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The Rural Development (RD) mission area, comprised of the Rural Utilities Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Service, and Rural Housing Service agencies, published a final rule; request for comments in the Federal Register on September 15, 2020 [85 FR 57077] to establish the 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 a loan, grant, or loan guarantee from RD to use up to 10 percent of the amount provided to construct broadband infrastructure in areas not served by minimum acceptable level of broadband service.

Although the final rule was effective on September 15, 2020, comments were solicited from the public during a 60-day comment period. Public comments were received and are currently being considered by RD for the need to make any revisions.