receiving that support, shall,
during each annual application cycle, certify that the school
will comply with the requirements of this section for the year
covered by the application.
(2) Certification for emergency connectivity fund
applicants.--The Commission may not provide support from
amounts made available from the Emergency Connectivity Fund to
any school that has not certified compliance with the
requirements of this section as of the date that is 180 days
after the date of enactment of this Act.
(c) Enforcement.--The Commission shall--
(1) not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, amend the rules of the Commission to carry out this
section; and
(2) enforce this section, and any rules issued under this
section, as if this section and those rules were part of the
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) or the
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2; 135 Stat.
4), as applicable, or the rules issued under either such Act.
SEC. 4. EMPOWERING TRANSPARENCY AND PARENTAL LIMITS ON SCREEN TIME IN
SCHOOLS.
(a) In General.--Section 254(h)(5)(B) of the Communications Act of
1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(h)(5)(B)) is amended--
(1) in clause (ii), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in clause (iii), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(iv) has adopted a screen time policy
that includes guidelines, disaggregated by
grade, for the number of hours and uses of
screen time that may be assigned to students,
whether during school hours or as homework, on
a regular basis.''.
(b) Certification and Reporting.--Beginning in the first funding
year that begins after the date of enactment of this Act, each school
seeking covered support (without regard to whether the school submits
an application directly for that covered support or such an application
is submitted on behalf of the school by a consortium or school
district) shall, as a condition of receiving that covered support--
(1) certify that the school will comply with the
requirements of this section and the amendments made by this
section for the year covered by the application; and
(2) provide to the Commission a copy of the screen time
policy of the school to which the certification relates.
(c) Commission Requirements.--The Commission shall, not later than
120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, amend the rules of
the Commission to carry out this section and the amendments made by
this section.
SEC. 5. INTERNET SAFETY POLICIES.
Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is
amended--
(1) in subsection (h)(5)--
(A) in subparagraph (A)(i)--
(i) in subclause (I), by inserting ``and
copies of the internet safety policy and screen
time policy to which each such certification
pertains'' before the semicolon at the end; and
(ii) in subclause (II)--
(I) by striking ``Commission'' and
all that follows through the end of the
subclause and inserting the following:
``Commission--
``(aa) a certification that
an internet safety policy and
screen time policy described in
subclause (I) have been adopted
and implemented for the school;
and''; and
(II) by adding at the end the
following:
``(bb) copies of the
internet safety policy and
screen time policy described in
item (aa); and''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(G) Database of internet safety and screen time
policies.--The Commission shall establish an easily
accessible, public database that contains each internet
safety policy and screen time policy submitted to the
Commission under subclauses (I) and (II) of
subparagraph (A)(i).''; and
(2) in subsection (l), by striking paragraph (3) and
inserting the following:
``(3) Availability for review.--A copy of each internet
safety policy adopted by a library under this subsection shall
be made available to the Commission, upon request of the
Commission, by the library for purposes of the review of the
internet safety policy by the Commission.''.
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