IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1343 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 26, 2023 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

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. 


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HR 1343 RFS

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’’. 

7 SEC. 2. INSTITUTE FOR TELECOMMUNICATION SCIENCES. 

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

9 (1) The test center within the National Tele10 communications and Information Administration (in 

11 this subsection referred to as the ‘‘NTIA’’) rep12 resents executive branch agencies on spectrum issues 

13 before the Federal Communications Commission. 

14 (2) Understanding radio frequency propagation 

15 characteristics and modeling is a critical component 

16 of making spectrum decisions. 

17 (3) Federal agencies rely on expert engineering 

18 studies, simulations, and analyses to make deter19 minations about how to make spectrum available for 

20 commercial use, including through system reloca21 tions and identifying spectrum sharing opportunities 

22 through the NTIA. 

23 (4) Clearing of Federal spectrum, when fea24 sible, is the priority action to take to make Federal 

25 spectrum available for commercial uses as required 


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HR 1343 RFS

1 by section 113(j)(1) of the National Telecommuni2 cations and Information Administration Organiza3 tion Act (47 U.S.C. 923(j)(1)). 

4 (5) Sharing of Federal spectrum between Fed5 eral entities and commercial entities provides access 

6 to Federal spectrum for commercial uses in cir7 cumstances where clearing is not feasible. 

8 (6) The test center within the NTIA is the Gov9 ernment’s premier expert laboratory for spectrum re10 search activities, spectrum sharing innovation and 

11 testing, spectrum interference studies, and all activi12 ties related to advancing next generation wireless 

13 technologies. 

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

15 for undertaking engineering studies and analyses 

16 that inform clearing or sharing opportunities and fa17 cilitate policy decisions to maximize the efficient use 

18 of spectrum resources. 

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

20 National Telecommunications and Information Adminis21 tration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 106. INSTITUTE FOR TELECOMMUNICATION 

24 SCIENCES. 

25 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 


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HR 1343 RFS

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Under the authority pro2 vided to the Assistant Secretary under section 103, 

3 the Assistant Secretary shall operate a test center to 

4 be known as the Institute for Telecommunication 

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

6 ‘‘(2) FUNCTIONS.— 

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

8 functions delegated by the Assistant Secretary 

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

10 primary laboratory for the executive branch of 

11 the Federal Government to— 

12 ‘‘(i) study radio frequency emissions, 

13 including technologies and techniques to 

14 control such emissions and interference 

15 caused by such emissions; 

16 ‘‘(ii) determine spectrum propagation 

17 characteristics; 

18 ‘‘(iii) conduct tests on technology that 

19 enhances the sharing of electromagnetic 

20 spectrum between Federal and non-Federal 

21 users; 

22 ‘‘(iv) improve the interference toler23 ance of Federal systems operating with, or 

24 using, Federal spectrum; 


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HR 1343 RFS

1 ‘‘(v) promote activities relating to ac2 cess to Federal spectrum by non-Federal 

3 users and the sharing of Federal spectrum 

4 between Federal and non-Federal users; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(vi) conduct such other activities as 

7 determined necessary by the Assistant Sec8 retary. 

9 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS.—The As10 sistant Secretary may delegate to ITS any of 

11 the functions assigned to the Assistant Sec12 retary under section 103(b)(1). 

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

14 carrying out the functions described in paragraph 

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

16 of ITS, may enter into agreements as provided 

17 under the following authorities: 

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

19 Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980. 

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

21 States Code. 

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

23 United States Code. 

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

25 ‘‘(E) Section 113(g) of this Act. 


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HR 1343 RFS

1 ‘‘(F) The first undesignated section of 

2 Public Law 91–412. 

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

4 statute. 

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

6 subsection, the term ‘Federal spectrum’ means fre7 quencies assigned on a primary basis to a Federal 

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

9 ‘‘(b) EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION AND TRACKING

10 TECHNOLOGIES INITIATIVE.— 

11 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Assistant Sec12 retary, acting through the head of ITS, shall estab13 lish an initiative to support the development of 

14 emergency communication and tracking technologies 

15 for use in locating trapped individuals in confined 

16 spaces, such as underground mines, and other 

17 shielded environments, such as high-rise buildings or 

18 collapsed structures, where conventional radio com19 munication is limited. 

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

21 subsection, the Assistant Secretary, acting through 

22 the head of ITS, shall work with private sector enti23 ties and the heads of appropriate Federal agencies, 

24 to— 


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HR 1343 RFS

1 ‘‘(A) perform a needs assessment to iden2 tify and evaluate the measurement, technical 

3 specifications, and conformity assessment needs 

4 required to improve the operation and reliability 

5 of such emergency communication and tracking 

6 technologies; and 

7 ‘‘(B) support the development of technical 

8 specifications and conformance architecture to 

9 improve the operation and reliability of such 

10 emergency communication and tracking tech11 nologies. 

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

13 the date of the enactment of this section, the Assist14 ant Secretary shall submit to Congress, and make 

15 publicly available, a report on the assessment per16 formed under paragraph (2)(A).’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 25, 2023. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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