The base forfeiture may not be capped below 30 percent of total support
To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a vetting process for prospective applicants for high-cost universal service program funding, section 2, Sec. 2.
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The base forfeiture may not be capped below 30 percent of total support
The document says “may not”Who acts: Federal Communications CommissionHow: statuteSec. 2 in the PDF
What the document says
“may not limit the base forfeiture to an amount less than 30 percent of the applicant's total support, unless the Commission demonstrates the need for lower penalties in a particular instance”
The second floor in the same subparagraph, and the one exception the section allows. The Commission may not cap the base forfeiture below 30 percent of the applicant's total support. It may go below that where it demonstrates the need for lower penalties in a particular instance. The section does not say to whom that demonstration is made or in what form.
What the document actually says
“may not limit the base forfeiture to an amount less than 30 percent of the applicant's total support, unless the Commission demonstrates the need for lower penalties in a particular instance”
That sentence, in plain words
The base fine must be at least 30 dollars out of every 100 of the award. The FCC can go lower only if it shows why.
What this is about
This is a floor, not a set price. The FCC may charge more. To charge less in one case, it has to give a reason. The law does not say what that reason must look like.
No action is recorded against this proposal. That is not evidence that none has been taken, and nobody has yet read it against the record. See what the tracker does not yet cover.
Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2025, Public Law 119-89, sec. 2, 140 Stat. 818 (2026). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ89/html/PLAW-119publ89.htm
This page
“The base forfeiture may not be capped below 30 percent of total support,” Rural Broadband Protection Act of 2025, section 2, Sec. 2. Read the Mandate, https://readthemandate.org/rural-broadband-protection-act-2025/proposal/sec02-forfeiture-floor/ (retrieved October 10, 2026).
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