Union Calendar No. 105

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1555

[Report No. 104–204, Part I]

A BILL

To promote competition and reduce regulation in

new telecommunications technologies.sumers and encourage the rapid deployment ofservices for American telecommunications conorder to secure lower prices and higher quality

JULY 24, 1995

Reported from the Committee on Commerce with an

amendment

Committee on the Judiciary discharged, committed to the

Union, and ordered to be printedCommittee of the Whole House on the State of the
IB

Union Calendar No. 105

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1555

[Report No. 104–204, Part I]

To promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices

and higher quality services for American telecommunications consumers

and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 3, 1995

Mr. BLILEY (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. FIELDS of Texas, Mr. MOORHEAD, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. SCHAEFER, Mr. BARTON of

Texas, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. PAXON, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr.

KLUG, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. FRISA, Mr. WHITE, Mr.

COBURN, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. MANTON,

Mr. TOWNS, Ms. ESHOO, and Mrs. LINCOLN) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition

to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

JULY 24, 1995

Reported from the Committee on Commerce with an amendment

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

Referral to the Committee on the Judiciary extended for a period ending not

later than July 24, 1995

Additional sponsors: Mr. DEUTSCH, and Mr. COX of California

Committee on the Judiciary discharged, committed to the Committee of the

Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 3, 1995]
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A BILL

To promote competition and reduce regulation in order to

secure lower prices and higher quality services for American telecommunications consumers and encourage the

rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies.

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; REFERENCES; TABLE OF CON4 TENTS.

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

6 ‘‘Communications Act of 1995’’.

7 (b) REFERENCES.—References in this Act to ‘‘the Act’’

8 are references to the Communications Act of 1934.

9 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I—DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITIVE TELECOMMUNICATIONS

MARKETS

Sec. 101. Establishment of part II of title II.

‘‘PART II—DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITIVE MARKETS

‘‘Sec. 241. Interconnection.

‘‘Sec. 242. Equal access and interconnection to the local loop for competing

providers.

‘‘Sec. 243. Preemption.

‘‘Sec. 244. Statements of terms and conditions for access and interconnection.

‘‘Sec. 245. Bell operating company entry into interLATA services.

‘‘Sec. 246. Competitive safeguards.

‘‘Sec. 247. Universal service.

‘‘Sec. 248. Pricing flexibility and abolition of rate-of-return regulation.

‘‘Sec. 249. Network functionality and accessibility.

‘‘Sec. 250. Market entry barriers.

‘‘Sec. 251. Illegal changes in subscriber carrier selections.

‘‘Sec. 252. Study.

‘‘Sec. 253. Territorial exemption.’’.
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Sec. 102. Competition in manufacturing, information services, alarm services,

and pay phone services.

‘‘PART III—SPECIAL AND TEMPORARY PROVISIONS

‘‘Sec. 271. Manufacturing by Bell operating companies.

‘‘Sec. 272. Electronic publishing by Bell operating companies.

‘‘Sec. 273. Alarm monitoring and telemessaging services by Bell operating

companies.

‘‘Sec. 274. Provision of payphone service.’’.

Sec. 103. Forbearance from regulation.

‘‘Sec. 230. Forbearance from regulation.’’.

Sec. 104. Privacy of customer information.

‘‘Sec. 222. Privacy of customer proprietary network information.’’.

Sec. 105. Pole attachments.

Sec. 106. Preemption of franchising authority regulation of telecommunications

services.

Sec. 107. Facilities siting; radio frequency emission standards.

Sec. 108. Mobile service access to long distance carriers.

Sec. 109. Freedom from toll fraud.

Sec. 110. Report on means of restricting access to unwanted material in interactive telecommunications systems.

Sec. 111. Authorization of appropriations.

TITLE II—CABLE COMMUNICATIONS COMPETITIVENESS

Sec. 201. Cable service provided by telephone companies.

‘‘PART V—VIDEO PROGRAMMING SERVICES PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE

COMPANIES

‘‘Sec. 651. Definitions.

‘‘Sec. 652. Separate video programming affiliate.

‘‘Sec. 653. Establishment of video platform.

‘‘Sec. 654. Authority to prohibit cross-subsidization.

‘‘Sec. 655. Prohibition on buy outs.

‘‘Sec. 656. Applicability of parts I through IV.

‘‘Sec. 657. Rural area exemption.’’.

Sec. 202. Competition from cable systems.

Sec. 203. Competitive availability of navigation devices.

‘‘Sec. 713. Competitive availability of navigation devices.’’.

Sec. 204. Video programming accessibility.

Sec. 205. Technical amendments.

TITLE III—BROADCAST COMMUNICATIONS COMPETITIVENESS

Sec. 301. Broadcaster spectrum flexibility.

‘‘Sec. 336. Broadcast spectrum flexibility.’’.

Sec. 302. Broadcast ownership.

‘‘Sec. 337. Broadcast ownership.’’.

Sec. 303. Foreign investment and ownership.

Sec. 304. Term of licenses.

Sec. 305. Broadcast license renewal procedures.

Sec. 306. Exclusive Federal jurisdiction over direct broadcast satellite service.

Sec. 307. Automated ship distress and safety systems.

Sec. 308. Restrictions on over-the-air reception devices.

Sec. 309. DBS signal security.
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TITLE IV—EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS

Sec. 401. Relationship to other laws.

Sec. 402. Preemption of local taxation with respect to DBS services.

TITLE V—DEFINITIONS

Sec. 501. Definitions.

TITLE VI—SMALL BUSINESS COMPLAINT PROCEDURE

Sec. 601. Complaint procedure.

1 TITLE I—DEVELOPMENT OF

2 COMPETITIVE TELECOMMUN3 ICATIONS MARKETS

4 SEC. 101. ESTABLISHMENT OF PART II OF TITLE II.

5 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title II of the Act is amended by

6 inserting after section 229 (47 U.S.C. 229) the following

7 new part:

8 ‘‘PART II—DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETITIVE

9 MARKETS

10 ‘‘SEC. 241. INTERCONNECTION.

11 ‘‘The duty of a common carrier under section 201(a)

12 includes the duty to interconnect with the facilities and

13 equipment of other providers of telecommunications services

14 and information services.

15 ‘‘SEC. 242. EQUAL ACCESS AND INTERCONNECTION TO THE

16 LOCAL LOOP FOR COMPETING PROVIDERS.

17 ‘‘(a) OPENNESS AND ACCESSIBILITY OBLIGATIONS.—

18 The duty under section 201(a) of a local exchange carrier

19 includes the following duties:
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1 ‘‘(1) INTERCONNECTION.—The duty to provide,

2 in accordance with subsection (b), equal access to and

3 interconnection with the facilities of the carrier’s net4 works to any other carrier or person offering (or seek5 ing to offer) telecommunications services or informa6 tion services reasonably requesting such equal access

7 and interconnection, so that such networks are fully

8 interoperable with such telecommunications services

9 and information services. For purposes of this para10 graph, a request is not reasonable unless it contains

11 a proposed plan, including a reasonable schedule, for

12 the implementation of the requested access or inter13 connection.

14 ‘‘(2) UNBUNDLING OF NETWORK ELEMENTS.—

15 The duty to offer unbundled services, elements, fea16 tures, functions, and capabilities whenever technically

17 feasible, at just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory

18 prices and in accordance with subsection (b)(4).

19 ‘‘(3) RESALE.—The duty to offer services, ele20 ments, features, functions, and capabilities for resale

21 at economically feasible rates to the reseller, recogniz22 ing pricing structures for telephone exchange service

23 in the State, and the duty not to prohibit, and not

24 to impose unreasonable or discriminatory conditions

25 or limitations on, the resale, on a bundled or
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1 unbundled basis, of services, elements, features, func2 tions, and capabilities in conjunction with the fur3 nishing of a telecommunications service or an infor4 mation service.

5 ‘‘(4) NUMBER PORTABILITY.—The duty to pro6 vide, to the extent technically feasible, number port7 ability in accordance with requirements prescribed by

8 the Commission.

9 ‘‘(5) DIALING PARITY.—The duty to provide, in

10 accordance with subsection (c), dialing parity to com11 peting providers of telephone exchange service and

12 telephone toll service.

13 ‘‘(6) ACCESS TO RIGHTS-OF-WAY.—The duty to

14 afford access to the poles, ducts, conduits, and rights15 of-way of such carrier to competing providers of tele16 communications services in accordance with section

17 224(d).

18 ‘‘(7) NETWORK FUNCTIONALITY AND ACCESSIBIL19 ITY.—The duty not to install network features, func20 tions, or capabilities that do not comply with any

21 standards established pursuant to section 249.

22 ‘‘(8) GOOD FAITH NEGOTIATION.—The duty to

23 negotiate in good faith, under the supervision of State

24 commissions, the particular terms and conditions of

25 agreements to fulfill the duties described in para-
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1 graphs (1) through (7). The other carrier or person

2 requesting interconnection shall also be obligated to

3 negotiate in good faith the particular terms and con4 ditions of agreements to fulfill the duties described in

5 paragraphs (1) through (7).

6 ‘‘(b) INTERCONNECTION, COMPENSATION, AND EQUAL

7 ACCESS.—

8 ‘‘(1) INTERCONNECTION.—A local exchange car9 rier shall provide access to and interconnection with

10 the facilities of the carrier’s network at any tech11 nically feasible point within the carrier’s network on

12 just and reasonable terms and conditions, to any

13 other carrier or person offering (or seeking to offer)

14 telecommunications services or information services

15 requesting such access.

16 ‘‘(2) INTERCARRIER COMPENSATION BETWEEN

17 FACILITIES-BASED CARRIERS.—

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of

19 paragraph (1), the terms and conditions for

20 interconnection of the network facilities of a

21 competing provider of telephone exchange service

22 shall not be considered to be just and reasonable

23 unless—

24 ‘‘(i) such terms and conditions provide

25 for the mutual and reciprocal recovery by
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1 each carrier of costs associated with the ter2 mination on such carrier’s network facili3 ties of calls that originate on the network

4 facilities of the other carrier;

5 ‘‘(ii) such terms and conditions deter6 mine such costs on the basis of a reasonable

7 approximation of the additional costs of ter8 minating such calls; and

9 ‘‘(iii) the recovery of costs permitted by

10 such terms and conditions are reasonable in

11 relation to the prices for termination of

12 calls that would prevail in a competitive

13 market.

14 ‘‘(B) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—This

15 paragraph shall not be construed—

16 ‘‘(i) to preclude arrangements that af17 ford such mutual recovery of costs through

18 the offsetting of reciprocal obligations, in19 cluding arrangements that waive mutual re20 covery (such as bill-and-keep arrangements);

21 or

22 ‘‘(ii) to authorize the Commission or

23 any State commission to engage in any rate

24 regulation proceeding to establish with par25 ticularity the additional costs of terminat-
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1 ing calls, or to require carriers to maintain

2 records with respect to the additional costs

3 of terminating calls.

4 ‘‘(3) EQUAL ACCESS.—A local exchange carrier

5 shall afford, to any other carrier or person offering

6 (or seeking to offer) a telecommunications service or

7 an information service, reasonable and nondiscrim8 inatory access on an unbundled basis—

9 ‘‘(A) to databases, signaling systems, billing

10 and collection services, poles, ducts, conduits,

11 and rights-of-way owned or controlled by a local

12 exchange carrier, or other facilities, functions, or

13 information (including subscriber numbers) inte14 gral to the efficient transmission, routing, or

15 other provision of telephone exchange services or

16 exchange access;

17 ‘‘(B) that is equal in type and quality to

18 the access which the carrier affords to itself or to

19 any other person, and is available at non20 discriminatory prices; and

21 ‘‘(C) that is sufficient to ensure the full

22 interoperability of the equipment and facilities

23 of the carrier and of the person seeking such ac24 cess.

25 ‘‘(4) COMMISSION ACTION REQUIRED.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Within 15 months after

2 the date of enactment of this part, the Commis3 sion shall complete all actions necessary (includ4 ing any reconsideration) to establish regulations

5 to implement the requirements of this section.

6 The Commission shall establish such regulations

7 after consultation with the Joint Board estab8 lished pursuant to section 247.

9 ‘‘(B) COLLOCATION.—Such regulations shall

10 provide for actual collocation of equipment nec11 essary for interconnection for telecommuni12 cations services at the premises of a local ex13 change carrier, except that the regulations shall

14 provide for virtual collocation where the local ex15 change carrier demonstrates that actual colloca16 tion is not practical for technical reasons or be17 cause of space limitations.

18 ‘‘(C) USER PAYMENT OF COSTS.—Such reg19 ulations shall require that the costs that a car20 rier incurs in offering access, interconnection,

21 number portability, or unbundled services, ele22 ments, features, functions, and capabilities shall

23 be borne by the users of such access, interconnec24 tion, number portability, or services, elements,

25 features, functions, and capabilities.
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1 ‘‘(D) IMPUTED CHARGES TO CARRIER.—

2 Such regulations shall require the carrier, to the

3 extent it provides a telecommunications service

4 or an information service that requires access or

5 interconnection to its network facilities, to im6 pute such access and interconnection charges to

7 itself.

8 ‘‘(c) NUMBER PORTABILITY AND DIALING PARITY.—

9 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY.—A local exchange carrier

10 shall ensure that—

11 ‘‘(A) number portability shall be available

12 on request in accordance with subsection (a)(4);

13 and

14 ‘‘(B) dialing parity shall be available upon

15 request, except that, in the case of a Bell operat16 ing company, such company shall ensure that

17 dialing parity for intraLATA telephone toll serv18 ice shall be available not later than the date such

19 company is authorized to provide interLATA

20 services.

21 ‘‘(2) NUMBER ADMINISTRATION.—The Commis22 sion shall designate one or more impartial entities to

23 administer telecommunications numbering and to

24 make such numbers available on an equitable basis.

25 The Commission shall have exclusive jurisdiction over
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1 those portions of the North American Numbering Plan

2 that pertain to the United States. Nothing in this

3 paragraph shall preclude the Commission from dele4 gating to State commissions or other entities any por5 tion of such jurisdiction.

6 ‘‘(d) JOINT MARKETING OF RESOLD ELEMENTS.—

7 ‘‘(1) RESTRICTION.—Except as provided in

8 paragraph (2), no service, element, feature, function,

9 or capability that is made available for resale in any

10 State by a Bell operating company may be jointly

11 marketed directly or indirectly with any interLATA

12 telephone toll service until such Bell operating com13 pany is authorized pursuant to section 245(d) to pro14 vide interLATA services in such State.

15 ‘‘(2) EXISTING PROVIDERS.—Paragraph (1) shall

16 not prohibit joint marketing of services, elements, fea17 tures, functions, or capabilities acquired from a Bell

18 operating company by another provider if that pro19 vider jointly markets services, elements, features, func20 tions, and capabilities acquired from a Bell operating

21 company anywhere in the telephone service territory

22 of such Bell operating company, or in the telephone

23 service territory of any affiliate of such Bell operating

24 company that provides telephone exchange service,

25 pursuant to any agreement, tariff, or other arrange-
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1 ment entered into or in effect before the date of enact2 ment of this part.

3 ‘‘(e) MODIFICATIONS AND WAIVERS.—The Commission

4 may modify or waive the requirements of this section for

5 any local exchange carrier (or class or category of such car6 riers) that has, in the aggregate nationwide, fewer than

7 500,000 access lines installed, to the extent that the Com8 mission determines that compliance with such requirements

9 (without such modification) would be unduly economically

10 burdensome, technologically infeasible, or otherwise not in

11 the public interest.

12 ‘‘(f) WAIVER FOR RURAL TELEPHONE COMPANIES.—

13 A State commission may waive the requirements of this sec14 tion with respect to any rural telephone company.

15 ‘‘(g) EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN RURAL TELEPHONE

16 COMPANIES.—Subsections (a) through (d) of this section

17 shall not apply to a carrier that has fewer than 50,000 ac18 cess lines in a local exchange study area, if such carrier

19 does not provide video programming services over its tele20 phone exchange facilities in such study area, except that

21 a State commission may terminate the exemption under

22 this subsection if the State commission determines that the

23 termination of such exemption is consistent with the public

24 interest, convenience, and necessity.
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1 ‘‘(h) AVOIDANCE OF REDUNDANT REGULATIONS.—

2 Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the

3 Commission or any State commission from enforcing regu4 lations prescribed prior to the date of enactment of this part

5 in fulfilling the requirements of this section, to the extent

6 that such regulations are consistent with the provisions of

7 this section.

8 ‘‘SEC. 243. PREEMPTION.

9 ‘‘(a) REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY.—Except as

10 provided in subsection (b) of this section, no State or local

11 statute, regulation, or other legal requirement shall—

12 ‘‘(1) effectively prohibit any carrier or other per13 son from entering the business of providing interstate

14 or intrastate telecommunications services or informa15 tion services; or

16 ‘‘(2) effectively prohibit any carrier or other per17 son providing (or seeking to provide) interstate or

18 intrastate telecommunications services or information

19 services from exercising the access and interconnection

20 rights provided under this part.

21 ‘‘(b) STATE AND LOCAL AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this

22 section shall affect the ability of State or local officials to

23 impose, on a nondiscriminatory basis, requirements nec24 essary to preserve and advance universal service, protect the

25 public safety and welfare, ensure the continued quality of
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1 telecommunications services, ensure that a provider’s busi2 ness practices are consistent with consumer protection laws

3 and regulations, and ensure just and reasonable rates, pro4 vided that such requirements do not effectively prohibit any

5 carrier or person from providing interstate or intrastate

6 telecommunications services or information services.

7 ‘‘(c) CONSTRUCTION PERMITS.—Subsection (a) shall

8 not be construed to prohibit a local government from requir9 ing a person or carrier to obtain ordinary and usual con10 struction or similar permits for its operations if—

11 ‘‘(1) such permit is required without regard to

12 the nature of the business; and

13 ‘‘(2) requiring such permit does not effectively

14 prohibit any person or carrier from providing any

15 interstate or intrastate telecommunications service or

16 information service.

17 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTION.—In the case of commercial mobile

18 services, the provisions of section 332(c)(3) shall apply in

19 lieu of the provisions of this section.

20 ‘‘(e) PARITY OF FRANCHISE AND OTHER CHARGES.—

21 Notwithstanding section 2(b), no local government may im22 pose or collect any franchise, license, permit, or right-of23 way fee or any assessment, rental, or any other charge or

24 equivalent thereof as a condition for operating in the local25 ity or for obtaining access to, occupying, or crossing public
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1 rights-of-way from any provider of telecommunications

2 services that distinguishes between or among providers of

3 telecommunications services, including the local exchange

4 carrier. For purposes of this subsection, a franchise, license,

5 permit, or right-of-way fee or an assessment, rental, or any

6 other charge or equivalent thereof does not include any im7 position of general applicability which does not distinguish

8 between or among providers of telecommunications services,

9 or any tax.

10 ‘‘SEC. 244. STATEMENTS OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR

11 ACCESS AND INTERCONNECTION.

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Within 18 months after the date

13 of enactment of this part, and from time to time thereafter,

14 a local exchange carrier shall prepare and file with a State

15 commission statements of the terms and conditions that

16 such carrier generally offers within that State with respect

17 to the services, elements, features, functions, or capabilities

18 provided to comply with the requirements of section 242

19 and the regulations thereunder. Any such statement per20 taining to the charges for interstate services, elements, fea21 tures, functions, or capabilities shall be filed with the Com22 mission.

23 ‘‘(b) REVIEW.—

24 ‘‘(1) STATE COMMISSION REVIEW.—A State com25 mission to which a statement is submitted under sub-
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1 section (a) shall review such statement in accordance

2 with State law. A State commission may not approve

3 such statement unless such statement complies with

4 section 242 and the regulations thereunder. Except as

5 provided in section 243, nothing in this section shall

6 prohibit a State commission from establishing or en7 forcing other requirements of State law in its review

8 of such statement, including requiring compliance

9 with intrastate telecommunications service quality

10 standards or requirements.

11 ‘‘(2) FCC REVIEW.—The Commission shall re12 view such statements to ensure that—

13 ‘‘(A) the charges for interstate services, ele14 ments, features, functions, or capabilities are

15 just, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory; and

16 ‘‘(B) the terms and conditions for such

17 interstate services or elements unbundle any sep18 arable services, elements, features, functions, or

19 capabilities in accordance with section 242(a)(2)

20 and any regulations thereunder.

21 ‘‘(c) TIME FOR REVIEW.—

22 ‘‘(1) SCHEDULE FOR REVIEW.—The Commission

23 and the State commission to which a statement is

24 submitted shall, not later than 60 days after the date

25 of such submission—
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1 ‘‘(A) complete the review of such statement

2 under subsection (b) (including any reconsider3 ation thereof), unless the submitting carrier

4 agrees to an extension of the period for such re5 view; or

6 ‘‘(B) permit such statement to take effect.

7 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY TO CONTINUE REVIEW.—Para8 graph (1) shall not preclude the Commission or a

9 State commission from continuing to review a state10 ment that has been permitted to take effect under sub11 paragraph (B) of such paragraph.

12 ‘‘(d) EFFECT OF AGREEMENTS.—Nothing in this sec13 tion shall prohibit a carrier from filing an agreement to

14 provide services, elements, features, functions, or capabili15 ties affording access and interconnection as a statement of

16 terms and conditions that the carrier generally offers for

17 purposes of this section. An agreement affording access and

18 interconnection shall not be approved under this section un19 less the agreement contains a plan, including a reasonable

20 schedule, for the implementation of the requested access or

21 interconnection. The approval of a statement under this sec22 tion shall not operate to prohibit a carrier from entering

23 into subsequent agreements that contain terms and condi24 tions that differ from those contained in a statement that

25 has been reviewed and approved under this section, but—
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1 ‘‘(1) each such subsequent agreement shall be

2 filed under this section; and

3 ‘‘(2) such carrier shall be obligated to offer access

4 to such services, elements, features, functions, or capa5 bilities to other carriers and persons (including car6 riers and persons covered by previously approved

7 statements) requesting such access on terms and con8 ditions that, in relation to the terms and conditions

9 in such subsequent agreements, are not discrimina10 tory.

11 ‘‘(e) SUNSET.—The provisions of this section shall

12 cease to apply in any local exchange market, defined by

13 geographic area and class or category of service, that the

14 Commission and the State determines has become subject

15 to full and open competition.

16 ‘‘SEC. 245. BELL OPERATING COMPANY ENTRY INTO

17 INTERLATA SERVICES.

18 ‘‘(a) VERIFICATION OF ACCESS AND INTERCONNECTION

19 COMPLIANCE.—At any time after 18 months after the date

20 of enactment of this part, a Bell operating company may

21 provide to the Commission verification by such company

22 with respect to one or more States that such company is

23 in compliance with the requirements of this part. Such ver24 ification shall contain the following:
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1 ‘‘(1) CERTIFICATION.—A certification by each

2 State commission of such State or States that such

3 carrier has fully implemented the conditions described

4 in subsection (b), except as provided in subsection

5 (d)(2).

6 ‘‘(2) AGREEMENT OR STATEMENT.—For each

7 such State, either of the following:

8 ‘‘(A) PRESENCE OF A FACILITIES-BASED

9 COMPETITOR.—An agreement that has been ap10 proved under section 244 specifying the terms

11 and conditions under which the Bell operating

12 company is providing access and interconnection

13 to its network facilities in accordance with sec14 tion 242 for an unaffiliated competing provider

15 of telephone exchange service that is comparable

16 in price, features, and scope and that is provided

17 over the competitor’s own network facilities to

18 residential and business subscribers.

19 ‘‘(B) FAILURE TO REQUEST ACCESS.—If no

20 such provider has requested such access and

21 interconnection before the date which is 3 months

22 before the date the company makes its submis23 sion under this subsection, a statement of the

24 terms and conditions that the carrier generally

25 offers to provide such access and interconnection
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1 that has been approved or permitted to take ef2 fect by the State commission under section 243.

3 For purposes of subparagraph (B), a Bell operating

4 company shall be considered not to have received any

5 request for access or interconnection if the State com6 mission of such State or States certifies that the only

7 provider or providers making such request have (i)

8 failed to bargain in good faith under the supervision

9 of such State commission pursuant to section

10 242(a)(8), or (ii) have violated the terms of their

11 agreement by failure to comply, within a reasonable

12 period of time, with the implementation schedule con13 tained in such agreement.

14 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH PART

15 II.—For the purposes of subsection (a)(1), a Bell operating

16 company shall submit to the Commission a certification by

17 a State commission of compliance with each of the following

18 conditions in any area where such company provides local

19 exchange service or exchange access in such State:

20 ‘‘(1) INTERCONNECTION.—The Bell operating

21 company provides access and interconnection in ac22 cordance with subsections (a)(1) and (b) of section

23 242 to any other carrier or person offering tele24 communications services requesting such access and

25 interconnection, and complies with the Commission
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1 regulations pursuant to such section concerning such

2 access and interconnection.

3 ‘‘(2) UNBUNDLING OF NETWORK ELEMENTS.—

4 The Bell operating company provides unbundled serv5 ices, elements, features, functions, and capabilities in

6 accordance with subsection (a)(2) of section 242 and

7 the regulations prescribed by the Commission pursu8 ant to such section.

9 ‘‘(3) RESALE.—The Bell operating company of10 fers services, elements, features, functions, and capa11 bilities for resale in accordance with section

12 242(a)(3), and neither the Bell operating company,

13 nor any unit of State or local government within the

14 State, imposes any restrictions on resale or sharing of

15 telephone exchange service (or unbundled services, ele16 ments, features, or functions of telephone exchange

17 service) in violation of section 242(a)(3).

18 ‘‘(4) NUMBER PORTABILITY.—The Bell operating

19 company provides number portability in compliance

20 with the Commission’s regulations pursuant to sub21 sections (a)(4) and (c) of section 242.

22 ‘‘(5) DIALING PARITY.—The Bell operating com23 pany provides dialing parity in accordance with sub24 sections (a)(5) and (c) of section 242, and will, not

25 later than the effective date of its authority to com-
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1 mence providing interLATA services, take such ac2 tions as are necessary to provide dialing parity for

3 intraLATA telephone toll service in accordance with

4 such subsections.

5 ‘‘(6) ACCESS TO CONDUITS AND RIGHTS OF

6 WAY.—The poles, ducts, conduits, and rights of way

7 of such Bell operating company are available to com8 peting providers of telecommunications services in ac9 cordance with the requirements of sections 242(a)(6)

10 and 224(d).

11 ‘‘(7) ELIMINATION OF FRANCHISE LIMITA12 TIONS.—No unit of the State or local government in

13 such State or States enforces any prohibition or limi14 tation in violation of section 243.

15 ‘‘(8) NETWORK FUNCTIONALITY AND ACCESSIBIL16 ITY.—The Bell operating company will not install

17 network features, functions, or capabilities that do not

18 comply with the standards established pursuant to

19 section 249.

20 ‘‘(9) NEGOTIATION OF TERMS AND CONDI21 TIONS.—The Bell operating company has negotiated

22 in good faith, under the supervision of the State com23 mission, in accordance with the requirements of sec24 tion 242(a)(8) with any other carrier or person re25 questing access or interconnection.
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1 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION FOR INTERIM INTERLATA AU2 THORITY.—

3 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION SUBMISSION AND CON4 TENTS.—At any time after the date of enactment of

5 this part, and prior to the completion by the Commis6 sion of all actions necessary to establish regulations

7 under section 242, a Bell operating company may

8 apply to the Commission for interim authority to

9 provide interLATA services. Such application shall

10 specify the LATA or LATAs for which the company

11 is requesting authority to provide interim interLATA

12 services. Such application shall contain, with respect

13 to each LATA within a State for which authorization

14 is requested, the following:

15 ‘‘(A) PRESENCE OF A FACILITIES-BASED

16 COMPETITOR.—An agreement that the State com17 mission has determined complies with section

18 242 (without regard to any regulations there19 under) and that specifies the terms and condi20 tions under which the Bell operating company is

21 providing access and interconnection to its net22 work facilities for an unaffiliated competing pro23 vider of telephone exchange service that is com24 parable in price, features, and scope and that is
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1 provided over the competitor’s own network fa2 cilities to residential and business subscribers.

3 ‘‘(B) CERTIFICATION.—A certification by

4 the State commission of the State within which

5 such LATA is located that such company is in

6 compliance with State laws, rules, and regula7 tions providing for the implementation of the

8 standards described in subsection (b) as of the

9 date of certification, including certification that

10 such company is offering services, elements, fea11 tures, functions, and capabilities for resale at

12 economically feasible rates to the reseller, rec13 ognizing pricing structures for telephone ex14 change service in such State.

15 ‘‘(2) STATE TO PARTICIPATE.—The company

16 shall serve a copy of the application on the relevant

17 State commission within 5 days of filing its applica18 tion. The State shall file comments to the Commission

19 on the company’s application within 40 days of re20 ceiving a copy of the company’s application.

21 ‘‘(3) DEADLINES FOR COMMISSION ACTION.—The

22 Commission shall make a determination on such ap23 plication not more than 90 days after such applica24 tion is filed.
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1 ‘‘(4) EXPIRATION OF INTERIM AUTHORITY.—Any

2 interim authority granted pursuant to this subsection

3 shall cease to be effective 180 days after the comple4 tion by the Commission of all actions necessary to es5 tablish regulations under section 242.

6 ‘‘(d) COMMISSION REVIEW.—

7 ‘‘(1) REVIEW OF STATE DECISIONS AND CERTIFI8 CATIONS.—The Commission shall review any verifica9 tion submitted by a Bell operating company pursuant

10 to subsection (a). The Commission may require such

11 company to submit such additional information as is

12 necessary to validate any of the items of such verifica13 tion.

14 ‘‘(2) DE NOVO REVIEW.—If—

15 ‘‘(A) a State commission does not have the

16 jurisdiction or authority to make the certifi17 cation required by subsection (b);

18 ‘‘(B) the State commission has failed to act

19 within 90 days after the date a request for such

20 certification is filed with such State commission;

21 or

22 ‘‘(C) the State commission has sought to

23 impose a term or condition in violation of sec24 tion 243;
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1 the local exchange carrier may request the Commis2 sion to certify the carrier’s compliance with the con3 ditions specified in subsection (b).

4 ‘‘(3) TIME FOR DECISION; PUBLIC COMMENT.—

5 Unless such Bell operating company consents to a

6 longer period of time, the Commission shall approve,

7 disapprove, or approve with conditions such verifica8 tion within 90 days after the date of its submission.

9 During such 90 days, the Commission shall afford in10 terested persons an opportunity to present informa11 tion and evidence concerning such verification.

12 ‘‘(4) STANDARD FOR DECISION.—The Commis13 sion shall not approve such verification unless the

14 Commission determines that—

15 ‘‘(A) the Bell operating company meets each

16 of the conditions required to be certified under

17 subsection (b); and

18 ‘‘(B) the agreement or statement submitted

19 under subsection (a)(2) complies with the re20 quirements of section 242 and the regulations

21 thereunder.

22 ‘‘(e) ENFORCEMENT OF CONDITIONS.—

23 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION AUTHORITY.—If at any time

24 after the approval of a verification under subsection

25 (d), the Commission determines that a Bell operating
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1 company has ceased to meet any of the conditions re2 quired to be certified under subsection (b), the Com3 mission may, after notice and opportunity for a hear4 ing—

5 ‘‘(A) issue an order to such company to cor6 rect the deficiency;

7 ‘‘(B) impose a penalty on such company

8 pursuant to title V; or

9 ‘‘(C) suspend or revoke such approval.

10 ‘‘(2) RECEIPT AND REVIEW OF COMPLAINTS.—

11 The Commission shall establish procedures for the re12 view of complaints concerning failures by Bell operat13 ing companies to meet conditions required to be cer14 tified under subsection (b). Unless the parties other15 wise agree, the Commission shall act on such com16 plaint within 90 days.

17 ‘‘(3) STATE AUTHORITY.—The authority of the

18 Commission under this subsection shall not be con19 strued to preempt any State commission from taking

20 actions to enforce the conditions required to be cer21 tified under subsection (b).

22 ‘‘(f) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE INTERLATA SERV23 ICES.—

24 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—Except as provided in

25 paragraph (2) and subsections (g) and (h), a Bell op-
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1 erating company or affiliate thereof may not provide

2 interLATA services.

3 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY SUBJECT TO CERTIFICATION.—

4 A Bell operating company or affiliate thereof may, in

5 any States to which its verification under subsection

6 (a) applies, provide interLATA services—

7 ‘‘(A) during any period after the effective

8 date of the Commission’s approval of such ver9 ification pursuant to subsection (d), and

10 ‘‘(B) until the approval of such verification

11 is suspended or revoked by the Commission pur12 suant to subsection (d).

13 ‘‘(g) EXCEPTION FOR PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED AC14 TIVITIES.—Subsection (f) shall not prohibit a Bell operat15 ing company or affiliate from engaging, at any time after

16 the date of the enactment of this part, in any activity as

17 authorized by an order entered by the United States Dis18 trict Court for the District of Columbia pursuant to section

19 VII or VIII(C) of the Modification of Final Judgment, if—

20 ‘‘(1) such order was entered on or before the date

21 of the enactment of this part, or

22 ‘‘(2) a request for such authorization was pend23 ing before such court on the date of the enactment of

24 this part.
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1 ‘‘(h) EXCEPTIONS FOR INCIDENTAL SERVICES.—Sub2 section (f) shall not prohibit a Bell operating company or

3 affiliate thereof, at any time after the date of the enactment

4 of this part, from providing interLATA services for the pur5 pose of—

6 ‘‘(1)(A) providing audio programming, video

7 programming, or other programming services to sub8 scribers to such services of such company;

9 ‘‘(B) providing the capability for interaction by

10 such subscribers to select or respond to such audio

11 programming, video programming, or other program12 ming services; or

13 ‘‘(C) providing to distributors audio program14 ming or video programming that such company owns

15 or controls, or is licensed by the copyright owner of

16 such programming (or by an assignee of such owner)

17 to distribute;

18 ‘‘(2) providing a telecommunications service,

19 using the transmission facilities of a cable system

20 that is an affiliate of such company, between local ac21 cess and transport areas within a cable system fran22 chise area in which such company is not, on the date

23 of the enactment of this part, a provider of wireline

24 telephone exchange service;
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1 ‘‘(3) providing commercial mobile services in ac2 cordance with section 332(c) of this Act and with the

3 regulations prescribed by the Commission pursuant to

4 paragraph (8) of such section;

5 ‘‘(4) providing a service that permits a customer

6 that is located in one local access and transport area

7 to retrieve stored information from, or file informa8 tion for storage in, information storage facilities of

9 such company that are located in another local access

10 and transport area;

11 ‘‘(5) providing signaling information used in

12 connection with the provision of telephone exchange

13 services to a local exchange carrier that, together with

14 any affiliated local exchange carriers, has aggregate

15 annual revenues of less than $100,000,000; or

16 ‘‘(6) providing network control signaling infor17 mation to, and receiving such signaling information

18 from, common carriers offering interLATA services at

19 any location within the area in which such Bell oper20 ating company provides telephone exchange services

21 or exchange access.

22 ‘‘(i) INTRALATA TOLL DIALING PARITY.—Neither the

23 Commission nor any State may order any Bell operating

24 company to provide dialing parity for intraLATA tele25 phone toll service in any State before the date such company
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1 is authorized to provide interLATA services in such State

2 pursuant to this section.

3 ‘‘(j) FORBEARANCE.—The Commission may not, pur4 suant to section 230, forbear from applying any provision

5 of this section or any regulation thereunder until at least

6 5 years after the date of enactment of this part.

7 ‘‘(k) SUNSET.—The provisions of this section shall

8 cease to apply in any local exchange market, defined by

9 geographic area and class or category of service, that the

10 Commission and the State determines has become subject

11 to full and open competition.

12 ‘‘(l) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—

13 ‘‘(1) AUDIO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘audio

14 programming’ means programming provided by, or

15 generally considered comparable to programming pro16 vided by, a radio broadcast station.

17 ‘‘(2) VIDEO PROGRAMMING.—The term ‘video

18 programming’ has the meaning provided in section

19 602.

20 ‘‘(3) OTHER PROGRAMMING SERVICES.—The

21 term ‘other programming services’ means information

22 (other than audio programming or video program23 ming) that the person who offers a video program24 ming service makes available to all subscribers gen25 erally. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the
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1 terms ‘information’ and ‘makes available to all sub2 scribers generally’ have the same meaning such terms

3 have under section 602(13) of this Act.

4 ‘‘SEC. 246. COMPETITIVE SAFEGUARDS.

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with the require6 ments of this section and the regulations adopted there7 under, a Bell operating company or any affiliate thereof

8 providing any interLATA telecommunications or informa9 tion service, shall do so through a subsidiary that is sepa10 rate from the Bell operating company or any affiliate there11 of that provides telephone exchange service.

12 ‘‘(b) TRANSACTION REQUIREMENTS.—Any transaction

13 between such a subsidiary and a Bell operating company

14 and any other affiliate of such company shall be conducted

15 on an arm’s-length basis, in the same manner as the Bell

16 operating company conducts business with unaffiliated per17 sons, and shall not be based upon any preference or dis18 crimination in favor of the subsidiary arising out of the

19 subsidiary’s affiliation with such company.

20 ‘‘(c) SEPARATE OPERATION AND PROPERTY.—A sub21 sidiary required by this section shall—

22 ‘‘(1) operate independently from the Bell operat23 ing company or any affiliate thereof,

24 ‘‘(2) have separate officers, directors, and em25 ployees who may not also serve as officers, directors,
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1 or employees of the Bell operating company or any

2 affiliate thereof,

3 ‘‘(3) not enter into any joint venture activities or

4 partnership with a Bell operating company or any

5 affiliate thereof,

6 ‘‘(4) not own any telecommunications trans7 mission or switching facilities in common with the

8 Bell operating company or any affiliate thereof, and

9 ‘‘(5) not jointly own or share the use of any

10 other property with the Bell operating company or

11 any affiliate thereof.

12 ‘‘(d) BOOKS, RECORDS, AND ACCOUNTS.—Any subsidi13 ary required by this section shall maintain books, records,

14 and accounts in a manner prescribed by the Commission

15 which shall be separate from the books, records, and ac16 counts maintained by a Bell operating company or any af17 filiate thereof.

18 ‘‘(e) PROVISION OF SERVICES AND INFORMATION.—A

19 Bell operating company or any affiliate thereof may not

20 discriminate between a subsidiary required by this section

21 and any other person in the provision or procurement of

22 goods, services, facilities, or information, or in the establish23 ment of standards, and shall not provide any goods, serv24 ices, facilities or information to a subsidiary required by

25 this section unless such goods, services, facilities or informa-
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1 tion are made available to others on reasonable, non2 discriminatory terms and conditions.

3 ‘‘(f) PREVENTION OF CROSS-SUBSIDIES.—A Bell oper4 ating company or any affiliate thereof required to maintain

5 a subsidiary under this section shall establish and admin6 ister, in accordance with the requirements of this section

7 and the regulations prescribed thereunder, a cost allocation

8 system that prohibits any cost of providing interLATA tele9 communications or information services from being sub10 sidized by revenue from telephone exchange services and

11 telephone exchange access services. The cost allocation sys12 tem shall employ a formula that ensures that—

13 ‘‘(1) the rates for telephone exchange services and

14 exchange access are no greater than they would have

15 been in the absence of such investment in interLATA

16 telecommunications or information services (taking

17 into account any decline in the real costs of providing

18 such telephone exchange services and exchange access);

19 and

20 ‘‘(2) such interLATA telecommunications or in21 formation services bear a reasonable share of the joint

22 and common costs of facilities used to provide tele23 phone exchange, exchange access, and competitive

24 services.
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1 ‘‘(g) ASSETS.—The Commission shall, by regulation,

2 ensure that the economic risks associated with the provision

3 of interLATA telecommunications or information services

4 by a Bell operating company or any affiliate thereof (in5 cluding any increases in such company’s cost of capital that

6 occur as a result of the provision of such services) are not

7 borne by customers of telephone exchange services and ex8 change access in the event of a business loss or failure. In9 vestments or other expenditures assigned to interLATA tele10 communications or information services shall not be reas11 signed to telephone exchange service or exchange access.

12 ‘‘(h) DEBT.—A subsidiary required by this section

13 shall not obtain credit under any arrangement that

14 would—

15 ‘‘(1) permit a creditor, upon default, to have re16 source to the assets of a Bell operating company; or

17 ‘‘(2) induce a creditor to rely on the tangible or

18 intangible assets of a Bell operating company in ex19 tending credit.

20 ‘‘(i) FULFILLMENT OF CERTAIN REQUESTS.—A Bell

21 operating company or an affiliate thereof shall—

22 ‘‘(1) fulfill any requests from an unaffiliated en23 tity for telephone exchange service and exchange ac24 cess within a period no longer than the period in
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1 which it provides such telephone exchange service and

2 exchange access to itself or to its affiliates;

3 ‘‘(2) fulfill any such requests with telephone ex4 change service and exchange access of a quality that

5 meets or exceeds the quality of telephone exchange

6 services and exchange access provided by the Bell op7 erating company or its affiliates to itself or its affili8 ates; and

9 ‘‘(3) provide telephone exchange service and ex10 change access to all providers of intraLATA or

11 interLATA telephone toll services and interLATA in12 formation services at cost-based rates that are not un13 reasonably discriminatory.

14 ‘‘(j) CHARGES FOR ACCESS SERVICES.—A Bell operat15 ing company or an affiliate thereof shall charge the subsidi16 ary required by this section an amount for telephone ex17 change services, exchange access, and other necessary associ18 ated inputs no less than the rate charged to any unaffiliated

19 entity for such access and inputs.

20 ‘‘(k) SUNSET.—The provisions of this section shall

21 cease to apply in any local exchange market 3 years after

22 the date of enactment of this part.

23 ‘‘SEC. 247. UNIVERSAL SERVICE.

24 ‘‘(a) JOINT BOARD TO PRESERVE UNIVERSAL SERV25 ICE.—Within 30 days after the date of enactment of this
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1 part, the Commission shall convene a Federal-State Joint

2 Board under section 410(c) for the purpose of recommend3 ing actions to the Commission and State commissions for

4 the preservation of universal service in furtherance of the

5 purposes set forth in section 1 of this Act. In addition to

6 the members required under section 410(c), one member of

7 the Joint Board shall be a State-appointed utility consumer

8 advocate nominated by a national organization of State

9 utility consumer advocates.

10 ‘‘(b) PRINCIPLES.—The Joint Board shall base policies

11 for the preservation of universal service on the following

12 principles:

13 ‘‘(1) JUST AND REASONABLE RATES.—A plan

14 adopted by the Commission and the States should en15 sure the continued viability of universal service by

16 maintaining quality services at just and reasonable

17 rates.

18 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS OF INCLUDED SERVICES; COM19 PARABILITY IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS.—Such

20 plan should recommend a definition of the nature and

21 extent of the services encompassed within carriers’

22 universal service obligations. Such plan should seek to

23 promote access to advanced telecommunications serv24 ices and capabilities, and to promote reasonably com25 parable services for the general public in urban and
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1 rural areas, while maintaining just and reasonable

2 rates.

3 ‘‘(3) ADEQUATE AND SUSTAINABLE SUPPORT

4 MECHANISMS.—Such plan should recommend specific

5 and predictable mechanisms to provide adequate and

6 sustainable support for universal service.

7 ‘‘(4) EQUITABLE AND NONDISCRIMINATORY CON8 TRIBUTIONS.—All providers of telecommunications

9 services should make an equitable and nondiscrim10 inatory contribution to the preservation of universal

11 service.

12 ‘‘(5) EDUCATIONAL ACCESS TO ADVANCED TELE13 COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.—To the extent that a

14 common carrier establishes advanced telecommuni15 cations services, such plan should include rec16 ommendations to ensure access to advanced tele17 communications services for students in elementary

18 and secondary schools.

19 ‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL PRINCIPLES.—Such other prin20 ciples as the Board determines are necessary and ap21 propriate for the protection of the public interest, con22 venience, and necessity and consistent with the pur23 poses of this Act.

24 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE.—In rec25 ommending a definition of the nature and extent of the serv-
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1 ices encompassed within carriers’ universal service obliga2 tions under subsection (b)(2), the Joint Board shall consider

3 the extent to which—

4 ‘‘(1) a telecommunications service has, through

5 the operation of market choices by customers, been

6 subscribed to by a substantial majority of residential

7 customers;

8 ‘‘(2) such service or capability is essential to

9 public health, public safety, or the public interest;

10 ‘‘(3) such service has been deployed in the public

11 switched telecommunications network; and

12 ‘‘(4) inclusion of such service within carriers’

13 universal service obligations is otherwise consistent

14 with the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

15 The Joint Board may, from time to time, recommend to

16 the Commission modifications in the definition proposed

17 under subsection (b).

18 ‘‘(d) REPORT; COMMISSION RESPONSE.—The Joint

19 Board convened pursuant to subsection (a) shall report its

20 recommendations within 270 days after the date of enact21 ment of this part. The Commission shall complete any pro22 ceeding to act upon such recommendations and to comply

23 with the principles set forth in subsection (b) within one

24 year after such date of enactment.
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1 ‘‘(e) STATE AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this section shall

2 be construed to restrict the authority of any State to adopt

3 regulations imposing universal service obligations on the

4 provision of intrastate telecommunications services.

5 ‘‘(f) SUNSET.—The Joint Board established by this sec6 tion shall cease to exist 5 years after the date of enactment

7 of this part.

8 ‘‘SEC. 248. PRICING FLEXIBILITY AND ABOLITION OF RATE9 OF-RETURN REGULATION.

10 ‘‘(a) PRICING FLEXIBILITY.—

11 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION CRITERIA.—Within 270 days

12 after the date of enactment of this part, the Commis13 sion shall complete all actions necessary (including

14 any reconsideration) to establish—

15 ‘‘(A) criteria for determining whether a tele16 communications service or provider of such serv17 ice has become, or is substantially certain to be18 come, subject to competition, either within a geo19 graphic area or within a class or category of

20 service; and

21 ‘‘(B) appropriate flexible pricing procedures

22 that afford a regulated provider of a service de23 scribed in subparagraph (A) the opportunity to

24 respond fairly to such competition and that are
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1 consistent with the protection of subscribers and

2 the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

3 ‘‘(2) STATE SELECTION.—A State commission

4 may utilize the flexible pricing procedures or proce5 dures (established under paragraph (1)(B)) that are

6 appropriate in light of the criteria established under

7 paragraph (1)(A).

8 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATIONS.—The Commission, with

9 respect to rates for interstate or foreign communica10 tions, and State commissions, with respect to rates for

11 intrastate communications, shall, upon application—

12 ‘‘(A) render determinations in accordance

13 with the criteria established under paragraph

14 (1)(A) concerning the services or providers that

15 are the subject of such application; and

16 ‘‘(B) upon a proper showing, implement

17 appropriate flexible pricing procedures consistent

18 with paragraphs (1)(B) and (2) with respect to

19 such services or providers.

20 The Commission and such State commission shall ap21 prove or reject any such application within 180 days

22 after the date of its submission.

23 ‘‘(b) ABOLITION OF RATE-OF-RETURN REGULATION.—

24 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, to the extent

25 that a carrier has complied with sections 242 and 244 of
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1 this part, the Commission, with respect to rates for inter2 state or foreign communications, and State commissions,

3 with respect to rates for intrastate communications, shall

4 not require rate-of-return regulation.

5 ‘‘(c) TERMINATION OF PRICE AND OTHER REGULA6 TION.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, to the

7 extent that a carrier has complied with sections 242 and

8 244 of this part, the Commission, with respect to interstate

9 or foreign communications, and State commissions, with

10 respect to intrastate communications, shall not, for any

11 service that is determined, in accordance with the criteria

12 established under subsection (a)(1)(A), to be subject to com13 petition that effectively prevents prices for such service that

14 are unjust or unreasonable or unjustly or unreasonably dis15 criminatory—

16 ‘‘(1) regulate the prices for such service;

17 ‘‘(2) require the filing of a schedule of charges for

18 such service;

19 ‘‘(3) require the filing of any cost or revenue pro20 jections for such service;

21 ‘‘(4) regulate the depreciation charges for facili22 ties used to provide such service; or

23 ‘‘(5) require prior approval for the construction

24 or extension of lines or other equipment for the provi25 sion of such service.
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1 ‘‘(d) ABILITY TO CONTINUE AFFORDABLE VOICE2 GRADE SERVICE.—Notwithstanding subsections (a), (b),

3 and (c), each State commission shall, for a period of not

4 more than 3 years, permit residential subscribers to con5 tinue to receive only basic voice-grade local telephone service

6 equivalent to the service generally available to residential

7 subscribers on the date of enactment of this part, at just,

8 reasonable, and affordable rates. Determinations concerning

9 the affordability of rates for such services shall take into

10 account the rates generally available to residential subscrib11 ers on such date of enactment and the pricing rules estab12 lished by the States. Any increases in the rates for such

13 services for residential subscribers that are not attributable

14 to changes in consumer prices generally shall be permitted

15 in any proceeding commenced after the date of enactment

16 of this section upon a showing that such increase is nec17 essary to ensure the continued availability of universal serv18 ice, prevent economic disadvantages for one or more service

19 providers, and is in the public interest. Such increase in

20 rates shall be minimized to the greatest extent practical and

21 shall be implemented over a time period of not more than

22 3 years after the the date of enactment of this section. The

23 requirements of this subsection shall not apply to any rural

24 telephone company if the rates for basic voice-grade local

25 telephone service of that company are not subject to regula-
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1 tion by a State commission on the date of enactment of

2 this part.

3 ‘‘(e) INTERSTATE INTEREXCHANGE SERVICE.—The

4 rates charged by providers of interstate interexchange tele5 communications service to customers in rural and high cost

6 areas shall be maintained at levels no higher than those

7 charged by each such provider to its customers in urban

8 areas.

9 ‘‘(f) EXCEPTION.—In the case of commercial mobile

10 services, the provisions of section 332(c)(1) shall apply in

11 lieu of the provisions of this section.

12 ‘‘(g) AVOIDANCE OF REDUNDANT REGULATIONS.—

13 Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the

14 Commission or a State commission from enforcing regula15 tions prescribed prior to the date of enactment of this part

16 in fulfilling the requirements of this section, to the extent

17 that such regulations are consistent with the provisions of

18 this section.

19 ‘‘SEC. 249. NETWORK FUNCTIONALITY AND ACCESSIBILITY.

20 ‘‘(a) FUNCTIONALITY AND ACCESSIBILITY.—The duty

21 of a common carrier under section 201(a) to furnish com22 munications service includes the duty to furnish that service

23 in accordance with any standards established pursuant to

24 this section.
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1 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION FOR INTERCONNECTIVITY.—The

2 Commission—

3 ‘‘(1) shall establish procedures for Commission

4 oversight of coordinated network planning by common

5 carriers and other providers of telecommunications

6 services for the effective and efficient interconnection

7 of public switched networks; and

8 ‘‘(2) may participate, in a manner consistent

9 with its authority and practice prior to the date of

10 enactment of this section, in the development by ap11 propriate industry standards-setting organizations of

12 interconnection standards that promote access to—

13 ‘‘(A) network capabilities and services by

14 individuals with disabilities; and

15 ‘‘(B) information services by subscribers to

16 telephone exchange service furnished by a rural

17 telephone company.

18 ‘‘(c) ACCESSIBILITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABIL19 ITIES.—

20 ‘‘(1) ACCESSIBILITY.—Within 1 year after the

21 date of enactment of this section, the Commission

22 shall prescribe such regulations as are necessary to

23 ensure that, if readily achievable, advances in net24 work services deployed by common carriers, and tele25 communications equipment and customer premises
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1 equipment manufactured for use in conjunction with

2 network services, shall be accessible and usable by in3 dividuals with disabilities, including individuals with

4 functional limitations of hearing, vision, movement,

5 manipulation, speech, and interpretation of informa6 tion. Such regulations shall permit the use of both

7 standard and special equipment, and seek to mini8 mize the need of individuals to acquire additional de9 vices beyond those used by the general public to ob10 tain such access. Throughout the process of developing

11 such regulations, the Commission shall coordinate

12 and consult with representatives of individuals with

13 disabilities and interested equipment and service pro14 viders to ensure their concerns and interests are given

15 full consideration in such process.

16 ‘‘(2) COMPATIBILITY.—Such regulations shall re17 quire that whenever an undue burden or adverse com18 petitive impact would result from the requirements in

19 paragraph (1), the local exchange carrier that deploys

20 the network service shall ensure that the network serv21 ice in question is compatible with existing peripheral

22 devices or specialized customer premises equipment

23 commonly used by persons with disabilities to achieve

24 access, unless doing so would result in an undue bur25 den or adverse competitive impact.
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1 ‘‘(3) UNDUE BURDEN.—The term ‘undue burden’

2 means significant difficulty or expense. In determin3 ing whether the activity necessary to comply with the

4 requirements of this subsection would result in an

5 undue burden, the factors to be considered include the

6 following:

7 ‘‘(A) The nature and cost of the activity.

8 ‘‘(B) The impact on the operation of the fa9 cility involved in the deployment of the network

10 service.

11 ‘‘(C) The financial resources of the local ex12 change carrier.

13 ‘‘(D) The type of operations of the local ex14 change carrier.

15 ‘‘(4) ADVERSE COMPETITIVE IMPACT.—In deter16 mining whether the activity necessary to comply with

17 the requirements of this subsection would result in ad18 verse competitive impact, the following factors shall be

19 considered:

20 ‘‘(A) Whether such activity would raise the

21 cost of the network service in question beyond the

22 level at which there would be sufficient consumer

23 demand by the general population to make the

24 network service profitable.
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1 ‘‘(B) Whether such activity would, with re2 spect to the network service in question, put the

3 local exchange carrier at a competitive disadvan4 tage. This factor may be considered so long as

5 competing network service providers are not held

6 to the same obligation with respect to access by

7 persons with disabilities.

8 ‘‘(5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The regulations re9 quired by this subsection shall become effective 18

10 months after the date of enactment of this part.

11 ‘‘(d) PRIVATE RIGHTS OF ACTIONS PROHIBITED.—

12 Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize any

13 private right of action to enforce any requirement of this

14 section or any regulation thereunder. The Commission shall

15 have exclusive jurisdiction with respect to any complaint

16 under this section.

17 ‘‘SEC. 250. MARKET ENTRY BARRIERS.

18 ‘‘(a) ELIMINATION OF BARRIERS.—Within 15 months

19 after the date of enactment of this part, the Commission

20 shall complete a proceeding for the purpose of identifying

21 and eliminating, by regulations pursuant to its authority

22 under this Act (other than this section), market entry bar23 riers for entrepreneurs and other small businesses in the

24 provision and ownership of telecommunications services

25 and information services, or in the provision of parts or
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1 services to providers of telecommunications services and in2 formation services.

3 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL POLICY.—In carrying out subsection

4 (a), the Commission shall seek to promote the policies and

5 purposes of this Act favoring diversity of points of view,

6 vigorous economic competition, technological advancement,

7 and promotion of the public interest, convenience, and ne8 cessity.

9 ‘‘(c) PERIODIC REVIEW.—Every 3 years following the

10 completion of the proceeding required by subsection (a), the

11 Commission shall review and report to Congress on—

12 ‘‘(1) any regulations prescribed to eliminate bar13 riers within its jurisdiction that are identified under

14 subsection (a) and that can be prescribed consistent

15 with the public interest, convenience, and necessity;

16 and

17 ‘‘(2) the statutory barriers identified under sub18 section (a) that the Commission recommends be elimi19 nated, consistent with the public interest, convenience,

20 and necessity.

21 ‘‘SEC. 251. ILLEGAL CHANGES IN SUBSCRIBER CARRIER SE22 LECTIONS.

23 ‘‘No common carrier shall submit or execute a change

24 in a subscriber’s selection of a provider of telephone ex25 change service or telephone toll service except in accordance
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1 with such verification procedures as the Commission shall

2 prescribe. Nothing in this section shall preclude any State

3 commission from enforcing such procedures with respect to

4 intrastate services.

5 ‘‘SEC. 252. STUDY.

6 ‘‘At least once every three years, the Commission shall

7 conduct a study that—

8 ‘‘(1) reviews the definition of, and the adequacy

9 of support for, universal service, and evaluates the ex10 tent to which universal service has been protected and

11 access to advanced services has been facilitated pursu12 ant to this part and the plans and regulations there13 under;

14 ‘‘(2) evaluates the extent to which access to ad15 vanced telecommunications services for students in el16 ementary and secondary school classrooms has been

17 attained pursuant to section 247(b)(5); and

18 ‘‘(3) determines whether the regulations estab19 lished under section 249(c) have ensured that ad20 vances in network services by providers of tele21 communications services and information services are

22 accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities.

23 ‘‘SEC. 253. TERRITORIAL EXEMPTION.

24 ‘‘Until 5 years after the date of enactment of this part,

25 the provisions of this part shall not apply to any local ex-
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1 change carrier in any territory of the United States if (1)

2 the local exchange carrier is owned by the government of

3 such territory, and (2) on the date of enactment of this part,

4 the number of households in such territory subscribing to

5 telephone service is less than 85 percent of the total house6 holds located in such territory.’’.

7 (b) CONSOLIDATED RULEMAKING PROCEEDING.—The

8 Commission shall conduct a single consolidated rulemaking

9 proceeding to prescribe or amend regulations necessary to

10 implement the requirements of—

11 (1) part II of title II of the Act as added by sub12 section (a) of this section;

13 (2) section 222 as amended by section 104 of this

14 Act; and

15 (3) section 224 as amended by section 105 of this

16 Act.

17 (c) DESIGNATION OF PART I.—Title II of the Act is

18 further amended by inserting before the heading of section

19 201 the following new heading:

20 ‘‘PART I—REGULATION OF DOMINANT COMMON

21 CARRIERS’’.

22 (d) SYLISTIC CONSISTENCY.—The Act is amended so

23 that—
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1 (1) the designation and heading of each title of

2 the Act shall be in the form and typeface of the des3 ignation and heading of this title of this Act; and

4 (2) the designation and heading of each part of

5 each title of the Act shall be in the form and typeface

6 of the designation and heading of part I of title II

7 of the Act, as amended by subsection (c).

8 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

9 (1) FEDERAL-STATE JURISDICTION.—Section

10 2(b) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 152(b)) is amended by in11 serting ‘‘part II of title II,’’ after ‘‘227, inclusive,’’.

12 (2) FORFEITURES.—Sections 503(b)(1) and

13 504(b) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 503(b)) are each

14 amended by inserting ‘‘part I of’’ before ‘‘title II’’.

15 SEC. 102. COMPETITION IN MANUFACTURING, INFORMA16 TION SERVICES, ALARM SERVICES, AND PAY17 PHONE SERVICES.

18 (a) COMPETITION IN MANUFACTURING, INFORMATION

19 SERVICES, AND ALARM SERVICES.—Title II of the Act is

20 amended by adding at the end of part II (as added by sec21 tion 101) the following new part:
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1 ‘‘PART III—SPECIAL AND TEMPORARY

2 PROVISIONS

3 ‘‘SEC. 271. MANUFACTURING BY BELL OPERATING COMPA4 NIES.

5 ‘‘(a) ACCESS AND INTERCONNECTION.—It shall be un6 lawful for a Bell operating company, directly or through

7 an affiliate, to manufacture telecommunications equipment

8 or customer premises equipment, until the Commission has

9 approved under section 245(c) verifications that such Bell

10 operating company, and each Bell operating company with

11 which it is affiliated, are in compliance with the access and

12 interconnection requirements of part II of this title.

13 ‘‘(b) COLLABORATION.—Subsection (a) shall not pro14 hibit a Bell operating company from engaging in close col15 laboration with any manufacturer of customer premises

16 equipment or telecommunications equipment during the de17 sign and development of hardware, software, or combina18 tions thereof related to such equipment.

19 ‘‘(c) INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS.—

20 ‘‘(1) INFORMATION ON PROTOCOLS AND TECH21 NICAL REQUIREMENTS.—Each Bell operating com22 pany shall, in accordance with regulations prescribed

23 by the Commission, maintain and file with the Com24 mission full and complete information with respect to

25 the protocols and technical requirements for connec26 tion with and use of its telephone exchange service fa-
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1 cilities. Each such company shall report promptly to

2 the Commission any material changes or planned

3 changes to such protocols and requirements, and the

4 schedule for implementation of such changes or

5 planned changes.

6 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.—A Bell op7 erating company shall not disclose any information

8 required to be filed under paragraph (1) unless that

9 information has been filed promptly, as required by

10 regulation by the Commission.

11 ‘‘(3) ACCESS BY COMPETITORS TO INFORMA12 TION.—The Commission may prescribe such addi13 tional regulations under this subsection as may be

14 necessary to ensure that manufacturers have access to

15 the information with respect to the protocols and tech16 nical requirements for connection with and use of

17 telephone exchange service facilities that a Bell oper18 ating company makes available to any manufactur19 ing affiliate or any unaffiliated manufacturer.

20 ‘‘(4) PLANNING INFORMATION.—Each Bell oper21 ating company shall provide, to contiguous common

22 carriers providing telephone exchange service, timely

23 information on the planned deployment of tele24 communications equipment.
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1 ‘‘(d) MANUFACTURING LIMITATIONS FOR STANDARD2 SETTING ORGANIZATIONS.—

3 ‘‘(1) BELL COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH.—The

4 Bell Communications Research Corporation, or any

5 successor entity, shall not engage in manufacturing

6 telecommunications equipment or customer premises

7 equipment so long as—

8 ‘‘(A) such Corporation or entity is owned,

9 in whole or in part, by one or more Bell operat10 ing companies; or

11 ‘‘(B) such Corporation or entity engages in

12 establishing standards for telecommunications

13 equipment, customer premises equipment, or tele14 communications services, or any product certifi15 cation activities with respect to telecommuni16 cations equipment or customer premises equip17 ment.

18 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPATION IN STANDARD SETTING;

19 PROTECTION OF PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.—Any

20 entity (including such Corporation) that engages in

21 establishing standards for—

22 ‘‘(A) telecommunications equipment, cus23 tomer premises equipment, or telecommuni24 cations services, or
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1 ‘‘(B) any product certification activities

2 with respect to telecommunications equipment or

3 customer premises equipment,

4 for one or more Bell operating companies shall allow

5 any other person to participate fully in such activi6 ties on a nondiscriminatory basis. Any such entity

7 shall protect proprietary information submitted for

8 review in the standards-setting and certification proc9 esses from release not specifically authorized by the

10 owner of such information, even after such entity

11 ceases to be so engaged.

12 ‘‘(e) BELL OPERATING COMPANY EQUIPMENT PRO13 CUREMENT AND SALES.—

14 ‘‘(1) OBJECTIVE BASIS.—Each Bell operating

15 company and any entity acting on behalf of a Bell

16 operating company shall make procurement decisions

17 and award all supply contracts for equipment, serv18 ices, and software on the basis of an objective assess19 ment of price, quality, delivery, and other commercial

20 factors.

21 ‘‘(2) SALES RESTRICTIONS.—A Bell operating

22 company engaged in manufacturing may not restrict

23 sales to any local exchange carrier of telecommuni24 cations equipment, including software integral to the

25 operation of such equipment and related upgrades.
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1 ‘‘(3) PROTECTION OF PROPRIETARY INFORMA2 TION.—A Bell operating company and any entity it

3 owns or otherwise controls shall protect the propri4 etary information submitted for procurement deci5 sions from release not specifically authorized by the

6 owner of such information.

7 ‘‘(f) ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT AUTHOR8 ITY.—For the purposes of administering and enforcing the

9 provisions of this section and the regulations prescribed

10 thereunder, the Commission shall have the same authority,

11 power, and functions with respect to any Bell operating

12 company or any affiliate thereof as the Commission has in

13 administering and enforcing the provisions of this title with

14 respect to any common carrier subject to this Act.

15 ‘‘(g) EXCEPTION FOR PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED AC16 TIVITIES.—Nothing in this section shall prohibit a Bell op17 erating company or affiliate from engaging, at any time

18 after the date of the enactment of this part, in any activity

19 as authorized by an order entered by the United States Dis20 trict Court for the District of Columbia pursuant to section

21 VII or VIII(C) of the Modification of Final Judgment, if—

22 ‘‘(1) such order was entered on or before the date

23 of the enactment of this part, or
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1 ‘‘(2) a request for such authorization was pend2 ing before such court on the date of the enactment of

3 this part.

4 ‘‘(h) ANTITRUST LAWS.—Nothing in this section shall

5 be construed to modify, impair, or supersede the applicabil6 ity of any of the antitrust laws.

7 ‘‘(i) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

8 ‘manufacturing’ has the same meaning as such term has

9 under the Modification of Final Judgment.

10 ‘‘SEC. 272. ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING BY BELL OPERATING

11 COMPANIES.

12 ‘‘(a) LIMITATIONS.—No Bell operating company or

13 any affiliate may engage in the provision of electronic pub14 lishing that is disseminated by means of such Bell operating

15 company’s or any of its affiliates’ basic telephone service,

16 except that nothing in this section shall prohibit a separated

17 affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture operated in

18 accordance with this section from engaging in the provision

19 of electronic publishing.

20 ‘‘(b) SEPARATED AFFILIATE OR ELECTRONIC PUB21 LISHING JOINT VENTURE REQUIREMENTS.—A separated

22 affiliate or electronic publishing joint venture shall be oper23 ated independently from the Bell operating company. Such

24 separated affiliate or joint venture and the Bell operating

25 company with which it is affiliated shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) maintain separate books, records, and ac2 counts and prepare separate financial statements;

3 ‘‘(2) not incur debt in a manner that would per4 mit a creditor of the separated affiliate or joint ven5 ture upon default to have recourse to the assets of the

6 Bell operating company;

7 ‘‘(3) carry out transactions (A) in a manner

8 consistent with such independence, (B) pursuant to

9 written contracts or tariffs that are filed with the

10 Commission and made publicly available, and (C) in

11 a manner that is auditable in accordance with gen12 erally accepted auditing standards;

13 ‘‘(4) value any assets that are transferred di14 rectly or indirectly from the Bell operating company

15 to a separated affiliate or joint venture, and record

16 any transactions by which such assets are transferred,

17 in accordance with such regulations as may be pre18 scribed by the Commission or a State commission to

19 prevent improper cross subsidies;

20 ‘‘(5) between a separated affiliate and a Bell op21 erating company—

22 ‘‘(A) have no officers, directors, and employ23 ees in common after the effective date of this sec24 tion; and

25 ‘‘(B) own no property in common;
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1 ‘‘(6) not use for the marketing of any product or

2 service of the separated affiliate or joint venture, the

3 name, trademarks, or service marks of an existing

4 Bell operating company except for names, trade5 marks, or service marks that are or were used in com6 mon with the entity that owns or controls the Bell op7 erating company;

8 ‘‘(7) not permit the Bell operating company—

9 ‘‘(A) to perform hiring or training of per10 sonnel on behalf of a separated affiliate;

11 ‘‘(B) to perform the purchasing, installa12 tion, or maintenance of equipment on behalf of

13 a separated affiliate, except for telephone service

14 that it provides under tariff or contract subject

15 to the provisions of this section; or

16 ‘‘(C) to perform research and development

17 on behalf of a separated affiliate;

18 ‘‘(8) each have performed annually a compliance

19 review—

20 ‘‘(A) that is conducted by an independent

21 entity for the purpose of determining compliance

22 during the preceding calendar year with any

23 provision of this section; and

24 ‘‘(B) the results of which are maintained by

25 the separated affiliate or joint venture and the
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1 Bell operating company for a period of 5 years

2 subject to review by any lawful authority;

3 ‘‘(9) within 90 days of receiving a review de4 scribed in paragraph (8), file a report of any excep5 tions and corrective action with the Commission and

6 allow any person to inspect and copy such report sub7 ject to reasonable safeguards to protect any propri8 etary information contained in such report from

9 being used for purposes other than to enforce or pur10 sue remedies under this section.

11 ‘‘(c) JOINT MARKETING.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para13 graph (2)—

14 ‘‘(A) a Bell operating company shall not

15 carry out any promotion, marketing, sales, or

16 advertising for or in conjunction with a sepa17 rated affiliate; and

18 ‘‘(B) a Bell operating company shall not

19 carry out any promotion, marketing, sales, or

20 advertising for or in conjunction with an affili21 ate that is related to the provision of electronic

22 publishing.

23 ‘‘(2) PERMISSIBLE JOINT ACTIVITIES.—

24 ‘‘(A) JOINT TELEMARKETING.—A Bell oper25 ating company may provide inbound
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1 telemarketing or referral services related to the

2 provision of electronic publishing for a separated

3 affiliate, electronic publishing joint venture, af4 filiate, or unaffiliated electronic publisher, pro5 vided that if such services are provided to a sep6 arated affiliate, electronic publishing joint ven7 ture, or affiliate, such services shall be made

8 available to all electronic publishers on request,

9 on nondiscriminatory terms.

10 ‘‘(B) TEAMING ARRANGEMENTS.—A Bell op11 erating company may engage in nondiscrim12 inatory teaming or business arrangements to en13 gage in electronic publishing with any separated

14 affiliate or with any other electronic publisher if

15 (i) the Bell operating company only provides fa16 cilities, services, and basic telephone service in17 formation as authorized by this section, and (ii)

18 the Bell operating company does not own such

19 teaming or business arrangement.

20 ‘‘(C) ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING JOINT VEN21 TURES.—A Bell operating company or affiliate

22 may participate on a nonexclusive basis in elec23 tronic publishing joint ventures with entities

24 that are not any Bell operating company, affili25 ate, or separated affiliate to provide electronic
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1 publishing services, if the Bell operating com2 pany or affiliate has not more than a 50 percent

3 direct or indirect equity interest (or the equiva4 lent thereof) or the right to more than 50 percent

5 of the gross revenues under a revenue sharing or

6 royalty agreement in any electronic publishing

7 joint venture. Officers and employees of a Bell

8 operating company or affiliate participating in

9 an electronic publishing joint venture may not

10 have more than 50 percent of the voting control

11 over the electronic publishing joint venture. In

12 the case of joint ventures with small, local elec13 tronic publishers, the Commission for good cause

14 shown may authorize the Bell operating com15 pany or affiliate to have a larger equity interest,

16 revenue share, or voting control but not to exceed

17 80 percent. A Bell operating company partici18 pating in an electronic publishing joint venture

19 may provide promotion, marketing, sales, or ad20 vertising personnel and services to such joint

21 venture.

22 ‘‘(d) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—

23 ‘‘(1) DAMAGES.—Any person claiming that any

24 act or practice of any Bell operating company, affili25 ate, or separated affiliate constitutes a violation of
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1 this section may file a complaint with the Commis2 sion or bring suit as provided in section 207 of this

3 Act, and such Bell operating company, affiliate, or

4 separated affiliate shall be liable as provided in sec5 tion 206 of this Act; except that damages may not

6 be awarded for a violation that is discovered by a

7 compliance review as required by subsection (b)(7) of

8 this section and corrected within 90 days.

9 ‘‘(2) CEASE AND DESIST ORDERS.—In addition

10 to the provisions of paragraph (1), any person claim11 ing that any act or practice of any Bell operating

12 company, affiliate, or separated affiliate constitutes a

13 violation of this section may make application to the

14 Commission for an order to cease and desist such vio15 lation or may make application in any district court

16 of the United States of competent jurisdiction for an

17 order enjoining such acts or practices or for an order

18 compelling compliance with such requirement.

19 ‘‘(e) SEPARATED AFFILIATE REPORTING REQUIRE20 MENT.—Any separated affiliate under this section shall file

21 with the Commission annual reports in a form substan22 tially equivalent to the Form 10–K required by regulations

23 of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

24 ‘‘(f) EFFECTIVE DATES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) TRANSITION.—Any electronic publishing

2 service being offered to the public by a Bell operating

3 company or affiliate on the date of enactment of this

4 section shall have one year from such date of enact5 ment to comply with the requirements of this section.

6 ‘‘(2) SUNSET.—The provisions of this section

7 shall not apply to conduct occurring after June 30,

8 2000.

9 ‘‘(g) DEFINITION OF ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING.—

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘electronic publish11 ing’ means the dissemination, provision, publication,

12 or sale to an unaffiliated entity or person, of any one

13 or more of the following: news (including sports); en14 tertainment (other than interactive games); business,

15 financial, legal, consumer, or credit materials; edi16 torials, columns, or features; advertising; photos or

17 images; archival or research material; legal notices or

18 public records; scientific, educational, instructional,

19 technical, professional, trade, or other literary mate20 rials; or other like or similar information.

21 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—The term ‘electronic publish22 ing’ shall not include the following services:

23 ‘‘(A) Information access, as that term is de24 fined by the Modification of Final Judgment.
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1 ‘‘(B) The transmission of information as a

2 common carrier.

3 ‘‘(C) The transmission of information as

4 part of a gateway to an information service that

5 does not involve the generation or alteration of

6 the content of information, including data trans7 mission, address translation, protocol conversion,

8 billing management, introductory information

9 content, and navigational systems that enable

10 users to access electronic publishing services,

11 which do not affect the presentation of such elec12 tronic publishing services to users.

13 ‘‘(D) Voice storage and retrieval services,

14 including voice messaging and electronic mail

15 services.

16 ‘‘(E) Data processing or transaction proc17 essing services that do not involve the generation

18 or alteration of the content of information.

19 ‘‘(F) Electronic billing or advertising of a

20 Bell operating company’s regulated telecommuni21 cations services.

22 ‘‘(G) Language translation or data format

23 conversion.

24 ‘‘(H) The provision of information nec25 essary for the management, control, or operation
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1 of a telephone company telecommunications sys2 tem.

3 ‘‘(I) The provision of directory assistance

4 that provides names, addresses, and telephone

5 numbers and does not include advertising.

6 ‘‘(J) Caller identification services.

7 ‘‘(K) Repair and provisioning databases

8 and credit card and billing validation for tele9 phone company operations.

10 ‘‘(L) 911–E and other emergency assistance

11 databases.

12 ‘‘(M) Any other network service of a type

13 that is like or similar to these network services

14 and that does not involve the generation or alter15 ation of the content of information.

16 ‘‘(N) Any upgrades to these network services

17 that do not involve the generation or alteration

18 of the content of information.

19 ‘‘(O) Video programming or full motion

20 video entertainment on demand.

21 ‘‘(h) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—As used in this sec22 tion—

23 ‘‘(1) The term ‘affiliate’ means any entity that,

24 directly or indirectly, owns or controls, is owned or

25 controlled by, or is under common ownership or con-
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1 trol with, a Bell operating company. Such term shall

2 not include a separated affiliate.

3 ‘‘(2) The term ‘basic telephone service’ means

4 wireline telephone exchange service provided by a Bell

5 operating company in a telephone exchange area, ex6 cept that such term does not include—

7 ‘‘(A) a competitive wireline telephone ex8 change service provided in a telephone exchange

9 area where another entity provides a wireline

10 telephone exchange service that was provided on

11 January 1, 1984, and

12 ‘‘(B) a commercial mobile service.

13 ‘‘(3) The term ‘basic telephone service informa14 tion’ means network and customer information of a

15 Bell operating company and other information ac16 quired by a Bell operating company as a result of its

17 engaging in the provision of basic telephone service.

18 ‘‘(4) The term ‘control’ has the meaning that it

19 has in 17 C.F.R. 240.12b–2, the regulations promul20 gated by the Securities and Exchange Commission

21 pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15

22 U.S.C. 78a et seq.) or any successor provision to such

23 section.

24 ‘‘(5) The term ‘electronic publishing joint ven25 ture’ means a joint venture owned by a Bell operating
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1 company or affiliate that engages in the provision of

2 electronic publishing which is disseminated by means

3 of such Bell operating company’s or any of its affili4 ates’ basic telephone service.

5 ‘‘(6) The term ‘entity’ means any organization,

6 and includes corporations, partnerships, sole propri7 etorships, associations, and joint ventures.

8 ‘‘(7) The term ‘inbound telemarketing’ means the

9 marketing of property, goods, or services by telephone

10 to a customer or potential customer who initiated the

11 call.

12 ‘‘(8) The term ‘own’ with respect to an entity

13 means to have a direct or indirect equity interest (or

14 the equivalent thereof) of more than 10 percent of an

15 entity, or the right to more than 10 percent of the

16 gross revenues of an entity under a revenue sharing

17 or royalty agreement.

18 ‘‘(9) The term ‘separated affiliate’ means a cor19 poration under common ownership or control with a

20 Bell operating company that does not own or control

21 a Bell operating company and is not owned or con22 trolled by a Bell operating company and that engages

23 in the provision of electronic publishing which is dis24 seminated by means of such Bell operating company’s

25 or any of its affiliates’ basic telephone service.
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1 ‘‘(10) The term ‘Bell operating company’ has the

2 meaning provided in section 3, except that such term

3 includes any entity or corporation that is owned or

4 controlled by such a company (as so defined) but does

5 not include an electronic publishing joint venture

6 owned by such an entity or corporation.

7 ‘‘SEC. 273. ALARM MONITORING AND TELEMESSAGING

8 SERVICES BY BELL OPERATING COMPANIES.

9 ‘‘(a) DELAYED ENTRY INTO ALARM MONITORING.—

10 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—No Bell operating company

11 or affiliate thereof shall engage in the provision of

12 alarm monitoring services before the date which is 6

13 years after the date of enactment of this part.

14 ‘‘(2) EXISTING ACTIVITIES.—Paragraph (1) shall

15 not apply to any provision of alarm monitoring serv16 ices in which a Bell operating company or affiliate

17 is lawfully engaged as of January 1, 1995, except that

18 such Bell operating company or any affiliate may not

19 acquire or otherwise obtain control of additional enti20 ties providing alarm monitoring services after such

21 date.

22 ‘‘(b) NONDISCRIMINATION.—A common carrier en23 gaged in the provision of alarm monitoring services or

24 telemessaging services shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) provide nonaffiliated entities, upon reason2 able request, with the network services it provides to

3 its own alarm monitoring or telemessaging oper4 ations, on nondiscriminatory terms and conditions;

5 and

6 ‘‘(2) not subsidize its alarm monitoring services

7 or its telemessaging services either directly or indi8 rectly from telephone exchange service operations.

9 ‘‘(c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF COMPLAINTS.—

10 The Commission shall establish procedures for the receipt

11 and review of complaints concerning violations of sub12 section (b) or the regulations thereunder that result in mate13 rial financial harm to a provider of alarm monitoring serv14 ice or telemessaging service. Such procedures shall ensure

15 that the Commission will make a final determination with

16 respect to any such complaint within 120 days after receipt

17 of the complaint. If the complaint contains an appropriate

18 showing that the alleged violation occurred, as determined

19 by the Commission in accordance with such regulations, the

20 Commission shall, within 60 days after receipt of the com21 plaint, order the common carrier and its affiliates to cease

22 engaging in such violation pending such final determina23 tion.

24 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
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1 ‘‘(1) ALARM MONITORING SERVICE.—The term

2 ‘alarm monitoring service’ means a service that uses

3 a device located at a residence, place of business, or

4 other fixed premises—

5 ‘‘(A) to receive signals from other devices lo6 cated at or about such premises regarding a pos7 sible threat at such premises to life, safety, or

8 property, from burglary, fire, vandalism, bodily

9 injury, or other emergency, and

10 ‘‘(B) to transmit a signal regarding such

11 threat by means of transmission facilities of a

12 Bell operating company or one of its affiliates to

13 a remote monitoring center to alert a person at

14 such center of the need to inform the customer or

15 another person or police, fire, rescue, security, or

16 public safety personnel of such threat,

17 but does not include a service that uses a medical

18 monitoring device attached to an individual for the

19 automatic surveillance of an ongoing medical condi20 tion.

21 ‘‘(2) TELEMESSAGING SERVICES.—The term

22 ‘telemessaging services’ means voice mail and voice

23 storage and retrieval services provided over telephone

24 lines for telemessaging customers and any live opera25 tor services used to answer, record, transcribe, and
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1 relay messages (other than telecommunications relay

2 services) from incoming telephone calls on behalf of

3 the telemessaging customers (other than any service

4 incidental to directory assistance).

5 ‘‘SEC. 274. PROVISION OF PAYPHONE SERVICE.

6 ‘‘(a) NONDISCRIMINATION SAFEGUARDS.—After the ef7 fective date of the rules prescribed pursuant to subsection

8 (b), any Bell operating company that provides payphone

9 service—

10 ‘‘(1) shall not subsidize its payphone service di11 rectly or indirectly with revenue from its telephone

12 exchange service or its exchange access service; and

13 ‘‘(2) shall not prefer or discriminate in favor of

14 it payphone service.

15 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—

16 ‘‘(1) CONTENTS OF REGULATIONS.—In order to

17 promote competition among payphone service provid18 ers and promote the widespread deployment of

19 payphone services to the benefit of the general public,

20 within 9 months after the date of enactment of this

21 section, the Commission shall take all actions nec22 essary (including any reconsideration) to prescribe

23 regulations that—

24 ‘‘(A) establish a per call compensation plan

25 to ensure that all payphone services providers
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1 are fairly compensated for each and every com2 pleted intrastate and interstate call using their

3 payphone, except that emergency calls and tele4 communications relay service calls for hearing

5 disabled individuals shall not be subject to such

6 compensation;

7 ‘‘(B) discontinue the intrastate and inter8 state carrier access charge payphone service ele9 ments and payments in effect on the date of en10 actment of this section, and all intrastate and

11 interstate payphone subsidies from basic ex12 change and exchange access revenues, in favor of

13 a compensation plan as specified in subpara14 graph (A);

15 ‘‘(C) prescribe a set of nonstructural safe16 guards for Bell operating company payphone

17 service to implement the provisions of para18 graphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a), which safe19 guards shall, at a minimum, include the non20 structural safeguards equal to those adopted in

21 the Computer Inquiry-III CC Docket No. 90–623

22 proceeding; and

23 ‘‘(D) provide for Bell operating company

24 payphone service providers to have the same

25 right that independent payphone providers have
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1 to negotiate with the location provider on select2 ing and contracting with, and, subject to the

3 terms of any agreement with the location pro4 vider, to select and contract with the carriers

5 that carry interLATA calls from their

6 payphones, and provide for all payphone service

7 providers to have the right to negotiate with the

8 location provider on selecting and contracting

9 with, and, subject to the terms of any agreement

10 with the location provider, to select and contract

11 with the carriers that carry intraLATA calls

12 from their payphones.

13 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC INTEREST TELEPHONES.—In the

14 rulemaking conducted pursuant to paragraph (1), the

15 Commission shall determine whether public interest

16 payphones, which are provided in the interest of pub17 lic health, safety, and welfare, in locations where

18 there would otherwise not be a payphone, should be

19 maintained, and if so, ensure that such public inter20 est payphones are supported fairly and equitably.

21 ‘‘(3) EXISTING CONTRACTS.—Nothing in this sec22 tion shall affect any existing contracts between loca23 tion providers and payphone service providers or

24 interLATA or intraLATA carriers that are in force

25 and effect as of the date of the enactment of this Act.
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1 ‘‘(c) STATE PREEMPTION.—To the extent that any

2 State requirements are inconsistent with the Commission’s

3 regulations, the Commission’s regulations on such matters

4 shall preempt State requirements.

5 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

6 ‘payphone service’ means the provision of public or semi7 public pay telephones, the provision of inmate telephone

8 service in correctional institutions, and any ancillary serv9 ices.’’.

10 SEC. 103. FORBEARANCE FROM REGULATION.

11 Part I of title II of the Act (as redesignated by section

12 101(c) of this Act) is amended by inserting after section

13 229 (47 U.S.C. 229) the following new section:

14 ‘‘SEC. 230. FORBEARANCE FROM REGULATION.

15 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY TO FORBEAR.—The Commission

16 shall forbear from applying any provision of this part or

17 part II (other than sections 201, 202, 208, 243, and 248),

18 or any regulation thereunder, to a common carrier or serv19 ice, or class of carriers or services, in any or some of its

20 or their geographic markets, if the Commission determines

21 that—

22 ‘‘(1) enforcement of such provision or regulation

23 is not necessary to ensure that the charges, practices,

24 classifications, or regulations by, for, or in connection
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1 with that carrier or service are just and reasonable

2 and are not unjustly or unreasonably discriminatory;

3 ‘‘(2) enforcement of such regulation or provision

4 is not necessary for the protection of consumers; and

5 ‘‘(3) forbearance from applying such provision or

6 regulation is consistent with the public interest.

7 ‘‘(b) COMPETITIVE EFFECT TO BE WEIGHED.—In

8 making the determination under subsection (a)(3), the Com9 mission shall consider whether forbearance from enforcing

10 the provision or regulation will promote competitive market

11 conditions, including the extent to which such forbearance

12 will enhance competition among providers of telecommuni13 cations services. If the Commission determines that such

14 forbearance will promote competition among providers of

15 telecommunications services, that determination may be the

16 basis for a Commission finding that forbearance is in the

17 public interest.’’.

18 SEC. 104. PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION.

19 (a) PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NETWORK

20 INFORMATION.—Title II of the Act is amended by inserting

21 after section 221 (47 U.S.C. 221) the following new section:

22 ‘‘SEC. 222. PRIVACY OF CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NETWORK

23 INFORMATION.

24 ‘‘(a) SUBSCRIBER LIST INFORMATION.—Notwith25 standing subsections (b), (c), and (d), a carrier that pro-
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1 vides local exchange service shall provide subscriber list in2 formation gathered in its capacity as a provider of such

3 service on a timely and unbundled basis, under nondiscrim4 inatory and reasonable rates, terms, and conditions, to any

5 person upon request for the purpose of publishing direc6 tories in any format.

7 ‘‘(b) PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMON CAR8 RIERS.—A carrier—

9 ‘‘(1) shall not, except as required by law or with

10 the approval of the customer to which the information

11 relates—

12 ‘‘(A) use customer proprietary network in13 formation in the provision of any service except

14 to the extent necessary (i) in the provision of

15 common carrier services, (ii) in the provision of

16 a service necessary to or used in the provision of

17 common carrier services, including the publish18 ing of directories, or (iii) to continue to provide

19 a particular information service that the carrier

20 provided as of May 1, 1995, to persons who were

21 customers of such service on that date;

22 ‘‘(B) use customer proprietary network in23 formation in the identification or solicitation of

24 potential customers for any service other than
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1 the telephone exchange service or telephone toll

2 service from which such information is derived;

3 ‘‘(C) use customer proprietary network in4 formation in the provision of customer premises

5 equipment; or

6 ‘‘(D) disclose customer proprietary network

7 information to any person except to the extent

8 necessary to permit such person to provide serv9 ices or products that are used in and necessary

10 to the provision by such carrier of the services

11 described in subparagraph (A);

12 ‘‘(2) shall disclose customer proprietary network

13 information, upon affirmative written request by the

14 customer, to any person designated by the customer;

15 ‘‘(3) shall, whenever such carrier provides any

16 aggregate information, notify the Commission of the

17 availability of such aggregate information and shall

18 provide such aggregate information on reasonable

19 terms and conditions to any other service or equip20 ment provider upon reasonable request therefor; and

21 ‘‘(4) except for disclosures permitted by para22 graph (1)(D), shall not unreasonably discriminate be23 tween affiliated and unaffiliated service or equipment

24 providers in providing access to, or in the use and
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1 disclosure of, individual and aggregate information

2 made available consistent with this subsection.

3 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall not

4 be construed to prohibit the use or disclosure of customer

5 proprietary network information as necessary—

6 ‘‘(1) to render, bill, and collect for the services

7 identified in subsection (b)(1)(A);

8 ‘‘(2) to render, bill, and collect for any other

9 service that the customer has requested;

10 ‘‘(3) to protect the rights or property of the car11 rier;

12 ‘‘(4) to protect users of any of those services and

13 other carriers from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful

14 use of or subscription to such service; or

15 ‘‘(5) to provide any inbound telemarketing, refer16 ral, or administrative services to the customer for the

17 duration of the call if such call was initiated by the

18 customer and the customer approves of the use of such

19 information to provide such service.

20 ‘‘(d) EXEMPTION PERMITTED.—The Commission may,

21 by rule, exempt from the requirements of subsection (b) car22 riers that have, together with any affiliated carriers, in the

23 aggregate nationwide, fewer than 500,000 access lines in24 stalled if the Commission determines that such exemption

25 is in the public interest or if compliance with the require-
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1 ments would impose an undue economic burden on the car2 rier.

3 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

4 ‘‘(1) CUSTOMER PROPRIETARY NETWORK INFOR5 MATION.—The term ‘customer proprietary network

6 information’ means—

7 ‘‘(A) information which relates to the quan8 tity, technical configuration, type, destination,

9 and amount of use of telephone exchange service

10 or telephone toll service subscribed to by any cus11 tomer of a carrier, and is made available to the

12 carrier by the customer solely by virtue of the

13 carrier-customer relationship;

14 ‘‘(B) information contained in the bills per15 taining to telephone exchange service or telephone

16 toll service received by a customer of a carrier;

17 and

18 ‘‘(C) such other information concerning the

19 customer as is available to the local exchange

20 carrier by virtue of the customer’s use of the car21 rier’s telephone exchange service or telephone toll

22 services, and specified as within the definition of

23 such term by such rules as the Commission shall

24 prescribe consistent with the public interest;
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1 except that such term does not include subscriber list

2 information.

3 ‘‘(2) SUBSCRIBER LIST INFORMATION.—The term

4 ‘subscriber list information’ means any informa5 tion—

6 ‘‘(A) identifying the listed names of sub7 scribers of a carrier and such subscribers’ tele8 phone numbers, addresses, or primary advertis9 ing classifications (as such classifications are as10 signed at the time of the establishment of such

11 service), or any combination of such listed

12 names, numbers, addresses, or classifications;

13 and

14 ‘‘(B) that the carrier or an affiliate has

15 published, caused to be published, or accepted for

16 publication in any directory format.

17 ‘‘(3) AGGREGATE INFORMATION.—The term ‘ag18 gregate information’ means collective data that relates

19 to a group or category of services or customers, from

20 which individual customer identities and characteris21 tics have been removed.’’.

22 (b) CONVERGING COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES

23 AND CONSUMER PRIVACY.—
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1 (1) COMMISSION EXAMINATION.—Within one

2 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Com3 mission shall commence a proceeding—

4 (A) to examine the impact of the integra5 tion into interconnected communications net6 works of wireless telephone, cable, satellite, and

7 other technologies on the privacy rights and rem8 edies of the consumers of those technologies;

9 (B) to examine the impact that the

10 globalization of such integrated communications

11 networks has on the international dissemination

12 of consumer information and the privacy rights

13 and remedies to protect consumers;

14 (C) to propose changes in the Commission’s

15 regulations to ensure that the effect on consumer

16 privacy rights is considered in the introduction

17 of new telecommunications services and that the

18 protection of such privacy rights is incorporated

19 as necessary in the design of such services or the

20 rules regulating such services;

21 (D) to propose changes in the Commission’s

22 regulations as necessary to correct any defects

23 identified pursuant to subparagraph (A) in such

24 rights and remedies; and
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1 (E) to prepare recommendations to the Con2 gress for any legislative changes required to cor3 rect such defects.

4 (2) SUBJECTS FOR EXAMINATION.—In conduct5 ing the examination required by paragraph (1), the

6 Commission shall determine whether consumers are

7 able, and, if not, the methods by which consumers

8 may be enabled—

9 (A) to have knowledge that consumer infor10 mation is being collected about them through

11 their utilization of various communications tech12 nologies;

13 (B) to have notice that such information

14 could be used, or is intended to be used, by the

15 entity collecting the data for reasons unrelated to

16 the original communications, or that such infor17 mation could be sold (or is intended to be sold)

18 to other companies or entities; and

19 (C) to stop the reuse or sale of that informa20 tion.

21 (3) SCHEDULE FOR COMMISSION RESPONSES.—

22 The Commission shall, within 18 months after the

23 date of enactment of this Act—

24 (A) complete any rulemaking required to re25 vise Commission regulations to correct defects in
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1 such regulations identified pursuant to para2 graph (1); and

3 (B) submit to the Congress a report con4 taining the recommendations required by para5 graph (1)(C).

6 SEC. 105. POLE ATTACHMENTS.

7 Section 224 of the Act (47 U.S.C. 224) is amended—

8 (1) in subsection (a)(4)—

9 (A) by inserting after ‘‘system’’ the follow10 ing: ‘‘or a provider of telecommunications serv11 ice’’; and

12 (B) by inserting after ‘‘utility’’ the follow13 ing: ‘‘, which attachment may be used by such

14 entities to provide cable service or any tele15 communications service’’;

16 (2) in subsection (c)(2)(B), by striking ‘‘cable tel17 evision services’’ and inserting ‘‘the services offered

18 via such attachments’’;

19 (3) by redesignating subsection (d)(2) as sub20 section (d)(4); and

21 (4) by striking subsection (d)(1) and inserting

22 the following:

23 ‘‘(d)(1) For purposes of subsection (b) of this section,

24 the Commission shall, no later than 1 year after the date

25 of enactment of the Communications Act of 1995, prescribe
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1 regulations for ensuring that utilities charge just and rea2 sonable and nondiscriminatory rates for pole attachments

3 provided to all providers of telecommunications services, in4 cluding such attachments used by cable television systems

5 to provide telecommunications services (as defined in sec6 tion 3 of this Act). Such regulations shall—

7 ‘‘(A) recognize that the entire pole, duct, conduit,

8 or right-of-way other than the usable space is of equal

9 benefit all entities attaching to the pole and therefore

10 apportion the cost of the space other than the usable

11 space equally among all such attachments;

12 ‘‘(B) recognize that the usable space is of propor13 tional benefit to all entities attaching to the pole,

14 duct, conduit or right-of-way and therefore apportion

15 the cost of the usable space according to the percent16 age of usable space required for each entity; and

17 ‘‘(C) allow for reasonable terms and conditions

18 relating to health, safety, and the provision of reliable

19 utility service.

20 ‘‘(2) The final regulations prescribed by the Commis21 sion pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not apply to a cable

22 television system that solely provides cable service as defined

23 in section 602(6) of this Act; instead, the pole attachment

24 rate for such systems shall assure a utility the recovery of

25 not less than the additional costs of providing pole attach-
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1 ments, nor more than an amount determined by multiply2 ing the percentage of the total usable space, or the percent3 age of the total duct or conduit capacity, which is occupied

4 by the pole attachment by the sum of the operating expenses

5 and actual capital costs of the utility attributable to the

6 entire pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way.

7 ‘‘(3) Whenever the owner of a conduit or right-of-way

8 intends to modify or alter such conduit or right-of-way, the

9 owner shall provide written notification of such action to

10 any entity that has obtained an attachment to such conduit

11 or right-of-way so that such entity may have a reasonable

12 opportunity to add to or modify its existing attachment.

13 Any entity that adds to or modifies its existing attachment

14 after receiving such notification shall bear a proportionate

15 share of the costs incurred by the owner in making such

16 conduit or right-of-way accessible.’’.

17 SEC. 106. PREEMPTION OF FRANCHISING AUTHORITY REG18 ULATION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERV19 ICES.

20 (a) TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.—Section 621(b)

21 of the Act (47 U.S.C. 541(c)) is amended by adding at the

22 end thereof the following new paragraph:

23 ‘‘(3)(A) To the extent that a cable operator or affiliate

24 thereof is engaged in the provision of telecommunications

25 services—
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1 ‘‘(i) such cable operator or affiliate shall not be

2 required to obtain a franchise under this title; and

3 ‘‘(ii) the provisions of this title shall not apply

4 to such cable operator or affiliate.

5 ‘‘(B) A franchising authority may not impose any re6 quirement that has the purpose or effect of prohibiting, lim7 iting, restricting, or conditioning the provision of a tele8 communications service by a cable operator or an affiliate

9 thereof.

10 ‘‘(C) A franchising authority may not order a cable

11 operator or affiliate thereof—

12 ‘‘(i) to discontinue the provision of a tele13 communications service, or

14 ‘‘(ii) to discontinue the operation of a cable sys15 tem, to the extent such cable system is used for the

16 provision of a telecommunications service, by reason

17 of the failure of such cable operator or affiliate thereof

18 to obtain a franchise or franchise renewal under this

19 title with respect to the provision of such tele20 communications service.

21 ‘‘(D) A franchising authority may not require a cable

22 operator to provide any telecommunications service or fa23 cilities as a condition of the initial grant of a franchise

24 or a franchise renewal.’’.
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1 (b) FRANCHISE FEES.—Section 622(b) of the Act (47

2 U.S.C. 542(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘to provide cable

3 services’’ immediately before the period at the end of the

4 first sentence thereof.

5 SEC. 107. FACILITIES SITING; RADIO FREQUENCY EMISSION

6 STANDARDS.

7 (a) NATIONAL WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS

8 SITING POLICY.—Section 332(c) of the Act (47 U.S.C.

9 332(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following new

10 paragraph:

11 ‘‘(7) FACILITIES SITING POLICIES.—(A) Within

12 180 days after enactment of this paragraph, the Com13 mission shall prescribe and make effective a policy re14 garding State and local regulation of the placement,

15 construction, modification, or operation of facilities

16 for the provision of commercial mobile services.

17 ‘‘(B) Pursuant to subchapter III of chapter 5,

18 title 5, United States Code, the Commission shall es19 tablish a negotiated rulemaking committee to nego20 tiate and develop a proposed policy to comply with

21 the requirements of this paragraph. Such committee

22 shall include representatives from State and local gov23 ernments, affected industries, and public safety agen24 cies. In negotiating and developing such a policy, the

25 committee shall take into account—
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1 ‘‘(i) the desirability of enhancing the cov2 erage and quality of commercial mobile services

3 and fostering competition in the provision of

4 such services;

5 ‘‘(ii) the legitimate interests of State and

6 local governments in matters of exclusively local

7 concern;

8 ‘‘(iii) the effect of State and local regulation

9 of facilities siting on interstate commerce; and

10 ‘‘(iv) the administrative costs to State and

11 local governments of reviewing requests for au12 thorization to locate facilities for the provision of

13 commercial mobile services.

14 ‘‘(C) The policy prescribed pursuant to this

15 paragraph shall ensure that—

16 ‘‘(i) regulation of the placement, construc17 tion, and modification of facilities for the provi18 sion of commercial mobile services by any State

19 or local government or instrumentality thereof—

20 ‘‘(I) is reasonable, nondiscriminatory,

21 and limited to the minimum necessary to

22 accomplish the State or local government’s

23 legitimate purposes; and
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1 ‘‘(II) does not prohibit or have the ef2 fect of precluding any commercial mobile

3 service; and

4 ‘‘(ii) a State or local government or instru5 mentality thereof shall act on any request for au6 thorization to locate, construct, modify, or oper7 ate facilities for the provision of commercial mo8 bile services within a reasonable period of time

9 after the request is fully filed with such govern10 ment or instrumentality; and

11 ‘‘(iii) any decision by a State or local gov12 ernment or instrumentality thereof to deny a re13 quest for authorization to locate, construct, mod14 ify, or operate facilities for the provision of com15 mercial mobile services shall be in writing and

16 shall be supported by substantial evidence con17 tained in a written record.

18 ‘‘(D) The policy prescribed pursuant to this

19 paragraph shall provide that no State or local govern20 ment or any instrumentality thereof may regulate the

21 placement, construction, modification, or operation of

22 such facilities on the basis of the environmental effects

23 of radio frequency emissions, to the extent that such

24 facilities comply with the Commission’s regulations

25 concerning such emissions.
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1 ‘‘(E) In accordance with subchapter III of chap2 ter 5, title 5, United States Code, the Commission

3 shall periodically establish a negotiated rulemaking

4 committee to review the policy prescribed by the Com5 mission under this paragraph and to recommend re6 visions to such policy.’’.

7 (b) RADIO FREQUENCY EMISSIONS.—Within 180 days

8 after the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall com9 plete action in ET Docket 93–62 to prescribe and make ef10 fective rules regarding the environmental effects of radio fre11 quency emissions.

12 (c) AVAILABILITY OF PROPERTY.—Within 180 days of

13 the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall prescribe

14 procedures by which Federal departments and agencies may

15 make available on a fair, reasonable, and nondiscrim16 inatory basis, property, rights-of-way, and easements under

17 their control for the placement of new telecommunications

18 facilities by duly licensed providers of telecommunications

19 services that are dependent, in whole or in part, upon the

20 utilization of Federal spectrum rights for the transmission

21 or reception of such services. These procedures may establish

22 a presumption that requests for the use of property, rights23 of-way, and easements by duly authorized providers should

24 be granted absent unavoidable direct conflict with the de25 partment or agency’s mission, or the current or planned
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1 use of the property, rights-of-way, and easements in ques2 tion. Reasonable cost-based fees may be charged to providers

3 of such telecommunications services for use of property,

4 rights-of-way, and easements. The Commission shall pro5 vide technical support to States to encourage them to make

6 property, rights-of-way, and easements under their jurisdic7 tion available for such purposes.

8 SEC. 108. MOBILE SERVICE ACCESS TO LONG DISTANCE

9 CARRIERS.

10 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 332(c) of the Act (47

11 U.S.C. 332(c)) is amended by adding at the end the follow12 ing new paragraph:

13 ‘‘(8) MOBILE SERVICES ACCESS.—(A) The Com14 mission shall prescribe regulations to afford subscrib15 ers of two-way switched voice commercial mobile

16 radio services access to a provider of telephone toll

17 service of the subscriber’s choice, except to the extent

18 that the commercial mobile radio service is provided

19 by satellite. The Commission may exempt carriers or

20 classes of carriers from the requirements of such regu21 lations to the extent the Commission determines such

22 exemption is consistent with the public interest, con23 venience, and necessity. For purposes of this para24 graph, ‘access’ shall mean access to a provider of tele-
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1 phone toll service through the use of carrier identifica2 tion codes assigned to each such provider.

3 ‘‘(B) The regulations prescribed by the Commis4 sion pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall supersede

5 any inconsistent requirements imposed by the Modi6 fication of Final Judgment or any order in United

7 States v. AT&T Corp. and McCaw Cellular Commu8 nications, Inc., Civil Action No. 94–01555 (United

9 States District Court, District of Columbia).’’.

10 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—

11 Section 6002(c)(2)(B) of the Omnibus Budget Reconcili12 ation Act of 1993 is amended by striking ‘‘section

13 332(c)(6)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (6) and (8) of section

14 332(c)’’.

15 SEC. 109. FREEDOM FROM TOLL FRAUD.

16 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 228(c) of the Act (47

17 U.S.C. 228(c)) is amended—

18 (1) by striking subparagraph (C) of paragraph

19 (7) and inserting the following:

20 ‘‘(C) the calling party being charged for in21 formation conveyed during the call unless—

22 ‘‘(i) the calling party has a written

23 subscription agreement with the informa24 tion provider that meets the requirements of

25 paragraph (8); or
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1 ‘‘(ii) the calling party is charged in

2 accordance with paragraph (9); or’’; and

3 (2) by adding at the end the following new para4 graphs:

5 ‘‘(8) SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENTS FOR BILLING

6 FOR INFORMATION PROVIDED VIA TOLL-FREE

7 CALLS.—

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para9 graph (7)(C)(i), a written subscription agree10 ment shall specify the terms and conditions

11 under which the information is offered and in12 clude—

13 ‘‘(i) the rate at which charges are as14 sessed for the information;

15 ‘‘(ii) the information provider’s name;

16 ‘‘(iii) the information provider’s busi17 ness address;

18 ‘‘(iv) the information provider’s regu19 lar business telephone number;

20 ‘‘(v) the information provider’s agree21 ment to notify the subscriber at least 30

22 days in advance of all future changes in the

23 rates charged for the information;
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1 ‘‘(vi) the signature of a legally com2 petent subscriber agreeing to the terms of

3 the agreement; and

4 ‘‘(vii) the subscriber’s choice of pay5 ment method, which may be by phone bill

6 or credit, prepaid, or calling card.

7 ‘‘(B) BILLING ARRANGEMENTS.—If a sub8 scriber elects, pursuant to subparagraph (A)(vii),

9 to pay by means of a phone bill—

10 ‘‘(i) the agreement shall clearly explain

11 that the subscriber will be assessed for calls

12 made to the information service from the

13 subscriber’s phone line;

14 ‘‘(ii) the phone bill shall include, in

15 prominent type, the following disclaimer:

16 ‘Common carriers may not dis17 connect local or long distance telephone

18 service for failure to pay disputed

19 charges for information services.’; and

20 ‘‘(iii) the phone bill shall clearly list

21 the 800 number dialed.

22 ‘‘(C) USE OF PIN’S TO PREVENT UNAUTHOR23 IZED USE.—A written agreement does not meet

24 the requirements of this paragraph unless it pro25 vides the subscriber a personal identification
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1 number to obtain access to the information pro2 vided, and includes instructions on its use.

3 ‘‘(D) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding para4 graph (7)(C), a written agreement that meets the

5 requirements of this paragraph is not required—

6 ‘‘(i) for services provided pursuant to a

7 tariff that has been approved or permitted

8 to take effect by the Commission or a State

9 commission; or

10 ‘‘(ii) for any purchase of goods or of

11 services that are not information services.

12 ‘‘(E) TERMINATION OF SERVICE.—On com13 plaint by any person, a carrier may terminate

14 the provision of service to an information pro15 vider unless the provider supplies evidence of a

16 written agreement that meets the requirements of

17 this section. The remedies provided in this para18 graph are in addition to any other remedies that

19 are available under title V of this Act.

20 ‘‘(9) CHARGES BY CREDIT, PREPAID, OR CALLING

21 CARD IN ABSENCE OF AGREEMENT.—For purposes of

22 paragraph (7)(C)(ii), a calling party is not charged

23 in accordance with this paragraph unless the calling

24 party is charged by means of a credit, prepaid, or

25 calling card and the information service provider in-
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1 cludes in response to each call an introductory disclo2 sure message that—

3 ‘‘(A) clearly states that there is a charge for

4 the call;

5 ‘‘(B) clearly states the service’s total cost

6 per minute and any other fees for the service or

7 for any service to which the caller may be trans8 ferred;

9 ‘‘(C) explains that the charges must be

10 billed on either a credit, prepaid, or calling card;

11 ‘‘(D) asks the caller for the credit or calling

12 card number;

13 ‘‘(E) clearly states that charges for the call

14 begin at the end of the introductory message; and

15 ‘‘(F) clearly states that the caller can hang

16 up at or before the end of the introductory mes17 sage without incurring any charge whatsoever.

18 ‘‘(10) DEFINITION OF CALLING CARD.—As used

19 in this subsection, the term ‘calling card’ means an

20 identifying number or code unique to the individual,

21 that is issued to the individual by a common carrier

22 and enables the individual to be charged by means of

23 a phone bill for charges incurred independent of

24 where the call originates.’’.
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1 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Federal Communications

2 Commission shall revise its regulations to comply with the

3 amendment made by subsection (a) of this section within

4 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

5 SEC. 110. REPORT ON MEANS OF RESTRICTING ACCESS TO

6 UNWANTED MATERIAL IN INTERACTIVE TELE7 COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS.

8 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 150 days after the date

9 of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall sub10 mit to the Committees on the Judiciary and Commerce,

11 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Commit12 tees on the Judiciary and Commerce of the House of Rep13 resentatives a report containing—

14 (1) an evaluation of the enforceability with re15 spect to interactive media of current criminal laws

16 governing the distribution of obscenity over computer

17 networks and the creation and distribution of child

18 pornography by means of computers;

19 (2) an assessment of the Federal, State, and local

20 law enforcement resources that are currently available

21 to enforce such laws;

22 (3) an evaluation of the technical means avail23 able—

24 (A) to enable parents to exercise control over

25 the information that their children receive by
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1 interactive telecommunications systems so that

2 children may avoid violent, sexually explicit,

3 harassing, offensive, and other unwanted mate4 rial on such systems;

5 (B) to enable other users of such systems to

6 exercise control over the commercial and non7 commercial information that they receive by such

8 systems so that such users may avoid violent,

9 sexually explicit, harassing, offensive, and other

10 unwanted material on such systems; and

11 (C) to promote the free flow of information,

12 consistent with the values expressed in the Con13 stitution, in interactive media; and

14 (4) recommendations on means of encouraging

15 the development and deployment of technology, in16 cluding computer hardware and software, to enable

17 parents and other users of interactive telecommuni18 cations systems to exercise the control described in

19 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3).

20 (b) CONSULTATION.—In preparing the report under

21 subsection (a), the Attorney General shall consult with the

22 Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and

23 Information.
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1 SEC. 111. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any other sums au3 thorized by law, there are authorized to be appropriated to

4 the Federal Communications Commission such sums as

5 may be necessary to carry out this Act and the amendments

6 made by this Act.

7 (b) EFFECT ON FEES.—For the purposes of section

8 9(b)(2) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 159(b)(2)), additional

9 amounts appropriated pursuant to subsection (a) shall be

10 construed to be changes in the amounts appropriated for

11 the performance of activities described in section 9(a) of

12 such Act.

13 TITLE II—CABLE COMMUNICA14 TIONS COMPETITIVENESS

15 SEC. 201. CABLE SERVICE PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE COM16 PANIES.

17 (a) GENERAL REQUIREMENT.—

18 (1) AMENDMENT.—Section 613(b) of the Act (47

19 U.S.C. 533(b)) is amended to read as follows:

20 ‘‘(b)(1) Subject to the requirements of part V and the

21 other provisions of this title, any common carrier subject

22 in whole or in part to title II of this Act may, either

23 through its own facilities or through an affiliate, provide

24 video programming directly to subscribers in its telephone

25 service area.
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1 ‘‘(2) Subject to the requirements of part V and the

2 other provisions of this title, any common carrier subject

3 in whole or in part to title II of this Act may provide chan4 nels of communications or pole, line, or conduit space, or

5 other rental arrangements, to any entity which is directly

6 or indirectly owned, operated, or controlled by, or under

7 common control with, such common carrier, if such facili8 ties or arrangements are to be used for, or in connection

9 with, the provision of video programming directly to sub10 scribers in its telephone service area.

11 ‘‘(3)(A) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), an

12 affiliate described in subparagraph (B) shall not be subject

13 to the requirements of part V, but—

14 ‘‘(i) if providing video programming as a cable

15 service using a cable system, shall be subject to the re16 quirements of this part and parts III and IV; and

17 ‘‘(ii) if providing such video programming by

18 means of radio communication, shall be subject to the

19 requirements of title III.

20 ‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), an affiliate

21 is described in this subparagraph if such affiliate—

22 ‘‘(i) is, consistently with section 655, owned, op23 erated, or controlled by, or under common control

24 with, a common carrier subject in whole or in part

25 to title II of this Act;
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1 ‘‘(ii) provides video programming to subscribers

2 in the telephone service area of such carrier; and

3 ‘‘(iii) does not utilize the local exchange facilities

4 or services of any affiliated common carrier in dis5 tributing such programming.’’.

6 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 602 of

7 the Act (47 U.S.C. 531) is amended—

8 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (18) and

9 (19) as paragraphs (19) and (20) respectively;

10 and

11 (B) by inserting after paragraph (17) the

12 following new paragraph:

13 ‘‘(18) the term ‘telephone service area’ when used

14 in connection with a common carrier subject in whole

15 or in part to title II of this Act means the area with16 in which such carrier provides telephone exchange

17 service as of January 1, 1993, but if any common

18 carrier after such date transfers its exchange service

19 facilities to another common carrier, the area to

20 which such facilities provide telephone exchange serv21 ice shall be treated as part of the telephone service

22 area of the acquiring common carrier and not of the

23 selling common carrier;’’.

24 (b) PROVISIONS FOR REGULATION OF CABLE SERVICE

25 PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE COMPANIES.—Title VI of the
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1 Act (47 U.S.C. 521 et seq.) is amended by adding at the

2 end the following new part:

3 ‘‘PART V—VIDEO PROGRAMMING SERVICES

4 PROVIDED BY TELEPHONE COMPANIES

5 ‘‘SEC. 651. DEFINITIONS.

6 ‘‘For purposes of this part—

7 ‘‘(1) the term ‘control’ means—

8 ‘‘(A) an ownership interest in which an en9 tity has the right to vote more than 50 percent

10 of the outstanding common stock or other owner11 ship interest; or

12 ‘‘(B) if no single entity directly or indi13 rectly has the right to vote more than 50 percent

14 of the outstanding common stock or other owner15 ship interest, actual working control, in whatever

16 manner exercised, as defined by the Commission

17 by regulation on the basis of relevant factors and

18 circumstances, which shall include partnership

19 and direct ownership interests, voting stock in20 terests, the interests of officers and directors, and

21 the aggregation of voting interests; and

22 ‘‘(2) the term ‘rural area’ means a geographic

23 area that does not include either—
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1 ‘‘(A) any incorporated or unincorporated

2 place of 10,000 inhabitants or more, or any part

3 thereof; or

4 ‘‘(B) any territory, incorporated or unin5 corporated, included in an urbanized area, as

6 defined by the Bureau of the Census.

7 ‘‘SEC. 652. SEPARATE VIDEO PROGRAMMING AFFILIATE.

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

9 (d) of this section and section 613(b)(3), a common carrier

10 subject to title II of this Act shall not provide video pro11 gramming directly to subscribers in its telephone service

12 area unless such video programming is provided through

13 a video programming affiliate that is separate from such

14 carrier.

15 ‘‘(b) BOOKS AND MARKETING.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A video programming affili17 ate of a common carrier shall—

18 ‘‘(A) maintain books, records, and accounts

19 separate from such carrier which identify all

20 transactions with such carrier;

21 ‘‘(B) carry out directly (or through any

22 nonaffiliated person) its own promotion, except

23 that institutional advertising carried out by such

24 carrier shall be permitted so long as each party

25 bears its pro rata share of the costs; and
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1 ‘‘(C) not own real or personal property in

2 common with such carrier.

3 ‘‘(2) INBOUND TELEMARKETING AND REFER4 RAL.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(B), a common

5 carrier may provide telemarketing or referral services

6 in response to the call of a customer or potential cus7 tomer related to the provision of video programming

8 by a video programming affiliate of such carrier. If

9 such services are provided to a video programming af10 filiate, such services shall be made available to any

11 video programmer or cable operator on request, on

12 nondiscriminatory terms, at just and reasonable

13 prices.

14 ‘‘(3) JOINT MARKETING.—Notwithstanding para15 graph (1)(B) or section 613(b)(3), a common carrier

16 may market video programming directly upon a

17 showing to the Commission that a cable operator or

18 other entity directly or indirectly provides tele19 communications services within the telephone service

20 area of the common carrier, and markets such tele21 communications services jointly with video program22 ming services. The common carrier shall specify the

23 geographic region covered by the showing. The Com24 mission shall approve or disapprove such showing

25 within 60 days after the date of its submission.
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1 ‘‘(c) BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS WITH CARRIER.—Any

2 contract, agreement, arrangement, or other manner of con3 ducting business, between a common carrier and its video

4 programming affiliate, providing for—

5 ‘‘(1) the sale, exchange, or leasing of property be6 tween such affiliate and such carrier,

7 ‘‘(2) the furnishing of goods or services between

8 such affiliate and such carrier, or

9 ‘‘(3) the transfer to or use by such affiliate for

10 its benefit of any asset or resource of such carrier,

11 shall be on a fully compensatory and auditable basis, shall

12 be without cost to the telephone service ratepayers of the

13 carrier, and shall be in compliance with regulations estab14 lished by the Commission that will enable the Commission

15 to assess the compliance of any transaction.

16 ‘‘(d) WAIVER.—

17 ‘‘(1) CRITERIA FOR WAIVER.—The Commission

18 may waive any of the requirements of this section for

19 small telephone companies or telephone companies

20 serving rural areas, if the Commission determines,

21 after notice and comment, that—

22 ‘‘(A) such waiver will not affect the ability

23 of the Commission to ensure that all video pro24 gramming activity is carried out without any

25 support from telephone ratepayers;
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1 ‘‘(B) the interests of telephone ratepayers

2 and cable subscribers will not be harmed if such

3 waiver is granted;

4 ‘‘(C) such waiver will not adversely affect

5 the ability of persons to obtain access to the

6 video platform of such carrier; and

7 ‘‘(D) such waiver otherwise is in the public

8 interest.

9 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR ACTION.—The Commission

10 shall act to approve or disapprove a waiver applica11 tion within 180 days after the date it is filed.

12 ‘‘(3) CONTINUED APPLICABILITY OF SECTION

13 656.—In the case of a common carrier that obtains

14 a waiver under this subsection, any requirement that

15 section 656 applies to a video programming affiliate

16 shall instead apply to such carrier.

17 ‘‘(e) SUNSET OF REQUIREMENTS.—The provisions of

18 this section shall cease to be effective on July 1, 2000.

19 ‘‘SEC. 653. ESTABLISHMENT OF VIDEO PLATFORM.

20 ‘‘(a) VIDEO PLATFORM.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sec22 tion 613(b)(3), any common carrier subject to title II

23 of this Act, and that provides video programming di24 rectly to subscribers in its telephone service area, shall

25 establish a video platform. This paragraph shall not
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1 apply to any carrier to the extent that it provides

2 video programming directly to subscribers in its tele3 phone service area solely through a cable system ac4 quired in accordance with section 655(b).

5 ‘‘(2) IDENTIFICATION OF DEMAND FOR CAR6 RIAGE.—Any common carrier subject to the require7 ments of paragraph (1) shall, prior to establishing a

8 video platform, submit a notice to the Commission of

9 its intention to establish channel capacity for the pro10 vision of video programming to meet the bona fide de11 mand for such capacity. Such notice shall—

12 ‘‘(A) be in such form and contain informa13 tion concerning the geographic area intended to

14 be served and such information as the Commis15 sion may require by regulations pursuant to sub16 section (b);

17 ‘‘(B) specify the methods by which any en18 tity seeking to use such channel capacity should

19 submit to such carrier a specification of its

20 channel capacity requirements; and

21 ‘‘(C) specify the procedures by which such

22 carrier will determine (in accordance with the

23 Commission’s regulations under subsection

24 (b)(1)(B)) whether such requests for capacity are

25 bona fide.
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1 The Commission shall submit any such notice for

2 publication in the Federal Register within 5 working

3 days.

4 ‘‘(3) RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR CARRIAGE.—

5 After receiving and reviewing the requests for capac6 ity submitted pursuant to such notice, such common

7 carrier shall establish channel capacity that is suffi8 cient to provide carriage for—

9 ‘‘(A) all bona fide requests submitted pursu10 ant to such notice,

11 ‘‘(B) any additional channels required pur12 suant to section 656, and

13 ‘‘(C) any additional channels required by

14 the Commission’s regulations under subsection

15 (b)(1)(C).

16 ‘‘(4) RESPONSES TO CHANGES IN DEMAND FOR

17 CAPACITY.—Any common carrier that establishes a

18 video platform under this section shall—

19 ‘‘(A) immediately notify the Commission

20 and each video programming provider of any

21 delay in or denial of channel capacity or service,

22 and the reasons therefor;

23 ‘‘(B) continue to receive and grant, to the

24 extent of available capacity, carriage in response
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1 to bona fide requests for carriage from existing

2 or additional video programming providers;

3 ‘‘(C) if at any time the number of channels

4 required for bona fide requests for carriage may

5 reasonably be expected soon to exceed the existing

6 capacity of such video platform, immediately no7 tify the Commission of such expectation and of

8 the manner and date by which such carrier will

9 provide sufficient capacity to meet such excess

10 demand; and

11 ‘‘(D) construct such additional capacity as

12 may be necessary to meet such excess demand.

13 ‘‘(5) DISPUTE RESOLUTION.—The Commission

14 shall have the authority to resolve disputes under this

15 section and the regulations prescribed thereunder.

16 Any such dispute shall be resolved within 180 days

17 after notice of such dispute is submitted to the Com18 mission. At that time or subsequently in a separate

19 damages proceeding, the Commission may award

20 damages sustained in consequence of any violation of

21 this section to any person denied carriage, or require

22 carriage, or both. Any aggrieved party may seek any

23 other remedy available under this Act.

24 ‘‘(b) COMMISSION ACTIONS.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within 15 months after the

2 date of the enactment of this section, the Commission

3 shall complete all actions necessary (including any

4 reconsideration) to prescribe regulations that—

5 ‘‘(A) consistent with the requirements of sec6 tion 656, prohibit a common carrier from dis7 criminating among video programming provid8 ers with regard to carriage on its video platform,

9 and ensure that the rates, terms, and conditions

10 for such carriage are just, reasonable, and non11 discriminatory;

12 ‘‘(B) prescribe definitions and criteria for

13 the purposes of determining whether a request

14 shall be considered a bona fide request for pur15 poses of this section;

16 ‘‘(C) permit a common carrier to carry on

17 only one channel any video programming service

18 that is offered by more than one video program19 ming provider (including the common carrier’s

20 video programming affiliate), provided that sub21 scribers have ready and immediate access to any

22 such video programming service;

23 ‘‘(D) extend to the distribution of video pro24 gramming over video platforms the Commission’s

25 regulations concerning network nonduplication
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1 (47 C.F.R. 76.92 et seq.) and syndicated exclu2 sivity (47 C.F.R. 76.151 et seq.);

3 ‘‘(E) require the video platform to provide

4 service, transmission, and interconnection for

5 unaffiliated or independent video programming

6 providers that is equivalent to that provided to

7 the common carrier’s video programming affili8 ate, except that the video platform shall not dis9 criminate between analog and digital video pro10 gramming offered by such unaffiliated or inde11 pendent video programming providers;

12 ‘‘(F)(i) prohibit a common carrier from un13 reasonably discriminating in favor of its video

14 programming affiliate with regard to material

15 or information provided by the common carrier

16 to subscribers for the purposes of selecting pro17 gramming on the video platform, or in the way

18 such material or information is presented to sub19 scribers;

20 ‘‘(ii) require a common carrier to ensure

21 that video programming providers or copyright

22 holders (or both) are able suitably and uniquely

23 to identify their programming services to sub24 scribers; and
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1 ‘‘(iii) if such identification is transmitted

2 as part of the programming signal, require the

3 carrier to transmit such identification without

4 change or alteration; and

5 ‘‘(G) prohibit a common carrier from ex6 cluding areas from its video platform service

7 area on the basis of the ethnicity, race, or income

8 of the residents of that area, and provide for

9 public comments on the adequacy of the proposed

10 service area on the basis of the standards set

11 forth under this subparagraph.

12 Nothing in this section prohibits a common carrier or

13 its affiliate from negotiating mutually agreeable

14 terms and conditions with over-the-air broadcast sta15 tions and other unaffiliated video programming pro16 viders to allow consumer access to their signals on

17 any level or screen of any gateway, menu, or other

18 program guide, whether provided by the carrier or its

19 affiliate.

20 ‘‘(2) APPLICABILITY TO OTHER HIGH CAPACITY

21 SYSTEMS.—The Commission shall apply the require22 ments of this section, in lieu of the requirements of

23 section 612, to any cable operator of a cable system

24 that has installed a switched, broadband video pro25 gramming delivery system, except that the Commis-
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1 sion shall not apply the requirements of the regula2 tions prescribed pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(D) or

3 any other requirement that the Commission deter4 mines is inappropriate.

5 ‘‘(c) REGULATORY STREAMLINING.—With respect to

6 the establishment and operation of a video platform, the re7 quirements of this section shall apply in lieu of, and not

8 in addition to, the requirements of title II.

9 ‘‘(d) COMMISSION INQUIRY.—The Commission shall

10 conduct a study of whether it is in the public interest to

11 extend the requirements of subsection (a) to any other cable

12 operators in lieu of the requirements of section 612. The

13 Commission shall submit to the Congress a report on the

14 results of such study not later than 2 years after the date

15 of enactment of this section.

16 ‘‘SEC. 654. AUTHORITY TO PROHIBIT CROSS-SUBSIDIZA17 TION.

18 ‘‘Nothing in this part shall prohibit a State commis19 sion that regulates the rates for telephone exchange service

20 or exchange access based on the cost of providing such serv21 ice or access from—

22 ‘‘(1) prescribing regulations to prohibit a com23 mon carrier from engaging in any practice that re24 sults in the inclusion in rates for telephone exchange

25 service or exchange access of any operating expenses,
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1 costs, depreciation charges, capital investments, or

2 other expenses directly associated with the provision

3 of competing video programming services by the com4 mon carrier or affiliate; or

5 ‘‘(2) ensuring such competing video program6 ming services bear a reasonable share of the joint and

7 common costs of facilities used to provide telephone

8 exchange service or exchange access and competing

9 video programming services.

10 ‘‘SEC. 655. PROHIBITION ON BUY OUTS.

11 ‘‘(a) GENERAL PROHIBITION.—No common carrier

12 that provides telephone exchange service, and no entity

13 owned by or under common ownership or control with such

14 carrier, may purchase or otherwise obtain control over any

15 cable system that is located within its telephone service area

16 and is owned by an unaffiliated person.

17 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), a

18 common carrier may—

19 ‘‘(1) obtain a controlling interest in, or form a

20 joint venture or other partnership with, a cable sys21 tem that serves a rural area;

22 ‘‘(2) obtain, in addition to any interest, joint

23 venture, or partnership obtained or formed pursuant

24 to paragraph (1), a controlling interest in, or form a
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1 joint venture or other partnership with, any cable

2 system or systems if—

3 ‘‘(A) such systems in the aggregate serve less

4 than 10 percent of the households in the tele5 phone service area of such carrier; and

6 ‘‘(B) no such system serves a franchise area

7 with more than 35,000 inhabitants, except that

8 a common carrier may obtain such interest or

9 form such joint venture or other partnership

10 with a cable system that serves a franchise area

11 with more than 35,000 but not more than 50,000

12 inhabitants if such system is not affiliated with

13 any other system whose franchise area is contig14 uous to the franchise area of the acquired system;

15 ‘‘(3) obtain, with the concurrence of the cable op16 erator on the rates, terms, and conditions, the use of

17 that part of the transmission facilities of such a cable

18 system extending from the last multi-user terminal to

19 the premises of the end user, if such use is reasonably

20 limited in scope and duration, as determined by the

21 Commission; or

22 ‘‘(4) obtain a controlling interest in, or form a

23 joint venture or other partnership with, or provide fi24 nancing to, a cable system (hereinafter in this para25 graph referred to as ‘the subject cable system’), if—
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1 ‘‘(A) the subject cable system operates in a

2 television market that is not in the top 25 mar3 kets, and that has more than 1 cable system op4 erator, and the subject cable system is not the

5 largest cable system in such television market;

6 ‘‘(B) the subject cable system and the largest

7 cable system in such television market held on

8 May 1, 1995, cable television franchises from the

9 largest municipality in the television market and

10 the boundaries of such franchises were identical

11 on such date;

12 ‘‘(C) the subject cable system is not owned

13 by or under common ownership or control of any

14 one of the 50 largest cable system operators as

15 existed on May 1, 1995; and

16 ‘‘(D) the largest system in the television

17 market is owned by or under common ownership

18 or control of any one of the 10 largest cable sys19 tem operators as existed on May 1, 1995.

20 ‘‘(c) WAIVER.—

21 ‘‘(1) CRITERIA FOR WAIVER.—The Commission

22 may waive the restrictions in subsection (a) of this

23 section only upon a showing by the applicant that—

24 ‘‘(A) because of the nature of the market

25 served by the cable system concerned—
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1 ‘‘(i) the incumbent cable operator

2 would be subjected to undue economic dis3 tress by the enforcement of such subsection;

4 or

5 ‘‘(ii) the cable system would not be eco6 nomically viable if such subsection were en7 forced; and

8 ‘‘(B) the local franchising authority ap9 proves of such waiver.

10 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR ACTION.—The Commission

11 shall act to approve or disapprove a waiver applica12 tion within 180 days after the date it is filed.

13 ‘‘SEC. 656. APPLICABILITY OF PARTS I THROUGH IV.

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any provision that applies to a

15 cable operator under—

16 ‘‘(1) sections 613 (other than subsection (a)(2)

17 thereof), 616, 617, 628, 631, 632, and 634 of this title,

18 shall apply,

19 ‘‘(2) sections 611, 612, 614, and 615 of this title,

20 and section 325 of title III, shall apply in accordance

21 with the regulations prescribed under subsection (b),

22 and

23 ‘‘(3) parts III and IV (other than sections 628,

24 631, 632, and 634) of this title shall not apply,
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1 to any video programming affiliate established by a com2 mon carrier in accordance with the requirements of this

3 part.

4 ‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—

5 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION ACTION.—The Commission

6 shall prescribe regulations to ensure that a common

7 carrier in the operation of its video platform shall

8 provide (A) capacity, services, facilities, and equip9 ment for public, educational, and governmental use,

10 (B) capacity for commercial use, (C) carriage of com11 mercial and non-commercial broadcast television sta12 tions, and (D) an opportunity for commercial broad13 cast stations to choose between mandatory carriage

14 and reimbursement for retransmission of the signal of

15 such station. In prescribing such regulations, the

16 Commission shall, to the extent possible, impose obli17 gations that are no greater or lesser than the obliga18 tions contained in the provisions described in sub19 section (a)(2) of this section.

20 ‘‘(2) FEES.—A video programming affiliate of

21 any common carrier that establishes a video platform

22 under this part, and any multichannel video pro23 gramming distributor offering a competing service

24 using such video platform (as determined in accord25 ance with regulations of the Commission), shall be
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1 subject to the payment of fees imposed by a local fran2 chising authority, in lieu of the fees required under

3 section 622. The rate at which such fees are imposed

4 shall not exceed the rate at which franchise fees are

5 imposed on any cable operator transmitting video

6 programming in the same service area.

7 ‘‘SEC. 657. RURAL AREA EXEMPTION.

8 ‘‘The provisions of sections 652, 653, and 655 shall not

9 apply to video programming provided in a rural area by

10 a common carrier that provides telephone exchange service

11 in the same area.’’.

12 SEC. 202. COMPETITION FROM CABLE SYSTEMS.

13 (a) DEFINITION OF CABLE SERVICE.—Section

14 602(6)(B) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 522(6)(B)) is amended by

15 inserting ‘‘or use’’ after ‘‘the selection’’.

16 (b) CLUSTERING.—Section 613 of the Act (47 U.S.C.

17 533) is amended by adding at the end the following new

18 subsection:

19 ‘‘(i) ACQUISITION OF CABLE SYSTEMS.—Except as

20 provided in section 655, the Commission may not require

21 divestiture of, or restrict or prevent the acquisition of, an

22 ownership interest in a cable system by any person based

23 in whole or in part on the geographic location of such cable

24 system.’’.
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1 (c) EQUIPMENT.—Section 623(a) of the Act (47 U.S.C.

2 543(a)) is amended—

3 (1) in paragraph (6)—

4 (A) by striking ‘‘paragraph (4)’’ and insert5 ing ‘‘paragraph (5)’’;

6 (B) by striking ‘‘paragraph (5)’’ and insert7 ing ‘‘paragraph (6)’’; and

8 (C) by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ and insert9 ing ‘‘paragraph (4)’’;

10 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (6)

11 as paragraphs (4) through (7), respectively; and

12 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the follow13 ing new paragraph:

14 ‘‘(3) EQUIPMENT.—If the Commission finds that

15 a cable system is subject to effective competition under

16 subparagraph (D) of subsection (l)(1), the rates for

17 equipment, installations, and connections for addi18 tional television receivers (other than equipment, in19 stallations, and connections furnished by such system

20 to subscribers who receive only a rate regulated basic

21 service tier) shall not be subject to regulation by the

22 Commission or by a State or franchising authority.

23 If the Commission finds that a cable system is subject

24 to effective competition under subparagraph (A), (B),

25 or (C) of subsection (l)(1), the rates for any equip-
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1 ment, installations, and connections furnished by

2 such system to any subscriber shall not be subject to

3 regulation by the Commission, or by a State or fran4 chising authority. No Federal agency, State, or fran5 chising authority may establish the price or rate for

6 the installation, sale, or lease of any equipment fur7 nished to any subscriber by a cable system solely in

8 connection with video programming offered on a per

9 channel or per program basis.’’.

10 (d) LIMITATION ON BASIC TIER RATE INCREASES;

11 SCOPE OF REVIEW.—Section 623(a) of the Act (47 U.S.C.

12 543(a)) is further amended by adding at the end the follow13 ing new paragraph:

14 ‘‘(8) LIMITATION ON BASIC TIER RATE IN15 CREASES; SCOPE OF REVIEW.—A cable operator may

16 not increase its basic service tier rate more than once

17 every 6 months. Such increase may be implemented,

18 using any reasonable billing or proration method, 30

19 days after providing notice to subscribers and the ap20 propriate regulatory authority. The rate resulting

21 from such increase shall be deemed reasonable and

22 shall not be subject to reduction or refund if the fran23 chising authority or the Commission, as appropriate,

24 does not complete its review and issue a final order

25 within 90 days after implementation of such increase.
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1 The review by the franchising authority or the Com2 mission of any future increase in such rate shall be

3 limited to the incremental change in such rate effected

4 by such increase.’’.

5 (e) NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE DE6 VELOPMENT.—Section 623(a) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 543) is

7 further amended by adding at the end the following new

8 paragraph:

9 ‘‘(9) NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUC10 TURE.—

11 ‘‘(A) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this

12 paragraph to—

13 ‘‘(i) promote the development of the

14 National Information Infrastructure;

15 ‘‘(ii) enhance the competitiveness of the

16 National Information Infrastructure by en17 suring that cable operators have incentives

18 comparable to other industries to develop

19 such infrastructure; and

20 ‘‘(iii) encourage the rapid deployment

21 of digital technology necessary to the devel22 opment of the National Information Infra23 structure.

24 ‘‘(B) AGGREGATION OF EQUIPMENT

25 COSTS.—The Commission shall allow cable oper-
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1 ators, pursuant to any rules promulgated under

2 subsection (b)(3), to aggregate, on a franchise,

3 system, regional, or company level, their equip4 ment costs into broad categories, such as con5 verter boxes, regardless of the varying levels of

6 functionality of the equipment within each such

7 broad category. Such aggregation shall not be

8 permitted with respect to equipment used by sub9 scribers who receive only a rate regulated basic

10 service tier.

11 ‘‘(C) REVISION TO COMMISSION RULES;

12 FORMS.—Within 120 days of the date of enact13 ment of this paragraph, the Commission shall

14 issue revisions to the appropriate rules and

15 forms necessary to implement subparagraph

16 (B).’’.

17 (f) COMPLAINT THRESHOLD; SCOPE OF COMMISSION

18 REVIEW.—Section 623(c) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 543(c)) is

19 amended—

20 (1) by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the

21 following:

22 ‘‘(3) REVIEW OF COMPLAINTS.—

23 ‘‘(A) COMPLAINT THRESHOLD.—The Com24 mission shall have the authority to review any

25 increase in the rates for cable programming serv-
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1 ices implemented after the date of enactment of

2 the Communications Act of 1995 only if, within

3 90 days after such increase becomes effective, at

4 least 10 subscribers to such services or 5 percent

5 of the subscribers to such services, whichever is

6 greater, file separate, individual complaints

7 against such increase with the Commission in

8 accordance with the requirements established

9 under paragraph (1)(B).

10 ‘‘(B) TIME PERIOD FOR COMMISSION RE11 VIEW.—The Commission shall complete its re12 view of any such increase and issue a final order

13 within 90 days after it receives the number of

14 complaints required by subparagraph (A).

15 ‘‘(4) TREATMENT OF PENDING CABLE PROGRAM16 MING SERVICES COMPLAINTS.—Upon enactment of the

17 Communications Act of 1995, the Commission shall

18 suspend the processing of all pending cable program19 ming services rate complaints. These pending com20 plaints shall be counted by the Commission toward

21 the complaint threshold specified in paragraph

22 (3)(A). Parties shall have an additional 90 days from

23 the date of enactment of such Act to file complaints

24 about prior increases in cable programming services

25 rates if such rate increases were already subject to a
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1 valid, pending complaint on such date of enactment.

2 At the expiration of such 90-day period, the Commis3 sion shall dismiss all pending cable programming

4 services rate cases for which the complaint threshold

5 has not been met, and may resume its review of those

6 pending cable programming services rate cases for

7 which the complaint threshold has been met, which

8 review shall be completed within 180 days after the

9 date of enactment of the Communications Act of 1995.

10 ‘‘(5) SCOPE OF COMMISSION REVIEW.—A cable

11 programming services rate shall be deemed not unrea12 sonable and shall not be subject to reduction or refund

13 if—

14 ‘‘(A) such rate was not the subject of a

15 pending complaint at the time of enactment of

16 the Communications Act of 1995;

17 ‘‘(B) such rate was the subject of a com18 plaint that was dismissed pursuant to para19 graph (4);

20 ‘‘(C) such rate resulted from an increase for

21 which the complaint threshold specified in para22 graph (3)(A) has not been met;

23 ‘‘(D) the Commission does not complete its

24 review and issue a final order in the time period

25 specified in paragraph (3)(B) or (4); or
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1 ‘‘(E) the Commission issues an order find2 ing such rate to be not unreasonable.

3 The review by the Commission of any future increase

4 in such rate shall be limited to the incremental

5 change in such rate effected by such increase.’’;

6 (2) in paragraph (1)(B) by striking ‘‘obtain

7 Commission consideration and resolution of whether

8 the rate in question is unreasonable’’ and inserting

9 ‘‘be counted toward the complaint threshold specified

10 in paragraph (3)(A)’’; and

11 (3) in paragraph (1)(C) by striking ‘‘such com12 plaint’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘the first com13 plaint’’.

14 (g) UNIFORM RATE STRUCTURE.—Section 623(d) of

15 the Act (47 U.S.C. 543(d)) is amended to read as follows:

16 ‘‘(d) UNIFORM RATE STRUCTURE.—A cable operator

17 shall have a uniform rate structure throughout its franchise

18 area for the provision of cable services that are regulated

19 by the Commission or the franchising authority. Bulk dis20 counts to multiple dwelling units shall not be subject to this

21 requirement.’’.

22 (h) EFFECTIVE COMPETITION.—Section 623(l)(1) of

23 the Act (47 U.S.C. 543(l)(1)) is amended—

24 (1) in subparagraph (B)(ii)—
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1 (A) by inserting ‘‘all’’ before ‘‘multichannel

2 video programming distributors’’; and

3 (B) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end thereof;

4 (2) by striking the period at the end of subpara5 graph (C) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

6 (3) by adding at the end the following:

7 ‘‘(D) with respect to cable programming

8 services and subscriber equipment, installations,

9 and connections for additional television receiv10 ers (other than equipment, installations, and

11 connections furnished to subscribers who receive

12 only a rate regulated basic service tier)—

13 ‘‘(i) a common carrier has been au14 thorized by the Commission to construct fa15 cilities to provide video dialtone service in

16 the cable operator’s franchise area;

17 ‘‘(ii) a common carrier has been au18 thorized by the Commission or pursuant to

19 a franchise to provide video programming

20 directly to subscribers in the franchise area;

21 or

22 ‘‘(iii) the Commission has completed

23 all actions necessary (including any recon24 sideration) to prescribe regulations pursu-
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1 ant to section 653(b)(1) relating to video

2 platforms.’’.

3 (i) RELIEF FOR SMALL CABLE OPERATORS.—Section

4 623 of the Act (47 U.S.C. 543) is amended by adding at

5 the end the following new subsection:

6 ‘‘(m) SMALL CABLE OPERATORS.—

7 ‘‘(1) SMALL CABLE OPERATOR RELIEF.—A small

8 cable operator shall not be subject to subsections (a),

9 (b), (c), or (d) in any franchise area with respect to

10 the provision of cable programming services, or a

11 basic service tier where such tier was the only tier of12 fered in such area on December 31, 1994.

13 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION OF SMALL CABLE OPERATOR.—

14 For purposes of this subsection, ‘small cable operator’

15 means a cable operator that—

16 ‘‘(A) directly or through an affiliate, serves

17 in the aggregate fewer than 1 percent of all cable

18 subscribers in the United States; and

19 ‘‘(B) is not affiliated with any entity or en20 tities whose gross annual revenues in the aggre21 gate exceed $250,000,000.’’.

22 (j) TECHNICAL STANDARDS.—Section 624(e) of the Act

23 (47 U.S.C. 544(e)) is amended by striking the last two sen24 tences and inserting the following: ‘‘No State or franchising

25 authority may prohibit, condition, or restrict a cable sys-
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1 tem’s use of any type of subscriber equipment or any trans2 mission technology.’’.

3 (k) CABLE SECURITY SYSTEMS.—Section 624A(b)(2)

4 of the Act (47 U.S.C. 544a(b)(2)) is amended to read as

5 follows:

6 ‘‘(2) CABLE SECURITY SYSTEMS.—No Federal

7 agency, State, or franchising authority may prohibit

8 a cable operator’s use of any security system (includ9 ing scrambling, encryption, traps, and interdiction),

10 except that the Commission may prohibit the use of

11 any such system solely with respect to the delivery of

12 a basic service tier that, as of January 1, 1995, con13 tained only the signals and programming specified in

14 section 623(b)(7)(A), unless the use of such system is

15 necessary to prevent the unauthorized reception of

16 such tier.’’.

17 (l) CABLE EQUIPMENT COMPATIBILITY.—Section

18 624A of the Act (47 U.S.C. 544A), is amended—

19 (1) in subsection (a) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

20 end of paragraph (2), by striking the period at the

21 end of paragraph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and by

22 adding at the end the following new paragraph:

23 ‘‘(4) compatibility among televisions, video cas24 sette recorders, and cable systems can be assured with

25 narrow technical standards that mandate a minimum
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1 degree of common design and operation, leaving all

2 features, functions, protocols, and other product and

3 service options for selection through open competition

4 in the market.’’;

5 (2) in subsection (c)(1)—

6 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A)

7 and (B) as subparagraphs (B) and (C), respec8 tively; and

9 (B) by inserting before such redesignated

10 subparagraph (B) the following new subpara11 graph:

12 ‘‘(A) the need to maximize open competition

13 in the market for all features, functions, proto14 cols, and other product and service options of

15 converter boxes and other cable converters unre16 lated to the descrambling or decryption of cable

17 television signals;’’; and

18 (3) in subsection (c)(2)—

19 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (D)

20 and (E) as subparagraphs (E) and (F), respec21 tively; and

22 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the

23 following new subparagraph:

24 ‘‘(D) to ensure that any standards or regu25 lations developed under the authority of this sec-
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1 tion to ensure compatibility between televisions,

2 video casette recorders, and cable systems do not

3 affect features, functions, protocols, and other

4 product and service options other than those

5 specified in paragraph (1)(B), including tele6 communications interface equipment, home auto7 mation communications, and computer network

8 services;’’.

9 (m) RETIERING OF BASIC TIER SERVICES.—Section

10 625(d) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 543(d)) is amended by adding

11 at the end the following new sentence: ‘‘Any signals or serv12 ices carried on the basic service tier but not required under

13 section 623(b)(7)(A) may be moved from the basic service

14 tier at the operator’s sole discretion, provided that the re15 moval of such a signal or service from the basic service tier

16 is permitted by contract. The movement of such signals or

17 services to an unregulated package of services shall not sub18 ject such package to regulation.’’.

19 (n) SUBSCRIBER NOTICE.—Section 632 of the Act (47

20 U.S.C. 552) is amended—

21 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection

22 (d); and

23 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following

24 new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(c) SUBSCRIBER NOTICE.—A cable operator may pro2 vide notice of service and rate changes to subscribers using

3 any reasonable written means at its sole discretion. Not4 withstanding section 623(b)(6) or any other provision of

5 this Act, a cable operator shall not be required to provide

6 prior notice of any rate change that is the result of a regu7 latory fee, franchise fee, or any other fee, tax, assessment,

8 or charge of any kind imposed by any Federal agency,

9 State, or franchising authority on the transaction between

10 the operator and the subscriber.’’.

11 (o) TREATMENT OF PRIOR YEAR LOSSES.—

12 (1) AMENDMENT.—Section 623 (48 U.S.C. 543)

13 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

14 ‘‘(n) TREATMENT OF PRIOR YEAR LOSSES.—Notwith15 standing any other provision of this section or of section

16 612, losses (including losses associated with the acquisitions

17 of such franchise) that were incurred prior to September

18 4, 1992, with respect to a cable system that is owned and

19 operated by the original franchisee of such system shall not

20 be disallowed, in whole or in part, in the determination

21 of whether the rates for any tier of service or any type of

22 equipment that is subject to regulation under this section

23 are lawful.’’.

24 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

25 paragraph (1) shall take effect on the date of enact-
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1 ment of this Act and shall be applicable to any rate

2 proposal filed on or after September 4, 1993.

3 SEC. 203. COMPETITIVE AVAILABILITY OF NAVIGATION DE4 VICES.

5 Title VII of the Act is amended by adding at the end

6 the following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 713. COMPETITIVE AVAILABILITY OF NAVIGATION DE8 VICES.

9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘telecommunications subscription

11 service’ means the provision directly to subscribers of

12 video, voice, or data services for which a subscriber

13 charge is made.

14 ‘‘(2) The term ‘telecommunications system’ or a

15 ‘telecommunications system operator’ means a pro16 vider of telecommunications subscription service.

17 ‘‘(b) COMPETITIVE CONSUMER AVAILABILITY OF CUS18 TOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT.—The Commission shall

19 adopt regulations to assure competitive availability, to con20 sumers of telecommunications subscription services, of con21 verter boxes, interactive communications devices, and other

22 customer premises equipment from manufacturers, retail23 ers, and other vendors not affiliated with any telecommuni24 cations system operator. Such regulations shall take into

25 account the needs of owners and distributors of video pro-
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1 gramming and information services to ensure system and

2 signal security and prevent theft of service. Such regula3 tions shall not prohibit any telecommunications system op4 erator from also offering devices and customer premises

5 equipment to consumers, provided that the system opera6 tor’s charges to consumers for such devices and equipment

7 are separately stated and not bundled with or subsidized

8 by charges for any telecommunications subscription service.

9 ‘‘(c) WAIVER FOR NEW NETWORK SERVICES.—The

10 Commission may waive a regulation adopted pursuant to

11 subsection (b) for a limited time upon an appropriate show12 ing by a telecommunications system operator that such

13 waiver is necessary to the introduction of a new tele14 communications subscription service.

15 ‘‘(d) SUNSET.—The regulations adopted pursuant to

16 this section shall cease to apply to any market for the acqui17 sition of converter boxes, interactive communications de18 vices, or other customer premises equipment when the Com19 mission determines that such market is competitive.’’.

20 SEC. 204. VIDEO PROGRAMMING ACCESSIBILITY.

21 (a) COMMISSION INQUIRY.—Within 180 days after the

22 date of enactment of this section, the Federal Communica23 tions Commission shall complete an inquiry to ascertain

24 the level at which video programming is closed captioned.

25 Such inquiry shall examine the extent to which existing or
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1 previously published programming is closed captioned, the

2 size of the video programming provider or programming

3 owner providing closed captioning, the size of the market

4 served, the relative audience shares achieved, or any other

5 related factors. The Commission shall submit to the Con6 gress a report on the results of such inquiry.

7 (b) ACCOUNTABILITY CRITERIA.—Within 18 months

8 after the date of enactment, the Commission shall prescribe

9 such regulations as are necessary to implement this section.

10 Such regulations shall ensure that—

11 (1) video programming first published or exhib12 ited after the effective date of such regulations is fully

13 accessible through the provision of closed captions, ex14 cept as provided in subsection (d); and

15 (2) video programming providers or owners

16 maximize the accessibility of video programming first

17 published or exhibited prior to the effective date of

18 such regulations through the provision of closed cap19 tions, except as provided in subsection (d).

20 (c) DEADLINES FOR CAPTIONING.—Such regulations

21 shall include an appropriate schedule of deadlines for the

22 provision of closed captioning of video programming.

23 (d) EXEMPTIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (b)—

24 (1) the Commission may exempt by regulation

25 programs, classes of programs, or services for which
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1 the Commission has determined that the provision of

2 closed captioning would be economically burdensome

3 to the provider or owner of such programming;

4 (2) a provider of video programming or the

5 owner of any program carried by the provider shall

6 not be obligated to supply closed captions if such ac7 tion would be inconsistent with contracts in effect on

8 the date of enactment of this Act, except that nothing

9 in this section shall be construed to relieve a video

10 programming provider of its obligations to provide

11 services required by Federal law; and

12 (3) a provider of video programming or program

13 owner may petition the Commission for an exemption

14 from the requirements of this section, and the Com15 mission may grant such petition upon a showing that

16 the requirements contained in this section would re17 sult in an undue burden.

18 (e) UNDUE BURDEN.—The term ‘‘undue burden’’

19 means significant difficulty or expense. In determining

20 whether the closed captions necessary to comply with the

21 requirements of this paragraph would result in an undue

22 economic burden, the factors to be considered include—

23 (1) the nature and cost of the closed captions for

24 the programming;
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1 (2) the impact on the operation of the provider

2 or program owner;

3 (3) the financial resources of the provider or pro4 gram owner; and

5 (4) the type of operations of the provider or pro6 gram owner.

7 (f) VIDEO DESCRIPTIONS INQUIRY.—Within 6 months

8 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall

9 commence an inquiry to examine the use of video descrip10 tions on video programming in order to ensure the acces11 sibility of video programming to persons with visual im12 pairments, and report to Congress on its findings. The

13 Commission’s report shall assess appropriate methods and

14 schedules for phasing video descriptions into the market15 place, technical and quality standards for video descrip16 tions, a definition of programming for which video descrip17 tions would apply, and other technical and legal issues that

18 the Commission deems appropriate. Following the comple19 tion of such inquiry, the Commission may adopt regulation

20 it deems necessary to promote the accessibility of video pro21 gramming to persons with visual impairments.

22 (g) VIDEO DESCRIPTION.—For purposes of this sec23 tion, ‘‘video description’’ means the insertion of audio nar24 rated descriptions of a television program’s key visual ele25 ments into natural pauses between the program’s dialogue.
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1 (h) PRIVATE RIGHTS OF ACTIONS PROHIBITED.—

2 Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize any

3 private right of action to enforce any requirement of this

4 section or any regulation thereunder. The Commission shall

5 have exclusive jurisdiction with respect to any complaint

6 under this section.

7 SEC. 205. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

8 (a) RETRANSMISSION.—Section 325(b)(2)(D) of the

9 Act (47 U.S.C. 325(b)(2)(D)) is amended to read as follows:

10 ‘‘(D) retransmission by a cable operator or other

11 multichannel video programming distributor of the

12 signal of a superstation if (i) the customers served by

13 the cable operator or other multichannel video pro14 gramming distributor reside outside the originating

15 station’s television market, as defined by the Commis16 sion for purposes of section 614(h)(1)(C); (ii) such

17 signal was obtained from a satellite carrier or terres18 trial microwave common carrier; and (iii) and the

19 origination station was a superstation on May 1,

20 1991.’’.

21 (b) MARKET DETERMINATIONS.—Section

22 614(h)(1)(C)(i) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 534(h)(1)(C)(i)) is

23 amended by striking out ‘‘in the manner provided in section

24 73.3555(d)(3)(i) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations,

25 as in effect on May 1, 1991,’’ and inserting ‘‘by the Com-
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1 mission by regulation or order using, where available, com2 mercial publications which delineate television markets

3 based on viewing patterns,’’.

4 (c) TIME FOR DECISION.—Section 614(h)(1)(C)(iv) of

5 such Act is amended to read as follows:

6 ‘‘(iv) Within 120 days after the date a re7 quest is filed under this subparagraph, the Com8 mission shall grant or deny the request.’’.

9 (d) PROCESSING OF PENDING COMPLAINTS.—The

10 Commission shall, unless otherwise informed by the person

11 making the request, assume that any person making a re12 quest to include or exclude additional communities under

13 section 614(h)(1)(C) of such Act (as in effect prior to the

14 date of enactment of this Act) continues to request such in15 clusion or exclusion under such section as amended under

16 subsection (b).

17 TITLE III—BROADCAST COMMU18 NICATIONS COMPETITIVE19 NESS

20 SEC. 301. BROADCASTER SPECTRUM FLEXIBILITY.

21 Title III of the Act is amended by inserting after sec22 tion 335 (47 U.S.C. 335) the following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 336. BROADCAST SPECTRUM FLEXIBILITY.

2 ‘‘(a) COMMISSION ACTION.—If the Commission deter3 mines to issue additional licenses for advanced television

4 services, the Commission shall—

5 ‘‘(1) limit the initial eligibility for such licenses

6 to persons that, as of the date of such issuance, are

7 licensed to operate a television broadcast station or

8 hold a permit to construct such a station (or both);

9 and

10 ‘‘(2) adopt regulations that allow such licensees

11 or permittees to offer such ancillary or supplementary

12 services on designated frequencies as may be consist13 ent with the public interest, convenience, and neces14 sity.

15 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS OF REGULATIONS.—In prescribing the

16 regulations required by subsection (a), the Commission

17 shall—

18 ‘‘(1) only permit such licensee or permittee to

19 offer ancillary or supplementary services if the use of

20 a designated frequency for such services is consistent

21 with the technology or method designated by the Com22 mission for the provision of advanced television serv23 ices;

24 ‘‘(2) limit the broadcasting of ancillary or sup25 plementary services on designated frequencies so as to

26 avoid derogation of any advanced television services,
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1 including high definition television broadcasts, that

2 the Commission may require using such frequencies;

3 ‘‘(3) apply to any other ancillary or supple4 mentary service such of the Commission’s regulations

5 as are applicable to the offering of analogous services

6 by any other person, except that no ancillary or sup7 plementary service shall have any rights to carriage

8 under section 614 or 615 or be deemed a multichannel

9 video programming distributor for purposes of section

10 628;

11 ‘‘(4) adopt such technical and other requirements

12 as may be necessary or appropriate to assure the

13 quality of the signal used to provide advanced tele14 vision services, and may adopt regulations that stipu15 late the minimum number of hours per day that such

16 signal must be transmitted; and

17 ‘‘(5) prescribe such other regulations as may be

18 necessary for the protection of the public interest, con19 venience, and necessity.

20 ‘‘(c) RECOVERY OF LICENSE.—

21 ‘‘(1) CONDITIONS REQUIRED.—If the Commis22 sion grants a license for advanced television services

23 to a person that, as of the date of such issuance, is

24 licensed to operate a television broadcast station or

25 holds a permit to construct such a station (or both),
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1 the Commission shall, as a condition of such license,

2 require that, upon a determination by the Commis3 sion pursuant to the regulations prescribed under

4 paragraph (2), either the additional license or the

5 original license held by the licensee be surrendered to

6 the Commission in accordance with such regulations

7 for reallocation or reassignment (or both) pursuant

8 to Commission regulation.

9 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA.—The Commission shall prescribe

10 criteria for rendering determinations concerning li11 cense surrender pursuant to license conditions re12 quired by paragraph (1). Such criteria shall—

13 ‘‘(A) require such determinations to be

14 based, on a market-by-market basis, on whether

15 the substantial majority of the public have ob16 tained television receivers that are capable of re17 ceiving advanced television services; and

18 ‘‘(B) not require the cessation of the broad19 casting under either the original or additional

20 license if such cessation would render the tele21 vision receivers of a substantial portion of the

22 public useless, or otherwise cause undue burdens

23 on the owners of such television receivers.

24 ‘‘(3) AUCTION OF RETURNED SPECTRUM.—Any

25 license surrendered under the requirements of this
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1 subsection shall be subject to assignment by use of

2 competitive bidding pursuant to section 309(j), not3 withstanding any limitations contained in paragraph

4 (2) of such section.

5 ‘‘(d) FEES.—

6 ‘‘(1) SERVICES TO WHICH FEES APPLY.—If the

7 regulations prescribed pursuant to subsection (a) per8 mit a licensee to offer ancillary or supplementary

9 services on a designated frequency—

10 ‘‘(A) for which the payment of a subscrip11 tion fee is required in order to receive such serv12 ices, or

13 ‘‘(B) for which the licensee directly or indi14 rectly receives compensation from a third party

15 in return for transmitting material furnished by

16 such third party (other than commercial adver17 tisements used to support broadcasting for which

18 a subscription fee is not required),

19 the Commission shall establish a program to assess

20 and collect from the licensee for such designated fre21 quency an annual fee or other schedule or method of

22 payment that promotes the objectives described in sub23 paragraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2).

24 ‘‘(2) COLLECTION OF FEES.—The program re25 quired by paragraph (1) shall—
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1 ‘‘(A) be designed (i) to recover for the public

2 a portion of the value of the public spectrum re3 source made available for such commercial use,

4 and (ii) to avoid unjust enrichment through the

5 method employed to permit such uses of that re6 source;

7 ‘‘(B) recover for the public an amount that,

8 to the extent feasible, equals but does not exceed

9 (over the term of the license) the amount that

10 would have been recovered had such services been

11 licensed pursuant to the provisions of section

12 309(j) of this Act and the Commission’s regula13 tions thereunder; and

14 ‘‘(C) be adjusted by the Commission from

15 time to time in order to continue to comply with

16 the requirements of this paragraph.

17 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF REVENUES.—

18 ‘‘(A) GENERAL RULE.—Except as provided

19 in subparagraph (B), all proceeds obtained pur20 suant to the regulations required by this sub21 section shall be deposited in the Treasury in ac22 cordance with chapter 33 of title 31, United

23 States Code.

24 ‘‘(B) RETENTION OF REVENUES.—Notwith25 standing subparagraph (A), the salaries and ex-
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1 penses account of the Commission shall retain as

2 an offsetting collection such sums as may be nec3 essary from such proceeds for the costs of devel4 oping and implementing the program required

5 by this section and regulating and supervising

6 advanced television services. Such offsetting col7 lections shall be available for obligation subject

8 to the terms and conditions of the receiving ap9 propriations account, and shall be deposited in

10 such accounts on a quarterly basis.

11 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—Within 5 years after the date of

12 the enactment of this section, the Commission shall

13 report to the Congress on the implementation of the

14 program required by this subsection, and shall annu15 ally thereafter advise the Congress on the amounts

16 collected pursuant to such program.

17 ‘‘(e) EVALUATION.—Within 10 years after the date the

18 Commission first issues additional licenses for advanced tel19 evision services, the Commission shall conduct an evalua20 tion of the advanced television services program. Such eval21 uation shall include—

22 ‘‘(1) an assessment of the willingness of consum23 ers to purchase the television receivers necessary to re24 ceive broadcasts of advanced television services;
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1 ‘‘(2) an assessment of alternative uses, including

2 public safety use, of the frequencies used for such

3 broadcasts; and

4 ‘‘(3) the extent to which the Commission has been

5 or will be able to reduce the amount of spectrum as6 signed to licensees.

7 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

8 ‘‘(1) ADVANCED TELEVISION SERVICES.—The

9 term ‘advanced television services’ means television

10 services provided using digital or other advanced tech11 nology as further defined in the opinion, report, and

12 order of the Commission entitled ‘Advanced Television

13 Systems and Their Impact Upon the Existing Tele14 vision Broadcast Service’, MM Docket 87–268, adopt15 ed September 17, 1992, and successor proceedings.

16 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATED FREQUENCIES.—The term

17 ‘designated frequency’ means each of the frequencies

18 designated by the Commission for licenses for ad19 vanced television services.

20 ‘‘(3) HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION.—The term

21 ‘high definition television’ refers to systems that offer

22 approximately twice the vertical and horizontal reso23 lution of receivers generally available on the date of

24 enactment of this section, as further defined in the
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1 proceedings described in paragraph (1) of this sub2 section.’’.

3 SEC. 302. BROADCAST OWNERSHIP.

4 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title III of the Act is amended by

5 inserting after section 336 (as added by section 301) the

6 following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 337. BROADCAST OWNERSHIP.

8 ‘‘(a) LIMITATIONS ON COMMISSION RULEMAKING AU9 THORITY.—Except as expressly permitted in this section,

10 the Commission shall not prescribe or enforce any regula11 tion—

12 ‘‘(1) prohibiting or limiting, either nationally or

13 within any particular area, a person or entity from

14 holding any form of ownership or other interest in

15 two or more broadcasting stations or in a broadcast16 ing station and any other medium of mass commu17 nication; or

18 ‘‘(2) prohibiting a person or entity from owning,

19 operating, or controlling two or more networks of

20 broadcasting stations or from owning, operating, or

21 controlling a network of broadcasting stations and

22 any other medium of mass communications.

23 ‘‘(b) TELEVISION OWNERSHIP LIMITATIONS.—

24 ‘‘(1) NATIONAL AUDIENCE REACH LIMITA25 TIONS.—The Commission shall prohibit a person or
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1 entity from obtaining any license if such license

2 would result in such person or entity directly or indi3 rectly owning, operating, or controlling, or having a

4 cognizable interest in, television stations which have

5 an aggregate national audience reach exceeding—

6 ‘‘(A) 35 percent, for any determination

7 made under this paragraph before one year after

8 the date of enactment of this section; or

9 ‘‘(B) 50 percent, for any determination

10 made under this paragraph on or after one year

11 after such date of enactment.

12 Within 3 years after such date of enactment, the Com13 mission shall conduct a study on the operation of this

14 paragraph and submit a report to the Congress on the

15 development of competition in the television market16 place and the need for any revisions to or elimination

17 of this paragraph.

18 ‘‘(2) MULTIPLE LICENSES IN A MARKET.—

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall

20 prohibit a person or entity from obtaining any

21 license if such license would result in such person

22 or entity directly or indirectly owning, operat23 ing, or controlling, or having a cognizable inter24 est in, two or more television stations within the

25 same television market.
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1 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION FOR MULTIPLE UHF STA2 TIONS AND FOR UHF-VHF COMBINATIONS.—Not3 withstanding subparagraph (A), the Commission

4 shall not prohibit a person or entity from di5 rectly or indirectly owning, operating, or con6 trolling, or having a cognizable interest in, two

7 television stations within the same television

8 market if at least one of such stations is a UHF

9 television, unless the Commission determines that

10 permitting such ownership, operation, or control

11 will harm competition or will harm the preser12 vation of a diversity of media voices in the local

13 television market.

14 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION FOR VHF-VHF COMBINA15 TIONS.—Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the

16 Commission may permit a person or entity to

17 directly or indirectly own, operate, or control, or

18 have a cognizable interest in, two VHF television

19 stations within the same television market, if the

20 Commission determines that permitting such

21 ownership, operation, or control will not harm

22 competition and will not harm the preservation

23 of a diversity of media voices in the local tele24 vision market.
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1 ‘‘(c) LOCAL CROSS-MEDIA OWNERSHIP LIMITS.—In a

2 proceeding to grant, renew, or authorize the assignment of

3 any station license under this title, the Commission may

4 deny the application if the Commission determines that the

5 combination of such station and more than one other

6 nonbroadcast media of mass communication would result

7 in an undue concentration of media voices in the respective

8 local market. In considering any such combination, the

9 Commission shall not grant the application if all the media

10 of mass communication in such local market would be

11 owned, operated, or controlled by two or fewer persons or

12 entities. This subsection shall not constitute authority for

13 the Commission to prescribe regulations containing local

14 cross-media ownership limitations. The Commission may

15 not, under the authority of this subsection, require any per16 son or entity to divest itself of any portion of any combina17 tion of stations and other media of mass communications

18 that such person or entity owns, operates, or controls on

19 the date of enactment of this section unless such person or

20 entity acquires another station or other media of mass com21 munications after such date in such local market.

22 ‘‘(d) TRANSITION PROVISIONS.—Any provision of any

23 regulation prescribed before the date of enactment of this

24 section that is inconsistent with the requirements of this

25 section shall cease to be effective on such date of enactment.
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1 The Commission shall complete all actions (including any

2 reconsideration) necessary to amend its regulations to con3 form to the requirements of this section not later than 6

4 months after such date of enactment. Nothing in this section

5 shall be construed to prohibit the continuation or renewal

6 of any television local marketing agreement that is in effect

7 on such date of enactment and that is in compliance with

8 Commission regulations on such date.’’.

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 613(a) of the

10 Act (47 U.S.C. 533(a)) is repealed.

11 SEC. 303. FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND OWNERSHIP.

12 (a) STATION LICENSES.—Section 310(a) (47 U.S.C.

13 310(a)) is amended to read as follows:

14 ‘‘(a) GRANT TO OR HOLDING BY FOREIGN GOVERN15 MENT OR REPRESENTATIVE.—No station license required

16 under title III of this Act shall be granted to or held by

17 any foreign government or any representative thereof. This

18 subsection shall not apply to licenses issued under such

19 terms and conditions as the Commission may prescribe to

20 mobile earth stations engaged in occasional or short-term

21 transmissions via satellite of audio or television program

22 material and auxilliary signals if such transmissions are

23 not intended for direct reception by the general public in

24 the United States.’’.
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1 (b) TERMINATION OF FOREIGN OWNERSHIP RESTRIC2 TIONS.—Section 310 (47 U.S.C. 310) is amended by adding

3 at the end thereof the following new subsection:

4 ‘‘(f) TERMINATION OF FOREIGN OWNERSHIP RESTRIC5 TIONS.—

6 ‘‘(1) RESTRICTION NOT TO APPLY.—Subsection

7 (b) shall not apply to any common carrier license

8 granted, or for which application is made, after the

9 date of enactment of this subsection with respect to

10 any alien (or representative thereof), corporation, or

11 foreign government (or representative thereof) if—

12 ‘‘(A) the President determines that the for13 eign country of which such alien is a citizen, in

14 which such corporation is organized, or in which

15 the foreign government is in control is party to

16 an international agreement which requires the

17 United States to provide national or most-fa18 vored-nation treatment in the grant of common

19 carrier licenses; or

20 ‘‘(B) the Commission determines that not

21 applying subsection (b) would serve the public

22 interest.

23 ‘‘(2) COMMISSION CONSIDERATIONS.—In making

24 its determination, under paragraph (1)(B), the Com25 mission may consider, among other public interest
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1 factors, whether effective competitive opportunities are

2 available to United States nationals or corporations

3 in the applicant’s home market. In evaluating the

4 public interest, the Commission shall exercise great

5 deference to the President with respect to United

6 States national security, law enforcement require7 ments, foreign policy, the interpretation of inter8 national agreements, and trade policy (as well as di9 rect investment as it relates to international trade

10 policy). Upon receipt of an application that requires

11 a finding under this paragraph, the Commission shall

12 cause notice thereof to be given to the President or

13 any agencies designated by the President to receive

14 such notification.

15 ‘‘(3) FURTHER COMMISSION REVIEW.—Except as

16 otherwise provided in this paragraph, the Commis17 sion may determine that any foreign country with re18 spect to which it has made a determination under

19 paragraph (1) has ceased to meet the requirements for

20 that determination. In making this determination,

21 the Commission shall exercise great deference to the

22 President with respect to United States national secu23 rity, law enforcement requirements, foreign policy, the

24 interpretation of international agreements, and trade

25 policy (as well as direct investment as it relates to
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1 international trade policy). If a determination under

2 this paragraph is made then—

3 ‘‘(A) subsection (b) shall apply with respect

4 to such aliens, corporation, and government (or

5 their representatives) on the date that the Com6 mission publishes notice of its determination

7 under this paragraph; and

8 ‘‘(B) any license held, or application filed,

9 which could not be held or granted under sub10 section (b) shall be reviewed by the Commission

11 under the provisions of paragraphs (1)(B) and

12 (2).

13 ‘‘(4) OBSERVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL OBLIGA14 TIONS.—Paragraph (3) shall not apply to the extent

15 the President determines that it is inconsistent with

16 any international agreement to which the United

17 States is a party.

18 ‘‘(5) NOTIFICATIONS TO CONGRESS.—The Presi19 dent and the Commission shall notify the appropriate

20 committees of the Congress of any determinations

21 made under paragraph (1), (2), or (3).’’.

22 SEC. 304. TERM OF LICENSES.

23 Section 307(c) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 307(c)) is amend24 ed to read as follows:

25 ‘‘(c) TERMS OF LICENSES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) INITIAL AND RENEWAL LICENSES.—Each li2 cense granted for the operation of a broadcasting sta3 tion shall be for a term of not to exceed seven years.

4 Upon application therefor, a renewal of such license

5 may be granted from time to time for a term of not

6 to exceed seven years from the date of expiration of

7 the preceding license, if the Commission finds that

8 public interest, convenience, and necessity would be

9 served thereby. Consistent with the foregoing provi10 sions of this subsection, the Commission may by rule

11 prescribe the period or periods for which licenses shall

12 be granted and renewed for particular classes of sta13 tions, but the Commission may not adopt or follow

14 any rule which would preclude it, in any case involv15 ing a station of a particular class, from granting or

16 renewing a license for a shorter period than that pre17 scribed for stations of such class if, in its judgment,

18 public interest, convenience, or necessity would be

19 served by such action.

20 ‘‘(2) MATERIALS IN APPLICATION.—In order to

21 expedite action on applications for renewal of broad22 casting station licenses and in order to avoid needless

23 expense to applicants for such renewals, the Commis24 sion shall not require any such applicant to file any

25 information which previously has been furnished to
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1 the Commission or which is not directly material to

2 the considerations that affect the granting or denial

3 of such application, but the Commission may require

4 any new or additional facts it deems necessary to

5 make its findings.

6 ‘‘(3) CONTINUATION PENDING DECISION.—Pend7 ing any hearing and final decision on such an appli8 cation and the disposition of any petition for rehear9 ing pursuant to section 405, the Commission shall

10 continue such license in effect.’’.

11 SEC. 305. BROADCAST LICENSE RENEWAL PROCEDURES.

12 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 309 of the Act (47 U.S.C.

13 309) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following

14 new subsection:

15 ‘‘(k) BROADCAST STATION RENEWAL PROCEDURES.—

16 ‘‘(1) STANDARDS FOR RENEWAL.—If the licensee

17 of a broadcast station submits an application to the

18 Commission for renewal of such license, the Commis19 sion shall grant the application if it finds, with re20 spect to that station, during the preceding term of its

21 license—

22 ‘‘(A) the station has served the public inter23 est, convenience, and necessity;
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1 ‘‘(B) there have been no serious violations

2 by the licensee of this Act or the rules and regu3 lations of the Commission; and

4 ‘‘(C) there have been no other violations by

5 the licensee of this Act or the rules and regula6 tions of the Commission which, taken together,

7 would constitute a pattern of abuse.

8 ‘‘(2) CONSEQUENCE OF FAILURE TO MEET

9 STANDARD.—If any licensee of a broadcast station

10 fails to meet the requirements of this subsection, the

11 Commission may deny the application for renewal in

12 accordance with paragraph (3), or grant such appli13 cation on terms and conditions as are appropriate,

14 including renewal for a term less than the maximum

15 otherwise permitted.

16 ‘‘(3) STANDARDS FOR DENIAL.—If the Commis17 sion determines, after notice and opportunity for a

18 hearing as provided in subsection (e), that a licensee

19 has failed to meet the requirements specified in para20 graph (1) and that no mitigating factors justify the

21 imposition of lesser sanctions, the Commission shall—

22 ‘‘(A) issue an order denying the renewal ap23 plication filed by such licensee under section 308;

24 and
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1 ‘‘(B) only thereafter accept and consider

2 such applications for a construction permit as

3 may be filed under section 308 specifying the

4 channel or broadcasting facilities of the former

5 licensee.

6 ‘‘(4) COMPETITOR CONSIDERATION PROHIB7 ITED.—In making the determinations specified in

8 paragraph (1) or (2), the Commission shall not con9 sider whether the public interest, convenience, and ne10 cessity might be served by the grant of a license to a

11 person other than the renewal applicant.’’.

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 309(d) of the

13 Act (47 U.S.C. 309(d)) is amended by inserting after ‘‘with

14 subsection (a)’’ each place such term appears the following:

15 ‘‘(or subsection (k) in the case of renewal of any broadcast

16 station license)’’.

17 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by this

18 section shall apply to any application for renewal filed on

19 or after May 31, 1995.

20 SEC. 306. EXCLUSIVE FEDERAL JURISDICTION OVER DI21 RECT BROADCAST SATELLITE SERVICE.

22 Section 303 of the Act (47 U.S.C. 303) is amended by

23 adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

24 ‘‘(v) Have exclusive jurisdiction over the regulation of

25 the direct broadcast satellite service.’’.
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1 SEC. 307. AUTOMATED SHIP DISTRESS AND SAFETY SYS2 TEMS.

3 Notwithstanding any provision of the Act, a ship docu4 mented under the laws of the United States operating in

5 accordance with the Global Maritime Distress and Safety

6 System provisions of the Safety of Life at Sea Convention

7 shall not be required to be equipped with a radio telegraphy

8 station operated by one or more radio officers or operators.

9 SEC. 308. RESTRICTIONS ON OVER-THE-AIR RECEPTION DE10 VICES.

11 Within 180 days after the enactment of this Act, the

12 Commission shall, pursuant to section 303, promulgate reg13 ulations to prohibit restrictions that inhibit a viewer’s abil14 ity to receive video programming services through signal

15 receiving devices designed for off-the-air reception of tele16 vision broadcast signals or direct broadcast satellite serv17 ices.

18 SEC. 309. DBS SIGNAL SECURITY.

19 Section 705(e)(4) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 605(e)) is

20 amended by inserting after ‘‘satellite cable programming’’

21 the following: ‘‘or programming of a licensee in the direct

22 broadcast satellite service’’.
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1 TITLE IV—EFFECT ON OTHER

2 LAWS

3 SEC. 401. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.

4 (a) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—Parts II

5 and III of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (as

6 added by this Act) shall supersede the Modification of Final

7 Judgment, except that such part shall not affect—

8 (1) section I of the Modification of Final Judg9 ment, relating to AT&T reorganization,

10 (2) section II(A) (including appendix B) and

11 II(B) of the Modification of Final Judgment, relating

12 to equal access and nondiscrimination,

13 (3) section IV(F) and IV(I) of the Modification

14 of Final Judgment, with respect to the requirements

15 included in the definitions of ‘‘exchange access’’ and

16 ‘‘information access’’,

17 (4) section VIII(B) of the Modification of Final

18 Judgment, relating to printed advertising directories,

19 (5) section VIII(E) of the Modification of Final

20 Judgment, relating to notice to customers of AT&T,

21 (6) section VIII(F) of the Modification of Final

22 Judgment, relating to less than equal exchange access,

23 (7) section VIII(G) of the Modification of Final

24 Judgment, relating to transfer of AT&T assets, in-
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1 cluding all exceptions granted thereunder before the

2 date of the enactment of this Act, and

3 (8) with respect to the parts of the Modification

4 of Final Judgment described in paragraphs (1)

5 through (7)—

6 (A) section III of the Modification of Final

7 Judgment, relating to applicability and effect,

8 (B) section IV of the Modification of Final

9 Judgment, relating to definitions,

10 (C) section V of the Modification of Final

11 Judgment, relating to compliance,

12 (D) section VI of the Modification of Final

13 Judgment, relating to visitorial provisions,

14 (E) section VII of the Modification of Final

15 Judgment, relating to retention of jurisdiction,

16 and

17 (F) section VIII(I) of the Modification of

18 Final Judgment, relating to the court’s sua

19 sponte authority.

20 (b) ANTITRUST LAWS.—Nothing in this Act shall be

21 construed to modify, impair, or supersede the applicability

22 of any of the antitrust laws.

23 (c) FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAW.—(1) Except

24 as provided in paragraph (2), parts II and III of title II

25 of the Communications Act of 1934 shall not be construed
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1 to modify, impair, or supersede Federal, State, or local law

2 unless expressly so provided in such part.

3 (2) Parts II and III of title II of the Communications

4 Act of 1934 shall supersede State and local law to the extent

5 that such law would impair or prevent the operation of such

6 part.

7 (d) TERMINATION.—The provisions of the GTE consent

8 decree shall cease to be effective on the date of enactment

9 of this Act. For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘‘GTE

10 consent decree’’ means the order entered on December 21,

11 1984 (as restated on January 11, 1985), in United States

12 v. GTE Corporation, Civil Action No. 83–1298, in the

13 United States District Court for the District of Columbia,

14 and includes any judgment or order with respect to such

15 action entered on or after December 21, 1984.

16 (e) INAPPLICABILITY OF FINAL JUDGMENT TO WIRE17 LESS SUCCESSORS.—No person shall be subject to the provi18 sions of the Modification of Final Judgment by reason of

19 having acquired wireless exchange assets or operations pre20 viously owned by a Bell operating company or an affiliate

21 of a Bell operating company.

22 (f) ANTITRUST LAWS.—As used in this section, the

23 term ‘‘antitrust laws’’ has the meaning given it in sub24 section (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C.

25 12(a)), except that such term includes the Act of June 19,
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1 1936 (49 Stat. 1526; 15 U.S.C. 13 et seq.), commonly

2 known as the Robinson Patman Act, and section 5 of the

3 Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent

4 that such section 5 applies to unfair methods of competi5 tion.

6 SEC. 402. PREEMPTION OF LOCAL TAXATION WITH RESPECT

7 TO DBS SERVICES.

8 (a) PREEMPTION.—A provider of direct-to-home sat9 ellite service, or its agent or representative for the sale or

10 distribution of direct-to-home satellite services, shall be ex11 empt from the collection or remittance, or both, of any tax

12 or fee, as defined by subsection (b)(4), imposed by any local

13 taxing jurisdiction with respect to the provision of direct14 to-home satellite services. Nothing in this section shall be

15 construed to exempt from collection or remittance any tax

16 or fee on the sale of equipment.

17 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section—

18 (1) DIRECT-TO-HOME SATELLITE SERVICE.—The

19 term ‘‘direct-to-home satellite service’’ means the

20 transmission or broadcasting by satellite of program21 ming directly to the subscribers’ premises without the

22 use of ground receiving or distribution equipment, ex23 cept at the subscribers’ premises or in the uplink

24 process to the satellite.
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1 (2) DIRECT-TO-HOME SATELLITE SERVICE PRO2 VIDER.—For purposes of this section, a ‘‘provider of

3 direct-to-home satellite service’’ means a person who

4 transmits or broadcasts direct-to-home satellite serv5 ices.

6 (3) LOCAL TAXING JURISDICTION.—The term

7 ‘‘local taxing jurisdiction’’ means any municipality,

8 city, county, township, parish, transportation dis9 trict, or assessment jurisdiction, or any other local ju10 risdiction with the authority to impose a tax or fee.

11 (4) TAX OR FEE.—The terms ‘‘tax’’ and ‘‘fee’’

12 mean any local sales tax, local use tax, local intangi13 ble tax, local income tax, business license tax, utility

14 tax, privilege tax, gross receipts tax, excise tax, fran15 chise fees, local telecommunications tax, or any other

16 tax, license, or fee that is imposed for the privilege of

17 doing business, regulating, or raising revenue for a

18 local taxing jurisdiction.

19 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall be effective

20 as of June 1, 1994.

21 TITLE V—DEFINITIONS

22 SEC. 501. DEFINITIONS.

23 (a) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Act

24 (47 U.S.C. 153) is amended—

25 (1) in subsection (r)—
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1 (A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘means’’; and

2 (B) by inserting before the period at the end

3 the following: ‘‘, or (B) service provided through

4 a system of switches, transmission equipment, or

5 other facilities (or combination thereof) by which

6 a subscriber can originate and terminate a tele7 communications service within a State but

8 which does not result in the subscriber incurring

9 a telephone toll charge’’; and

10 (2) by adding at the end thereof the following:

11 ‘‘(35) AFFILIATE.—The term ‘affiliate’, when

12 used in relation to any person or entity, means an13 other person or entity who owns or controls, is owned

14 or controlled by, or is under common ownership or

15 control with, such person or entity.

16 ‘‘(36) BELL OPERATING COMPANY.—The term

17 ‘Bell operating company’ means—

18 ‘‘(A) Bell Telephone Company of Nevada,

19 Illinois Bell Telephone Company, Indiana Bell

20 Telephone Company, Incorporated, Michigan

21 Bell Telephone Company, New England Tele22 phone and Telegraph Company, New Jersey Bell

23 Telephone Company, New York Telephone Com24 pany, U S West Communications Company,

25 South Central Bell Telephone Company, South-
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1 ern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company,

2 Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, The Bell

3 Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, The Chesa4 peake and Potomac Telephone Company, The

5 Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of

6 Maryland, The Chesapeake and Potomac Tele7 phone Company of Virginia, The Chesapeake

8 and Potomac Telephone Company of West Vir9 ginia, The Diamond State Telephone Company,

10 The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, The Pacific

11 Telephone and Telegraph Company, or Wiscon12 sin Telephone Company;

13 ‘‘(B) any successor or assign of any such

14 company that provides telephone exchange serv15 ice.

16 ‘‘(37) CABLE SYSTEM.—The term ‘cable system’

17 has the meaning given such term in section 602(7) of

18 this Act.

19 ‘‘(38) CUSTOMER PREMISES EQUIPMENT.—The

20 term ‘customer premises equipment’ means equipment

21 employed on the premises of a person (other than a

22 carrier) to originate, route, or terminate tele23 communications.

24 ‘‘(39) DIALING PARITY.—The term ‘dialing par25 ity’ means that a person that is not an affiliated en-
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1 terprise of a local exchange carrier is able to provide

2 telecommunications services in such a manner that

3 customers have the ability to route automatically,

4 without the use of any access code, their telecommuni5 cations to the telecommunications services provider of

6 the customer’s designation from among 2 or more tele7 communications services providers (including such

8 local exchange carrier).

9 ‘‘(40) EXCHANGE ACCESS.—The term ‘exchange

10 access’ means the offering of telephone exchange serv11 ices or facilities for the purpose of the origination or

12 termination of interLATA services.

13 ‘‘(41) INFORMATION SERVICE.—The term ‘infor14 mation service’ means the offering of a capability for

15 generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, process16 ing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available infor17 mation via telecommunications, and includes elec18 tronic publishing, but does not include any use of any

19 such capability for the management, control, or oper20 ation of a telecommunications system or the manage21 ment of a telecommunications service.

22 ‘‘(42) INTERLATA SERVICE.—The term

23 ‘interLATA service’ means telecommunications be24 tween a point located in a local access and transport

25 area and a point located outside such area.
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1 ‘‘(43) LOCAL ACCESS AND TRANSPORT AREA.—

2 The term ‘local access and transport area’ or ‘LATA’

3 means a contiguous geographic area—

4 ‘‘(A) established by a Bell operating com5 pany such that no exchange area includes points

6 within more than 1 metropolitan statistical

7 area, consolidated metropolitan statistical area,

8 or State, except as expressly permitted under the

9 Modification of Final Judgment before the date

10 of the enactment of this paragraph; or

11 ‘‘(B) established or modified by a Bell oper12 ating company after the date of enactment of

13 this paragraph and approved by the Commis14 sion.

15 ‘‘(44) LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIER.—The term

16 ‘local exchange carrier’ means any person that is en17 gaged in the provision of telephone exchange service or

18 exchange access. Such term does not include a person

19 insofar as such person is engaged in the provision of

20 a commercial mobile service under section 332(c), ex21 cept to the extent that the Commission finds that such

22 service as provided by such person in a State is a re23 placement for a substantial portion of the wireline

24 telephone exchange service within such State.
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1 ‘‘(45) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—The

2 term ‘Modification of Final Judgment’ means the

3 order entered August 24, 1982, in the antitrust action

4 styled United States v. Western Electric, Civil Action

5 No. 82–0192, in the United States District Court for

6 the District of Columbia, and includes any judgment

7 or order with respect to such action entered on or

8 after August 24, 1982.

9 ‘‘(46) NUMBER PORTABILITY.—The term ‘number

10 portability’ means the ability of users of telecommuni11 cations services to retain existing telecommunications

12 numbers without impairment of quality, reliability,

13 or convenience when changing from one provider of

14 telecommunications services to another, as long as

15 such user continues to be located within the area

16 served by the same central office of the carrier from

17 which the user is changing.

18 ‘‘(47) RURAL TELEPHONE COMPANY.—The term

19 ‘rural telephone company’ means a local exchange

20 carrier operating entity to the extent that such en21 tity—

22 ‘‘(A) provides common carrier service to

23 any local exchange carrier study area that does

24 not include either—
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1 ‘‘(i) any incorporated place of 10,000

2 inhabitants or more, or any part thereof,

3 based on the most recent available popu4 lation statistics of the Bureau of the Census;

5 or

6 ‘‘(ii) any territory, incorporated or un7 incorporated, included in an urbanized

8 area, as defined by the Bureau of the Cen9 sus as of August 10, 1993;

10 ‘‘(B) provides telephone exchange service,

11 including telephone exchange access service, to

12 fewer than 50,000 access lines;

13 ‘‘(C) provides telephone exchange service to

14 any local exchange carrier study area with fewer

15 than 100,000 access lines; or

16 ‘‘(D) has less than 15 percent of its access

17 lines in communities of more than 50,000 on the

18 date of enactment of this paragraph.

19 ‘‘(48) TELECOMMUNICATIONS.—The term ‘tele20 communications’ means the transmission, between or

21 among points specified by the subscriber, of informa22 tion of the subscriber’s choosing, without change in

23 the form or content of the information as sent and re24 ceived, by means of an electromagnetic transmission

25 medium, including all instrumentalities, facilities,
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1 apparatus, and services (including the collection, stor2 age, forwarding, switching, and delivery of such in3 formation) essential to such transmission.

4 ‘‘(49) TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT.—The

5 term ‘telecommunications equipment’ means equip6 ment, other than customer premises equipment, used

7 by a carrier to provide telecommunications services,

8 and includes software integral to such equipment (in9 cluding upgrades).

10 ‘‘(50) TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE.—The

11 term ‘telecommunications service’ means the offering,

12 on a common carrier basis, of telecommunications fa13 cilities, or of telecommunications by means of such fa14 cilities. Such term does not include an information

15 service.’’.

16 (b) STYLISTIC CONSISTENCY.—Section 3 of the Act (47

17 U.S.C. 153) is amended—

18 (1) in subsections (e) and (n), by redesignating

19 clauses (1), (2) and (3), as clauses (A), (B), and (C),

20 respectively;

21 (2) in subsection (w), by redesignating para22 graphs (1) through (5) as subparagraphs (A) through

23 (E), respectively;
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1 (3) in subsections (y) and (z), by redesignating

2 paragraphs (1) and (2) as subparagraphs (A) and

3 (B), respectively;

4 (4) by redesignating subsections (a) through (ff)

5 as paragraphs (1) through (32);

6 (5) by indenting such paragraphs 2 em spaces;

7 (6) by inserting after the designation of each

8 such paragraph—

9 (A) a heading, in a form consistent with the

10 form of the heading of this subsection, consisting

11 of the term defined by such paragraph, or the

12 first term so defined if such paragraph defines

13 more than one term; and

14 (B) the words ‘‘The term’’;

15 (7) by changing the first letter of each defined

16 term in such paragraphs from a capital to a lower

17 case letter (except for ‘‘United States’’, ‘‘State’’,

18 ‘‘State commission’’, and ‘‘Great Lakes Agreement’’);

19 and

20 (8) by reordering such paragraphs and the addi21 tional paragraphs added by subsection (a) in alpha22 betical order based on the headings of such para23 graphs and renumbering such paragraphs as so reor24 dered.
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1 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Act is amend2 ed—

3 (1) in section 225(a)(1), by striking ‘‘section

4 3(h)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3’’;

5 (2) in section 332(d), by striking ‘‘section 3(n)’’

6 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘section 3’’; and

7 (3) in sections 621(d)(3), 636(d), and 637(a)(2),

8 by striking ‘‘section 3(v)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3’’.

9 TITLE VI—SMALL BUSINESS

10 COMPLAINT PROCEDURE

11 SEC. 601. COMPLAINT PROCEDURE.

12 (a) PROCEDURE REQUIRED.—The Federal Commu13 nications Commission shall establish procedures for the re14 ceipt and review of complaints concerning violations of the

15 Communications Act of 1934, and the rules and regulations

16 thereunder, that are likely to result, or have resulted, as a

17 result of the violation, in material financial harm to a pro18 vider of telemessaging service, or other small business en19 gaged in providing an information service or other tele20 communications service. Such procedures shall be estab21 lished within 120 days after the date of enactment of this

22 Act.

23 (b) DEADLINES FOR PROCEDURES; SANCTIONS.—The

24 procedures under this section shall ensure that the Commis25 sion will make a final determination with respect to any
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1 such complaint within 120 days after receipt of the com2 plaint. If the complaint contains an appropriate showing

3 that the alleged violation occurred, as determined by the

4 Commission in accordance with such regulations, the Com5 mission shall, within 60 days after receipt of the complaint,

6 order the common carrier and its affiliates to cease engag7 ing in such violation pending such final determination. In

8 addition, the Commission may exercise its authority to im9 pose other penalties or sanctions, to the extent otherwise

10 provided by law.

11 (c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, a small

12 business shall be any business entity that, along with any

13 affiliate or subsidiary, has fewer than 300 employees.

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HR 1555 RH——9

HR 1555 RH——10

HR 1555 RH——11

HR 1555 RH——12

HR 1555 RH——13