II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 828 

To codify and authorize the Federal Communications Commission’s establishment of a council to make recommendations on ways to increase the 

security, reliability, and interoperability of communications networks, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 15, 2023 

Mr. PETERS (for himself and Mr. MORAN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To codify and authorize the Federal Communications Commission’s establishment of a council to make recommendations on ways to increase the security, reliability, and interoperability of communications networks, 

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 ‘‘Communications Secu5 rity Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COUNCIL ON COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY, RELI2 ABILITY, AND INTEROPERABILITY. 

3 (a) CODIFICATION AND ESTABLISHMENT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

5 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 

6 shall establish a council to advise the Commission on 

7 issues including the security, reliability, and inter8 operability of communications networks. 

9 (2) EXISTING ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—Any 

10 Federal advisory committee of the Commission that 

11 is operating on the date of enactment of this Act 

12 under a charter filed in accordance with section 

13 1008(c) of title 5, United States Code, for the pur14 pose of addressing the issues described in paragraph 

15 (1) of this subsection shall satisfy the requirement 

16 under that paragraph if, not later than 90 days 

17 after that date, the membership of the Federal advi18 sory committee is modified, as necessary, to comply 

19 with subsection (b) of this section. 

20 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

21 (1) APPOINTMENT.—The members of the Coun22 cil shall be appointed by the Chair. 

23 (2) COMPOSITION.—The Chair shall appoint as 

24 members of the Council the following: 

25 (A) Representatives of companies or rel26 evant trade associations in the communications 


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1 industry with facilities in the United States, ex2 cept entities that are determined by the Chair 

3 to be not trusted, including, at minimum— 

4 (i) 1 representative of a national wire5 less provider; 

6 (ii) 1 representative of a national 

7 wireline provider; 

8 (iii) 1 representative of a national 

9 cable provider; 

10 (iv) 1 representative of a national sat11 ellite provider; and 

12 (v) 1 representative of an equipment 

13 manufacturer. 

14 (B) Representatives of government, includ15 ing, at minimum— 

16 (i) 1 representative of the Federal 

17 Government, including not less than 1 rep18 resentative of the Department of Home19 land Security; and 

20 (ii) 1 representative of a State govern21 ment, local government, or Tribal govern22 ment, including not less than 1 representa23 tive from each type of government, if fea24 sible. 


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1 (C) Representatives of public interest orga2 nizations or academic institutions, except public 

3 interest organizations or academic institutions 

4 that are determined by the Chair to be not 

trusted, provided that not more than 1 5 ⁄3 of the 

6 membership of the Council be from public inter7 est organizations or academic institutions. 

8 (3) KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE.—Each 

9 member of the Council shall have knowledge and ex10 perience relevant to the purpose and goals of the 

11 Council. 

12 (4) TERMS.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each member of the 

14 Council shall be appointed for a term of 2 

15 years, except as provided in subparagraph (B). 

16 (B) VACANCIES.—Any member appointed 

17 to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration 

18 of the term for which the member’s predecessor 

19 was appointed shall be appointed only for the 

20 remainder of that term. A member may serve 

21 after the expiration of that member’s term until 

22 a successor has taken office. 

23 (c) CONSULTATION.—The Chair may consult with 

24 the Secretary of Homeland Security as the Chair deterVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:53 Mar 23, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S828.IS S828

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1 mines appropriate to enable coordination on matters per2 taining to the Council. 

3 (d) DURATION.—Section 1013(a)(2) of title 5, 

4 United States Code, (relating to the termination of advi5 sory committees) shall not apply to the Council. 

6 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) CHAIR.—The term ‘‘Chair’’ means the 

8 Chairman of the Commission. 

9 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

10 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

11 (3) COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Council’’ means the 

12 council established under subsection (a). 

13 (4) NOT TRUSTED.—The term ‘‘not trusted’’ 

14 means, with respect to an entity, that— 

15 (A) the Chair has made a public deter16 mination that such entity is owned by, con17 trolled by, or subject to the influence of a for18 eign adversary; or 

19 (B) the Chair determines that such entity 

20 poses a threat to the national security of the 

21 United States, using solely the criteria de22 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 

23 2(c) of the Secure and Trusted Communica24 tions Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 

25 1601(c)), as appropriate. 


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1 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean2 ing given such term in section 3 of the Communica3 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153). 

Æ 


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