I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1908

To establish an education satellite loan guarantee program for communications among education, Federal, State, and local institutions and agencies

and instructional and educational resource providers.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 21, 1995

Mrs. MORELLA (for herself and Mr. BROWN of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities

A BILL

To establish an education satellite loan guarantee program

for communications among education, Federal, State,

and local institutions and agencies and instructional and

educational resource providers.

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

3 SECTION 1. PURPOSE.

4 It is the purpose of this Act to acquire a dedicated

5 communications satellite system on which instruction, edu6 cation, and training programming can be collocated and

7 free from preemption.
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1 SEC. 2. EDUCATIONAL SATELLITE LOAN GUARANTEE PRO2 GRAM.

3 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce

5 is authorized to carry out a program to guarantee

6 any lender against loss of principal or interest on a

7 loan described in subsection (b) made by such lender

8 to a nonprofit, public corporation that—

9 (A) is recognized for expertise in governing

10 and operating educational and instructional

11 telecommunications in schools, colleges, librar12 ies, State agencies, workplaces, and other dis13 tant education centers;

14 (B) was in existence as of January 1,

15 1992;

16 (C) the charter of which is designed for af17 filiation with Federal, State, and local edu18 cational and instructional institutions and agen19 cies, and other distant education and instruc20 tional resource providers;

21 (D) has a governing board that includes

22 members representing elementary and second23 ary education, community and State colleges,

24 universities, elected officials and the private sec25 tor; and
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1 (E) has as its sole purpose the acquisition

2 and operation of an integrated communications

3 satellite system and other telecommunications

4 dedicated to transmitting instruction, edu5 cation, and training programming.

6 (2) INTERIM ACQUISITION OF TRANSPONDER

7 CAPACITY.—As an interim measure to acquire a

8 communications satellite system dedicated to in9 struction, education, and training programming, a

10 corporation that meets the requirements of para11 graph (1) may acquire unused transponder capacity

12 owned or leased by Federal Government agencies

13 and unused transponder capacity owned or leased by

14 non-Federal broadcast organizations for reuse by

15 schools, colleges, community colleges, universities,

16 State agencies, libraries, and other distant education

17 centers at competitive, low costs, subject only to pre18 emption for national security purposes.

19 (3) ENCOURAGEMENT OF INTERCONNEC20 TIVITY.—A corporation that meets the requirements

21 of paragraph (1) shall encourage interconnectivity

22 between elementary and secondary schools, colleges,

23 and community colleges, universities, State agencies,

24 libraries, and other distant education centers with

25 ground facilities and services of United States do-
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1 mestic common carriers, international common car2 riers, and ground facilities and services of satellite,

3 cable, and other private communications systems, to

4 ensure technical compatibility and interconnectivity

5 of the space segment with existing communications

6 facilities in the United States and foreign countries,

7 to best serve United States education, instruction,

8 and training needs and to achieve cost-effective,

9 interoperability for friendly end-user, ‘‘last mile’’ ac10 cess and use.

11 (4) TECHNICAL AND TRAINING NEEDS.—A cor12 poration that meets the requirements of paragraph

13 (1) shall determine the technical and training needs

14 of educations users and providers to facilitate coordi15 nated and efficient use of a communications satellite

16 system dedicated to instruction, education, and

17 training to further unlimited access for schools, col18 leges, community colleges, universities, State agen19 cies, libraries, and other distant education centers.

20 (b) ELIGIBLE LOANS.—The Secretary of Commerce

21 only shall guarantee a loan under this section if—

22 (1) the authorized corporation described in

23 paragraph (1) has—

24 (A) investigated all practical means to ac25 quire a communications satellite system;
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1 (B) reported to the Secretary the findings

2 of such investigation; and

3 (C) recommended the most cost-effective,

4 high-quality communications satellite system to

5 meet the purpose of this Act; and

6 (2) the proceeds of such loan are used solely to

7 acquire and operate a communications satellite sys8 tem dedicated to transmitting instruction, education,

9 and training programming.

10 (c) LOAN AMOUNT LIMITATIONS.—The Secretary of

11 Commerce shall not guarantee more than $270,000,000

12 in loans described in subsection (a) pursuant to the pro13 gram assisted under this section, of which—

14 (1) not more than $250,000,000 shall be for

15 the guarantee of such loans the proceeds of which

16 are used to acquire communications satellite system;

17 and

18 (2) not more than $20,000,000 shall be used

19 for the guarantee of such loans the proceeds of

20 which are used to pay the costs of not more than 4

21 years of operating and management expenses associ22 ated with providing integrated communications sat23 ellite system services described in subsection (a).

24 (d) LIQUIDATION OR ASSIGNMENT.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order for a lender to re2 ceive a loan guarantee under this section such lender

3 shall agree to assign to the United States any right

4 or interest in the communications satellite system or

5 communications satellite system services that such

6 lender possesses upon payment by the Secretary of

7 Commerce on such loan guarantee.

8 (2) DISPOSITION.—The United States may ex9 ercise, retain, or dispose of any right or interest ac10 quired pursuant to paragraph (1) in any manner the

11 United States deems fit, upon the recommendation

12 of the Secretary of Commerce.

13 (e) SPECIAL RULE.—Any loan guarantee under this

14 section shall be guaranteed with full faith and credit of

15 the United States.

16 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

17 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be

18 necessary for each fiscal year to carry out this section.

19 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub20 section—

21 (1) the term ‘‘acquire’’ includes acquisition

22 through lease, purchase, or donation;

23 (2) the term ‘‘communications satellite system’’

24 means one or more communications satellites capa-
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1 ble of providing service from space, including trans2 ponder capacity, on such satellite or satellites; and

3 (3) the term ‘‘national security preemption’’

4 means preemption by the Federal Government for

5 national security purposes, to exclude technical and

6 business purpose preemptions.

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