I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1343 

To codify the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and to direct the 

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information 

to establish an initiative to support the development of emergency communication and tracking technologies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 3, 2023 

Mr. CARTER of Georgia (for himself and Ms. PETTERSEN) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To codify the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences and 

to direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to establish an initiative 

to support the development of emergency communication 

and tracking technologies, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Institute for Tele5 communication Sciences Codification Act’’ or the ‘‘ITS 

6 Codification Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INSTITUTE FOR TELECOMMUNICATION SCIENCES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The test center within the National Tele4 communications and Information Administration (in 

5 this subsection referred to as the ‘‘NTIA’’) rep6 resents executive branch agencies on spectrum issues 

7 before the Federal Communications Commission. 

8 (2) Understanding radio frequency propagation 

9 characteristics and modeling is a critical component 

10 of making spectrum decisions. 

11 (3) Federal agencies rely on expert engineering 

12 studies, simulations, and analyses to make deter13 minations about how to make spectrum available for 

14 commercial use, including through system reloca15 tions and identifying spectrum sharing opportunities 

16 through the NTIA. 

17 (4) Clearing of Federal spectrum, when fea18 sible, is the priority action to take to make Federal 

19 spectrum available for commercial uses as required 

20 by section 113(j)(1) of the National Telecommuni21 cations and Information Administration Organiza22 tion Act (47 U.S.C. 923(j)(1)). 

23 (5) Sharing of Federal spectrum between Fed24 eral entities and commercial entities provides access 

25 to Federal spectrum for commercial uses in cir26 cumstances where clearing is not feasible. 


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1 (6) The test center within the NTIA is the Gov2 ernment’s premier expert laboratory for spectrum re3 search activities, spectrum sharing innovation and 

4 testing, spectrum interference studies, and all activi5 ties related to advancing next generation wireless 

6 technologies. 

7 (7) The test center within the NTIA is critical 

8 for undertaking engineering studies and analyses 

9 that inform clearing or sharing opportunities and fa10 cilitate policy decisions to maximize the efficient use 

11 of spectrum resources. 

12 (b) OPERATION OF TEST CENTER.—Part A of the 

13 National Telecommunications and Information Adminis14 tration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is 

15 amended by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 106. INSTITUTE FOR TELECOMMUNICATION 

17 SCIENCES. 

18 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Under the authority pro20 vided to the Assistant Secretary under section 103, 

21 the Assistant Secretary shall operate a test center to 

22 be known as the Institute for Telecommunication 

23 Sciences (in this section referred to as ‘ITS’). 

24 ‘‘(2) FUNCTIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any 

2 functions delegated by the Assistant Secretary 

3 under subparagraph (B), ITS shall serve as the 

4 primary laboratory for the executive branch of 

5 the Federal Government to— 

6 ‘‘(i) study radio frequency emissions, 

7 including technologies and techniques to 

8 control such emissions and interference 

9 caused by such emissions; 

10 ‘‘(ii) determine spectrum propagation 

11 characteristics; 

12 ‘‘(iii) conduct tests on technology that 

13 enhances the sharing of electromagnetic 

14 spectrum between Federal and non-Federal 

15 users; 

16 ‘‘(iv) improve the interference toler17 ance of Federal systems operating with, or 

18 using, Federal spectrum; 

19 ‘‘(v) promote activities relating to ac20 cess to Federal spectrum by non-Federal 

21 users and the sharing of Federal spectrum 

22 between Federal and non-Federal users; 

23 and 


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1 ‘‘(vi) conduct such other activities as 

2 determined necessary by the Assistant Sec3 retary. 

4 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS.—The As5 sistant Secretary may delegate to ITS any of 

6 the functions assigned to the Assistant Sec7 retary under section 103(b)(1). 

8 ‘‘(3) AGREEMENTS AND TRANSACTIONS.—In 

9 carrying out the functions described in paragraph 

10 (2), the Assistant Secretary, acting through the head 

11 of ITS, may enter into agreements as provided 

12 under the following authorities: 

13 ‘‘(A) Sections 11 and 12 of the Stevenson– 

14 Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980. 

15 ‘‘(B) Section 1535 of title 31, United 

16 States Code. 

17 ‘‘(C) Sections 207 and 209 of title 35, 

18 United States Code. 

19 ‘‘(D) Section 103(b)(2) of this Act. 

20 ‘‘(E) Section 113(g) of this Act. 

21 ‘‘(F) The first undesignated section of 

22 Public Law 91–412. 

23 ‘‘(G) As authorized in any other Federal 

24 statute. 


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1 ‘‘(4) FEDERAL SPECTRUM DEFINED.—In this 

2 subsection, the term ‘Federal spectrum’ means fre3 quencies assigned on a primary basis to a Federal 

4 entity (as defined in section 113(l)). 

5 ‘‘(b) EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION AND TRACKING

6 TECHNOLOGIES INITIATIVE.— 

7 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Assistant Sec8 retary, acting through the head of ITS, shall estab9 lish an initiative to support the development of 

10 emergency communication and tracking technologies 

11 for use in locating trapped individuals in confined 

12 spaces, such as underground mines, and other 

13 shielded environments, such as high-rise buildings or 

14 collapsed structures, where conventional radio com15 munication is limited. 

16 ‘‘(2) ACTIVITIES.—In order to carry out this 

17 subsection, the Assistant Secretary, acting through 

18 the head of ITS, shall work with private sector enti19 ties and the heads of appropriate Federal agencies, 

20 to— 

21 ‘‘(A) perform a needs assessment to iden22 tify and evaluate the measurement, technical 

23 specifications, and conformity assessment needs 

24 required to improve the operation and reliability 


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1 of such emergency communication and tracking 

2 technologies; and 

3 ‘‘(B) support the development of technical 

4 specifications and conformance architecture to 

5 improve the operation and reliability of such 

6 emergency communication and tracking tech7 nologies. 

8 ‘‘(3) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

9 the date of the enactment of this section, the Assist10 ant Secretary shall submit to Congress, and make 

11 publicly available, a report on the assessment per12 formed under paragraph (2)(A).’’. 

Æ 


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