II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1780 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to consolidate the reporting 

obligations of the Federal Communications Commission in order to improve congressional oversight and reduce reporting burdens. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 2, 2011 

Mr. HELLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to consolidate 

the reporting obligations of the Federal Communications 

Commission in order to improve congressional oversight 

and reduce reporting burdens. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Communica5 tions Commission Consolidated Reporting Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

2 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

3 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 13. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the last quarter of every even7 numbered year, the Commission shall publish on its Web 

8 site and submit to the Committee on Energy and Com9 merce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

10 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

11 a report on the state of the communications marketplace. 

12 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required by sub13 section (a) shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) assess the state of competition in the com15 munications marketplace, including competition to 

16 deliver voice, video, and data services among pro17 viders of telecommunications, providers of commer18 cial mobile service (as defined in section 332), multi19 channel video programming distributors (as defined 

20 in section 602), broadcast stations, providers of sat21 ellite communications, Internet service providers, 

22 and other providers of communications services; 

23 ‘‘(2) assess the state of deployment of commu24 nications capabilities, including advanced tele25 communications capability (as defined in section 706 

26 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 


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1 1302)), regardless of the technology used for such 

2 deployment, including whether advanced tele3 communications capability is being deployed to all 

4 Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion; 

5 ‘‘(3) assess whether laws, regulations, or regu6 latory practices (whether those of the Federal Gov7 ernment, States, political subdivisions of States, In8 dian tribes or tribal organizations (as such terms are 

9 defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 

10 and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)), or 

11 foreign governments) pose a barrier to competitive 

12 entry into the communications marketplace or to the 

13 competitive expansion of existing providers of com14 munications services; 

15 ‘‘(4) describe the agenda of the Commission for 

16 the next 2-year period for addressing the challenges 

17 and opportunities in the communications market18 place that were identified through the assessments 

19 under paragraphs (1) through (3); and 

20 ‘‘(5) describe the actions that the Commission 

21 has taken in pursuit of the agenda described pursu22 ant to paragraph (4) in the previous report sub23 mitted under this section. 

24 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) ASSESSING COMPETITION.—In assessing 

2 the state of competition under subsection (b)(1), the 

3 Commission shall consider the effect of intermodal 

4 competition, facilities-based competition, and com5 petition from new and emergent communications 

6 services, including the provision of content and com7 munications using the Internet. 

8 ‘‘(2) ASSESSING DEPLOYMENT.—In assessing 

9 the state of deployment under subsection (b)(2), the 

10 Commission shall compile a list of geographical 

11 areas that are not served by any provider of ad12 vanced telecommunications capability. 

13 ‘‘(3) INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS AND DEMO14 GRAPHIC INFORMATION.—The Commission may use 

15 readily available data to draw appropriate compari16 sons between the United States communications 

17 marketplace and the international communications 

18 marketplace and to correlate its assessments with 

19 demographic information.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. CONSOLIDATION OF REDUNDANT REPORTS; CON21 FORMING AMENDMENTS. 

22 (a) ORBIT ACT REPORT.—Section 646 of the Com23 munications Satellite Act of 1962 (47 U.S.C. 765e; 114 

24 Stat. 57) is repealed. 


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1 (b) SATELLITE COMPETITION REPORT.—Section 4 of 

2 Public Law 109–34 (47 U.S.C. 703) is repealed. 

3 (c) INTERNATIONAL BROADBAND DATA REPORT.— 

4 Section 103 of the Broadband Data Improvement Act (47 

5 U.S.C. 1303) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking subsection (b); and 

7 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) through (e) 

8 as subsections (b) through (d), respectively. 

9 (d) STATUS OF COMPETITION IN THE MARKET FOR

10 THE DELIVERY OF VIDEO PROGRAMMING REPORT.—Sec11 tion 628 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

12 548) is amended— 

13 (1) by striking subsection (g); and 

14 (2) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub15 section (g). 

16 (e) REPORT ON CABLE INDUSTRY PRICES.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 623 of the Commu18 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543) is amended— 

19 (A) by striking subsection (k); and 

20 (B) by redesignating subsections (l) 

21 through (n) as subsections (k) through (m), re22 spectively. 

23 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

24 613(a)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 


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1 U.S.C. 533(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘623(l)’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘623(k)’’. 

3 (f) TRIENNIAL REPORT IDENTIFYING AND ELIMI4 NATING MARKET ENTRY BARRIERS FOR ENTRE5 PRENEURS AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES.—Section 

6 257 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 257) 

7 is amended by striking subsection (c). 

8 (g) SECTION 706 REPORT.—Section 706 of the Tele9 communications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amend10 ed— 

11 (1) in subsection (b)— 

12 (A) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘If the 

13 Commission’s determination is negative, it’’ and 

14 inserting ‘‘If the Commission determines in its 

15 report under section 13 of the Communications 

16 Act of 1934 that advanced telecommunications 

17 capability is not being deployed to all Ameri18 cans in a reasonable and timely fashion, the 

19 Commission’’; and 

20 (B) by striking the first and second sen21 tences; 

22 (2) by striking subsection (c); 

23 (3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘this sub24 section’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’; and 


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1 (4) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub2 section (c). 

3 (h) STATE OF COMPETITIVE MARKET CONDITIONS

4 WITH RESPECT TO COMMERCIAL MOBILE RADIO SERV5 ICES.—Section 332(c)(1)(C) of the Communications Act 

6 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(c)(1)(C)) is amended by striking 

7 the first and second sentences. 

8 (i) PREVIOUSLY ELIMINATED ANNUAL REPORT.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Commu10 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 154) is amended— 

11 (A) by striking subsection (k); and 

12 (B) by redesignating subsections (l) 

13 through (o) as subsections (k) through (n), re14 spectively. 

15 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Commu16 nications Act of 1934 is amended— 

17 (A) in section 9(i), by striking ‘‘In the 

18 Commission’s annual report, the Commission 

19 shall prepare an analysis of its progress in de20 veloping such systems and’’ and inserting ‘‘The 

21 Commission’’; and 

22 (B) in section 309(j)(8)(B), by striking the 

23 last sentence. 

24 (j) ADDITIONAL OUTDATED REPORTS.—The Com25 munications Act of 1934 is amended— 


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1 (1) in section 4— 

2 (A) in subsection (b)(2)(B)— 

3 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘(i) The 

4 Commission’’ and inserting ‘‘The Commis5 sion’’; and 

6 (ii) by striking clause (ii); and 

7 (B) in subsection (g), by striking para8 graph (2); 

9 (2) in section 215— 

10 (A) by striking subsection (b); and 

11 (B) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub12 section (b); 

13 (3) in section 227(e), by striking paragraph (4); 

14 (4) in section 309(j)— 

15 (A) by striking paragraph (12); and 

16 (B) in paragraph (15)(C), by striking 

17 clause (iv); 

18 (5) in section 331(b), by striking the last sen19 tence; 

20 (6) in section 336(e), by amending paragraph 

21 (4) to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—The Commission shall annually 

23 advise the Congress on the amounts collected pursu24 ant to the program required by this subsection.’’; 

25 (7) in section 339(c), by striking paragraph (1); 


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1 (8) in section 396— 

2 (A) by striking subsection (i); 

3 (B) in subsection (k)— 

4 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking sub5 paragraph (F); and 

6 (ii) in paragraph (3)(B)(iii), by strik7 ing subclause (V); 

8 (C) in subsection (l)(1)(B), by striking 

9 ‘‘shall be included’’ and all that follows through 

10 ‘‘The audit report’’; and 

11 (D) by striking subsection (m); 

12 (9) in section 398(b)(4), by striking the third 

13 sentence; 

14 (10) in section 624A(b)(1)— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘REPORT; REGULATIONS’’ 

16 and inserting ‘‘REGULATIONS’’; 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘Within 1 year after’’ and 

18 all that follows through ‘‘on means of assuring’’ 

19 and inserting ‘‘The Commission shall issue such 

20 regulations as are necessary to assure’’; and 

21 (C) by striking ‘‘Within 180 days after’’ 

22 and all that follows through ‘‘to assure such 

23 compatibility.’’; and 

24 (11) in section 713, by striking subsection (a). 


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1 SEC. 4. EFFECT ON AUTHORITY. 

2 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

3 Act shall be construed to expand or contract the authority 

4 of the Federal Communications Commission. 

Æ 


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