104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 652

AN ACT

To provide for a pro-competitive, de-regulatory national policy framework designed to accelerate rapidly private sector deployment of advanced telecommunications and information technologies and services to all Americans by

opening all telecommunications markets to competition,

and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telecommunications

5 Competition and Deregulation Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

2 The table of contents for this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title.

Sec. 2. Table of contents.

Sec. 3. Purpose.

Sec. 4. Goals.

Sec. 5. Findings.

Sec. 6. Amendment of Communications Act of 1934.

Sec. 7. Effect on other law.

Sec. 8. Definitions.

TITLE I—TRANSITION TO COMPETITION

Sec. 101. Interconnection requirements.

Sec. 102. Separate affiliate and safeguard requirements.

Sec. 103. Universal service.

Sec. 104. Essential telecommunications carriers.

Sec. 105. Foreign investment and ownership reform.

Sec. 106. Infrastructure sharing.

Sec. 107. Coordination for telecommunications network-level interoperability.

TITLE II—REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS TO COMPETITION

SUBTITLE A—REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS.

Sec. 201. Removal of entry barriers.

Sec. 202. Elimination of cable and telephone company cross-ownership restriction.

Sec. 203. Cable Act reform.

Sec. 204. Pole attachments.

Sec. 205. Entry by utility companies.

Sec. 206. Broadcast reform.

SUBTITLE B—TERMINATION OF MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.

Sec. 221. Removal of long distance restrictions.

Sec. 222. Removal of manufacturing restrictions.

Sec. 223. Existing activities.

Sec. 224. Enforcement.

Sec. 225. Alarm monitoring services.

Sec. 226. Nonapplicability of Modification of Final Judgment.

TITLE III—AN END TO REGULATION

Sec. 301. Transition to competitive pricing.

Sec. 302. Biennial review of regulations; elimination of unnecessary regulations

and functions.

Sec. 303. Regulatory forbearance.

Sec. 304. Advanced telecommunications incentives.

Sec. 305. Regulatory parity.

Sec. 306. Automated ship distress and safety systems.

Sec. 307. Telecommunications numbering administration.

Sec. 308. Access by persons with disabilities.

Sec. 309. Rural markets.
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Sec. 310. Telecommunications services for health care providers for rural areas,

educational providers, and libraries.

Sec. 311. Provision of payphone service and telemessaging service.

Sec. 312. Direct Broadcast Satellite.

TITLE IV—OBSCENE, HARASSING, AND WRONGFUL UTILIZATION

OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES

Sec. 401. Short title.

Sec. 402. Obscene or harassing use of telecommunications facilities under the

Communications Act of 1934.

Sec. 403. Obscene programming on cable television.

Sec. 404. Broadcasting obscene language on radio.

Sec. 405. Separability.

Sec. 406. Additional prohibition on billing for toll-free telephone calls.

Sec. 407. Scrambling of cable channels for nonsubscribers.

Sec. 408. Scrambling of sexually explicit adult video service programming.

Sec. 409. Cable operator refusal to carry certain programs.

Sec. 410. Restrictions on access by children to obscene and indecent material

on electronic information networks open to the public.

TITLE V—PARENTAL CHOICE IN TELEVISION

Sec. 501. Short title.

Sec. 502. Findings.

Sec. 503. Rating code for violence and other objectionable content on television.

Sec. 504. Requirement for manufacture of televisions that block programs.

Sec. 505. Shipping or importing of televisions that block programs.

TITLE VI—NATIONAL EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY FUNDING

CORPORATION

Sec. 601. Short title.

Sec. 602. Findings; purpose.

Sec. 603. Definitions.

Sec. 604. Assistance for educational technology purposes.

Sec. 605. Audits.

Sec. 606. Annual report; testimony to the Congress.

TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Sec. 701. Spectrum auctions.

Sec. 702. Renewed efforts to regulate violent programming.

Sec. 703. Prevention of unfair billing practices for information or services provided over toll-free telephone calls.

Sec. 704. Disclosure of certain records for investigations of telemarketing

fraud.

Sec. 705. Telecommuting public information program.

Sec. 706. Authority to acquire cable systems.

1 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

2 It is the purpose of this Act to increase competition

3 in all telecommunications markets and provide for an or-
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1 derly transition from regulated markets to competitive and

2 deregulated telecommunications markets consistent with

3 the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

4 SEC. 4. GOALS.

5 This Act is intended to establish a national policy

6 framework designed to accelerate rapidly the private sec7 tor deployment of advanced telecommunications and infor8 mation technologies and services to all Americans by open9 ing all telecommunications markets to competition, and to

10 meet the following goals:

11 (1) To promote and encourage advanced tele12 communications networks, capable of enabling users

13 to originate and receive affordable, high-quality

14 voice, data, image, graphic, and video telecommuni15 cations services.

16 (2) To improve international competitiveness

17 markedly.

18 (3) To spur economic growth, create jobs, and

19 increase productivity.

20 (4) To deliver a better quality of life through

21 the preservation and advancement of universal serv22 ice to allow the more efficient delivery of edu23 cational, health care, and other social services.

24 SEC. 5. FINDINGS.

25 The Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) Competition, not regulation, is the best way

2 to spur innovation and the development of new serv3 ices. A competitive market place is the most efficient

4 way to lower prices and increase value for consum5 ers. In furthering the principle of open and full com6 petition in all telecommunications markets, however,

7 it must be recognized that some markets are more

8 open than others.

9 (2) Local telephone service is predominantly a

10 monopoly service. Although business customers in

11 metropolitan areas may have alternative providers

12 for exchange access service, consumers do not have

13 a choice of local telephone service. Some States have

14 begun to open local telephone markets to competi15 tion. A national policy framework is needed to accel16 erate the process.

17 (3) Because of their monopoly status, local tele18 phone companies and the Bell operating companies

19 have been prevented from competing in certain mar20 kets. It is time to eliminate these restrictions. None21 theless, transition rules designed to open monopoly

22 markets to competition must be in place before cer23 tain restrictions are lifted.

24 (4) Transition rules must be truly transitional,

25 not protectionism for certain industry segments or
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1 artificial impediments to increased competition in all

2 markets. Where possible, transition rules should cre3 ate investment incentives through increased competi4 tion. Regulatory safeguards should be adopted only

5 where competitive conditions would not prevent anti6 competitive behavior.

7 (5) More competitive American telecommuni8 cations markets will promote United States techno9 logical advances, domestic job and investment oppor10 tunities, national competitiveness, sustained eco11 nomic development, and improved quality of Amer12 ican life more effectively than regulation.

13 (6) Congress should establish clear statutory

14 guidelines, standards, and time frames to facilitate

15 more effective communications competition and, by

16 so doing, will reduce business and customer uncer17 tainty, lessen regulatory processes, court appeals,

18 and litigation, and thus encourage the business com19 munity to focus more on competing in the domestic

20 and international communications marketplace.

21 (7) Where competitive markets are demon22 strably inadequate to safeguard important public

23 policy goals, such as the continued universal avail24 ability of telecommunications services at reasonable

25 and affordable prices, particularly in rural America,
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1 Congress should establish workable regulatory proce2 dures to advance those goals, provided that in any

3 proceeding undertaken to ensure universal availabil4 ity, regulators shall seek to choose the most procom5 petitive and least burdensome alternative.

6 (8) Competitive communications markets, safe7 guarded by effective Federal and State antitrust en8 forcement, and strong economic growth in the Unit9 ed States which such markets will foster are the

10 most effective means of assuring that all segments

11 of the American public command access to advanced

12 telecommunications technologies.

13 (9) Achieving full and fair competition requires

14 strict parity of marketplace opportunities and re15 sponsibilities on the part of incumbent telecommuni16 cations service providers as well as new entrants into

17 the telecommunications marketplace, provided that

18 any responsibilities placed on providers should be the

19 minimum required to advance a clearly defined pub20 lic policy goal.

21 (10) Congress should not cede its constitutional

22 responsibility regarding interstate and foreign com23 merce in communications to the Judiciary through

24 the establishment of procedures which will encourage
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1 or necessitate judicial interpretation or intervention

2 into the communications marketplace.

3 (11) Ensuring that all Americans, regardless of

4 where they may work, live, or visit, ultimately have

5 comparable access to the full benefits of competitive

6 communications markets requires Federal and State

7 authorities to work together affirmatively to mini8 mize and remove unnecessary institutional and regu9 latory barriers to new entry and competition.

10 (12) Effectively competitive communications

11 markets will ensure customers the widest possible

12 choice of services and equipment, tailored to individ13 ual desires and needs, and at prices they are willing

14 to pay.

15 (13) Investment in and deployment of existing

16 and future advanced, multipurpose technologies will

17 best be fostered by minimizing government limita18 tions on the commercial use of those technologies.

19 (14) The efficient development of competitive

20 United States communications markets will be

21 furthered by policies which aim at ensuring recip22 rocal opening of international investment opportuni23 ties.
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1 SEC. 6. AMENDMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1934.

2 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in

3 this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms

4 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi5 sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a

6 section or other provision of the Communications Act of

7 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.).

8 SEC. 7. EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.

9 (a) ANTITRUST LAWS.—Except as provided in sub10 sections (b) and (c), nothing in this Act shall be construed

11 to modify, impair, or supersede the applicability of any

12 antitrust law.

13 (b) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—This Act

14 shall supersede the Modification of Final Judgment to the

15 extent that it is inconsistent with this Act.

16 (c) TRANSFER OF MFJ.—After the date of enact17 ment of this Act, the Commission shall administer any

18 provision of the Modification of Final Judgment not over19 ridden or superseded by this Act. The District Court for

20 the District of Columbia shall have no further jurisdiction

21 over any provision of the Modification of Final Judgment

22 administered by the Commission under this Act or the

23 Communications Act of 1934. The Commission may, con24 sistent with this Act (and the amendments made by this

25 Act), modify any provision of the Modification of Final

26 Judgment that it administers.
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1 (d) GTE CONSENT DECREE.—This Act shall super2 sede the provisions of the Final Judgment entered in Unit3 ed States v. GTE Corp., No. 83–1298 (D.C. D.C.), and

4 such Final Judgment shall not be enforced after the effec5 tive date of this Act.

6 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

7 (a) TERMS USED IN THIS ACT.—As used in this

8 Act—

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

10 means the Federal Communications Commission.

11 (2) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—The

12 term ‘‘Modification of Final Judgment’’ means the

13 decree entered on August 24, 1982, in United States

14 v. Western Electric Civil Action No. 82-0192 (Unit15 ed States District Court, District of Columbia), and

16 includes any judgment or order with respect to such

17 action entered on or after August 24, 1982, and be18 fore the date of enactment of this Act.

19 (3) GTE CONSENT DECREE.—The term ‘‘GTE

20 Consent Decree’’ means the order entered on De21 cember 21, 1984, as restated January 11, 1985, in

22 United States v. GTE Corporation, Civil Action No.

23 83-1298 (United States District Court, District of

24 Columbia), and includes any judgment or order with

25 respect to such action entered on or after January
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1 11, 1985, and before the date of enactment of this

2 Act.

3 (4) INTEGRATED TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERV4 ICE PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘integrated telecommuni5 cations service provider’’ means any person engaged

6 in the provision of multiple services, such as voice,

7 data, image, graphics, and video services, which

8 make common use of all or part of the same trans9 mission facilities, switches, signalling, or control de10 vices.

11 (b) TERMS USED IN THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF

12 1934.—Section 3 (47 U.S.C. 153) is amended by adding

13 at the end thereof the following:

14 ‘‘(gg) ‘Modification of Final Judgment’ means the de15 cree entered on August 24, 1982, in United States v.

16 Western Electric Civil Action No. 82-0192 (United States

17 District Court, District of Columbia), and includes any

18 judgment or order with respect to such action entered on

19 or after August 24, 1982, and before the date of enact20 ment of the Telecommunications Competition and Deregu21 lation Act of 1995.

22 ‘‘(hh) ‘Bell operating company’ means any company

23 listed in appendix A of the Modification of Final Judg24 ment to the extent such company provides telephone ex25 change service or exchange access service, and includes
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1 any successor or assign of any such company, but does

2 not include any affiliate of such company.

3 ‘‘(ii) ‘Affiliate’ means a person that (directly or indi4 rectly) owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is

5 under common ownership or control with, another person.

6 For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘own’ means to

7 own an equity interest (or the equivalent thereof) of more

8 than 10 percent.

9 ‘‘(jj) ‘Telecommunications Act of 1995’ means the

10 Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act of

11 1995.

12 ‘‘(kk) ‘Local exchange carrier’ means a provider of

13 telephone exchange service or exchange access service.

14 ‘‘(ll) ‘Telecommunications’ means the transmission,

15 between or among points specified by the user, of informa16 tion of the user’s choosing, including voice, data, image,

17 graphics, and video, without change in the form or content

18 of the information, as sent and received, with or without

19 benefit of any closed transmission medium.

20 ‘‘(mm) ‘Telecommunications service’ means the offer21 ing of telecommunications for a fee directly to the public,

22 or to such classes of users as to be effectively available

23 directly to the public, regardless of the facilities used to

24 transmit the telecommunications service.
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1 ‘‘(nn) ‘Telecommunications carrier’ means any pro2 vider of telecommunications services, except that such

3 term does not include hotels, motels, hospitals, and other

4 aggregators of telecommunications services (as defined in

5 section 226). A telecommunications carrier shall only be

6 treated as a common carrier under this Act to the extent

7 that it is engaged in providing telecommunications services

8 for voice, data, image, graphics, or video that it does not

9 own, control, or select, except that the Commission shall

10 continue to determine whether the provision of fixed and

11 mobile satellite service shall be treated as common car12 riage.

13 ‘‘(oo) ‘Telecommunications number portability’

14 means the ability of users of telecommunications services

15 to retain, at the same location, existing telecommuni16 cations numbers without impairment of quality, reliability,

17 or convenience when switching from one telecommuni18 cations carrier to another.

19 ‘‘(pp) ‘Information service’ means the offering of

20 services that—

21 ‘‘(1) employ computer processing applications

22 that act on the format, content, code, protocol, or

23 similar aspects of the subscriber’s transmitted infor24 mation;
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1 ‘‘(2) provide the subscriber additional, different,

2 or restructured information; or

3 ‘‘(3) involve subscriber interaction with stored

4 information.

5 ‘‘(qq) ‘Cable service’ means cable service as defined

6 in section 602.

7 ‘‘(rr) ‘Rural telephone company’ means a tele8 communications carrier operating entity to the extent that

9 such entity provides telephone exchange service, including

10 access service subject to part 69 of the Commission’s rules

11 (47 C.F.R. 69.1 et seq.), to—

12 ‘‘(1) any service area that does not include ei13 ther—

14 ‘‘(A) any incorporated place of 10,000 in15 habitants or more, or any part thereof, based

16 on the most recent population statistics of the

17 Bureau of the Census; or

18 ‘‘(B) any territory, incorporated or unin19 corporated, included in an urbanized area, as

20 defined by the Bureau of the Census as of Jan21 uary 1, 1995; or

22 ‘‘(2) fewer than 100,000 access lines within a

23 State.

24 ‘‘(ss) ‘Service area’ means a geographic area estab25 lished by the Commission and the States for the purpose
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1 of determining universal service obligations and support

2 mechanisms. In the case of an area served by a rural tele3 phone company, ‘service area’ means such company’s

4 ‘study area’ unless and until the Commission and the

5 States, after taking into account recommendations of a

6 Federal-State Joint Board instituted under section

7 410(c), establish a different definition of service area for

8 such company.

9 ‘‘(tt) ‘LATA’ means a local access and transport area

10 as defined in United States v. Western Electric Co., 569

11 F. Supp. 990 (U. S. District Court, District of Columbia)

12 and subsequent judicial orders relating thereto, except

13 that, with respect to commercial mobile services, the term

14 ‘LATA’ means the geographic areas defined or used by

15 the Commission in issuing licenses for such services: Pro16 vided however, That in the case of a Bell operating com17 pany cellular affiliate, such geographic area shall be no

18 smaller than the LATA area for such affiliate on the date

19 of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995.’’.

20 TITLE I—TRANSITION TO COMPETITION

21 SEC. 101. INTERCONNECTION REQUIREMENTS.

22 (a) REQUIRED INTERCONNECTION.—Title II (47

23 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section

24 228 the following:
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1 ‘‘Part II—Competition in Telecommunications

2 ‘‘SEC. 251. INTERCONNECTION.

3 ‘‘(a) DUTY TO PROVIDE INTERCONNECTION.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A local exchange carrier, or

5 class of local exchange carriers, determined by the

6 Commission to have market power in providing tele7 phone exchange service or exchange access service

8 has a duty under this Act, upon request—

9 ‘‘(A) to enter into good faith negotiations

10 with any telecommunications carrier requesting

11 interconnection between the facilities and equip12 ment of the requesting telecommunications car13 rier and the carrier, or class of carriers, of

14 which the request was made for the purpose of

15 permitting the telecommunications carrier to

16 provide telephone exchange or exchange access

17 service; and

18 ‘‘(B) to provide such interconnection, at

19 rates that are reasonable and nondiscrim20 inatory, according to the terms of the agree21 ment and in accordance with the requirements

22 of this section.

23 ‘‘(2) INITIATION.—A local exchange carrier, or

24 class of carriers, described in paragraph (1) shall

25 commence good faith negotiations to conclude an

26 agreement, whether through negotiation under sub-
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1 section (c) or arbitration or intervention under sub2 section (d), within 15 days after receiving a request

3 from any telecommunications carrier seeking to pro4 vide telephone exchange or exchange access service.

5 Nothing in this Act shall prohibit multilateral nego6 tiations between or among a local exchange carrier

7 or class of carriers and a telecommunications carrier

8 or class of carriers seeking interconnection under

9 subsection (c) or subsection (d). At the request of

10 any of the parties to a negotiation, a State may par11 ticipate in the negotiation of any portion of an

12 agreement under subsection (c).

13 ‘‘(3) MARKET POWER.—For the purpose of de14 termining whether a carrier has market power under

15 paragraph (1), the relevant market shall include all

16 providers of telephone exchange or exchange access

17 services in a local area, regardless of the technology

18 used by any such provider.

19 ‘‘(b) MINIMUM STANDARDS.—An interconnection

20 agreement entered into under this section shall, if re21 quested by a telecommunications carrier requesting inter22 connection, provide for—

23 ‘‘(1) nondiscriminatory access on an unbundled

24 basis to the network functions and services of the

25 local exchange carrier’s telecommunications network
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1 (including switching software, to the extent defined

2 in implementing regulations by the Commission);

3 ‘‘(2) nondiscriminatory access on an unbundled

4 basis to any of the local exchange carrier’s tele5 communications facilities and information, including

6 databases and signaling, necessary to the trans7 mission and routing of any telephone exchange serv8 ice or exchange access service and the interoper9 ability of both carriers’ networks;

10 ‘‘(3) interconnection to the local exchange car11 rier’s telecommunications facilities and services at

12 any technically feasible point within the carrier’s

13 network;

14 ‘‘(4) interconnection that is at least equal in

15 type, quality, and price (on a per unit basis or other16 wise) to that provided by the local exchange carrier

17 to itself or to any subsidiary, affiliate, or any other

18 party to which the carrier provides interconnection;

19 ‘‘(5) nondiscriminatory access to the poles,

20 ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way owned or con21 trolled by the local exchange carrier at just and rea22 sonable rates;

23 ‘‘(6) the local exchange carrier to take whatever

24 action under its control is necessary, as soon as is

25 technically feasible, to provide telecommunications
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1 number portability and local dialing parity in a man2 ner that—

3 ‘‘(A) permits consumers to be able to dial

4 the same number of digits when using any tele5 communications carrier providing telephone ex6 change service or exchange access service in the

7 market served by the local exchange carrier;

8 ‘‘(B) permits all such carriers to have non9 discriminatory access to telephone numbers, op10 erator services, directory assistance, and direc11 tory listing with no unreasonable dialing delays;

12 and

13 ‘‘(C) provides for a reasonable allocation of

14 costs among the parties to the agreement;

15 ‘‘(7) telecommunications services and network

16 functions of the local exchange carrier to be avail17 able to the telecommunications carrier on an

18 unbundled basis without any unreasonable condi19 tions on the resale or sharing of those services or

20 functions, including the origination, transport, and

21 termination of such telecommunications services,

22 other than reasonable conditions required by a

23 State; and for purposes of this paragraph, it is not

24 an unreasonable condition for a State to limit the re25 sale—
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1 ‘‘(A) of services included in the definition

2 of universal service to a telecommunications

3 carrier who resells that service to a category of

4 customers different from the category of cus5 tomers being offered that universal service by

6 such carrier if the State orders a carrier to pro7 vide the same service to different categories of

8 customers at different prices necessary to pro9 mote universal service; or

10 ‘‘(B) of subsidized universal service in a

11 manner that allows companies to charge an12 other carrier rates which reflect the actual cost

13 of providing those services to that carrier, ex14 clusive of any universal service support received

15 for providing such services in accordance with

16 section 214(d)(5);

17 ‘‘(8) reciprocal compensation arrangements for

18 the origination and termination of telecommuni19 cations;

20 ‘‘(9) reasonable public notice of changes in the

21 information necessary for the transmission and rout22 ing of services using that local exchange carrier’s fa23 cilities or networks, as well as of any other changes

24 that would affect the interoperability of those facili25 ties and networks; and
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1 ‘‘(10) a schedule of itemized charges and condi2 tions for each service, facility, or function provided

3 under the agreement.

4 ‘‘(c) AGREEMENTS ARRIVED AT THROUGH NEGOTIA5 TION.—Upon receiving a request for interconnection, a

6 local exchange carrier may meet its interconnection obliga7 tions under this section by negotiating and entering into

8 a binding agreement with the telecommunications carrier

9 seeking interconnection without regard to the standards

10 set forth in subsection (b). The agreement shall include

11 a schedule of itemized charges for each service, facility,

12 or function included in the agreement. The agreement, in13 cluding any interconnection agreement negotiated before

14 the date of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of

15 1995, shall be submitted to the State under subsection

16 (e).

17 ‘‘(d) AGREEMENTS ARRIVED AT THROUGH ARBITRA18 TION OR INTERVENTION.—

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any party negotiating an

20 interconnection agreement under this section may,

21 at any point in the negotiation, ask a State to par22 ticipate in the negotiation and to arbitrate any dif23 ferences arising in the course of the negotiation. The

24 refusal of any other party to the negotiation to par25 ticipate further in the negotiations, to cooperate with
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1 the State in carrying out its function as a arbitrator,

2 or to continue to negotiate in good faith in the pres3 ence, or with the assistance, of the State shall be

4 considered a failure to negotiate in good faith.

5 ‘‘(2) INTERVENTION.—If any issues remain

6 open in a negotiation commenced under this section

7 more than 135 days after the date upon which the

8 local exchange carrier received the request for such

9 negotiation, then the carrier or any other party to

10 the negotiation may petition a State to intervene in

11 the negotiations for purposes of resolving any such

12 remaining open issues. Any such request must be

13 made during the 25-day period that begins 135 days

14 after the carrier receives the request for such nego15 tiation and ends 160 days after that date.

16 ‘‘(3) DUTY OF PETITIONER.—

17 ‘‘(A) A party that petitions a State under

18 paragraph (2) shall, at the same time as it sub19 mits the petition, provide the State all relevant

20 documentation concerning the negotiations nec21 essary to understand—

22 ‘‘(i) the unresolved issues;

23 ‘‘(ii) the position of each of the par24 ties with respect to those issues; and
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1 ‘‘(iii) any other issue discussed and

2 resolved by the parties.

3 ‘‘(B) A party petitioning a State under

4 paragraph (2) shall provide a copy of the peti5 tion and any documentation to the other party

6 not later than the day on which the State re7 ceives the petition.

8 ‘‘(4) OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND.—A party to a

9 negotiation under this section with respect to which

10 the other party has petitioned a State under para11 graph (2) may respond to the other party’s petition

12 and provide such additional information as it wishes

13 within 25 days after the State receives the petition.

14 ‘‘(5) ACTION BY STATE.—

15 ‘‘(A) A State proceeding to consider a peti16 tion under this subsection shall be conducted in

17 accordance with the rules promulgated by the

18 Commission under subsection (i). The State

19 shall limit its consideration of any petition

20 under paragraph (2) (and any response thereto)

21 to the issues set forth in the petition and in the

22 response, if any, filed under paragraph (4).

23 ‘‘(B) The State may require the petitioning

24 party and the responding party to provide such

25 information as may be necessary for the State
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1 to reach a decision on the unresolved issues. If

2 either party refuses or fails unreasonably to re3 spond on a timely basis to any reasonable re4 quest from the State, then the State may pro5 ceed on the basis of the best information avail6 able to it from whatever source derived.

7 ‘‘(C) The State shall resolve each issue set

8 forth in the petition and the response, if any,

9 by imposing appropriate conditions upon the

10 parties to the agreement, and shall conduct the

11 review of the agreement (including the issues

12 resolved by the State) not later than 10 months

13 after the date on which the local exchange car14 rier received the request for interconnection

15 under this section.

16 ‘‘(D) In resolving any open issues and im17 posing conditions upon the parties to the agree18 ment, a State shall ensure that the require19 ments of this section are met by the solution

20 imposed by the State and are consistent with

21 the Commission’s rules defining minimum

22 standards.

23 ‘‘(6) CHARGES.—If the amount charged by a

24 local exchange carrier, or class of local exchange car25 riers, for an unbundled element of the interconnec-
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1 tion provided under subsection (b) is determined by

2 arbitration or intervention under this subsection,

3 then the charge—

4 ‘‘(A) shall be

5 ‘‘(i) based on the cost (determined

6 without reference to a rate-of-return or

7 other rate-based proceeding) of providing

8 the unbundled element,

9 ‘‘(ii) nondiscriminatory, and

10 ‘‘(iii) individually priced to the small11 est element that is technically feasible and

12 economically reasonable to provide; and

13 ‘‘(B) may include a reasonable profit.

14 ‘‘(e) APPROVAL BY STATE.—Any interconnection

15 agreement under this section shall be submitted for ap16 proval to the State. A State to which an agreement is sub17 mitted shall approve or reject the agreement, with written

18 findings as to any deficiencies. The State may only re19 ject—

20 ‘‘(1) an agreement under subsection (c) if it

21 finds that the agreement discriminates against a

22 telecommunications carrier not a party to the agree23 ment; and

24 ‘‘(2) an agreement under subsection (d) if it

25 finds that—
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1 ‘‘(B) the agreement does not meet the

2 standards set forth in subsection (b), or

3 ‘‘(B) the implementation of the agreement

4 is not in the public interest.

5 If the State does not act to approve or reject the agree6 ment within 90 days after receiving the agreement, or 30

7 days in the case of an agreement negotiated under sub8 section (c), the agreement shall be deemed approved. No

9 State court shall have jurisdiction to review the action of

10 a State in approving or rejecting an agreement under this

11 section.

12 ‘‘(f) FILING REQUIRED.—A State shall make a copy

13 of each agreement approved under subsection (e) available

14 for public inspection and copying within 10 days after the

15 agreement is approved. The State may charge a reason16 able and nondiscriminatory fee to the parties to the agree17 ment to cover the costs of approving and filing such agree18 ment.

19 ‘‘(g) AVAILABILITY TO OTHER TELECOMMUNI20 CATIONS CARRIERS.—A local exchange carrier shall make

21 available any service, facility, or function provided under

22 an interconnection agreement to which it is a party to any

23 other telecommunications carrier that requests such inter24 connection upon the same terms and conditions as those

25 provided in the agreement.
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1 ‘‘(h) COLLOCATION.—A State may require tele2 communications carriers to provide for actual collocation

3 of equipment necessary for interconnection at the premises

4 of the carrier at reasonable charges, if the State finds ac5 tual collocation to be in the public interest.

6 ‘‘(i) IMPLEMENTATION.—

7 ‘‘(1) RULES AND STANDARDS.—The Commis8 sion shall promulgate rules to implement the re9 quirements of this section within 6 months after the

10 date of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of

11 1995. In establishing the standards for determining

12 what facilities and information are necessary for

13 purposes of subsection (b)(2), the Commission shall

14 consider, at a minimum, whether—

15 ‘‘(A) access to such facilities and informa16 tion that are proprietary in nature is necessary;

17 and

18 ‘‘(B) the failure to provide access to such

19 facilities and information would impair the abil20 ity of the telecommunications carrier seeking

21 interconnection to provide the services that it

22 seeks to offer.

23 ‘‘(2) COMMISSION TO ACT IF STATE WILL NOT

24 ACT.—If a State, through action or inaction, fails to

25 carry out its responsibility under this section in ac-
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1 cordance with the rules prescribed by the Commis2 sion under paragraph (1) in any proceeding or other

3 matter under this section, then the Commission shall

4 issue an order preempting the State’s jurisdiction of

5 that proceeding or matter within 90 days after being

6 notified (or taking notice) of such failure, and shall

7 assume the responsibility of the State under this sec8 tion with respect to the proceeding or matter and

9 act for the State.

10 ‘‘(3) WAIVERS AND MODIFICATIONS FOR RURAL

11 CARRIERS.—The Commission or a State shall, upon

12 petition or on its own initiative, waive or modify the

13 requirements of subsection (b) for a rural telephone

14 company or companies, and may waive or modify the

15 requirements of subsection (b) for local exchange

16 carriers with fewer than 2 percent of the Nation’s

17 subscriber lines installed in the aggregate nation18 wide, to the extent that the Commission or a State

19 determines that such requirements would result in

20 unfair competition, impose a significant adverse eco21 nomic impact on users of telecommunications serv22 ices, be technically infeasible, or otherwise not be in

23 the public interest. The Commission or a State shall

24 act upon any petition filed under this paragraph

25 within 180 days of receiving such petition. Pending
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1 such action, the Commission or a State may suspend

2 enforcement of the requirement or requirements to

3 which the petition applies with respect to the peti4 tioning carrier or carriers.

5 ‘‘(j) STATE REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this section

6 precludes a State from imposing requirements on a tele7 communications carrier for intrastate services that are

8 necessary to further competition in the provision of tele9 phone exchange service or exchange access service, as long

10 as the State’s requirements are not inconsistent with the

11 Commission’s regulations to implement this section.

12 ‘‘(k) ACCESS CHARGE RULES.—Nothing in this sec13 tion shall affect the Commission’s interexchange-to-local

14 exchange access charge rules for local exchange carriers

15 or interexchange carriers in effect on the date of enact16 ment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995.

17 ‘‘(l) REVIEW OF INTERCONNECTION STANDARDS.—

18 Beginning 3 years after the date of enactment of the Tele19 communications Act of 1995 and every 3 years thereafter,

20 the Commission shall review the standards and require21 ments for interconnection established under subsection

22 (b). The Commission shall complete each such review with23 in 180 days and may modify or waive any requirements

24 or standards established under subsection (b) if it deter-
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1 mines that the modification or waiver meets the require2 ments of section 260.

3 ‘‘(m) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS.—

4 The requirements of this section shall not apply to com5 mercial mobile services provided by a wireline local ex6 change carrier unless the Commission determines under

7 subsection (a)(3) that such carrier has market power in

8 the provision of commercial mobile service.’’.

9 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—

10 (1) Title II (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended

11 by inserting before section 201 the following:

12 ‘‘PART I—GENERAL PROVISIONS’’.

13 (2) Section 2(b) (47 U.S.C. 152(b)) is amended

14 by striking ‘‘sections 223 through 227, inclusive,

15 and section 332,’’ and inserting ‘‘section 214(d),

16 sections 223 through 227, part II of title II, and

17 section 332,’’.

18 SEC. 102. SEPARATE AFFILIATE AND SAFEGUARD REQUIRE19 MENTS.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251

21 et seq.), as added by section 101 of this Act, is amended

22 by inserting after section 251 the following new section:

23 ‘‘SEC. 252. SEPARATE AFFILIATE; SAFEGUARDS.

24 ‘‘(a) SEPARATE AFFILIATE REQUIRED FOR COM25 PETITIVE ACTIVITIES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A Bell operating company

2 (including any affiliate) which is a local exchange

3 carrier that is subject to the requirements of section

4 251(a) may not provide any service described in

5 paragraph (2) unless it provides that service through

6 one or more affiliates that—

7 ‘‘(A) are separate from any operating com8 pany entity that is subject to the requirements

9 of section 251(a); and

10 ‘‘(B) meet the requirements of subsection

11 (b).

12 ‘‘(2) SERVICES FOR WHICH A SEPARATE AFFIL13 IATE IS REQUIRED.—The services for which a sepa14 rate affiliate is required by paragraph (1) are:

15 ‘‘(A) Information services, including cable

16 services and alarm monitoring services, other

17 than any information service a Bell operating

18 company was authorized to provide before July

19 24, 1991.

20 ‘‘(B) Manufacturing services.

21 ‘‘(C) InterLATA services other than—

22 ‘‘(i) incidental services, not including

23 information services;

24 ‘‘(ii) out-of-region services; or
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1 ‘‘(iii) services authorized under an

2 order entered by the United States District

3 Court for the District of Columbia pursu4 ant to the Modification of Final Judgment

5 before the date of enactment of the Tele6 communications Act of 1995.

7 ‘‘(b) STRUCTURAL AND TRANSACTIONAL REQUIRE8 MENTS.—The separate affiliate required by this section—

9 ‘‘(1) shall maintain books, records, and ac10 counts in the manner prescribed by the Commission

11 which shall be separate from the books, records, and

12 accounts maintained by the Bell operating company

13 of which it is an affiliate;

14 ‘‘(2) shall have separate officers, directors, and

15 employees from the Bell operating company of which

16 it is an affiliate;

17 ‘‘(3) may not obtain credit under any arrange18 ment that would permit a creditor, upon default, to

19 have recourse to the assets of the Bell operating

20 company; and

21 ‘‘(4) shall conduct all transactions with the Bell

22 operating company of which it is an affiliate on an

23 arm’s length basis with any such transactions re24 duced to writing and available for public inspection.
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1 ‘‘(c) NONDISCRIMINATION SAFEGUARDS.—In its deal2 ings with its affiliate described in subsection (a) a Bell

3 operating company—

4 ‘‘(1) may not discriminate between that com5 pany or affiliate and any other entity in the provi6 sion or procurement of goods, services, facilities, and

7 information, or in the establishment of standards;

8 ‘‘(2) may not provide any goods, services, facili9 ties, or information to such company or affiliate un10 less the goods, services, facilities, or information are

11 made available to other persons on reasonable and

12 nondiscriminatory terms and conditions, unbundled

13 to the smallest element that is technically feasible

14 and economically reasonable to provide, and at just

15 and reasonable rates that are not higher on a per16 unit basis than those charged for such services to

17 any affiliate of such company; and

18 ‘‘(3) shall account for all transactions with an

19 affiliate described in subsection (a) in accordance

20 with generally accepted accounting principles.

21 ‘‘(d) BIENNIAL AUDIT.—

22 ‘‘(1) GENERAL REQUIREMENT.—A company re23 quired to operate a separate affiliate under this sec24 tion shall obtain and pay for a joint Federal/State

25 audit every 2 years conducted by an independent
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1 auditor selected by the Commission, and working at

2 the direction of, the Commission and the State com3 mission of each State in which such company pro4 vides service, to determine whether such company

5 has complied with this section and the regulations

6 promulgated under this section, and particularly

7 whether such company has complied with the sepa8 rate accounting requirements under subsection (b).

9 ‘‘(2) RESULTS SUBMITTED TO COMMISSION;

10 STATE COMMISSIONS.—The auditor described in

11 paragraph (1) shall submit the results of the audit

12 to the Commission and to the State commission of

13 each State in which the company audited provides

14 service, which shall make such results available for

15 public inspection. Any party may submit comments

16 on the final audit report.

17 ‘‘(3) ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS.—For purposes of

18 conducting audits and reviews under this sub19 section—

20 ‘‘(A) the independent auditor, the Commis21 sion, and the State commission shall have ac22 cess to the financial accounts and records of

23 each company and of its affiliates necessary to

24 verify transactions conducted with that com25 pany that are relevant to the specific activities
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1 permitted under this section and that are nec2 essary for the regulation of rates;

3 ‘‘(B) the Commission and the State com4 mission shall have access to the working papers

5 and supporting materials of any auditor who

6 performs an audit under this section; and

7 ‘‘(C) the State commission shall implement

8 appropriate procedures to ensure the protection

9 of any proprietary information submitted to it

10 under this section.

11 ‘‘(e) JOINT MARKETING.—

12 ‘‘(1) A Bell operating company affiliate re13 quired by this section may not market or sell tele14 phone exchange services provided by the Bell operat15 ing company unless that company permits other en16 tities offering the same or similar service to market

17 and sell its telephone exchange services.

18 ‘‘(2) A Bell operating company may not market

19 or sell any service provided by an affiliate required

20 by this section until that company has been author21 ized to provide interLATA services under section

22 255.

23 ‘‘(3) The joint marketing and sale of services

24 permitted under this subsection shall not be consid-
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1 ered to violate the nondiscrimination provisions of

2 subsection (c).

3 ‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR PROVISION

4 OF INTERLATA SERVICES.—A Bell operating company—

5 ‘‘(1) shall fulfill any requests from an unaffili6 ated entity for exchange access service within a pe7 riod no longer than that in which it provides such

8 exchange access service to itself or to its affiliates;

9 ‘‘(2) shall fulfill any such requests with ex10 change access service of a quality that meets or ex11 ceeds the quality of exchange access service provided

12 by the Bell operating company to itself or its affili13 ate;

14 ‘‘(3) shall provide exchange access service to all

15 carriers at rates that are just, reasonable, not unrea16 sonably discriminatory, and based on costs;

17 ‘‘(4) shall not provide any facilities, services, or

18 information concerning its provision of exchange ac19 cess service to the affiliate described in subsection

20 (a) unless such facilities, services, or information are

21 made available to other providers of interLATA

22 services in that market on the same terms and con23 ditions;

24 ‘‘(5) shall charge the affiliate described in sub25 section (a), and impute to itself or any intraLATA
37

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1 interexchange affiliate, the same rates for access to

2 its telephone exchange service and exchange access

3 service that it charges unaffiliated interexchange

4 carriers for such service; and

5 ‘‘(6) may provide any interLATA or intraLATA

6 facilities or services to its interLATA affiliate if such

7 services or facilities are made available to all carriers

8 at the same rates and on the same terms and condi9 tions so long as the costs are appropriately allocated.

10 ‘‘(g) PROPRIETARY INFORMATION.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In complying with the re12 quirements of this section, each Bell operating com13 pany and any affiliate of such company has a duty

14 to protect the confidentiality of propriety informa15 tion relating to other common carriers, to equipment

16 manufacturers, and to customers. A Bell operating

17 company may not share customer proprietary infor18 mation in aggregate form with its affiliates unless

19 such aggregate information is available to other car20 riers or persons under the same terms and condi21 tions. Individually identifiable customer proprietary

22 information and other proprietary information may

23 be—

24 ‘‘(A) shared with any affiliated entity re25 quired by this section or with any unaffiliated
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1 entity only with the consent of the person to

2 which such information relates or from which it

3 was obtained (including other carriers); or

4 ‘‘(B) disclosed to appropriate authorities

5 pursuant to court order.

6 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) does not

7 limit the disclosure of individually identifiable cus8 tomer proprietary information by each Bell operat9 ing company as necessary—

10 ‘‘(A) to initiate, render, bill, and collect for

11 telephone exchange service, interexchange serv12 ice, or telecommunications service requested by

13 a customer; or

14 ‘‘(B) to protect the rights or property of

15 the carrier, or to protect users of any of those

16 services and other carriers from fraudulent,

17 abusive, or unlawful use of, or subscription to,

18 any such service.

19 ‘‘(3) SUBSCRIBER LIST INFORMATION.—For

20 purposes of this subsection, the term ‘customer pro21 prietary information’ does not include subscriber list

22 information.

23 ‘‘(h) COMMISSION MAY GRANT EXCEPTIONS.—The

24 Commission may grant an exception from compliance with

25 any requirement of this section upon a showing that the
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1 exception is necessary for the public interest, convenience,

2 and necessity.

3 ‘‘(i) APPLICATION TO UTILITY COMPANIES.—

4 ‘‘(1) REGISTERED PUBLIC UTILITY HOLDING

5 COMPANY.—A registered company may provide tele6 communications services only through a separate

7 subsidiary company that is not a public utility com8 pany.

9 ‘‘(2) OTHER UTILITY COMPANIES.—Each State

10 shall determine whether a holding company subject

11 to its jurisdiction—

12 ‘‘(A) that is not a registered holding com13 pany, and

14 ‘‘(B) that provides telecommunications

15 service,

16 is required to provide that service through a sepa17 rate subsidiary company.

18 ‘‘(3) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this sub19 section or the Telecommunications Act of 1995 pro20 hibits a public utility company from engaging in any

21 activity in which it is legally engaged on the date of

22 enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995;

23 provided it complies with the terms of any applicable

24 authorizations.
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1 ‘‘(4) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub2 section, the terms ‘public utility company’, ‘associate

3 company’, ‘holding company’, ‘subsidiary company’,

4 ‘registered holding company’, and ‘State commission’

5 have the same meaning as they have in section 2 of

6 the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935.’’.

7 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Commission shall pro8 mulgate any regulations necessary to implement section

9 252 of the Communications Act of 1934 (as added by sub10 section (a)) not later than one year after the date of enact11 ment of this Act. Any separate affiliate established or des12 ignated for purposes of section 252(a) of the Communica13 tions Act of 1934 before the regulations have been issued

14 in final form shall be restructured or otherwise modified,

15 if necessary, to meet the requirements of those regula16 tions.

17 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

18 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of enactment

19 of this Act.

20 SEC. 103. UNIVERSAL SERVICE.

21 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

22 (1) the existing system of universal service has

23 evolved since 1930 through an ongoing dialogue be24 tween industry, various Federal-State Joint Boards,

25 the Commission, and the courts;
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1 (2) this system has been predicated on rates es2 tablished by the Commission and the States that re3 quire implicit cost shifting by monopoly providers of

4 telephone exchange service through both local rates

5 and access charges to interexchange carriers;

6 (3) the advent of competition for the provision

7 of telephone exchange service has led to industry re8 quests that the existing system be modified to make

9 support for universal service explicit and to require

10 that all telecommunications carriers participate in

11 the modified system on a competitively neutral basis;

12 and

13 (4) modification of the existing system is nec14 essary to promote competition in the provision of

15 telecommunications services and to allow competition

16 and new technologies to reduce the need for univer17 sal service support mechanisms.

18 (b) FEDERAL-STATE JOINT BOARD ON UNIVERSAL

19 SERVICE.—

20 (1) Within one month after the date of enact21 ment of this Act, the Commission shall institute and

22 refer to a Federal-State Joint Board under section

23 410(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 a pro24 ceeding to recommend rules regarding the implemen25 tation of section 253 of that Act, including the defi-
42

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1 nition of universal service. The Joint Board shall,

2 after notice and public comment, make its rec3 ommendations to the Commission no later than 9

4 months after the date of enactment of this Act.

5 (2) The Commission may periodically, but no

6 less than once every 4 years, institute and refer to

7 the Joint Board a proceeding to review the imple8 mentation of section 253 of that Act and to make

9 new recommendations, as necessary, with respect to

10 any modifications or additions that may be needed.

11 As part of any such proceeding the Joint Board

12 shall review the definition of, and adequacy of sup13 port for, universal service and shall evaluate the ex14 tent to which universal service has been protected

15 and advanced.

16 (c) COMMISSION ACTION.—The Commission shall ini17 tiate a single proceeding to implement recommendations

18 from the initial Joint Board required by subsection (a)

19 and shall complete such proceeding within 1 year after the

20 date of enactment of this Act. Thereafter, the Commission

21 shall complete any proceeding to implement recommenda22 tions from any further Joint Board required under sub23 section (b) within one year after receiving such rec24 ommendations.
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1 (d) SEPARATIONS RULES.—Nothing in the amend2 ments made by this Act to the Communications Act of

3 1934 shall affect the Commission’s separations rules for

4 local exchange carriers or interexchange carriers in effect

5 on the date of enactment of this Act.

6 (e) AMENDMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS ACT.—Part

7 II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), as added by this

8 Act, is amended by inserting after section 252 the follow9 ing new section:

10 ‘‘SEC. 253. UNIVERSAL SERVICE.

11 ‘‘(a) UNIVERSAL SERVICE PRINCIPLES.—The Joint

12 Board and the Commission shall base policies for the pres13 ervation and advancement of universal service on the fol14 lowing principles:

15 ‘‘(1) Quality services are to be provided at just,

16 reasonable, and affordable rates.

17 ‘‘(2) Access to advanced telecommunications

18 and information services should be provided in all

19 regions of the Nation.

20 ‘‘(3) Consumers in rural and high cost areas

21 should have access to telecommunications and infor22 mation services, including interexchange services,

23 that are reasonably comparable to those services

24 provided in urban areas.
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1 ‘‘(4) Consumers in rural and high cost areas

2 should have access to telecommunications and infor3 mation services at rates that are reasonably com4 parable to rates charged for similar services in

5 urban areas.

6 ‘‘(5) Consumers in rural and high cost areas

7 should have access to the benefits of advanced tele8 communications and information services for health

9 care, education, economic development, and other

10 public purposes.

11 ‘‘(6) There should be a coordinated Federal12 State universal service system to preserve and ad13 vance universal service using specific and predictable

14 Federal and State mechanisms administered by an

15 independent, non-governmental entity or entities.

16 ‘‘(7) Elementary and secondary schools and

17 classrooms should have access to advanced tele18 communications services.

19 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Universal service is an

21 evolving level of intrastate and interstate tele22 communications services that the Commission, based

23 on recommendations from the public, Congress, and

24 the Federal-State Joint Board periodically convened

25 under section 103 of the Telecommunications Act of
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1 1995, and taking into account advances in tele2 communications and information technologies and

3 services, determines—

4 ‘‘(A) should be provided at just, reason5 able, and affordable rates to all Americans, in6 cluding those in rural and high cost areas and

7 those with disabilities;

8 ‘‘(B) are essential in order for Americans

9 to participate effectively in the economic, aca10 demic, medical, and democratic processes of the

11 Nation; and

12 ‘‘(C) are, through the operation of market

13 choices, subscribed to by a substantial majority

14 of residential customers.

15 ‘‘(2) DIFFERENT DEFINITION FOR CERTAIN

16 PURPOSES.—The Commission may establish a dif17 ferent definition of universal service for schools, li18 braries, and health care providers for the purposes

19 of section 264.

20 ‘‘(c) ALL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS MUST

21 PARTICIPATE.—Every telecommunications carrier en22 gaged in instrastate, interstate, or foreign communication

23 shall participate, on an equitable and nondiscriminatory

24 basis, in the specific and predictable mechanisms estab25 lished by the Commission and the States to preserve and
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1 advance universal service. Such participation shall be in

2 the manner determined by the Commission and the States

3 to be reasonably necessary to preserve and advance univer4 sal service. Any other provider of telecommunications may

5 be required to participate in the preservation and advance6 ment of universal service, if the public interest so requires.

7 ‘‘(d) STATE AUTHORITY.—A State may adopt regula8 tions to carry out its responsibilities under this section,

9 or to provide for additional definitions, mechanisms, and

10 standards to preserve and advance universal service within

11 that State, to the extent that such regulations do not con12 flict with the Commission’s rules to implement this sec13 tion. A State may only enforce additional definitions or

14 standards to the extent that it adopts additional specific

15 and predictable mechanisms to support such definitions or

16 standards.

17 ‘‘(e) ELIGIBILITY FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUP18 PORT.—To the extent necessary to provide for specific and

19 predictable mechanisms to achieve the purposes of this

20 section, the Commission shall modify its existing rules for

21 the preservation and advancement of universal service.

22 Only essential telecommunications carriers designated

23 under section 214(d) shall be eligible to receive support

24 for the provision of universal service. Such support, if any,

25 shall accurately reflect what is necessary to preserve and
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1 advance universal service in accordance with this section

2 and the other requirements of this Act.

3 ‘‘(f) UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT.—The Commis4 sion and the States shall have as their goal the need to

5 make any support for universal service explicit, and to tar6 get that support to those essential telecommunications

7 carriers that serve areas for which such support is nec8 essary. The specific and predictable mechanisms adopted

9 by the Commission and the States shall ensure that essen10 tial telecommunications carriers are able to provide uni11 versal service at just, reasonable, and affordable rates. A

12 carrier that receives universal service support shall use

13 that support only for the provision, maintenance, and up14 grading of facilities and services for which the support is

15 intended.

16 ‘‘(g) INTEREXCHANGE SERVICES.—The rates

17 charged by any provider of interexchange telecommuni18 cations service to customers in rural and high cost areas

19 shall be no higher than those charged by such provider

20 to its customers in urban areas.

21 ‘‘(h) SUBSIDY OF COMPETITIVE SERVICES PROHIB22 ITED.—A telecommunications carrier may not use services

23 that are not competitive to subsidize competitive services.

24 The Commission, with respect to interstate services, and

25 the States, with respect to intrastate services, shall estab-
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1 lish any necessary cost allocation rules, accounting safe2 guards, and guidelines to ensure that services included in

3 the definition of universal service bear no more than a rea4 sonable share of the joint and common costs of facilities

5 used to provide those services.

6 ‘‘(i) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION REQUIRED.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may not

8 take action to require participation by telecommuni9 cations carriers or other providers of telecommuni10 cations under subsection (c), or to modify its rules

11 to increase support for the preservation and ad12 vancement of universal service, until—

13 ‘‘(A) the Commission submits to the Com14 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor15 tation of the Senate and the Committee on

16 Commerce of the House of Representatives a

17 report on the participation required, or the in18 crease in support proposed, as appropriate; and

19 ‘‘(B) a period of 120 days has elapsed

20 since the date the report required under para21 graph (1) was submitted.

22 ‘‘(2) NOT APPLICABLE TO REDUCTIONS.—This

23 subsection shall not apply to any action taken to re24 duce costs to carriers or consumers.
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1 ‘‘(j) EFFECT ON COMMISSION’S AUTHORITY.—Noth2 ing in this section shall be construed to expand or limit

3 the authority of the Commission to preserve and advance

4 universal service under this Act.

5 ‘‘(k) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section takes effect on

6 the date of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of

7 1995, except for subsections (c), (d), (e), (f), and (i) which

8 take effect one year after the date of enactment of that

9 Act.’’.

10 (f) PROHIBITION ON EXCLUSION OF AREAS FROM

11 SERVICE BASED ON RURAL LOCATION, HIGH COSTS, OR

12 INCOME.—Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) as

13 amended by this Act, is amended by adding after section

14 253 the following:

15 ‘‘SEC. 253A PROHIBITION ON EXCLUSION OF AREAS FROM

16 SERVICE BASED ON RURAL LOCATION, HIGH

17 COSTS, OR INCOME.

18 ‘‘(a) The Commission shall prohibit any telecommuni19 cations carrier from excluding from any of such carrier’s

20 services any high-cost area, or any area on the basis of

21 the rural location or the income of the residents of such

22 area: Provided, That a carrier may exclude an area in

23 which the carrier can demonstrate that—

24 ‘‘(1) there will be insufficient consumer demand

25 for the carrier to earn some return over the long
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1 term on the capital invested to provide such service

2 to such area, and—

3 ‘‘(2) providing a service to such area will be less

4 profitable for the carrier than providing the service

5 in areas to which the carrier is already providing or

6 has proposed to provide the service.

7 ‘‘(b) The Commission shall provide for public com8 ment on the adequacy of the carrier’s proposed service

9 area on the basis of the requirements of this section.’’.

10 SEC. 104. ESSENTIAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 214(d) (47 U.S.C.

12 214(d)) is amended—

13 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1) ADEQUATE FACILITIES

14 REQUIRED.—’’ before ‘‘The Commission’’; and

15 (2) by adding at the end thereof the following:

16 ‘‘(2) DESIGNATION OF ESSENTIAL CARRIER.— If one

17 or more common carriers provide telecommunications

18 service to a geographic area, and no common carrier will

19 provide universal service to an unserved community or any

20 portion thereof that requests such service within such

21 area, then the Commission, with respect to interstate serv22 ices, or a State, with respect to intrastate services, shall

23 determine which common carrier serving that area is best

24 able to provide universal service to the requesting unserved

25 community or portion thereof, and shall designate that
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1 common carrier as an essential telecommunications carrier

2 for that unserved community or portion thereof.

3 ‘‘(3) ESSENTIAL CARRIER OBLIGATIONS.—A common

4 carrier may be designated by the Commission, or by a

5 State, as appropriate, as an essential telecommunications

6 carrier for a specific service area and become eligible to

7 receive universal service support under section 253. A car8 rier designated as an essential telecommunications carrier

9 shall—

10 ‘‘(A) provide through its own facilities or

11 through a combination of its own facilities and re12 sale of services using another carrier’s facilities, uni13 versal service and any additional service (such as

14 911 service) required by the Commission or the

15 State, to any community or portion thereof which re16 quests such service;

17 ‘‘(B) offer such services at nondiscriminatory

18 rates established by the Commission, for interstate

19 services, and the State, for intrastate services,

20 throughout the service area; and

21 ‘‘(C) advertise throughout the service area the

22 availability of such services and the rates for such

23 services using media of general distribution.

24 ‘‘(4) MULTIPLE ESSENTIAL CARRIERS.—If the Com25 mission, with respect to interstate services, or a State,
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1 with respect to intrastate services, designates more than

2 one common carrier as an essential telecommunications

3 carrier for a specific service area, such carrier shall meet

4 the service, rate, and advertising requirements imposed by

5 the Commission or State on any other essential tele6 communications carrier for that service area. A State shall

7 require that, before designating an additional essential

8 telecommunications carrier, the State agency authorized

9 to make the designation shall find that—

10 ‘‘(A) the designation of an additional essential

11 telecommunications carrier is in the public interest

12 and that there will not be a significant adverse im13 pact on users of telecommunications services or on

14 the provision of universal service;

15 ‘‘(B) the designation encourages the develop16 ment and deployment of advanced telecommuni17 cations infrastructure and services in rural areas;

18 and

19 ‘‘(C) the designation protects the public safety

20 and welfare, ensures the continued quality of tele21 communications services, or safeguards the rights of

22 consumers.

23 ‘‘(5) RESALE OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE.—The Com24 mission, for interstate services, and the States, for intra25 state services, shall establish rules to govern the resale of
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1 universal service to allocate any support received for the

2 provision of such service in a manner that ensures that

3 the carrier whose facilities are being resold is adequately

4 compensated for their use, taking into account the impact

5 of the resale on that carrier’s ability to maintain and de6 ploy its network as a whole. The Commission shall also

7 establish, based on the recommendations of the Federal8 State Joint Board instituted to implement this section,

9 rules to permit a carrier designated as an essential tele10 communications carrier to relinquish that designation for

11 a specific service area if another telecommunications car12 rier is also designated as an essential telecommunications

13 carrier for that area. The rules—

14 ‘‘(A) shall ensure that all customers served by

15 the relinquishing carrier continue to be served, and

16 shall require sufficient notice to permit the purchase

17 or construction of adequate facilities by any remain18 ing essential telecommunications carrier if such re19 maining carrier provided universal service through

20 resale of the facilities of the relinquishing carrier;

21 and

22 ‘‘(B) shall establish criteria for determining

23 when a carrier which intends to utilize resale to

24 meet the requirements for designation under this

25 subsection has adequate resources to purchase, con-
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1 struct, or otherwise obtain the facilities necessary to

2 meet its obligation if the reselling carrier is no

3 longer able or obligated to resell the service.

4 ‘‘(6) ENFORCEMENT.—A common carrier designated

5 by the Commission or a State as an essential telecommuni6 cations carrier that refuses to provide universal service

7 within a reasonable period to an unserved community or

8 portion thereof which requests such service shall forfeit

9 to the United States, in the case of interstate services,

10 or the State, in the case of intrastate services, a sum of

11 up to $10,000 for each day that such carrier refuses to

12 provide such service. In determining a reasonable period

13 the Commission or the State, as appropriate, shall con14 sider the nature of any construction required to serve such

15 requesting unserved community or portion thereof, as well

16 as the construction intervals normally attending such con17 struction, and shall allow adequate time for regulatory ap18 provals and acquisition of necessary financing.

19 ‘‘(7) INTEREXCHANGE SERVICES.—The Commission,

20 for interstate services, or a State, for intrastate services,

21 shall designate an essential telecommunications carrier for

22 interexchange services for any unserved community or por23 tion thereof requesting such services. Any common carrier

24 designated as an essential telecommunications carrier for

25 interexchange services under this paragraph shall provide
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1 interexchange services included in universal service to any

2 unserved community or portion thereof which requests

3 such service. The service shall be provided at nationwide

4 geographically averaged rates for interstate interexchange

5 services and at geographically averaged rates for intra6 state interexchange services, and shall be just and reason7 able and not unjustly or unreasonably discriminatory. A

8 common carrier designated as an essential telecommuni9 cations carrier for interexchange services under this para10 graph that refuses to provide interexchange service in ac11 cordance with this paragraph to an unserved community

12 or portion thereof that requests such service within 180

13 days of such request shall forfeit to the United States a

14 sum of up to $50,000 for each day that such carrier re15 fuses to provide such service. The Commission or the

16 State, as appropriate, may extend the 180-day period for

17 providing interexchange service upon a showing by the

18 common carrier of good faith efforts to comply within such

19 period.

20 ‘‘(8) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Commission may, by

21 regulation, establish guidelines by which States may im22 plement the provisions of this section.’’.

23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for

24 section 214 is amended by inserting a semicolon and ‘‘es25 sential telecommunications carriers’’ after ‘‘lines’’.
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1 (c) TRANSITION RULE.—A rural telephone company

2 is eligible to receive universal service support payments

3 under section 253(e) of the Communications Act of 1934

4 as if such company were an essential telecommunications

5 carrier until such time as the Commission, with respect

6 to interstate services, or a State, with respect to intrastate

7 services, designates an essential telecommunications car8 rier or carriers for the area served by such company under

9 section 214 of that Act.

10 SEC. 105. FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND OWNERSHIP RE11 FORM.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 310 (47 U.S.C. 310) is

13 amended by adding at the end thereof the following new

14 subsection:

15 ‘‘(f) TERMINATION OF FOREIGN OWNERSHIP RE16 STRICTIONS.—

17 ‘‘(1) RESTRICTION NOT TO APPLY WHERE RECI18 PROCITY FOUND.—Subsection (b) shall not apply to

19 any common carrier license held, or for which appli20 cation is made, after the date of enactment of the

21 Telecommunications Act of 1995 with respect to any

22 alien (or representative thereof), corporation, or for23 eign government (or representative thereof) if the

24 Commission determines that the foreign country of

25 which such alien is a citizen, in which such corpora-
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1 tion is organized, or in which such foreign govern2 ment is in control provides equivalent market oppor3 tunities for common carriers to citizens of the Unit4 ed States (or their representatives), corporations or5 ganized in the United States, and the United States

6 Government (or its representative): Provided, That

7 the President does not object within 15 days of such

8 determination. If the President objects to a deter9 mination, the President shall, immediately upon

10 such objection, submit to Congress a written report

11 (in unclassified form, but with a classified annex if

12 necessary) that sets forth a detailed explanation of

13 the findings made and factors considered in object14 ing to the determination. The determination of

15 whether market opportunities are equivalent shall be

16 made on a market segment specific basis within 180

17 days after the application is filed. While determining

18 whether such opportunities are equivalent on that

19 basis, the Commission shall also conduct an evalua20 tion of opportunities for access to all segments of

21 the telecommunications market of the applicant.

22 ‘‘(2) SNAPBACK FOR RECIPROCITY FAILURE.—

23 If the Commission determines that any foreign coun24 try with respect to which it has made a determina-
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1 tion under paragraph (1) ceases to meet the require2 ments for that determination, then—

3 ‘‘(A) subsection (b) shall apply with re4 spect to such aliens, corporations, and govern5 ment (or their representatives) on the date on

6 which the Commission publishes notice of its

7 determination 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 withdrawn, or denied, as the

11 case may be, by the Commission under the pro12 visions of subsection (b).’’.

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 332(c)(6)

14 (47 U.S.C. 332(c)(6)) is amended by adding at the end

15 thereof the following:

16 ‘‘This paragraph does not apply to any foreign own17 ership interest or transfer of ownership to which sec18 tion 310(b) does not apply because of section

19 310(f).’’.

20 (c) THE APPLICATION OF THE EXON-FLORIO

21 LAW.—Nothing in this section (47 U.S.C. 310) shall limit

22 in any way the application of the Exon-Florio law (50

23 U.S.C. App. 2170) to any transaction.
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1 SEC. 106. INFRASTRUCTURE SHARING.

2 (a) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—The Commission

3 shall prescribe, within one year after the date of enact4 ment of this Act, regulations that require local exchange

5 carriers that were subject to Part 69 of the Commission’s

6 rules on or before that date to make available to any quali7 fying carrier such public switched network infrastructure,

8 technology, information, and telecommunications facilities

9 and functions as may be requested by such qualifying car10 rier for the purpose of enabling such qualifying carrier to

11 provide telecommunications services, or to provide access

12 to information services, in the service area in which such

13 qualifying carrier has requested and obtained designation

14 as an essential telecommunications carrier under section

15 214(d) and provides universal service by means of its own

16 facilities.

17 (b) TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF REGULATIONS.—

18 The regulations prescribed by the Commission pursuant

19 to this section shall—

20 (1) not require a local exchange carrier to

21 which this section applies to take any action that is

22 economically unreasonable or that is contrary to the

23 public interest;

24 (2) permit, but shall not require, the joint own25 ership or operation of public switched network infra-
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1 structure and services by or among such local ex2 change carrier and a qualifying carrier;

3 (3) ensure that such local exchange carrier will

4 not be treated by the Commission or any State as

5 a common carrier for hire or as offering common

6 carrier services with respect to any infrastructure,

7 technology, information, facilities, or functions made

8 available to a qualifying carrier in accordance with

9 regulations issued pursuant to this section;

10 (4) ensure that such local exchange carrier

11 makes such infrastructure, technology, information,

12 facilities, or functions available to a qualifying car13 rier on just and reasonable terms and conditions

14 that permit such qualifying carrier to fully benefit

15 from the economies of scale and scope of such local

16 exchange carrier, as determined in accordance with

17 guidelines prescribed by the Commission in regula18 tions issued pursuant to this section;

19 (5) establish conditions that promote coopera20 tion between local exchange carriers to which this

21 section applies and qualifying carriers;

22 (6) not require a local exchange carrier to

23 which this section applies to engage in any infra24 structure sharing agreement for any services or ac25 cess which are to be provided or offered to consum-
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1 ers by the qualifying carrier in such local exchange

2 carrier’s telephone exchange area; and

3 (7) require that such local exchange carrier file

4 with the Commission or State for public inspection,

5 any tariffs, contracts, or other arrangements show6 ing the rates, terms, and conditions under which

7 such carrier is making available public switched net8 work infrastructure and functions under this section.

9 (c) INFORMATION CONCERNING DEPLOYMENT OF

10 NEW SERVICES AND EQUIPMENT.—A local exchange car11 rier to which this section applies that has entered into an

12 infrastructure sharing agreement under this section shall

13 provide to each party to such agreement timely informa14 tion on the planned deployment of telecommunications

15 services and equipment, including any software or up16 grades of software integral to the use or operation of such

17 telecommunications equipment.

18 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

19 (1) QUALIFYING CARRIER.—The term ‘‘qualify20 ing carrier’’ means a telecommunications carrier

21 that—

22 (A) lacks economies of scale or scope, as

23 determined in accordance with regulations pre24 scribed by the Commission pursuant to this sec25 tion; and
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1 (B) is a common carrier which offers tele2 phone exchange service, exchange access serv3 ice, and any other service that is included in

4 universal service, to all consumers without pref5 erence throughout the service area for which

6 such carrier has been designated as an essential

7 telecommunications carrier under section

8 214(d) of the Communications Act of 1934.

9 (2) OTHER TERMS.—Any term used in this sec10 tion that is defined in the Communications Act of

11 1934 has the same meaning as it has in that Act.

12 SEC. 107. COORDINATION FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS

13 NETWORK-LEVEL INTEROPERABILITY.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—To promote nondiscriminatory ac15 cess to telecommunications networks by the broadest num16 ber of users and vendors of communications products and

17 services through—

18 (1) coordinated telecommunications network

19 planning and design by common carriers and other

20 providers of telecommunications services, and

21 (2) interconnection of telecommunications net22 works, and of devices with such networks, to ensure

23 the ability of users and information providers to

24 seamlessly and transparently transmit and receive
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1 information between and across telecommunications

2 networks,

3 the Commission may participate, in a manner consistent

4 with its authority and practice prior to the date of enact5 ment of this Act, in the development by appropriate vol6 untary industry standards-setting organizations to pro7 mote telecommunications network-level interoperability.

8 (b) DEFINITION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS NET9 WORK-LEVEL INTEROPERABILITY.—As used in this sec10 tion, the term ‘‘telecommunications network-level inter11 operability’’ means the ability of 2 or more telecommuni12 cations networks to communicate and interact in concert

13 with each other to exchange information without degenera14 tion.

15 (c) COMMISSION’S AUTHORITY NOT LIMITED.—

16 Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the

17 existing authority of the Commission.

18 TITLE II—REMOVAL OF RESTRICTIONS TO

19 COMPETITION

20 Subtitle A—Removal of Restrictions

21 SEC. 201. REMOVAL OF ENTRY BARRIERS.

22 (a) PREEMPTION OF STATE RULES.—Part II of title

23 II (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), as added by this Act, is amend24 ed by inserting after section 253 the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 254. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO ENTRY.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—No State or local statute or reg3 ulation, or other State or local legal requirement, may pro4 hibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability of any

5 entity to provide any interstate or intrastate telecommuni6 cations services.

7 ‘‘(b) STATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—Nothing in

8 this section shall affect the ability of a State to impose,

9 on a competitively neutral basis and consistent with sec10 tion 253, requirements necessary to preserve and advance

11 universal service, protect the public safety and welfare, en12 sure the continued quality of telecommunications services,

13 and safeguard the rights of consumers.

14 ‘‘(c) STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHOR15 ITY.—Nothing in this section affects the authority of a

16 State or local government to manage the public rights-of17 way or to require fair and reasonable compensation from

18 telecommunications providers, on a competitively neutral

19 and nondiscriminatory basis, for use of public rights-of20 way on a nondiscriminatory basis, if the compensation re21 quired is publicly disclosed by such government.

22 ‘‘(d) PREEMPTION.—If, after notice and an oppor23 tunity for public comment, the Commission determines

24 that a State or local government has permitted or imposed

25 any statute, regulation, or legal requirement that violates

26 subsection (a) or (b), the Commission shall preempt the
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1 enforcement of such statute, regulation, or legal require2 ment to the extent necessary to correct such violation or

3 inconsistency.

4 ‘‘(e) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICES PROVIDERS.—

5 Nothing in this section shall affect the application of sec6 tion 332(c)(3) to commercial mobile services providers.’’.

7 (b) PROVISION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

8 BY A CABLE OPERATOR.—

9 (1) JURISDICTION OF FRANCHISING AUTHOR10 ITY.—Section 621(b) (47 U.S.C. 541(b)) is amended

11 by adding at the end thereof the following new para12 graph:

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

14 affiliate thereof is engaged in the provision of tele15 communications services—

16 ‘‘(i) such cable operator or affiliate shall

17 not be required to obtain a franchise under this

18 title for the provision of telecommunications

19 services; and

20 ‘‘(ii) the provisions of this title shall not

21 apply to such cable operator or affiliate for the

22 provision of telecommunications services.

23 ‘‘(B) A franchising authority may not order a

24 cable operator or affiliate thereof to discontinue the

25 provision of a telecommunications service.
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1 ‘‘(C) A franchising authority may not require a

2 cable operator to provide any telecommunications

3 service or facilities as a condition of the initial grant

4 of a franchise, franchise renewal, or transfer of a

5 franchise.

6 ‘‘(D) Nothing in this paragraph affects existing

7 Federal or State authority with respect to tele8 communications services.’’.

9 (2) FRANCHISE FEES.—Section 622(b) (47

10 U.S.C. 542(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘to provide

11 cable services’’ immediately before the period at the

12 end of the first sentence.

13 (c) STATE AND LOCAL TAX LAWS.—Except as pro14 vided in section 202, nothing in this Act (or in the Com15 munications Act of 1934 as amended by this Act) shall

16 be construed to modify, impair, or supersede, or authorize

17 the modification, impairment, or supersession of, any

18 State or local law pertaining to taxation that is consistent

19 with the requirements of the Constitution of the United

20 States, this Act, the Communications Act of 1934, or any

21 other applicable Federal law.

22 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

23 this section take effect on the date of enactment of this

24 Act.
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1 SEC. 202. ELIMINATION OF CABLE AND TELEPHONE COM2 PANY CROSS-OWNERSHIP RESTRICTION.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 613(b) (47 U.S.C.

4 533(b)) is amended to read as follows:

5 ‘‘(b) VIDEO PROGRAMMING AND CABLE SERVICES.—

6 ‘‘(1) DISTINCTION BETWEEN VIDEO PLATFORM

7 AND CABLE SERVICE.—To the extent that any tele8 communications carrier carries video programming

9 provided by others, or provides video programming

10 that it owns, controls, or selects directly to subscrib11 ers, through a common carrier video platform, nei12 ther the telecommunications carrier nor any video

13 programming provider making use of such platform

14 shall be deemed to be a cable operator providing

15 cable service. To the extent that any telecommuni16 cations carrier provides video programming directly

17 to subscribers through a cable system, the carrier

18 shall be deemed to be a cable operator providing

19 cable service.

20 ‘‘(2) BELL OPERATING COMPANY ACTIVITIES.—

21 ‘‘(A) Notwithstanding the provisions of

22 section 252, to the extent that a Bell operating

23 company carries video programming provided

24 by others or provides video programming that it

25 owns, controls, or selects over a common carrier
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1 video platform, it need not use a separate affili2 ate if—

3 ‘‘(i) the carrier provides facilities,

4 services, or information to all programmers

5 on the same terms and conditions as it

6 provides such facilities, services, or infor7 mation to its own video programming oper8 ations, and

9 ‘‘(ii) the carrier does not use its tele10 communications services to subsidize its

11 provision of video programming.

12 ‘‘(B) To the extent that a Bell operating

13 company provides cable service as a cable oper14 ator, it shall provide such service through an af15 filiate that meets the requirements of section

16 252 (a), (b), and (d) and the Bell operating

17 company’s telephone exchange services and ex18 change access services shall meet the require19 ments of subparagraph (A)(ii) and section

20 252(c); except that, to the extent the Bell oper21 ating company provides cable service utilizing

22 its own telephone exchange facilities, section

23 252(c) shall not require the Bell operating com24 pany to make video programming services ca-
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1 pacity available on a non-discriminatory basis

2 to other video programming services providers.

3 ‘‘(C) Upon a finding by the Commission

4 that the requirement of a separate affiliate

5 under the preceding subparagraph is no longer

6 necessary to protect consumers, competition, or

7 the public interest, the Commission shall ex8 empt a Bell operating company from that re9 quirement.

10 ‘‘(3) COMMON CARRIER VIDEO PLATFORM.—

11 Nothing in this Act precludes a telecommunications

12 carrier from carrying video programming provided

13 by others directly to subscribers over a common car14 rier video platform. Nothing in this Act precludes a

15 video programming provider making use of a com16 mon carrier video platform from being treated as an

17 operator of a cable system for purposes of section

18 111 of title 17, United States Code.

19 ‘‘(4) RATES; ACCESS.—Notwithstanding para20 graph (2)(A)(i), a provider of common carrier video

21 platform services shall provide local broadcast sta22 tions, and to those public, educational, and govern23 mental entities required by local franchise authori24 ties to be given access to cable systems operating in

25 the same market as the common carrier video plat-
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1 form, with access to that platform for the trans2 mission of television broadcast programming at rates

3 no higher than the incremental-cost-based rates of

4 providing such access. Local broadcast stations shall

5 be entitled to obtain access on the first tier of pro6 gramming on the common carrier video platform. If

7 the area covered by the common carrier video plat8 form includes more than one franchising area, then

9 the Commission shall determine the number of chan10 nels allocated to public, educational, and govern11 mental entities that may be eligible for such rates

12 for that platform.

13 ‘‘(5) COMPETITIVE NEUTRALITY.—A provider

14 of video programming may be required to pay fees

15 in lieu of franchise fees (as defined in section

16 622(g)(1)) if the fees—

17 ‘‘(A) are competitively neutral; and

18 ‘‘(B) are separately identified in consumer

19 billing.

20 ‘‘(6) ACQUISITIONS; JOINT VENTURES; PART21 NERSHIPS; JOINT USE OF FACILITIES.—

22 ‘‘(A) LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIERS.—No

23 local exchange carrier or any affiliate of such

24 carrier owned by, operated by, controlled by, or

25 under common control with such carrier may
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1 purchase or otherwise acquire more than a 10

2 percent financial interest, or any management

3 interest, in any cable operator providing cable

4 service within the local exchange carrier’s tele5 phone service area.

6 ‘‘(B) CABLE OPERATORS.—No cable opera7 tor or affiliate of a cable operator that is owned

8 by, operated by, controlled by, or under com9 mon ownership with such cable operator may

10 purchase or otherwise acquire, directly or indi11 rectly, more than a 10 percent financial inter12 est, or any management interest, in any local

13 exchange carrier providing telephone exchange

14 service within such cable operator’s franchise

15 area.

16 ‘‘(C) JOINT VENTURE.—A local exchange

17 carrier and a cable operator whose telephone

18 service area and cable franchise area, respec19 tively, are in the same market may not enter

20 into any joint venture or partnership to provide

21 video programming directly to subscribers or to

22 provide telecommunications services within such

23 market.

24 ‘‘(D) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding sub25 paragraphs (A), (B), and (C) of this paragraph,
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1 a local exchange carrier (with respect to a cable

2 system located in its telephone service area) and

3 a cable operator (with respect to the facilities of

4 a local exchange carrier used to provide tele5 phone exchange service in its cable franchise

6 area) may obtain a controlling interest in, man7 agement interest in, or enter into a joint ven8 ture or partnership with such system or facili9 ties to the extent that such system or facilities

10 only serve incorporated or unincorporated—

11 ‘‘(i) places or territories that have

12 fewer than 50,000 inhabitants; and

13 ‘‘(ii) are outside an urbanized area, as

14 defined by the Bureau of the Census.

15 ‘‘(E) WAIVER.—The Commission may

16 waive the restrictions of subparagraph (A), (B),

17 or (C) only if the Commission determines that,

18 because of the nature of the market served by

19 the affected cable system or facilities used to

20 provide telephone exchange service—

21 ‘‘(i) the incumbent cable operator or

22 local exchange carrier would be subjected

23 to undue economic distress by the enforce24 ment of such provisions,
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1 ‘‘(ii) the system or facilities would not

2 be economically viable if such provisions

3 were enforced, or

4 ‘‘(iii) the anticompetitive effects of the

5 proposed transaction are clearly out6 weighed in the public interest by the prob7 able effect of the transaction in meeting

8 the convenience and needs of the commu9 nity to be served.

10 ‘‘(F) JOINT USE.—Notwithstanding sub11 paragraphs (A), (B), and (C), a telecommuni12 cations carrier may obtain within such carrier’s

13 telephone service area, with the concurrence of

14 the cable operator on the rates, terms, and con15 ditions, the use of that portion of the trans16 mission facilities of such a cable system extend17 ing from the last multiuser terminal to the

18 premises of the end user in excess of the capac19 ity that the cable operator uses to provide its

20 own cable services. A cable operator that pro21 vides access to such portion of its transmission

22 facilities to one telecommunications carrier shall

23 provide nondiscriminatory access to such por24 tion of its transmission facilities to any other
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1 telecommunications carrier requesting such ac2 cess.

3 ‘‘(G) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this

4 paragraph affects—

5 ‘‘(i) the authority of a local franchis6 ing authority (in the case of the purchase

7 or acquisition of a cable operator, or a

8 joint venture to provide cable service) or a

9 State Commission (in the case of the ac10 quisition of a local exchange carrier, or a

11 joint venture to provide telephone exchange

12 service) to approve or disapprove a pur13 chase, acquisition, or joint venture, or

14 ‘‘(ii) the antitrust laws, as described

15 in section 7(a) of the Telecommunications

16 Competition and Deregulation Act of

17 1995.’’.

18 (b) NO PERMIT REQUIRED FOR VIDEO PROGRAM19 MING SERVICES.—Section 214 (47 U.S.C. 214) is amend20 ed by adding at the end thereof the following:

21 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULE.—No certificate is required

22 under this section for a carrier to construct facilities to

23 provide video programming services.’’.
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1 (c) SAFEGUARDS.—Within one year after the date of

2 enactment of this Act, the Commission shall prescribe reg3 ulations that—

4 (1) require a telecommunications carrier that

5 provides video programming directly to subscribers

6 to ensure that subscribers are offered the means to

7 obtain access to the signals of local broadcast tele8 vision stations identified under section 614 as read9 ily as they are today;

10 (2) require such a carrier to display clearly and

11 prominently at the beginning of any program guide

12 or menu of program offerings the identity of any

13 signal of any television broadcast station that is car14 ried by the carrier;

15 (3) require such a carrier to ensure that viewers

16 are able to access the signal of any television broad17 cast station that is carried by that carrier without

18 first having to view advertising or promotional mate19 rial, or a navigational device, guide, or menu that

20 omits broadcasting services as an available option;

21 (4) except as required by paragraphs (1)

22 through (3), prohibit such carrier and a multi23 channel video programming distributor using the fa24 cilities of such carrier from discriminating among

25 video programming providers with respect to mate-
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1 rial or information provided by the carrier to sub2 scribers for the purposes of selecting programming,

3 or in the way such material or information is pre4 sented to subscribers;

5 (5) require such carrier and a multichannel

6 video programming distributor using the facilities of

7 such carrier to ensure that video programming pro8 viders or copyright holders (or both) are able suit9 ably and uniquely to identify their programming

10 services to subscribers;

11 (6) if such identification is transmitted as part

12 of the programming signal, require a telecommuni13 cations carrier that provides video programming di14 rectly to subscribers and a multichannel video pro15 gramming distributor using the facilities of such car16 rier to transmit such identification without change

17 or alteration;

18 (7) prohibit such carrier from discriminating

19 among video programming providers with regard to

20 carriage and ensure that the rates, terms, and condi21 tions for such carriage are just, reasonable, and non22 discriminatory;

23 (8) extend to such carriers and multichannel

24 video programming distributors using the facilities

25 of such carrier the Commission’s regulations con-
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1 cerning network nonduplication (47 C.F.R. 76.92 et

2 seq.) and syndicated exclusivity (47 C.F.R. 76.171

3 et seq.); and

4 (9) extend to such carriers and multichannel

5 video programming distributors using the facilities

6 of such carrier the protections afforded to local

7 broadcast signals in section 614(b)(3), 614(b)(4)(A),

8 and 615(g)(1) and (2) of such Act (47 U.S.C.

9 534(b)(3), 534(b)(4)(A), and 535(g)(1) and (2)).

10 (d) ENFORCEMENT.—The Commission shall resolve

11 disputes under subsection (c) and the regulations pre12 scribed under that subsection. Any such dispute shall be

13 resolved with 180 days after notice of the dispute is sub14 mitted to the Commission. At that time, or subsequently

15 in a separate proceeding, the Commission may award

16 damages sustained in consequence of any violation of this

17 section to any person denied carriage, or require carriage,

18 or both. Any aggrieved party may also seek any other rem19 edy available under the law.

20 (e) EFFECTIVE DATES.—The amendment made by

21 subsection (a) takes effect on the date of enactment of

22 this Act. The amendment made by subsection (b) takes

23 effect 1 year after that date.
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1 SEC. 203. CABLE ACT REFORM.

2 (a) CHANGE IN DEFINITION OF CABLE SYSTEM.—

3 Section 602(7) (47 U.S.C. 522(7)) is amended by striking

4 out ‘‘(B) a facility that serves only subscribers in 1 or

5 more multiple unit dwellings under common ownership,

6 control, or management, unless such facility or facilities

7 uses any public right-of-way;’’ and inserting ‘‘(B) a facility

8 that serves subscribers without using any public right-of9 way;’’.

10 (b) RATE DEREGULATION.—

11 (1) Section 623(c) (47 U.S.C. 543(c)) is

12 amended—

13 (A) by striking ‘‘subscriber,’’ and the

14 comma after ‘‘authority’’ in paragraph (1)(B);

15 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert16 ing the following:

17 ‘‘(2) STANDARD FOR UNREASONABLE RATES.—

18 The Commission may only consider a rate for cable

19 programming services to be unreasonable if it sub20 stantially exceeds the national average rate for com21 parable cable programming services provided by

22 cable systems other than small cable systems, deter23 mined on a per-channel basis as of June 1, 1995,

24 and redetermined, and adjusted if necessary, every 2

25 years thereafter.’’.
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1 (2) Section 623(l)(1) (47 U.S.C. 543(l)(1)) is

2 amended—

3 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara4 graph (B);

5 (B) by striking the period at the end of

6 subparagraph (C) and inserting a semicolon

7 and ‘‘or’’; and

8 (C) by adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(D) a local exchange carrier offers video

10 programming services directly to subscribers, ei11 ther over a common carrier video platform or as

12 a cable operator, in the franchise area of an un13 affiliated cable operator which is providing

14 cable service in that franchise area, but only if

15 the video programming services offered by the

16 carrier in that area are comparable to the video

17 programming services provided by the unaffili18 ated cable operator in that area.’’.

19 (c) GREATER DEREGULATION FOR SMALLER CABLE

20 COMPANIES.—Section 623 (47 U.S.C. 543) is amended by

21 adding at the end thereof the following:

22 ‘‘(m) SPECIAL RULES FOR SMALL COMPANIES.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a), (b), or (c)

24 does not apply to a small cable operator with respect

25 to—
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1 ‘‘(A) cable programming services, or

2 ‘‘(B) a basic service tier that was the only

3 service tier subject to regulation as of Decem4 ber 31, 1994,

5 in any franchise area in which that operator serves

6 35,000 or fewer subscribers.

7 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION OF SMALL CABLE OPERA8 TOR.—For purposes of this subsection, the term

9 ‘small cable operator’ means a cable operator that,

10 directly or through an affiliate, serves in the aggre11 gate fewer than 1 percent of all subscribers in the

12 United States and is not affiliated with any entity

13 or entities whose gross annual revenues in the aggre14 gate exceed $250,000,000.’’.

15 (d) PROGRAM ACCESS.—Section 628 (47 U.S.C. 628)

16 is amended by adding at the end the following:

17 ‘‘(j) COMMON CARRIERS.—Any provision that applies

18 to a cable operator under this section shall apply to a tele19 communications carrier or its affiliate that provides video

20 programming by any means directly to subscribers. Any

21 such provision that applies to a satellite cable program22 ming vendor in which a cable operator has an attributable

23 interest shall apply to any satellite cable programming

24 vendor in which such common carrier has an attributable

25 interest.’’.
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1 (e) EXPEDITED DECISION-MAKING FOR MARKET

2 DETERMINATIONS UNDER SECTION 614.—

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 614(h)(1)(C)(iv) (47

4 U.S.C. 614(h)(1)(C)(iv)) is amended to read as fol5 lows:

6 ‘‘(iv) Within 120 days after the date

7 on which a request is filed under this sub8 paragraph, the Commission shall grant or

9 deny the request.’’.

10 (2) APPLICATION TO PENDING REQUESTS.—

11 The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall apply

12 to—

13 (A) any request pending under section

14 614(h)(1)(C) of the Communications Act of

15 1934 (47 U.S.C. 614(h)(1)(C)) on the date of

16 enactment of this Act; and

17 (B) any request filed under that section

18 after that date.

19 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

20 this section take effect on the date of enactment of this

21 Act.

22 SEC. 204. POLE ATTACHMENTS.

23 Section 224 (47 U.S.C. 224) is amended—

24 (1) by inserting the following after subsection

25 (a)(4):
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1 ‘‘(5) The term ‘telecommunications carrier’

2 shall have the meaning given such term in sub3 section 3(nn) of this Act, except that, for purposes

4 of this section, the term shall not include any person

5 classified by the Commission as a dominant provider

6 of telecommunications services as of January 1,

7 1995.’’;

8 (2) by inserting after ‘‘conditions’’ in subsection

9 (c)(1) a comma and the following: ‘‘or access to

10 poles, ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way as provided

11 in subsection (f),’’;

12 (3) by inserting after subsection (d)(2) the fol13 lowing:

14 ‘‘(3) This subsection shall apply to the rate for

15 any pole attachment used by a cable television sys16 tem solely to provide cable service. Until the effec17 tive date of the regulations required under sub18 section (e), this subsection shall also apply to the

19 pole attachment rates for cable television systems

20 (or for any telecommunications carrier that was not

21 a party to any pole attachment agreement prior to

22 the date of enactment of the Telecommunications

23 Act of 1995) to provide any telecommunications

24 service or any other service subject to the jurisdic25 tion of the Commission.’’; and
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1 (4) by adding at the end thereof the following:

2 ‘‘(e)(1) The Commission shall, no later than 2

3 years after the date of enactment of the Tele4 communications Act of 1995, prescribe regulations

5 in accordance with this subsection to govern the

6 charges for pole attachments by telecommunications

7 carriers. Such regulations shall ensure that utilities

8 charge just and reasonable and non-discriminatory

9 rates for pole attachments.

10 ‘‘(2) A utility shall apportion the cost of provid11 ing space on a pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way

12 other than the usable space among entities so that

13 such apportionment equals the sum of—

14 ‘‘(A) two-thirds of the costs of providing

15 space other than the usable space that would be

16 allocated to such entity under an equal appor17 tionment of such costs among all attachments,

18 plus

19 ‘‘(B) the percentage of usable space re20 quired by each such entity multiplied by the

21 costs of space other than the usable space;

22 but in no event shall such proportion exceed the

23 amount that would be allocated to such entity under

24 an equal apportionment of such costs among all at25 tachments.
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1 ‘‘(3) A utility shall apportion the cost of provid2 ing usable space among all entities according to the

3 percentage of usable space required for each entity.

4 Costs shall be apportioned between the usable space

5 and the space on a pole, duct, conduit, or right-of6 way other than the usable space on a proportionate

7 basis.

8 ‘‘(4) The regulations required under paragraph

9 (1) shall become effective 5 years after the date of

10 enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995.

11 Any increase in the rates for pole attachments that

12 result from the adoption of the regulations required

13 by this subsection shall be phased in equal annual

14 increments over a period of 5 years beginning on the

15 effective date of such regulations.

16 ‘‘(f)(1) A utility shall provide a cable television sys17 tem or any telecommunications carrier with nondiscrim18 inatory access to any pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way

19 owned or controlled by it.

20 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a utility provid21 ing electric service may deny a cable television system or

22 telecommunications carrier access to its poles, ducts, con23 duits, or rights-of-way, on a non-discriminatory basis

24 where there is insufficient capacity and for reasons of
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1 safety, reliability, and generally applicable engineering

2 purposes.

3 ‘‘(g) A utility that engages in the provision of tele4 communications services shall impute to its costs of pro5 viding such services (and charge any affiliate, subsidiary,

6 or associate company engaged in the provision of such

7 services) an amount equal to the pole attachment rate for

8 which such company would be liable under this section.’’.

9 SEC. 205. ENTRY BY UTILITY COMPANIES.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—

11 (1) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES OF UTILITIES.—

12 Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the

13 contrary (including the Public Utility Holding Com14 pany Act of 1935 (15 U.S.C. 79a et seq.)), an elec15 tric, gas, water, or steam utility, and any subsidiary

16 company, affiliate, or associate company of such a

17 utility, other than a public utility company that is an

18 associate company of a registered holding company,

19 may engage, directly or indirectly, in any activity

20 whatsoever, wherever located, necessary or appro21 priate to the provision of—

22 (A) telecommunications services,

23 (B) information services,

24 (C) other services or products subject to

25 the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications
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1 Commission under the Communications Act of

2 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), or

3 (D) products or services that are related or

4 incidental to a product or service described in

5 subparagraph (A), (B), or (C).

6 (2) REMOVAL OF SEC JURISDICTION.—The Se7 curities and Exchange Commission has no jurisdic8 tion under the Public Utility Holding Company Act

9 of 1935 (15 U.S.C. 79a et seq.) over a holding com10 pany, or a subsidiary company, affiliate, or associate

11 company of a holding company, to grant any author12 ization to enforce any requirement with respect to,

13 or approve or otherwise review, any activity de14 scribed in paragraph (1), including financing, invest15 ing in, acquiring, or maintaining any interest in, or

16 entering into affiliate transactions or contracts, and

17 any authority over audits or access to books and

18 records.

19 (3) APPLICABILITY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

20 REGULATION.—Nothing in this section shall affect

21 the authority of the Federal Communications Com22 mission under the Communications Act of 1934, or

23 the authority of State commissions under State laws

24 concerning the provision of telecommunications serv25 ices, to regulate the activities of an associate com-
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1 pany engaged in activities described in paragraph

2 (1).

3 (4) COMMISSION RULES.—The Commission

4 shall consider and adopt, as necessary, rules to pro5 tect the customers of a public utility company that

6 is a subsidiary company of a registered holding com7 pany against potential detriment from the tele8 communications activities of any other subsidiary of

9 such registered holding company.

10 (b) PROHIBITION OF CROSS-SUBSIDIZATION.—Noth11 ing in the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935

12 shall preclude the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

13 or a State commission from exercising its jurisdiction

14 under otherwise applicable law to determine whether a

15 public utility company may recover in rates the costs of

16 any activity described in subsection (a)(1) which is per17 formed by an associate company regardless of whether

18 such costs are incurred through the direct or indirect pur19 chase of goods and services from such associate company.

20 (c) ASSUMPTION OF LIABILITIES.—Any public utility

21 company that is an associate company of a registered

22 holding company and that is subject to the jurisdiction

23 of a State commission with respect to its retail electric

24 or gas rates shall not issue any security for the purpose

25 of financing the acquisition, ownership, or operation of an
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1 associate company engaged in activities described in sub2 section (a)(1) without the prior approval of the State com3 mission. Any public utility company that is an associate

4 company of a registered holding company and that is sub5 ject to the jurisdiction of a State commission with respect

6 to its retail electric or gas rates shall not assume any obli7 gation or liability as guarantor, endorser, surety, or other8 wise by the public utility in respect of any security of an

9 associate company engaged in activities described in sub10 section (a)(1) without the prior approval of the State com11 mission.

12 (d) PLEDGING OR MORTGAGING UTILITY ASSETS.—

13 Any public utility company that is an associate company

14 of a registered holding company and that is subject to the

15 jurisdiction of a State commission with respect to its retail

16 electric or gas rates shall not pledge, mortgage, or other17 wise use as collateral any utility assets of the public utility

18 or utility assets of any subsidiary company thereof for the

19 benefit of an associate company engaged in activities de20 scribed in subsection (a)(1) without the prior approval of

21 the State commission.

22 (e) BOOKS AND RECORDS.—An associate company

23 engaged in activities described in subsection (a)(1) which

24 is an associate company of a registered holding company

25 shall maintain books, records, and accounts separate from
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1 the registered holding company which identify all trans2 actions with the registered holding company and its other

3 associate companies, and provide access to books, records,

4 and accounts to State commissions and the Federal En5 ergy Regulatory Commission under the same terms of ac6 cess, disclosure, and procedures as provided in section

7 201(g) of the Federal Power Act.

8 (f) INDEPENDENT AUDIT AUTHORITY FOR STATE

9 COMMISSIONS.—

10 (1) STATE MAY ORDER AUDIT.—Any State

11 commission with jurisdiction over a public utility

12 company that—

13 (A) is an associate company of a registered

14 holding company, and

15 (B) transacts business, directly or indi16 rectly, with a subsidiary company, affiliate, or

17 associate company of that holding company en18 gaged in any activity described in subsection

19 (a)(1),

20 may order an independent audit to be performed, no

21 more frequently than on an annual basis, of all mat22 ters deemed relevant by the selected auditor that

23 reasonably relate to retail rates: Provided, That such

24 matters relate, directly or indirectly, to transactions

25 or transfers between the public utility company sub-
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1 ject to its jurisdiction and the subsidiary company,

2 affiliate, or associate company engaged in that activ3 ity.

4 (2) SELECTION OF FIRM TO CONDUCT AUDIT.—

5 (A) If a State commission orders an audit

6 in accordance with paragraph (1), the public

7 utility company and the State commission shall

8 jointly select within 60 days a firm to perform

9 the audit. The firm selected to perform the

10 audit shall possess demonstrated qualifications

11 relating to:

12 (i) competency, including adequate

13 technical training and professional pro14 ficiency in each discipline necessary to

15 carry out the audit, and

16 (ii) independence and objectivity, in17 cluding that the firm be free from personal

18 or external impairments to independence,

19 and should assume an independent position

20 with the State commission and auditee,

21 making certain that the audit is based

22 upon an impartial consideration of all per23 tinent facts and responsible opinions.

24 (B) The public utility company and the

25 company engaged in activities under subsection
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1 (a)(1) shall cooperate fully with all reasonable

2 requests necessary to perform the audit and the

3 public utility company shall bear all costs of

4 having the audit performed.

5 (3) AVAILABILITY OF AUDITOR’S REPORT.—The

6 auditor’s report shall be provided to the State com7 mission within 6 months after the selection of the

8 auditor, and provided to the public utility company

9 60 days thereafter.

10 (g) REQUIRED NOTICES.—

11 (1) AFFILIATE CONTRACTS.—A State commis12 sion may order any public utility company that is an

13 associate company of a registered holding company

14 and that is subject to the jurisdiction of the State

15 commission to provide quarterly reports listing any

16 contracts, leases, transfers, or other transactions

17 with an associate company engaged in activities de18 scribed in subsection (a)(1).

19 (2) ACQUISITION OF AN INTEREST IN ASSOCI20 ATE COMPANIES.—Within 10 days after the acquisi21 tion by a registered holding company of an interest

22 in an associate company that will engage in activities

23 described in subsection (a)(1), any public utility

24 company that is an associate company of such com25 pany shall notify each State commission having ju-
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1 risdiction over the retail rates of such public utility

2 company of such acquisition. In the notice an officer

3 on behalf of the public utility company shall attest

4 that, based on then current information, such acqui5 sition and related financing will not materially im6 pair the ability of such public utility company to

7 meet its public service responsibility, including its

8 ability to raise necessary capital.

9 (h) DEFINITIONS.—Any term used in this section

10 that is defined in the Public Utility Holding Company Act

11 of 1935 (15 U.S.C. 79a et seq.) has the same meaning

12 as it has in that Act. The terms ‘‘telecommunications serv13 ice’’ and ‘‘information service’’ shall have the same mean14 ings as those terms have in the Communications Act of

15 1934.

16 (i) IMPLEMENTATION.—Not later than 1 year after

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Commu18 nications Commission shall promulgate such regulations

19 as may be necessary to implement this section.

20 (j) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section takes effect on

21 the date of enactment of this Act.

22 SEC. 206. BROADCAST REFORM.

23 (a) SPECTRUM REFORM.—
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1 (1) ADVANCED TELEVISION SPECTRUM SERV2 ICES.—If the Commission by rule permits licensees

3 to provide advanced television services, then—

4 (A) it shall adopt regulations that allow

5 such licensees to make use of the advanced tele6 vision spectrum for the transmission of ancil7 lary or supplementary services if the licensees

8 provide without charge to the public at least

9 one advanced television program service as pre10 scribed by the Commission that is intended for

11 and available to the general public on the ad12 vanced television spectrum; and

13 (B) it shall apply similar rules to use of

14 existing television spectrum.

15 (2) COMMISSION TO COLLECT FEES.—To the

16 extent that a television broadcast licensee provides

17 ancillary or supplementary services using existing or

18 advanced television spectrum—

19 (A) for which payment of a subscription

20 fee is required in order to receive such services,

21 or

22 (B) for which the licensee directly or indi23 rectly receives compensation from a third party

24 in return for transmitting material furnished by

25 such third party, other than payments to broad-
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1 cast stations by third parties for transmission

2 of program material or commercial advertising,

3 the Commission may collect from each such licensee

4 an annual fee to the extent the existing or advanced

5 television spectrum is used for such ancillary or sup6 plementary services. In determining the amount of

7 such fees, the Commission shall take into account

8 the portion of the licensee’s total existing or ad9 vanced television spectrum which is used for such

10 services and the amount of time such services are

11 provided. The amount of such fees to be collected for

12 any such service shall not, in any event, exceed an

13 amount equivalent on an annualized basis to the

14 amount paid by providers of a competing service on

15 spectrum subject to auction under section 309(j) of

16 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)).

17 (3) PUBLIC INTEREST REQUIREMENT.—Noth18 ing in this section shall be construed as relieving a

19 television broadcasting station from its obligation to

20 serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

21 In the Commission’s review of any application for

22 renewal of a broadcast license for a television station

23 that provides ancillary or supplementary services,

24 the television licensee shall establish that all of its

25 program services on the existing or advanced tele-
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1 vision spectrum are in the public interest. Any viola2 tion of the Commission rules applicable to ancillary

3 or supplementary services shall reflect upon the li4 censee’s qualifications for renewal of its license.

5 (4) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this sub6 section—

7 (A) The term ‘‘advanced television serv8 ices’’ means television services provided using

9 digital or other advanced technology to enhance

10 audio quality and video resolution.

11 (B) The term ‘‘existing’’ means spectrum

12 generally in use for television broadcast pur13 poses on the date of enactment of this Act.

14 (b) OWNERSHIP REFORM.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall mod16 ify its rules for multiple ownership set forth in 47

17 CFR 73.3555 by—

18 (A) eliminating the restrictions on the

19 number of television stations owned under sub20 divisions (e)(1) (ii) and (iii); and

21 (B) changing the percentage set forth in

22 subdivision (e)(2)(ii) from 25 percent to 35 per23 cent.

24 (2) RADIO OWNERSHIP.—The Commission shall

25 modify its rules set forth in 47 CFR 73.3555 by
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1 eliminating any provisions limiting the number of

2 AM or FM broadcast stations which may be owned

3 or controlled by one entity either nationally or in a

4 particular market. The Commission may refuse to

5 approve the transfer or issuance of an AM or FM

6 broadcast license to a particular entity if it finds

7 that the entity would thereby obtain an undue con8 centration of control or would thereby harm competi9 tion. Nothing in this section shall require or prevent

10 the Commission from modifying its rules contained

11 in 47 CFR 73.3555(c) governing the ownership of

12 both a radio and television broadcast stations in the

13 same market.

14 (3) LOCAL MARKETING AGREEMENT.—Nothing

15 in this Act shall be construed to prohibit the con16 tinuation or renewal of any television local market17 ing agreement that is in effect on the date of enact18 ment of this Act and that is in compliance with the

19 Commission’s regulations.

20 (4) STATUTORY RESTRICTIONS.—Section 613

21 (47 U.S.C. 533) is amended by striking subsection

22 (a) and inserting the following:

23 ‘‘(a) The Commission shall review its ownership rules

24 biennially as part of its regulatory reform review under

25 section 259.’’.
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1 (5) CONFORMING CHANGES.—The Commission

2 shall amend its rules to make any changes necessary

3 to reflect the effect of this section on its rules.

4 (6) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Commission shall

5 make the modifications required by paragraphs (1)

6 and (2) effective on the date of enactment of this

7 Act.

8 (c) TERM OF LICENSES.—Section 307(c) (47 U.S.C.

9 307(c)) is amended by striking the first four sentences and

10 inserting the following:

11 ‘‘No license shall be granted for a term longer than

12 10 years. Upon application, a renewal of such license may

13 be granted from time to time for a term of not to exceed

14 10 years, if the Commission finds that the public interest,

15 convenience, and necessity would be served thereby.’’.

16 (d) BROADCAST LICENSE RENEWAL PROCEDURES.—

17 (1) Section 309 (47 U.S.C. 309) is amended by

18 adding at the end thereof the following:

19 ‘‘(k)(1)(A) Notwithstanding subsections (c) and (d),

20 if the licensee of a broadcast station submits an applica21 tion to the Commission for renewal of such license, the

22 Commission shall grant the application if it finds, after

23 notice and opportunity for comment, with respect to that

24 station during the preceding term of its license, that—
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1 ‘‘(i) the station has served the public interest,

2 convenience, and necessity;

3 ‘‘(ii) there have been no serious violations by

4 the licensee of this Act or the rules and regulations

5 of the Commission; and

6 ‘‘(iii) there have been no other violations by the

7 licensee of this Act or the rules and regulations of

8 the Commission which, taken together, would con9 stitute a pattern of abuse.

10 ‘‘(B) If any licensee of a broadcast station fails to

11 meet the requirements of this subsection, the Commission

12 may deny the application for renewal in accordance with

13 paragraph (2), or grant such application on appropriate

14 terms and conditions, including renewal for a term less

15 than the maximum otherwise permitted.

16 ‘‘(2) If the Commission determines, after notice and

17 opportunity for a hearing, that a licensee has failed to

18 meet the requirements specified in paragraph (1)(A) and

19 that no mitigating factors justify the imposition of lesser

20 sanctions, the Commission shall—

21 ‘‘(A) issue an order denying the renewal appli22 cation filed by such licensee under section 308; and

23 ‘‘(B) only thereafter accept and consider such

24 applications for a construction permit as may be
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1 filed under section 308 specifying the channel or

2 broadcasting facilities of the former licensee.

3 ‘‘(3) In making the determinations specified in para4 graphs (1) or (2)(A), the Commission shall not consider

5 whether the public interest, convenience, and necessity

6 might be served by the grant of a license to a person other

7 than the renewal applicant.’’.

8 (2) Section 309(d) (47 U.S.C. 309(d)) is

9 amended by inserting ‘‘(or subsection (k) in the case

10 of renewal of any broadcast station license)’’ after

11 ‘‘with subsection (a)’’ each place it appears.

12 (3) The amendments made by this subsection

13 apply to applications filed after May 31, 1995.

14 (4) This section shall operate only if the Com15 mission shall amend its ‘‘Application for renewal of

16 License for AM, FM, TV, Translator or LPTV Sta17 tion’’ (FCC Form 303–S) to require that, for com18 mercial TV applicants only, the applicant attach as

19 an exhibit to the application a summary of written

20 comments and suggestions received from the public

21 and maintained by the licensee in accordance with

22 section 73.1202 of title 47, Code of Federal Regula23 tions, that comment on the applicant’s program24 ming, if any, characterized by the commentor as

25 constituting violent programming.
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1 Subtitle B—Termination of Modification of Final

2 Judgment

3 SEC. 221. REMOVAL OF LONG DISTANCE RESTRICTIONS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251

5 et seq.), as added by this Act, is amended by inserting

6 after section 254 the following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 255. INTEREXCHANGE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERV8 ICES.

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any restriction

10 or obligation imposed before the date of enactment of the

11 Telecommunications Act of 1995 under section II(D) of

12 the Modification of Final Judgment, a Bell operating com13 pany, or any subsidiary or affiliate of a Bell operating

14 company, that meets the requirements of this section may

15 provide—

16 ‘‘(1) interLATA telecommunications services

17 originating in any region in which it is the dominant

18 provider of wireline telephone exchange service or ex19 change access service after the Commission deter20 mines that it has fully implemented the competitive

21 checklist found in subsection (b)(2) in the area in

22 which it seeks to provide interLATA telecommuni23 cations services, in accordance with the provisions of

24 subsection (c);

25 ‘‘(2) interLATA telecommunications services

26 originating in any area where that company is not
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1 the dominant provider of wireline telephone ex2 change service or exchange access service in accord3 ance with the provisions of subsection (d); and

4 ‘‘(3) interLATA services that are incidental

5 services in accordance with the provisions of sub6 section (e).

7 ‘‘(b) SPECIFIC INTERLATA INTERCONNECTION RE8 QUIREMENTS.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A Bell operating company

10 may provide interLATA services in accordance with

11 this section only if that company has reached an

12 interconnection agreement under section 251 and

13 that agreement provides, at a minimum, for inter14 connection that meets the competitive checklist re15 quirements of paragraph (2).

16 ‘‘(2) COMPETITIVE CHECKLIST.—Interconnec17 tion provided by a Bell operating company to other

18 telecommunications carriers under section 251 shall

19 include:

20 ‘‘(A) Nondiscriminatory access on an

21 unbundled basis to the network functions and

22 services of the Bell operating company’s tele23 communications network that is at least equal

24 in type, quality, and price to the access the Bell
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1 operating company affords to itself or any other

2 entity.

3 ‘‘(B) The capability to exchange tele4 communications between customers of the Bell

5 operating company and the telecommunications

6 carrier seeking interconnection.

7 ‘‘(C) Nondiscriminatory access to the

8 poles, ducts, conduits, and rights-of-way owned

9 or controlled by the Bell operating company at

10 just and reasonable rates where it has the legal

11 authority to permit such access.

12 ‘‘(D) Local loop transmission from the

13 central office to the customer’s premises,

14 unbundled from local switching or other serv15 ices.

16 ‘‘(E) Local transport from the trunk side

17 of a wireline local exchange carrier switch

18 unbundled from switching or other services.

19 ‘‘(F) Local switching unbundled from

20 transport, local loop transmission, or other serv21 ices.

22 ‘‘(G) Nondiscriminatory access to—

23 ‘‘(i) 911 and E911 services;
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1 ‘‘(ii) directory assistance services to

2 allow the other carrier’s customers to ob3 tain telephone numbers; and

4 ‘‘(iii) operator call completion services.

5 ‘‘(H) White pages directory listings for

6 customers of the other carrier’s telephone ex7 change service.

8 ‘‘(I) Until the date by which neutral tele9 phone number administration guidelines, plan,

10 or rules are established, nondiscriminatory ac11 cess to telephone numbers for assignment to the

12 other carrier’s telephone exchange service cus13 tomers. After that date, compliance with such

14 guidelines, plan, or rules.

15 ‘‘(J) Nondiscriminatory access to

16 databases and associated signaling, including

17 signaling links, signaling service control points,

18 and signaling service transfer points, necessary

19 for call routing and completion.

20 ‘‘(K) Until the date by which the Commis21 sion determines that final telecommunications

22 number portability is technically feasible and

23 must be made available, interim telecommuni24 cations number portability through remote call

25 forwarding, direct inward dialing trunks, or
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1 other comparable arrangements, with as little

2 impairment of functioning, quality, reliability,

3 and convenience as possible. After that date,

4 full compliance with final telecommunications

5 number portability.

6 ‘‘(L) Nondiscriminatory access to whatever

7 services or information may be necessary to

8 allow the requesting carrier to implement local

9 dialing parity in a manner that permits con10 sumers to be able to dial the same number of

11 digits when using any telecommunications car12 rier providing telephone exchange service or ex13 change access service.

14 ‘‘(M) Reciprocal compensation arrange15 ments on a nondiscriminatory basis for the

16 origination and termination of telecommuni17 cations.

18 ‘‘(N) Telecommunications services and net19 work functions provided on an unbundled basis

20 without any conditions or restrictions on the re21 sale or sharing of those services or functions,

22 including both origination and termination of

23 telecommunications services, other than reason24 able conditions required by the Commission or

25 a State. For purposes of this subparagraph, it
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1 is not an unreasonable condition for the Com2 mission or a State to limit the resale—

3 ‘‘(i) of services included in the defini4 tion of universal service to a telecommuni5 cations carrier who intends to resell that

6 service to a category of customers different

7 from the category of customers being of8 fered that universal service by such carrier

9 if the Commission or State orders a carrier

10 to provide the same service to different

11 categories of customers at different prices

12 necessary to promote universal service; or

13 ‘‘(ii) of subsidized universal service in

14 a manner that allows companies to charge

15 another carrier rates which reflect the ac16 tual cost of providing those services to that

17 carrier, exclusive of any universal service

18 support received for providing such serv19 ices in accordance with section 214(d)(5).

20 ‘‘(3) JOINT MARKETING OF LOCAL AND LONG

21 DISTANCE SERVICES.—Until a Bell operating com22 pany is authorized to provide interLATA services in

23 a telephone exchange area where that company is

24 the dominant provider of wireline telephone ex25 change service or exchange access service, or until
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1 36 months have passed since the enactment of the

2 Telecommunications Act of 1995, whichever is ear3 lier, a telecommunications carrier that serves greater

4 than 5 percent of the Nation’s presubscribed access

5 lines may not jointly market in such telephone ex6 change area telephone exchange service purchased

7 from such company with interLATA services offered

8 by that telecommunications carrier.

9 ‘‘(4) COMMISSION MAY NOT EXPAND COMPETI10 TIVE CHECKLIST.—The Commission may not, by

11 rule or otherwise, limit or extend the terms used in

12 the competitive checklist.

13 ‘‘(c) IN-REGION SERVICES.—

14 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—Upon the enactment of

15 the Telecommunications Act of 1995, a Bell operat16 ing company or its affiliate may apply to the Com17 mission for authorization notwithstanding the Modi18 fication of Final Judgment to provide interLATA

19 telecommunications service originating in any area

20 where such Bell operating company is the dominant

21 provider of wireline telephone exchange service or ex22 change access service. The application shall describe

23 with particularity the nature and scope of the activ24 ity and of each product market or service market,
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1 and each geographic market for which authorization

2 is sought.

3 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION BY COMMISSION.—

4 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 90

5 days after receiving an application under para6 graph (1), the Commission shall issue a written

7 determination, on the record after a hearing

8 and opportunity for comment, granting or deny9 ing the application in whole or in part. Before

10 making any determination under this subpara11 graph, the Commission shall consult with the

12 Attorney General regarding the application. In

13 consulting with the Commission under this sub14 paragraph, the Attorney General may apply any

15 appropriate standard.

16 ‘‘(B) APPROVAL.—The Commission may

17 only approve the authorization requested in an

18 application submitted under paragraph (1) if it

19 finds that—

20 ‘‘(i) the petitioning Bell operating

21 company has fully implemented the com22 petitive checklist found in subsection

23 (b)(2); and
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1 ‘‘(ii) the requested authority will be

2 carried out in accordance with the require3 ments of section 252,

4 and if the Commission determines that the re5 quested authorization is consistent with the

6 public interest, convenience, and necessity. If

7 the Commission does not approve an application

8 under this subparagraph, it shall state the basis

9 for its denial of the application.

10 ‘‘(3) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 10 days

11 after issuing a determination under paragraph (2),

12 the Commission shall publish in the Federal Register

13 a brief description of the determination.

14 ‘‘(4) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—

15 ‘‘(A) COMMENCEMENT OF ACTION.—Not

16 later than 45 days after a determination by the

17 Commission is published under paragraph (3),

18 the Bell operating company or its subsidiary or

19 affiliate that applied to the Commission under

20 paragraph (1), or any person who would be

21 threatened with loss or damage as a result of

22 the determination regarding such company’s en23 gaging in the activity described in its applica24 tion, may commence an action in any United

25 States Court of Appeals against the Commis-
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1 sion for judicial review of the determination re2 garding the application.

3 ‘‘(B) JUDGMENT.—

4 ‘‘(i) The Court shall enter a judgment

5 after reviewing the determination in ac6 cordance with section 706 of title 5 of the

7 United State Code.

8 ‘‘(ii) A judgment—

9 ‘‘(I) affirming any part of the de10 termination that approves granting all

11 or part of the requested authorization,

12 or

13 ‘‘(II) reversing any part of the

14 determination that denies all or part

15 of the requested authorization,

16 shall describe with particularity the nature

17 and scope of the activity, and of each prod18 uct market or service market, and each ge19 ographic market, to which the affirmance

20 or reversal applies.

21 ‘‘(5) REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO SEPARATE

22 AFFILIATE; SAFEGUARDS; AND INTRALATA TOLL DI23 ALING PARITY.—

24 ‘‘(A) SEPARATE AFFILIATE; SAFE25 GUARDS.—Other than interLATA services au-
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1 thorized by an order entered by the United

2 States District Court for the District of Colum3 bia pursuant to the Modification of Final Judg4 ment before the date of enactment of the Tele5 communications Act of 1995, a Bell operating

6 company, or any affiliate of such a company,

7 providing interLATA services authorized under

8 this subsection may provide such interLATA

9 services in that market only in accordance with

10 the requirements of section 252.

11 ‘‘(B) INTRALATA TOLL DIALING PARITY.—

12 ‘‘(i) A Bell operating company grant13 ed authority to provide interLATA services

14 under this subsection shall provide

15 intraLATA toll dialing parity throughout

16 that market coincident with its exercise of

17 that authority. If the Commission finds

18 that such a Bell operating company has

19 provided interLATA service authorized

20 under this clause before its implementation

21 of intraLATA toll dialing parity through22 out that market, or fails to maintain

23 intraLATA toll dialing parity throughout

24 that market, the Commission, except in

25 cases of inadvertent interruptions or other
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1 events beyond the control of the Bell oper2 ating company, shall suspend the authority

3 to provide interLATA service for that mar4 ket until the Commission determines that

5 intraLATA toll dialing parity is imple6 mented or reinstated.

7 ‘‘(ii) Except for single-LATA States

8 and States which have issued an order by

9 June 1, 1995 requiring a Bell operating

10 company to implement toll dialing parity, a

11 State may not require a Bell operating

12 company to implement toll dialing parity in

13 an intraLATA area before a Bell operating

14 company has been granted authority under

15 this subsection to provide interLATA serv16 ices in that area or before three years after

17 the date of enactment of the Telecommuni18 cations Act of 1995, whichever is earlier.

19 Nothing in this clause precludes a State

20 from issuing an order requiring toll dialing

21 parity in an intraLATA area prior to ei22 ther such date so long as such order does

23 not take effect until after the earlier of ei24 ther such dates.
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1 ‘‘(iii) In any State in which

2 intraLATA toll dialing parity has been im3 plemented prior to the earlier date speci4 fied in clause (ii), no telecommunications

5 carrier that serves greater than five per6 cent of the Nation’s presubscribed access

7 lines may jointly market interLATA tele8 communications services and intraLATA

9 toll telecommunications services in a tele10 phone exchange area in such State until a

11 Bell operating company is authorized

12 under this subsection to provide

13 interLATA services in such telephone ex14 change area or until three years after the

15 date of enactment of the Telecommuni16 cations Act of 1995, whichever is earlier.

17 ‘‘(d) OUT-OF-REGION SERVICES.—Effective on the

18 date of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995,

19 a Bell operating company or its affiliate may provide

20 interLATA telecommunications services originating in any

21 area where such company is not the dominant provider

22 of wireline telephone exchange service or exchange access

23 service.

24 ‘‘(e) INCIDENTAL SERVICES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Effective on the date of en2 actment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995, a

3 Bell operating company or its affiliate may provide

4 interLATA services that are incidental to—

5 ‘‘(A)(i) providing audio programming,

6 video programming, or other programming serv7 ices to subscribers of such company,

8 ‘‘(ii) providing the capability for inter9 action by such subscribers to select or respond

10 to such audio programming, video program11 ming, or other programming services, to order,

12 or control transmission of the programming,

13 polling or balloting, and ordering other goods or

14 services,

15 ‘‘(iii) providing to distributors audio pro16 gramming or video programming that such

17 company owns, controls, or is licensed by the

18 copyright owner of such programming, or by an

19 assignee of such owner, to distribute, or

20 ‘‘(iv) providing alarm monitoring services,

21 ‘‘(B) providing—

22 ‘‘(i) a telecommunications service,

23 using the transmission facilities of a cable

24 system that is an affiliate of such com25 pany, between LATAs within a cable sys-
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1 tem franchise area in which such company

2 is not, on the date of enactment of the

3 Telecommunications Act of 1995, a pro4 vider of wireline telephone exchange serv5 ice, or

6 ‘‘(ii) two-way interactive video services

7 or Internet services over dedicated facilities

8 to or for elementary and secondary schools

9 as defined in section 264(d),

10 ‘‘(C) providing a service that permits a

11 customer that is located in one LATA to re12 trieve stored information from, or file informa13 tion for storage in, information storage facilities

14 of such company that are located in another

15 LATA area, so long as the customer acts af16 firmatively to initiate the storage or retrieval of

17 information, except that—

18 ‘‘(i) such service shall not cover any

19 service that establishes a direct connection

20 between end users or any real-time voice

21 and data transmission,

22 ‘‘(ii) such service shall not include

23 voice, data, or facsimile distribution serv24 ices in which the Bell operating company

25 or affiliate forwards customer-supplied in-
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1 formation to customer- or carrier-selected

2 recipients,

3 ‘‘(iii) such service shall not include

4 any service in which the Bell operating

5 company or affiliate searches for and con6 nects with the intended recipient of infor7 mation, or any service in which the Bell

8 operating company or affiliate automati9 cally forwards stored voicemail or other in10 formation to the intended recipient, and

11 ‘‘(iv) customers of such service shall

12 not be billed a separate charge for the

13 interLATA telecommunications furnished

14 in conjunction with the provision of such

15 service,

16 ‘‘(D) providing signaling information used

17 in connection with the provision of telephone ex18 change service or exchange access service to an19 other local exchange carrier; or

20 ‘‘(E) providing network control signaling

21 information to, and receiving such signaling in22 formation from, interexchange carriers at any

23 location within the area in which such company

24 provides telephone exchange service or exchange

25 access service.
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1 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.—The provisions of para2 graph (1) are intended to be narrowly construed.

3 The transmission facilities used by a Bell operating

4 company or affiliate thereof to provide interLATA

5 telecommunications under paragraph (1)(C) and

6 subsection (f) shall be leased by that company from

7 unaffiliated entities on terms and conditions (includ8 ing price) no more favorable than those available to

9 the competitors of that company until that Bell op10 erating company receives authority to provide

11 interLATA services under subsection (c). The

12 interLATA services provided under paragraph

13 (1)(A) are limited to those interLATA transmissions

14 incidental to the provision by a Bell operating com15 pany or its affiliate of video, audio, and other pro16 gramming services that the company or its affiliate

17 is engaged in providing to the public. A Bell operat18 ing company may not provide telecommunications

19 services not described in paragraph (1) without re20 ceiving the approvals required by subsection (c). The

21 provision of services authorized under this sub22 section by a Bell operating company or its affiliate

23 shall not adversely affect telephone exchange rate24 payers or competition in any telecommunications

25 market.
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1 ‘‘(f) COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE.—A Bell operat2 ing company may provide interLATA commercial mobile

3 service except where such service is a replacement for land

4 line telephone exchange service for a substantial portion

5 of the land line telephone exchange service in a State in

6 accordance with section 322(c) and with the regulations

7 prescribed by the Commission.

8 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—

9 ‘‘(1) AUDIO PROGRAMMING SERVICES.—The

10 term ‘audio programming services’ means program11 ming provided by, or generally considered to be com12 parable to programming provided by, a radio broad13 cast station.

14 ‘‘(2) VIDEO PROGRAMMING SERVICES; OTHER

15 PROGRAMMING SERVICES.—The terms ‘video pro16 gramming service’ and ‘other programming services’

17 have the same meanings as such terms have under

18 section 602 of this Act.

19 ‘‘(h) CERTAIN SERVICE APPLICATIONS TREATED AS

20 IN-REGION SERVICE APPLICATIONS.—For purposes of

21 this section, a Bell operating company application to pro22 vide 800 service, private line service, or their equivalents

23 that—

24 ‘‘(1) terminate in an area where the Bell oper25 ating company is the dominant provider of wireline
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1 telephone exchange service or exchange access serv2 ice, and

3 ‘‘(2) allow the called party to determine the

4 interLATA carrier,

5 shall be considered an in-region service subject to the re6 quirements of subsection (c) and not of subsection (d).’’.

7 (b) LONG DISTANCE ACCESS FOR COMMERCIAL MO8 BILE SERVICES.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any re10 striction or obligation imposed pursuant to the

11 Modification of final Judgment or other consent de12 cree or proposed consent decree prior to the date of

13 enactment of this Act, a person engaged in the pro14 vision of commercial mobile services (as defined in

15 section 332(d)(1) of the Communications Act of

16 1934), insofar as such person is so engaged, shall

17 not be required by court order or otherwise to pro18 vide equal access to interexchange telecommuni19 cations carriers, except as provided by this section.

20 Such a person shall ensure that its subscribers can

21 obtain unblocked access to the provider of

22 interexchange services of the subscriber’s choice

23 through the use of an interexchange carrier identi24 fication code assigned to such provider, except that

25 the requirements for unblocking shall not apply to
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1 mobile satellite services unless the Commission finds

2 it to be in the public interest.

3 (2) EQUAL ACCESS REQUIREMENT CONDI4 TIONS.—The Commission may only require a person

5 engaged in the provision of commercial mobile serv6 ices to provide equal access to interexchange carriers

7 if—

8 (A) such person, insofar as such person is

9 so engaged, is subject to the interconnection ob10 ligations of section 251(a) of the Communica11 tions Act of 1934, and

12 (B) the Commission finds that such re13 quirement is in the public interest.

14 SEC. 222. REMOVAL OF MANUFACTURING RESTRICTIONS.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251

16 et seq.), as added by this Act, is amended by inserting

17 after section 255 the following new section:

18 ‘‘SEC. 256. REGULATION OF MANUFACTURING BY BELL OP19 ERATING COMPANIES.

20 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any re22 striction or obligation imposed before the date of en23 actment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995

24 pursuant to the Modification of Final Judgment on

25 the lines of business in which a Bell operating com-
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1 pany may engage, if the Commission authorizes a

2 Bell operating company to provide interLATA serv3 ices under section 255, then that company may be

4 authorized by the Commission to manufacture and

5 provide telecommunications equipment, and to man6 ufacture customer premises equipment, at any time

7 after that determination is made, subject to the re8 quirements of this section and the regulations pre9 scribed, except that neither a Bell operating com10 pany nor any of its affiliates may engage in such

11 manufacturing in conjunction with a Bell operating

12 company not so affiliated or any of its affiliates.

13 ‘‘(2) CERTAIN RESEARCH AND DESIGN AR14 RANGEMENTS; ROYALTY AGREEMENTS.—Upon adop15 tion of rules by the Commission under section 252,

16 a Bell operating company may—

17 ‘‘(A) engage in research and design activi18 ties related to manufacturing, and

19 ‘‘(B) enter into royalty agreements with

20 manufacturers of telecommunications equip21 ment.

22 ‘‘(b) SEPARATE AFFILIATE; SAFEGUARDS.—Any

23 manufacturing or provision of equipment authorized under

24 subsection (a) shall be conducted in accordance with the

25 requirements of section 252.
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1 ‘‘(c) PROTECTION OF SMALL TELEPHONE COMPANY

2 INTERESTS.—

3 ‘‘(1) EQUIPMENT TO BE MADE AVAILABLE TO

4 OTHERS.—A manufacturing affiliate of a Bell oper5 ating company shall make available, without dis6 crimination or self-preference as to price, delivery,

7 terms, or conditions, to all local exchange carriers,

8 for use with the public telecommunications network,

9 any telecommunications equipment, including soft10 ware integral to such telecommunications equipment,

11 including upgrades, manufactured by such affiliate if

12 each such purchasing carrier—

13 ‘‘(A) does not manufacture telecommuni14 cations equipment or have an affiliate which

15 manufactures telecommunications equipment; or

16 ‘‘(B) agrees to make available, to the Bell

17 operating company that is the parent of the

18 manufacturing affiliate or any of the local ex19 change carrier affiliates of such Bell company,

20 any telecommunications equipment, including

21 software integral to such telecommunications

22 equipment, including upgrades, manufactured

23 for use with the public telecommunications net24 work by such purchasing carrier or by any en-
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1 tity or organization with which such purchasing

2 carrier is affiliated.

3 ‘‘(2) NON-DISCRIMINATION STANDARDS.—

4 ‘‘(A) A Bell operating company and any

5 entity acting on its behalf shall make procure6 ment decisions and award all supply contracts

7 for equipment, services, and software on the

8 basis of open, competitive bidding, and an ob9 jective assessment of price, quality, delivery,

10 and other commercial factors.

11 ‘‘(B) A Bell operating company and any

12 entity it owns or otherwise controls, or which is

13 acting on its behalf or on behalf of its affiliate,

14 shall permit any person to participate fully on

15 a non-discriminatory basis in the process of es16 tablishing standards and certifying equipment

17 used in or interconnected to the public tele18 communications network.

19 ‘‘(C) A Bell operating company shall, con20 sistent with the antitrust laws, engage in joint

21 network planning and design with local ex22 change carriers operating in the same area of

23 interest. No participant in such planning shall

24 be allowed to delay the introduction of new

25 technology or the deployment of facilities to
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1 provide telecommunications services, and agree2 ment with such other carriers shall not be re3 quired as a prerequisite for such introduction or

4 deployment. A Bell operating company shall

5 provide, to other local exchange carriers operat6 ing in the same area of interest, timely informa7 tion on the planned deployment of telecommuni8 cations equipment, including software integral

9 to such telecommunications equipment and up10 grades of that software.

11 ‘‘(D) A manufacturing affiliate of a Bell

12 operating company may not restrict sales to any

13 local exchange carrier of telecommunications

14 equipment, including software integral to the

15 operation of such equipment and related up16 grades.

17 ‘‘(E) A Bell operating company and any

18 entity it owns or otherwise controls shall protect

19 the proprietary information submitted with con20 tract bids and in the standards and certification

21 processes from release not specifically author22 ized by the owner of such information.

23 ‘‘(d) COLLABORATION WITH OTHER MANUFACTUR24 ERS.—A Bell operating company and its affiliates may en25 gage in close collaboration with any manufacturer of cus-
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1 tomer premises equipment or telecommunications equip2 ment not affiliated with a Bell operating company during

3 the design and development of hardware, software, or

4 combinations thereof relating to such equipment.

5 ‘‘(e) INFORMATION ON PROTOCOLS AND TECHNICAL

6 REQUIREMENTS.—The Commission shall prescribe regula7 tions to require that each Bell operating company shall

8 maintain and file with the Commission full and complete

9 information with respect to the protocols and technical re10 quirements for connection with and use of its telephone

11 exchange service facilities. Such regulations shall require

12 each such Bell company to report promptly to the Com13 mission any material changes or planned changes to such

14 protocols and requirements, and the schedule for imple15 mentation of such changes or planned changes.

16 ‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL RULES AND REGULATIONS.—The

17 Commission may prescribe such additional rules and regu18 lations as the Commission determines are necessary to

19 carry out the provisions of this section, and otherwise to

20 prevent discrimination and cross-subsidization in a Bell

21 operating company’s dealings with its affiliate and with

22 third parties.

23 ‘‘(g) ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT.—

24 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION AUTHORITY.—For the pur25 poses of administering and enforcing the provisions
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1 of this section and the regulations prescribed under

2 this section, the Commission shall have the same au3 thority, power, and functions with respect to any

4 Bell operating company as the Commission has in

5 administering and enforcing the provisions of this

6 title with respect to any common carrier subject to

7 this Act.

8 ‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTIONS BY INJURED PARTIES.—

9 Any party injured by an act or omission of a Bell

10 operating company or its manufacturing affiliate

11 which violates the requirements of paragraph (1) or

12 (2) of subsection (c), or the Commission’s regula13 tions implementing such paragraphs, may initiate an

14 action in a district court of the United States to re15 cover the full amount of damages sustained in con16 sequence of any such violation and obtain such or17 ders from the court as are necessary to terminate

18 existing violations and to prevent future violations;

19 or such party may seek relief from the Commission

20 pursuant to sections 206 through 209.

21 ‘‘(h) APPLICATION TO BELL COMMUNICATIONS RE22 SEARCH.—Nothing in this section—

23 ‘‘(1) provides any authority for Bell Commu24 nications Research, or any successor entity, to man-
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1 ufacture or provide telecommunications equipment

2 or to manufacture customer premises equipment; or

3 ‘‘(2) prohibits Bell Communications Research,

4 or any successor entity, from engaging in any activ5 ity in which it is lawfully engaged on the date of en6 actment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995, in7 cluding providing a centralized organization for the

8 provision of engineering, administrative, and other

9 services (including serving as a single point of con10 tact for coordination of the Bell operating companies

11 to meet national security and emergency prepared12 ness requirements).

13 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—

14 ‘‘(1) The term ‘customer premises equipment’

15 means equipment employed on the premises of a

16 person (other than a carrier) to originate, route, or

17 terminate telecommunications.

18 ‘‘(2) The term ‘manufacturing’ has the same

19 meaning as such term has in the Modification of

20 Final Judgment.

21 ‘‘(3) The term ‘telecommunications equipment’

22 means equipment, other than customer premises

23 equipment, used by a carrier to provide tele24 communications services.’’.
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1 (b) EFFECT ON PRE-EXISTING MANUFACTURING AU2 THORITY.—Nothing in this section, or in section 256 of

3 the Communications Act of 1934 as added by this section,

4 prohibits any Bell operating company from engaging, di5 rectly or through any affiliate, in any manufacturing activ6 ity in which any Bell operating company or affiliate was

7 authorized to engage on the date of enactment of this Act.

8 SEC. 223. EXISTING ACTIVITIES.

9 Nothing in this Act, or any amendment made by this

10 Act, prohibits a Bell operating company from engaging,

11 at any time after the date of enactment of this Act, in

12 any activity authorized by an order entered by the United

13 States District Court for the District of Columbia pursu14 ant to section VII or VIII(C) of the Modification of Final

15 Judgment, if such order was entered on or before the date

16 of enactment of this Act.

17 SEC. 224. ENFORCEMENT.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251

19 et seq.), as added by this Act, is amended by inserting

20 after section 256 the following:

21 ‘‘SEC. 257. ENFORCEMENT.

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any penalty, fine,

23 or other enforcement remedy under this Act, the failure

24 by a telecommunications carrier to implement the require25 ments of section 251 or 255, including a failure to comply
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1 with the terms of an interconnection agreement approved

2 under section 251, is punishable by a civil penalty of not

3 to exceed $1,000,000 per offense. Each day of a continu4 ing offense shall be treated as a separate violation for pur5 poses of levying any penalty under this subsection.

6 ‘‘(b) NONCOMPLIANCE WITH INTERCONNECTION OR

7 SEPARATE SUBSIDIARY REQUIREMENTS.—

8 ‘‘(1) A Bell operating company that repeatedly,

9 knowingly, and without reasonable cause fails to im10 plement an interconnection agreement approved

11 under section 251, to comply with the requirements

12 of such agreement after implementing them, or to

13 comply with the separate affiliate requirements of

14 this part may be fined up to $500,000,000 by a dis15 trict court of the United States of competent juris16 diction.

17 ‘‘(2) A Bell operating company that repeatedly,

18 knowingly, and without reasonable cause fails to

19 meet its obligations under section 255 for the provi20 sion of interLATA service may have its authority to

21 provide any service suspended if its right to provide

22 that service is conditioned upon its meeting those

23 obligations.

24 ‘‘(c) ENFORCEMENT BY PRIVATE RIGHT OF AC25 TION.—
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1 ‘‘(1) DAMAGES.—Any person who is injured in

2 its business or property by reason of a violation of

3 section 251 or 255 may bring a civil action in any

4 district court of the United States in the district in

5 which the defendant resides or is found or has an

6 agent, without respect to the amount in controversy.

7 ‘‘(2) INTEREST.—The court may award under

8 this section, pursuant to a motion by such person

9 promptly made, simple interest on actual damages

10 for the period beginning on the date of service of

11 such person’s pleading setting forth a claim under

12 this title and ending on the date of judgment, or for

13 any shorter period therein, if the court finds that

14 the award of such interest for such period is just in

15 the circumstances.

16 ‘‘(d) PAYMENT OF CIVIL PENALTIES, DAMAGES, OR

17 INTEREST.—No civil penalties, damages, or interest as18 sessed against any local exchange carrier as a result of

19 a violation referred to in this section will be charged di20 rectly or indirectly to that company’s rate payers.’’.

21 (b) CERTAIN BROADCASTS.—Section 1307(a)(2) of

22 title 18, United States Code, is amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon at the

24 end of subparagraph (A);
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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub2 paragraph (B) and inserting a semicolon and ‘‘or’’;

3 and

4 (3) by adding at the end thereof the following:

5 ‘‘(C) conducted by a commercial organiza6 tion and is contained in a publication published

7 in a State in which such activities or the publi8 cation of such activities are authorized or not

9 otherwise prohibited, or broadcast by a radio or

10 television station licensed in a State in which

11 such activities or the broadcast of such activi12 ties are authorized or not otherwise prohib13 ited.’’.

14 SEC. 225. ALARM MONITORING SERVICES.

15 Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), as added

16 by this Act, is amended by inserting after section 257 the

17 following new section:

18 ‘‘SEC. 258. REGULATION OF ENTRY INTO ALARM MONITOR19 ING SERVICES.

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in this sec21 tion, a Bell operating company, or any affiliate of that

22 company, may not provide alarm monitoring services for

23 the protection of life, safety, or property. A Bell operating

24 company may transport alarm monitoring service signals

25 on a common carrier basis only.
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1 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE ALARM MONITORING

2 SERVICES.—Beginning 4 years after the date of enact3 ment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995, a Bell oper4 ating company may provide alarm monitoring services for

5 the protection of life, safety, or property if it has been

6 authorized to provide interLATA services under section

7 255 unless the Commission finds that the provision of

8 alarm monitoring services by such company is not in the

9 public interest. The Commission may not find that provi10 sion of alarm monitoring services by a Bell operating com11 pany is in the public interest until it finds that it has the

12 capability effectively to enforce any requirements, limita13 tions, or conditions that may be placed upon a Bell operat14 ing company in the provision of alarm monitoring services,

15 including the regulations prescribed under subsection (c).

16 ‘‘(c) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—

17 ‘‘(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of en18 actment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995, the

19 Commission shall prescribe regulations—

20 ‘‘(A) to establish such requirements, limi21 tations, or conditions as are—

22 ‘‘(i) necessary and appropriate in the

23 public interest with respect to the provision

24 of alarm monitoring services by Bell oper25 ating companies and their affiliates, and
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1 ‘‘(ii) effective at such time as a Bell

2 operating company or any of its subsidi3 aries or affiliates is authorized to provide

4 alarm monitoring services; and

5 ‘‘(B) to establish procedures for the receipt

6 and review of complaints concerning violations

7 by such companies of such regulations, or of

8 any other provision of this Act or the regula9 tions thereunder, that result in material finan10 cial harm to a provider of alarm monitoring

11 services.

12 ‘‘(2) A Bell operating company, its affiliates,

13 and any local exchange carrier are prohibited from

14 recording or using in any fashion the occurrence or

15 contents of calls received by providers of alarm mon16 itoring services for the purposes of marketing such

17 services on behalf of the Bell operating company,

18 any of its affiliates, the local exchange carrier, or

19 any other entity. Any regulations necessary to en20 force this paragraph shall be issued initially within

21 6 months after the date of enactment of the Tele22 communications Act of 1995.

23 ‘‘(d) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF COM24 PLAINTS.—The procedures established under sub25 section (c) shall ensure that the Commission will
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1 make a final determination with respect to any com2 plaint described in such subsection within 120 days

3 after receipt of the complaint. If the complaint con4 tains an appropriate showing that the alleged viola5 tion occurred, as determined by the Commission in

6 accordance with such regulations, the Commission

7 shall, within 60 days after receipt of the complaint,

8 issue a cease and desist order to prevent the Bell op9 erating company and its subsidiaries and affiliates

10 from continuing to engage in such violation pending

11 such final determination.

12 ‘‘(e) REMEDIES.—The Commission may use any rem13 edy available under title V of this Act to terminate and

14 to impose sanctions on violations described in subsection

15 (c). Such remedies may include, if the Commission deter16 mines that such violation was willful or repeated, ordering

17 the Bell operating company or its affiliate to cease offering

18 alarm monitoring services.

19 ‘‘(f) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Subsections (a) and (b)

20 do not prohibit or limit the provision of alarm monitoring

21 services by a Bell operating company or an affiliate that

22 was engaged in providing those services as of June 1,

23 1995, to the extent that such company—
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1 ‘‘(1) continues to provide those services through

2 the affiliate through which it was providing them on

3 that date; and

4 ‘‘(2) does not acquire, directly or indirectly, an

5 equity interest in another entity engaged in provid6 ing alarm monitoring services.

7 ‘‘(g) ALARM MONITORING SERVICES DEFINED.—As

8 used in this section, the term ‘alarm monitoring services’

9 means services that detect threats to life, safety, or prop10 erty by burglary, fire, vandalism, bodily injury, or other

11 emergency through the use of devices that transmit signals

12 to a central point in a customer’s residence, place of busi13 ness, or other fixed premises which—

14 ‘‘(1) retransmits such signals to a remote mon15 itoring center by means of telecommunications facili16 ties of the Bell operating company and any subsidi17 ary or affiliate; and

18 ‘‘(2) serves to alert persons at the monitoring

19 center of the need to inform customers, other per20 sons, or police, fire, rescue, or other security or pub21 lic safety personnel of the threat at such premises.

22 Such term does not include medical monitoring devices at23 tached to individuals for the automatic surveillance of on24 going medical conditions.’’.
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1 SEC. 226. NONAPPLICABILITY OF MODIFICATION OF FINAL

2 JUDGMENT.

3 Notwithstanding any other provision of law or of any

4 judicial order, no person shall be subject to the provisions

5 of the Modification of Final Judgment solely by reason

6 of having acquired commercial mobile service or private

7 mobile service assets or operations previously owned by a

8 Bell operating company or an affiliate of a Bell operating

9 company.

10 TITLE III—AN END TO REGULATION

11 SEC. 301. TRANSITION TO COMPETITIVE PRICING.

12 (a) PRICING FLEXIBILITY.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission and the

14 States shall provide to telecommunications carriers

15 price flexibility in the rates charged consumers for

16 the provision of telecommunications services within

17 one year after the date of enactment of this Act.

18 The Commission or a State may establish the rate

19 consumers may be charged for services included in

20 the definition of universal service, as well as the con21 tribution, if any, that all carriers must contribute for

22 the preservation and advancement of universal serv23 ice. Pricing flexibility implemented pursuant to this

24 section for the purpose of allowing a regulated tele25 communications provider to respond to competition

26 by repricing services subject to competition shall not
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1 have the effect of using noncompetitive services to

2 subsidize competitive services.

3 (2) CONSUMER PROTECTION.—The Commission

4 and the States shall ensure that rates for telephone

5 service remain just, reasonable, and affordable as

6 competition develops for telephone exchange service

7 and telephone exchange access service. Until suffi8 cient competition exists in a market, the Commission

9 or a State may establish the rate that a carrier may

10 charge for any such service if such rate is necessary

11 for the protection of consumers. Any such rate shall

12 cease to be regulated whenever the Commission or a

13 State determines that it is no longer necessary for

14 the protection of consumers. The Commission shall

15 establish cost allocation guidelines for facilities

16 owned by an essential telecommunications carrier

17 that are used for the provision of both services in18 cluded in the definition of universal service and

19 video programming sold by such carrier directly to

20 subscribers, if such allocation is necessary for the

21 protection of consumers.

22 (3) RATE-OF-RETURN REGULATION ELIMI23 NATED.—

24 (A) In instituting the price flexibility re25 quired under paragraph (1) the Commission
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1 and the States shall establish alternative forms

2 of regulation for Tier 1 telecommunications car3 riers that do not include regulation of the rate

4 of return earned by such carrier as part of a

5 plan that provides for any or all of the follow6 ing—

7 (i) the advancement of competition in

8 the provision of telecommunications serv9 ices;

10 (ii) improvements in productivity;

11 (iii) improvements in service quality;

12 (iv) measures to ensure customers of

13 non-competitive services do not bear the

14 risks associated with the provision of com15 petitive services;

16 (v) enhanced telecommunications serv17 ices for educational institutions; or

18 (vi) any other measures Commission

19 or a State, as appropriate, determines to

20 be in the public interest.

21 (B) The Commission or a State, as appro22 priate, may apply such alternative forms of reg23 ulation to any other telecommunications carrier

24 that is subject to rate of return regulation

25 under this Act.
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1 (C) Any such alternative form of regula2 tion—

3 (i) shall be consistent with the objec4 tives of preserving and advancing universal

5 service, guaranteeing high quality service,

6 ensuring just, reasonable, and affordable

7 rates, and encouraging economic efficiency;

8 and

9 (ii) shall meet such other criteria as

10 the Commission or a State, as appropriate,

11 finds to be consistent with the public inter12 est, convenience, and necessity.

13 (D) Nothing in this section shall prohibit

14 the Commission, for interstate services, and the

15 States, for intrastate services, from considering

16 the profitability of telecommunications carriers

17 when using alternative forms of regulation

18 other than rate of return regulation (including

19 price regulation and incentive regulation) to en20 sure that regulated rates are just and reason21 able.

22 (b) TRANSITION PLAN REQUIRED.—If the Commis23 sion or a State adopts rules for the distribution of support

24 payments under section 253 of the Communications Act

25 of 1934, as amended by this Act, such rules shall include
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1 a transition plan to allow essential telecommunications

2 carriers to provide for an orderly transition from the uni3 versal service support mechanisms in existence upon the

4 date of enactment of this Act and the support mechanisms

5 established by the Commission and the States under this

6 Act or the Communications Act of 1934 as amended by

7 this Act. Any such transition plan shall—

8 (1) provide a phase-in of the price flexibility re9 quirements under subsection (a) for an essential

10 telecommunications carrier that is also a rural tele11 phone company; and

12 (2) require the United States Government and

13 the States, where permitted by law, to modify any

14 regulatory requirements (including conditions for the

15 repayment of loans and the depreciation of assets)

16 applicable to carriers designated as essential tele17 communications carriers in order to more accurately

18 reflect the conditions that would be imposed in a

19 competitive market for similar assets or services.

20 (c) DUTY TO PROVIDE SUBSCRIBER LIST INFORMA21 TION.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—A carrier that provides local

23 exchange telephone service shall provide subscriber

24 list information gathered in its capacity as a pro25 vider of such service on a timely and unbundled
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1 basis, under nondiscriminatory and reasonable rates,

2 terms, and conditions, to any person requesting such

3 information for the purpose of publishing directories

4 in any format.

5 (2) SUBSCRIBER LIST INFORMATION DE6 FINED.—As used in this subsection, the term ‘‘sub7 scriber list information’’ means any information—

8 (A) identifying the listed names of sub9 scribers of a carrier and such subscribers’ listed

10 telephone numbers, addresses, or primary ad11 vertising classifications, as such classifications

12 are assigned at the time of the establishment of

13 service, or any combination of such names,

14 numbers, addresses, or classifications; and

15 (B) that the carrier or an affiliate has pub16 lished, caused to be published, or accepted for

17 publication in a directory in any format.

18 (d) CONFIDENTIALITY.—A telecommunications car19 rier has a duty to protect the confidentiality of proprietary

20 information of, and relating to, other common carriers and

21 customers, including common carriers reselling the tele22 communications services provided by a telecommuni23 cations carrier. A telecommunications carrier that receives

24 such information from another carrier for purposes of pro25 visioning, billing, or facilitating the resale of its service
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1 shall use such information only for such purpose, and shall

2 not use such information for its own marketing efforts.

3 Nothing in this subsection prohibits a carrier from using

4 customer information obtained from its customers, either

5 directly or indirectly through its agents—

6 (1) to provide, market, or bill for its services;

7 or

8 (2) to perform credit evaluations on existing or

9 potential customers.

10 (e) REGULATORY RELIEF.—

11 (1) STREAMLINED PROCEDURES FOR CHANGES

12 IN CHARGES, CLASSIFICATIONS, REGULATIONS, OR

13 PRACTICES.—

14 (A) Section 204(a) (47 U.S.C. 204(a)) is

15 amended—

16 (i) by striking ‘‘12 months’’ the first

17 place it appears in paragraph (2)(A) and

18 inserting ‘‘5 months’’;

19 (ii) by striking ‘‘effective,’’ and all

20 that follows in paragraph (2)(A) and in21 serting ‘‘effective.’’; and

22 (iii) by adding at the end thereof the

23 following:

24 ‘‘(3) A local exchange carrier may file with the

25 Commission a new or revised charge, classification,
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1 regulation, or practice on a streamlined basis. Any

2 such charge, classification, regulation, or practice

3 shall be deemed lawful and shall be effective 7 days

4 (in the case of a reduction in rates) or 15 days (in

5 the case of an increase in rates) after the date on

6 which it is filed with the Commission unless the

7 Commission takes action under paragraph (1) before

8 the end of that 7-day or 15-day period, as is appro9 priate.’’.

10 (B) Section 208(b) (47 U.S.C. 208(b)) is

11 amended—

12 (i) by striking ‘‘12 months’’ the first

13 place it appears in paragraph (1) and in14 serting ‘‘5 months’’; and

15 (ii) by striking ‘‘filed,’’ and all that

16 follows in paragraph (1) and inserting

17 ‘‘filed.’’.

18 (2) EXTENSIONS OF LINES UNDER SECTION

19 214; ARMIS REPORTS.—Notwithstanding section 305,

20 the Commission shall permit any local exchange car21 rier—

22 (A) to be exempt from the requirements of

23 section 214 of the Communications Act of 1934

24 for the extension of any line; and
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1 (B) to file cost allocation manuals and

2 ARMIS reports annually, to the extent such

3 carrier is required to file such manuals or re4 ports.

5 (3) FOREBEARANCE AUTHORITY NOT LIM6 ITED.—Nothing in this subsection shall be construed

7 to limit the authority of the Commission or a State

8 to waive, modify, or forebear from applying any of

9 the requirements to which reference is made in para10 graph (1) under any other provision of this Act or

11 other law.

12 SEC. 302. BIENNIAL REVIEW OF REGULATIONS; ELIMI13 NATION OF UNNECESSARY REGULATIONS

14 AND FUNCTIONS.

15 (a) BIENNIAL REVIEW.—Part II of title II (47

16 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), as added by this Act, is amended by

17 inserting after section 258 the following new section:

18 ‘‘SEC. 259. REGULATORY REFORM.

19 ‘‘(a) BIENNIAL REVIEW OF REGULATIONS.—In every

20 odd-numbered year (beginning with 1997), the Commis21 sion, with respect to its regulations under this Act, and

22 a Federal-State Joint Board established under section

23 410, for State regulations—

24 ‘‘(1) shall review all regulations issued under

25 this Act, or under State law, in effect at the time
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1 of the review that apply to operations or activities of

2 providers of any telecommunications services; and

3 ‘‘(2) shall determine whether any such regula4 tion is no longer necessary in the public interest as

5 the result of meaningful economic competition be6 tween the providers of such service.

7 ‘‘(b) EFFECT OF DETERMINATION.—The Commis8 sion shall repeal any regulation it determines to be no

9 longer necessary in the public interest. The Joint Board

10 shall notify the Governor of any State of any State regula11 tion it determines to be no longer necessary in the public

12 interest.

13 ‘‘(c) CLASSIFICATION OF CARRIERS.—In classifying

14 carriers according to 47 CFR 32.11 and in establishing

15 reporting requirements pursuant to 47 CFR part 43 and

16 47 CFR 64.903, the Commission shall adjust the revenue

17 requirements to account for inflation as of the release date

18 of the Commission’s Report and Order in CC Docket No.

19 91–141, and annually thereafter. This subsection shall

20 take effect on the date of enactment of the Telecommuni21 cations Act of 1995.’’.

22 (b) ELIMINATION OF UNNECESSARY COMMISSION

23 REGULATIONS AND FUNCTIONS.—

24 (1) REPEAL SETTING OF DEPRECIATION

25 RATES.—The first sentence of section 220(b) (47
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1 U.S.C. 220(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘shall pre2 scribe for such carriers’’ and inserting ‘‘may pre3 scribe, for such carriers as it determines to be ap4 propriate,’’.

5 (2) USE OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS.—Section

6 220(c) (47 U.S.C. 220(c)) is amended by adding at

7 the end thereof the following: ‘‘The Commission may

8 obtain the services of any person licensed to provide

9 public accounting services under the law of any

10 State to assist with, or conduct, audits under this

11 section. While so employed or engaged in conducting

12 an audit for the Commission under this section, any

13 such person shall have the powers granted the Com14 mission under this subsection and shall be subject to

15 subsection (f) in the same manner as if that person

16 were an employee of the Commission.’’.

17 (3) SIMPLIFICATION OF FEDERAL-STATE CO18 ORDINATION PROCESS.—The Commission shall sim19 plify and expedite the Federal-State coordination

20 process under section 410 of the Communications

21 Act of 1934.

22 (4) PRIVATIZATION OF SHIP RADIO INSPEC23 TIONS.—Section 385 (47 U.S.C. 385) is amended by

24 adding at the end thereof the following: ‘‘In accord25 ance with such other provisions of law as apply to
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1 Government contracts, the Commission may enter

2 into contracts with any person for the purpose of

3 carrying out such inspections and certifying compli4 ance with those requirements, and may, as part of

5 any such contract, allow any such person to accept

6 reimbursement from the license holder for travel and

7 expense costs of any employee conducting an inspec8 tion or certification.’’.

9 (5) MODIFICATION OF CONSTRUCTION PERMIT

10 REQUIREMENT.—Section 319(d) (47 U.S.C. 319(d))

11 is amended by striking the third sentence and insert12 ing the following: ‘‘The Commission may waive the

13 requirement for a construction permit with respect

14 to a broadcasting station in circumstances in which

15 it deems prior approval to be unnecessary. In those

16 circumstances, a broadcaster shall file any related li17 cense application within 10 days after completing

18 construction.’’.

19 (6) LIMITATION ON SILENT STATION AUTHOR20 IZATIONS.—Section 312 (47 U.S.C. 312) is amended

21 by adding at the end the following:

22 ‘‘(g) If a broadcasting station fails to transmit broad23 cast signals for any consecutive 12-month period, then the

24 station license granted for the operation of that broadcast

25 station expires at the end of that period, notwithstanding
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1 any provision, term, or condition of the license to the con2 trary.’’.

3 (7) EXPEDITING INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION

4 FIXED SERVICE PROCESSING.—The Commission

5 shall delegate, under section 5(c) of the Communica6 tions Act of 1934, the conduct of routine instruc7 tional television fixed service cases to its staff for

8 consideration and final action.

9 (8) DELEGATION OF EQUIPMENT TESTING AND

10 CERTIFICATION TO PRIVATE LABORATORIES.—Sec11 tion 302 (47 U.S.C. 302) is amended by adding at

12 the end the following:

13 ‘‘(e) The Commission may—

14 ‘‘(1) authorize the use of private organizations

15 for testing and certifying the compliance of devices

16 or home electronic equipment and systems with reg17 ulations promulgated under this section;

18 ‘‘(2) accept as prima facie evidence of such

19 compliance the certification by any such organiza20 tion; and

21 ‘‘(3) establish such qualifications and standards

22 as it deems appropriate for such private organiza23 tions, testing, and certification.’’.

24 (9) MAKING LICENSE MODIFICATION UNI25 FORM.—Section 303(f) (47 U.S.C. 303(f)) is amend-
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1 ed by striking ‘‘unless, after a public hearing,’’ and

2 inserting ‘‘unless’’.

3 (10) PERMIT OPERATION OF DOMESTIC SHIP

4 AND AIRCRAFT RADIOS WITHOUT LICENSE.—Section

5 307(e) (47 U.S.C. 307(e)) is amended by—

6 (A) striking ‘‘service and the citizens band

7 radio service’’ in paragraph (1) and inserting

8 ‘‘service, citizens band radio service, domestic

9 ship radio service, domestic aircraft radio serv10 ice, and personal radio service’’; and

11 (B) striking ‘‘service’ and ‘citizens band

12 radio service’ ’’ in paragraph (3) and inserting

13 ‘‘service’, ‘citizens band radio service’, ‘domestic

14 ship radio service’, ‘domestic aircraft radio serv15 ice’, and ‘personal radio service’ ’’.

16 (11) EXPEDITED LICENSING FOR FIXED MICRO17 WAVE SERVICE.—Section 309(b)(2) (47 U.S.C.

18 309(b)(2)) is amended by striking subparagraph (A)

19 and redesignating subparagraphs (B) through (G) as

20 (A) through (F), respectively.

21 (12) ELIMINATE FCC JURISDICTION OVER GOV22 ERNMENT-OWNED SHIP RADIO STATIONS.—

23 (A) Section 305 (47 U.S.C. 305) is amend24 ed by striking subsection (b) and redesignating
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1 subsections (c) and (d) as (b) and (c), respec2 tively.

3 (B) Section 382(2) (47 U.S.C. 382(2)) is

4 amended by striking ‘‘except a vessel of the

5 United States Maritime Administration, the In6 land and Coastwise Waterways Service, or the

7 Panama Canal Company,’’.

8 (13) MODIFICATION OF AMATEUR RADIO EXAM9 INATION PROCEDURES.—

10 (A) Section 4(f)(H)(N) (47 U.S.C.

11 4(f)(4)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘trans12 missions, or in the preparation or distribution

13 of any publication used in preparation for ob14 taining amateur station operator licenses,’’ and

15 inserting ‘‘transmission’’.

16 (B) The Commission shall modify its rules

17 governing the amateur radio examination proc18 ess by eliminating burdensome record mainte19 nance and annual financial certification require20 ments.

21 (14) STREAMLINE NON-BROADCAST RADIO LI22 CENSE RENEWALS.—The Commission shall modify

23 its rules under section 309 of the Communications

24 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309) relating to renewal of

25 nonbroadcast radio licenses so as to streamline or
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1 eliminate comparative renewal hearings where such

2 hearings are unnecessary or unduly burdensome.

3 SEC. 303. REGULATORY FORBEARANCE.

4 Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), as added

5 by this Act, is amended by inserting after section 259 the

6 following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 260. COMPETITION IN PROVISION OF TELECOMMUNI8 CATIONS SERVICE.

9 ‘‘(a) REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY.—Notwithstanding

10 section 332(c)(1)(A) of this Act, the Commission shall for11 bear from applying any regulation or any provision of this

12 Act to a telecommunications carrier or service, or class

13 of carriers or services, in any or some of its or their geo14 graphic markets if the Commission determines that—

15 ‘‘(1) enforcement of such regulation or provi16 sion is not necessary to ensure that the charges,

17 practices, classifications, or regulations by, for, or in

18 connection with that carrier or service are just and

19 reasonable and are not unjustly or unreasonably dis20 criminatory;

21 ‘‘(2) enforcement of such regulation or provi22 sion is not necessary for the protection of consumers

23 or the preservation and advancement of universal

24 service; and
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1 ‘‘(3) forbearance from applying such regulation

2 or provision is consistent with the public interest.

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

4 making the determination under subsection (a)(3), the

5 Commission shall consider whether forbearance from en6 forcing the regulation or provision will promote competi7 tive market conditions, including the extent to which such

8 forbearance will enhance competition among providers of

9 telecommunications services. If the Commission deter10 mines that such forbearance will promote competition

11 among providers of telecommunications services, that de12 termination may be the basis for a Commission finding

13 that forbearance is in the public interest.

14 ‘‘(c) END OF REGULATION PROCESS.—Any tele15 communications carrier, or class of telecommunications

16 carriers, may submit a petition to the Commission re17 questing that the Commission exercise the authority

18 granted under this section with respect to that carrier or

19 those carriers, or any service offered by that carrier or

20 carriers. Any such petition shall be deemed granted if the

21 Commission does not deny the petition for failure to meet

22 the requirements for forebearance under subsection (a)

23 within 90 days after the Commission receives it, unless

24 the 90-day period is extended by the Commission. The

25 Commission may extend the initial 90-day period by an
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1 additional 60 days if the Commission finds that an exten2 sion is necessary to meet the requirements of subsection

3 (a). The Commission may grant or deny a petition in

4 whole or in part and shall explain its decision in writing.

5 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION.—Except as provided in section

6 251(i)(3), the Commission may not waive the unbundling

7 requirements of section 251(b) or 255(b)(2) under sub8 section (a) until it determines that those requirements

9 have been fully implemented.’’.

10 SEC. 304. ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS INCENTIVES.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission and each State

12 commission with regulatory jurisdiction over telecommuni13 cations services shall encourage the deployment on a rea14 sonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications

15 capability to all Americans (including, in particular, ele16 mentary and secondary schools and classrooms) by utiliz17 ing, in a manner consistent with the public interest, con18 venience, and necessity, price cap regulation, regulatory

19 forbearance, or other regulating methods that remove bar20 riers to infrastructure investment.

21 (b) INQUIRY.—The Commission shall, within 2 years

22 after the date of enactment of this Act, and regularly

23 thereafter, initiate a notice of inquiry concerning the avail24 ability of advanced telecommunications capability to all

25 Americans (including, in particular, elementary and sec-
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1 ondary schools and classrooms) and shall complete the in2 quiry within 180 days after its initiation. In the inquiry,

3 the Commission shall determine whether advanced tele4 communications capability is being deployed to all Ameri5 cans in a reasonable and timely fashion. If the Commis6 sion’s determination is negative, it shall take immediate

7 action under this section, and it may preempt State com8 missions that fail to act to ensure such availability.

9 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

10 (1) COMMUNICATIONS ACT TERMS.—Any term

11 used in this section which is defined in the Commu12 nications Act of 1934 shall have the same meaning

13 as it has in that Act.

14 (2) ADVANCED TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAPA15 BILITY.—The term ‘‘advanced telecommunications

16 capability’’ means high-speed, switched, broadband

17 telecommunications capability that enables users to

18 originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graph19 ics, and video telecommunications.

20 (3) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS.—

21 The term ‘‘elementary and secondary schools’’

22 means elementary schools and secondary schools, as

23 defined in paragraphs (14) and (25), respectively, of

24 section 14101 of the Elementary and Secondary

25 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).
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1 SEC. 305. REGULATORY PARITY.

2 Within 3 years after the date of enactment of this

3 Act, and periodically thereafter, the Commission shall—

4 (1) issue such modifications or terminations of

5 the regulations applicable to persons offering tele6 communications or information services under title

7 II, III, or VI of the Communications Act of 1934 as

8 are necessary to implement the changes in such Act

9 made by this Act;

10 (2) in the regulations that apply to integrated

11 telecommunications service providers, take into ac12 count the unique and disparate histories associated

13 with the development and relative market power of

14 such providers, making such modifications and ad15 justments as are necessary in the regulation of such

16 providers as are appropriate to enhance competition

17 between such providers in light of that history; and

18 (3) provide for periodic reconsideration of any

19 modifications or terminations made to such regula20 tions, with the goal of applying the same set of regu21 latory requirements to all integrated telecommuni22 cations service providers, regardless of which par23 ticular telecommunications or information service

24 may have been each provider’s original line of busi25 ness.
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1 SEC. 306. AUTOMATED SHIP DISTRESS AND SAFETY SYS2 TEMS.

3 Notwithstanding any provision of the Communica4 tions Act of 1934 or any other provision of law or regula5 tion, a ship documented under the laws of the United

6 States operating in accordance with the Global Maritime

7 Distress and Safety System provisions of the Safety of

8 Life at Sea Convention shall not be required to be

9 equipped with a radio telegraphy station operated by one

10 or more radio officers or operators. This section shall take

11 effect for each vessel upon a determination by the United

12 States Coast Guard that such vessel has the equipment

13 required to implement the Global Maritime Distress and

14 Safety System installed and operating in good working

15 condition.

16 SEC. 307. TELECOMMUNICATIONS NUMBERING ADMINIS17 TRATION.

18 Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), as added

19 by this Act, is amended by inserting after section 260 the

20 following new section:

21 ‘‘SEC. 261. TELECOMMUNICATIONS NUMBERING ADMINIS22 TRATION.

23 ‘‘(a) INTERIM NUMBER PORTABILITY.—In connec24 tion with any interconnection agreement reached under

25 section 251 of this Act, a local exchange carrier shall make

26 available interim telecommunications number portability,
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1 upon request, beginning on the date of enactment of the

2 Telecommunications Act of 1995.

3 ‘‘(b) FINAL NUMBER PORTABILITY.—In connection

4 with any interconnection agreement reached under section

5 251 of this Act, a local exchange carrier shall make avail6 able final telecommunications number portability, upon re7 quest, when the Commission determines that final tele8 communications number portability is technically feasible.

9 ‘‘(c) NEUTRAL ADMINISTRATION OF NUMBERING

10 PLANS.—

11 ‘‘(1) NATIONWIDE NEUTRAL NUMBER SYSTEM

12 COMPLIANCE.— A telecommunications carrier pro13 viding telephone exchange service shall comply with

14 the guidelines, plan, or rules established by an im15 partial entity designated or created by the Commis16 sion for the administration of a nationwide neutral

17 number system.

18 ‘‘(2) OVERLAY OF AREA CODES NOT PER19 MITTED.—All telecommunications carriers providing

20 telephone exchange service in the same telephone

21 service area shall be permitted to use the same num22 bering plan area code under such guideline, plan, or

23 rules.

24 ‘‘(d) COSTS.—The cost of establishing neutral num25 ber administration arrangements and number portability
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1 shall be borne by all telecommunications carriers on a

2 competitively neutral basis as determined by the Commis3 sion.’’.

4 SEC. 308. ACCESS BY PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251

6 et seq.), as added by this Act, is amended by inserting

7 after section 261 the following new section:

8 ‘‘SEC. 262. ACCESS BY PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.

9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—

10 ‘‘(1) DISABILITY.—The term ‘disability’ has the

11 meaning given to it by section 3(2)(A) of the Ameri12 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.

13 12102(2)(A)).

14 ‘‘(2) READILY ACHIEVABLE.—The term ‘readily

15 achievable’ has the meaning given to it by section

16 301(9) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 12181(9)).

17 ‘‘(b) MANUFACTURING.—A manufacturer of tele18 communications equipment and customer premises equip19 ment shall ensure that the equipment is designed, devel20 oped, and fabricated to be accessible to and usable by indi21 viduals with disabilities, if readily achievable.

22 ‘‘(c) TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.—A provider

23 of telecommunications service shall ensure that the service

24 is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities,

25 if readily achievable.
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1 ‘‘(d) COMPATIBILITY.—Whenever the requirements

2 of subsections (b) and (c) are not readily achievable, such

3 a manufacturer or provider shall ensure that the equip4 ment or service is compatible with existing peripheral de5 vices or specialized customer premises equipment com6 monly used by individuals with disabilities to achieve ac7 cess, if readily achievable.

8 ‘‘(e) GUIDELINES.—Within 18 months after the date

9 of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1995, the

10 Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance

11 Board shall develop guidelines for accessibility of tele12 communications equipment and customer premises equip13 ment in conjunction with the Commission, the National

14 Telecommunications and Information Administration and

15 the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The

16 Board shall review and update the guidelines periodically.

17 ‘‘(f) CLOSED CAPTIONING.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall en19 sure that—

20 ‘‘(A) video programming is accessible

21 through closed captions, if readily achievable,

22 except as provided in paragraph (2); and

23 ‘‘(B) video programming providers or own24 ers maximize the accessibility of video program25 ming previously published or exhibited through
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1 the provision of closed captions, if readily

2 achievable, except as provided in paragraph (2).

3 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTIONS.—Notwithstanding para4 graph (1)—

5 ‘‘(A) the Commission may exempt pro6 grams, classes of programs, locally produced

7 programs, providers, classes of providers, or

8 services for which the Commission has deter9 mined that the provision of closed captioning

10 would not be readily achievable to the provider

11 or owner of such programming;

12 ‘‘(B) a provider of video programming or

13 the owner of any program carried by the pro14 vider shall not be obligated to supply closed

15 captions if such action would be inconsistent

16 with a binding contract in effect on the date of

17 enactment of the Telecommunications Act of

18 1995 for the remaining term of that contract

19 (determined without regard to any extension of

20 such term), except that nothing in this subpara21 graph relieves a video programming provider of

22 its obligation to provide services otherwise re23 quired by Federal law; and

24 ‘‘(C) a provider of video programming or a

25 program owner may petition the Commission
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1 for an exemption from the requirements of this

2 section, and the Commission may grant such a

3 petition upon a showing that the requirements

4 contained in this section would not be readily

5 achievable.

6 ‘‘(g) REGULATIONS.—The Commission shall, not

7 later than 24 months after the date of enactment of the

8 Telecommunications Act of 1995, prescribe regulations to

9 implement this section. The regulations shall be consistent

10 with the guidelines developed by the Architectural and

11 Transportation Barriers Compliance Board in accordance

12 with subsection (e).

13 ‘‘(h) ENFORCEMENT.—The Commission shall enforce

14 this section. The Commission shall resolve, by final order,

15 a complaint alleging a violation of this section within 180

16 days after the date on which the complaint is filed with

17 the Commission.’’.

18 (b) VIDEO DESCRIPTION.—Within 18 months after

19 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall

20 commence a study of the feasibility of requiring the use

21 of video descriptions on video programming in order to

22 ensure the accessibility of video programming to individ23 uals with visual impairments. For purposes of this sub24 section, the term ‘‘video description’’ means the insertion

25 of audio narrative descriptions of a television program’s
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1 key visual elements into natural pauses between the pro2 gram’s dialogue.

3 SEC. 309. RURAL MARKETS.

4 Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), as added

5 by this Act, is amended by inserting after section 262 the

6 following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 263. RURAL MARKETS.

8 ‘‘(a) STATE AUTHORITY IN RURAL MARKETS.—Ex9 cept as provided in section 251(i)(3), a State may not

10 waive or modify any requirements of section 251, but may

11 adopt statutes or regulations that are no more restrictive

12 than—

13 ‘‘(1) to require an enforceable commitment by

14 each competing provider of telecommunications serv15 ice to offer universal service comparable to that of16 fered by the rural telephone company currently pro17 viding service in that service area, and to make such

18 service available within 24 months of the approval

19 date to all consumers throughout that service area

20 on a common carrier basis, either using the appli21 cant’s facilities or through its own facilities and re22 sale of services using another carrier’s facilities (in23 cluding the facilities of the rural telephone com24 pany), and subject to the same terms, conditions,

25 and rate structure requirements as those applicable
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1 to the rural telephone company currently providing

2 universal service;

3 ‘‘(2) to require that the State must approve an

4 application by a competing telecommunications car5 rier to provide services in a market served by a rural

6 telephone company and that approval be based on

7 sufficient written public findings and conclusions to

8 demonstrate that such approval is in the public in9 terest and that there will not be a significant ad10 verse impact on users of telecommunications services

11 or on the provision of universal service;

12 ‘‘(3) to encourage the development and deploy13 ment of advanced telecommunications and informa14 tion infrastructure and services in rural areas; or

15 ‘‘(4) to protect the public safety and welfare,

16 ensure the continued quality of telecommunications

17 and information services, or safeguard the rights of

18 consumers.

19 ‘‘(b) PREEMPTION.—Upon a proper showing, the

20 Commission may preempt any State statute or regulation

21 that the Commission finds to be inconsistent with the

22 Commission’s regulations implementing this section, or an

23 arbitrary or unreasonably discriminatory application of

24 such statute or regulation. The Commission shall act upon

25 any bona fide petition filed under this subsection within
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1 180 days of receiving such petition. Pending such action,

2 the Commission may, in the public interest, suspend or

3 modify application of any statute or regulation to which

4 the petition applies.’’.

5 SEC. 310. TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES FOR HEALTH

6 CARE PROVIDERS FOR RURAL AREAS, EDU7 CATIONAL PROVIDERS, AND LIBRARIES.

8 Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), as added

9 by this Act, is amended by inserting after section 263 the

10 following:

11 ‘‘SEC. 264. TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES FOR CERTAIN

12 PROVIDERS.

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—

14 ‘‘(1) HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS FOR RURAL

15 AREAS.—A telecommunications carrier shall, upon

16 receiving a bona fide request, provide telecommuni17 cations services which are necessary for the provision

18 of health care services, including instruction relating

19 to such services, at rates that are reasonably com20 parable to rates charged for similar services in

21 urban areas to any public or nonprofit health care

22 provider that serves persons who reside in rural

23 areas. A telecommunications carrier providing serv24 ice pursuant to this paragraph shall be entitled to

25 have an amount equal to the difference, if any, be-
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1 tween the price for services provided to health care

2 providers for rural areas and the price for similar

3 services provided to other customers in comparable

4 urban areas treated as a service obligation as a part

5 of its obligation to participate in the mechanisms to

6 preserve and advance universal service under section

7 253(c).

8 ‘‘(2) EDUCATIONAL PROVIDERS AND LIBRAR9 IES.—All telecommunications carriers serving a geo10 graphic area shall, upon a bona fide request, provide

11 to elementary schools, secondary schools, and librar12 ies universal services (as defined in section 253) that

13 permit such schools and libraries to provide or re14 ceive telecommunications services for educational

15 purposes at rates less than the amounts charged for

16 similar services to other parties. The discount shall

17 be an amount that the Commission and the States

18 determine is appropriate and necessary to ensure af19 fordable access to and use of such telecommuni20 cations by such entities. A telecommunications car21 rier providing service pursuant to this paragraph

22 shall be entitled to have an amount equal to the

23 amount of the discount treated as a service obliga24 tion as part of its obligation to participate in the
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1 mechanisms to preserve and advance universal serv2 ice under section 253(c).

3 ‘‘(b) UNIVERSAL SERVICE MECHANISMS.—The Com4 mission shall include consideration of the universal service

5 provided to public institutional telecommunications users

6 in any universal service mechanism it may establish under

7 section 253.

8 ‘‘(c) ADVANCED SERVICES.—The Commission shall

9 establish rules—

10 ‘‘(1) to enhance, to the extent technically fea11 sible and economically reasonable, the availability of

12 advanced telecommunications and information serv13 ices to all public and nonprofit elementary and sec14 ondary school classrooms, health care providers, and

15 libraries;

16 ‘‘(2) to ensure that appropriate functional re17 quirements or performance standards, or both, in18 cluding interconnection standards, are established

19 for telecommunications carriers that connect such

20 public institutional telecommunications users with

21 the public switched network;

22 ‘‘(3) to define the circumstances under which a

23 telecommunications carrier may be required to con24 nect its network to such public institutional tele25 communications users; and
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1 ‘‘(4) to address other matters as the Commis2 sion may determine.

3 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—

4 ‘‘(1) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

5 SCHOOLS.—The term ‘elementary and secondary

6 schools’ means elementary schools and secondary

7 schools, as defined in paragraphs (14) and (25), re8 spectively, of section 14101 of the Elementary and

9 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

10 ‘‘(2) UNIVERSAL SERVICE.—The Commission

11 may in the public interest provide a separate defini12 tion of universal service under section 253(b) for ap13 plication only to public institutional telecommuni14 cations users.

15 ‘‘(3) HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.—The term

16 ‘health care provider’ means—

17 ‘‘(A) Post-secondary educational institu18 tions, teaching hospitals, and medical schools.

19 ‘‘(B) Community health centers or health

20 centers providing health care to migrants.

21 ‘‘(C) Local health departments or agencies.

22 ‘‘(D) Community mental health centers.

23 ‘‘(E) Not-for-profit hospitals.

24 ‘‘(F) Rural health clinics.
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1 ‘‘(G) Consortia of health care providers

2 consisting of one or more entities described in

3 subparagraphs (A) through (F).

4 ‘‘(4) PUBLIC INSTITUTIONAL TELECOMMUNI5 CATIONS USER.—The term ‘public institutional tele6 communications user’ means an elementary or sec7 ondary school, a library, or a health care provider as

8 those terms are defined in this subsection.

9 ‘‘(e) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—Telecommunications

10 services and network capacity provided under this section

11 may not be sold, resold, or otherwise transferred in consid12 eration for money or any other thing of value.

13 ‘‘(f) ELIGIBILITY OF COMMUNITY USERS.—No entity

14 listed in this section shall be entitled for preferential rates

15 or treatment as required by this section, if such entity op16 erates as a for-profit business, is a school as defined in

17 section 264(d)(1) with an endowment of more than

18 $50,000,000, or is a library not eligible for participation

19 in State-based plans for Library Services and Construc20 tion Act Title III funds.’’.

21 SEC. 311. PROVISION OF PAYPHONE SERVICE AND

22 TELEMESSAGING SERVICE.

23 Part II of title II (47 U.S.C. 251 et seq.), as added

24 by this Act, is amended by adding after section 264 the

25 following new section:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 265. PROVISION OF PAYPHONE SERVICE AND

2 TELEMESSAGING SERVICE.

3 ‘‘(a) NONDISCRIMINATION SAFEGUARDS.—Any Bell

4 operating company that provides payphone service or

5 telemessaging service—

6 ‘‘(1) shall not subsidize its payphone service or

7 telemessaging service directly or indirectly with reve8 nue from its telephone exchange service or its ex9 change access service; and

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

11 its payphone service or telemessaging service.

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

13 ‘‘(1) The term ‘payphone service’ means the

14 provision of telecommunications service through pub15 lic or semi-public pay telephones, and includes the

16 provision of service to inmates in correctional insti17 tutions.

18 ‘‘(2) The term ‘telemessaging service’ means

19 voice mail and voice storage and retrieval services,

20 any live operator services used to record, transcribe,

21 or relay messages (other than telecommunications

22 relay services), and any ancillary services offered in

23 combination with these services.

24 ‘‘(c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 18 months after

25 the date of enactment of the Telecommunications Act of

26 1995, the Commission shall complete a rulemaking pro-
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1 ceeding to prescribe regulations to carry out this section.

2 In that rulemaking proceeding, the Commission shall de3 termine whether, in order to enforce the requirements of

4 this section, it is appropriate to require the Bell operating

5 companies to provide payphone service or telemessaging

6 service through a separate subsidiary that meets the re7 quirements of section 252.’’.

8 SEC. 312. DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITE.

9 (a) DBS SIGNAL SECURITY.—Section 705(e)(4) (47

10 U.S.C. 605(e)(4)) is amended by inserting ‘‘satellite deliv11 ered video or audio programming intended for direct re12 ceipt by subscribers in their residences or in their commer13 cial or business premises,’’ after ‘‘programming,’’.

14 (b) FCC JURISDICTION OVER DIRECT-TO-HOME

15 SATELLITE SERVICES.—Section 303 (47 U.S.C. 303) is

16 amended by adding at the end thereof the following new

17 subsection:

18 ‘‘(v) Have exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the provi19 sion of direct-to-home satellite services. For purposes of

20 this subsection, the term ‘direct-to-home satellite services’

21 means the distribution or broadcasting of programming or

22 services by satellite directly to the subscriber’s premises

23 without the use of ground receiving or distribution equip24 ment, except at the subscriber’s premises, or used in the

25 initial uplink process to the direct-to-home satellite.’’.
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1 TITLE IV—OBSCENE, HARRASSING, AND

2 WRONGFUL UTILIZATION OF TELE3 COMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES

4 SEC. 401. SHORT TITLE.

5 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Communications De6 cency Act of 1995’’.

7 SEC. 402. OBSCENE OR HARASSING USE OF TELECOMMUNI8 CATIONS FACILITIES UNDER THE COMMU9 NICATIONS ACT OF 1934.

10 (a) OFFENSES.—Section 223 (47 U.S.C. 223) is

11 amended—

12 ‘‘(1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting in

13 lieu thereof:

14 ‘‘(a) Whoever—

15 ‘‘(1) in the District of Columbia or in interstate

16 or foreign communications—

17 ‘‘(A) by means of telecommunications de18 vice knowingly—

19 ‘‘(i) makes, creates, or solicits, and

20 ‘‘(ii) initiates the transmission of,

21 any comment, request, suggestion, proposal,

22 image, or other communication which is ob23 scene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent, with

24 intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass an25 other person;
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1 ‘‘(B) makes a telephone call or utilizes a

2 telecommunications device, whether or not con3 versation or communication ensues, without dis4 closing his identity and with intent to annoy,

5 abuse, threaten, or harass any person at the

6 called number or who receives the communica7 tions;

8 ‘‘(C) makes or causes the telephone of an9 other repeatedly or continuously to ring, with

10 intent to harass any person at the called num11 ber; or

12 ‘‘(D) makes repeated telephone calls or re13 peatedly initiates communication with a tele14 communications device, during which conversa15 tion or communication ensues, solely to harass

16 any person at the called number or who receives

17 the communication;

18 ‘‘(2) knowingly permits any telecommunications

19 facility under his control to be used for any activity

20 prohibited by paragraph (1) with the intent that it

21 be used for such activity,

22 shall be fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned not

23 more than two years, or both.’’; and

24 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub25 sections:
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1 ‘‘(d) Whoever—

2 ‘‘(1) knowingly within the United States or in

3 foreign communications with the United States by

4 means of telecommunications device makes or makes

5 available any obscene communication in any form in6 cluding any comment, request, suggestion, proposal,

7 or image regardless of whether the maker of such

8 communication placed the call or initiated the com9 munications; or

10 ‘‘(2) knowingly permits any telecommunications

11 facility under such person’s control to be used for an

12 activity prohibited by subsection (d)(1) with the in13 tent that it be used for such activity;

14 shall be fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned not

15 more than two years, or both.

16 ‘‘(e) Whoever—

17 ‘‘(1) knowingly within the United States or in

18 foreign communications with the United States by

19 means of telecommunications device makes or makes

20 available any indecent communication in any form

21 including any comment, request, suggestion, pro22 posal, image, to any person under 18 years of age

23 regardless of whether the maker of such communica24 tion placed the call or initiated the communication;

25 or
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1 ‘‘(2) knowingly permits any telecommunications

2 facility under such person’s control to be used for an

3 activity prohibited by paragraph (1) with the intent

4 that it be used for such activity,

5 shall be fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned not

6 more than two years, or both.

7 ‘‘(f) Defenses to the subsections (a), (d), and (e), re8 strictions on access, judicial remedies respecting restric9 tions for persons providing information services and access

10 to information services—

11 ‘‘(1) No person shall be held to have violated

12 subsections (a), (d), or (e) solely for providing access

13 or connection to or from a facility, system, or net14 work over which that person has no control, includ15 ing related capabilities which are incidental to pro16 viding access or connection. This subsection shall

17 not be applicable to a person who is owned or con18 trolled by, or a conspirator with, an entity actively

19 involved in the creation, editing or knowing distribu20 tion of communications which violate this section.

21 ‘‘(2) No employer shall be held liable under this

22 section for the actions of an employee or agent un23 less the employee’s or agent’s conduct is within the

24 scope of his employment or agency and the employer
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1 has knowledge of, authorizes, or ratifies the employ2 ee’s or agent’s conduct.

3 ‘‘(3) It is a defense to prosecution under sub4 section (a), (d)(2), or (e) that a person has taken

5 reasonable, effective and appropriate actions in good

6 faith to restrict or prevent the transmission of, or

7 access to a communication specified in such sub8 sections, or complied with procedures as the Com9 mission may prescribe in furtherance of this section.

10 Until such regulations become effective, it is a de11 fense to prosecution that the person has complied

12 with the procedures prescribed by regulation pursu13 ant to subsection (b)(3). Nothing in this subsection

14 shall be construed to treat enhanced information

15 services as common carriage.

16 ‘‘(4) No cause of action may be brought in any

17 court or administrative agency against any person

18 on account of any activity which is not in violation

19 of any law punishable by criminal or civil penalty,

20 which activity the person has taken in good faith to

21 implement a defense authorized under this section or

22 otherwise to restrict or prevent the transmission of,

23 or access to, a communication specified in this sec24 tion.
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1 ‘‘(g) No State or local government may impose any

2 liability for commercial activities or actions by commercial

3 entities in connection with an activity or action which con4 stitutes a violation described in subsection (a)(2), (d)(2),

5 or (e)(2) that is inconsistent with the treatment of those

6 activities or actions under this section: Provided, however,

7 That nothing herein shall preclude any State or local gov8 ernment from enacting and enforcing complementary over9 sight, liability, and regulatory systems, procedures, and re10 quirements, so long as such systems, procedures, and re11 quirements govern only intrastate services and do not re12 sult in the imposition of inconsistent rights, duties or obli13 gations on the provision of interstate services. Nothing in

14 this subsection shall preclude any State or local govern15 ment from governing conduct not covered by this section.

16 ‘‘(h) Nothing in subsection (a), (d), (e), or (f) or in

17 the defenses to prosecution under (a), (d), or (e) shall be

18 construed to affect or limit the application or enforcement

19 of any other Federal law.

20 ‘‘(i) The use of the term ‘telecommunications device’

21 in this section shall not impose new obligations on (one22 way) broadcast radio or (one-way) broadcast television op23 erators licensed by the Commission or (one-way) cable

24 service registered with the Federal Communications Com-
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1 mission and covered by obscenity and indecency provisions

2 elsewhere in this Act.

3 ‘‘(j) Within two years from the date of enactment and

4 every two years thereafter, the Commission shall report

5 on the effectiveness of this section.’’.

6 SEC. 403. OBSCENE PROGRAMMING ON CABLE TELEVISION.

7 Section 639 (47 U.S.C. 559) is amended by striking

8 ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’.

9 SEC. 404. BROADCASTING OBSCENE LANGUAGE ON RADIO.

10 Section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is

11 amended by striking out ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting

12 ‘‘$100,000’’.

13 SEC. 405. SEPARABILITY.

14 (a) If any provision of this title, including amend15 ments to this title or the application thereof to any person

16 or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of this title

17 and the application of such provision to other persons or

18 circumstances shall not be affected thereby.

19 SEC. 406. ADDITIONAL PROHIBITION ON BILLING FOR

20 TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE CALLS.

21 Section 228(c)(7) (47 U.S.C. 228(c)(7)) is amend22 ed—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph

24 (C);
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1 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub2 paragraph (D) and inserting a semicolon and ‘‘or’’;

3 and

4 (3) by adding at the end thereof the following:

5 ‘‘(E) the calling party being assessed, by

6 virtue of being asked to connect or otherwise

7 transfer to a pay-per-call service, a charge for

8 the call.’’.

9 SEC. 407. SCRAMBLING OF CABLE CHANNELS FOR

10 NONSUBSCRIBERS.

11 Part IV of title VI (47 U.S. C. 551 et seq.) is amend12 ed by adding at the end the following:

13 ‘‘SEC. 640. SCRAMBLING OF CABLE CHANNELS FOR

14 NONSUBSCRIBERS.

15 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—In providing video program16 ming unsuitable for children to any subscriber through a

17 cable system, a cable operator shall fully scramble or oth18 erwise fully block the video and audio portion of each

19 channel carrying such programming upon subscriber re20 quest and without any charge so that one not a subscriber

21 does not receive it.

22 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

23 ‘scramble’ means to rearrange the content of the signal

24 of the programming so that the programming cannot be
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1 received by persons unauthorized to receive the program2 ming.’’.

3 SEC. 408. SCRAMBLING OF SEXUALLY EXPLICIT ADULT

4 VIDEO SERVICE PROGRAMMING.

5 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Part IV of title VI (47 U.S.C.

6 551 et seq.), as amended by this Act, is further amended

7 by adding at the end the following:

8 ‘‘SEC. 641. SCRAMBLING OF SEXUALLY EXPLICIT ADULT

9 VIDEO SERVICE PROGRAMMING.

10 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—In providing sexually explicit

11 adult programming or other programming that is indecent

12 and harmful to children on any channel of its service pri13 marily dedicated to sexually-oriented programming, a mul14 tichannel video programming distributor shall fully scram15 ble or otherwise fully block the video and audio portion

16 of such channel so that one not a subscriber to such chan17 nel or programming does not receive it.

18 ‘‘(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—Until a multichannel video

19 programming distributor complies with the requirement

20 set forth in subsection (a), the distributor shall limit the

21 access of children to the programming referred to in that

22 subsection by not providing such programming during the

23 hours of the day (as determined by the Commission) when

24 a significant number of children are likely to view it.
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1 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

2 ‘scramble’ means to rearrange the content of the signal

3 of the programming so that audio and video portions of

4 the programming cannot be received by persons unauthor5 ized to receive the programming.’’.

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

7 subsection (a) shall take effect 30 days after the date of

8 the enactment of this Act.

9 SEC. 409. CABLE OPERATOR REFUSAL TO CARRY CERTAIN

10 PROGRAMS.

11 (a) PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL, AND GOVERNMENTAL

12 CHANNELS.—Section 611(e) (47 U.S.C. 531(e)) is

13 amended by inserting before the period the following: ‘‘,

14 except a cable operator may refuse to transmit any public

15 access program or portion of a public access program

16 which contains obscenity, indecency, or nudity’’.

17 (b) CABLE CHANNELS FOR COMMERCIAL USE.—Sec18 tion 612(c)(2) (47 U.S.C. 532(c)(2)) is amended by strik19 ing ‘‘an operator’’ and inserting ‘‘a cable operator may

20 refuse to transmit any leased access program or portion

21 of a leased access program which contains obscenity, inde22 cency, or nudity’’.
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1 SEC. 410. RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS BY CHILDREN TO OB2 SCENE AND INDECENT MATERIAL ON ELEC3 TRONIC INFORMATION NETWORKS OPEN TO

4 THE PUBLIC.

5 (a) AVAILABILITY OF TAG INFORMATION.—In

6 order—

7 (1) to encourage the voluntary use of tags in

8 the names, addresses, or text of electronic files con9 taining obscene, indecent, or mature text or graphics

10 that are made available to the public through public

11 information networks in order to ensure the ready

12 identification of files containing such text or graph13 ics;

14 (2) to encourage developers of computer soft15 ware that provides access to or interface with a pub16 lic information network to develop software that per17 mits users of such software to block access to or

18 interface with text or graphics identified by such

19 tags; and

20 (3) to encourage the telecommunications indus21 try and the providers and users of public informa22 tion networks to take practical actions (including the

23 establishment of a board consisting of appropriate

24 members of such industry, providers, and users) to

25 develop a highly effective means of preventing the

26 access of children through public information net-
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1 works to electronic files that contain such text or

2 graphics,

3 the Secretary of Commerce shall take appropriate steps

4 to make information on the tags established and utilized

5 in voluntary compliance with this subsection available to

6 the public through public information networks.

7 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date

8 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall

9 submit to Congress a report on the tags established and

10 utilized in voluntary compliance with this section. The re11 port shall—

12 (1) describe the tags so established and utilized;

13 (2) assess the effectiveness of such tags in pre14 venting the access of children to electronic files that

15 contain obscene, indecent, or mature text or graph16 ics through public information networks; and

17 (3) provide recommendations for additional

18 means of preventing such access.

19 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

20 (1) The term ‘‘public information network’’

21 means the Internet, electronic bulletin boards, and

22 other electronic information networks that are open

23 to the public.

24 (2) The term ‘‘tag’’ means a part or segment

25 of the name, address, or text of an electronic file.
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1 TITLE V—PARENTAL CHOICE IN TELEVISION

2 SEC. 501. SHORT TITLE.

3 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Parental Choice in

4 Television Act of 1995’’.

5 SEC. 502. FINDINGS.

6 Congress makes the following findings:

7 (1) On average, a child in the United States is

8 exposed to 27 hours of television each week and

9 some children are exposed to as much as 11 hours

10 of television each day.

11 (2) The average American child watches 8,000

12 murders and 100,000 acts of other violence on tele13 vision by the time the child completes elementary

14 school.

15 (3) By the age of 18 years, the average Amer16 ican teenager has watched 200,000 acts of violence

17 on television, including 40,000 murders.

18 (4) On several occasions since 1975, The Jour19 nal of the American Medical Association has alerted

20 the medical community to the adverse effects of tele21 vised violence on child development, including an in22 crease in the level of aggressive behavior and violent

23 behavior among children who view it.

24 (5) The National Commission on Children rec25 ommended in 1991 that producers of television pro-
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1 grams exercise greater restraint in the content of

2 programming for children.

3 (6) A report of the Harry Frank Guggenheim

4 Foundation, dated May 1993, indicates that there is

5 an irrefutable connection between the amount of vio6 lence depicted in the television programs watched by

7 children and increased aggressive behavior among

8 children.

9 (7) It is a compelling National interest that

10 parents be empowered with the technology to block

11 the viewing by their children of television programs

12 whose content is overly violent or objectionable for

13 other reasons.

14 (8) Technology currently exists to permit the

15 manufacture of television receivers that are capable

16 of permitting parents to block television programs

17 having violent or otherwise objectionable content.

18 SEC. 503. RATING CODE FOR VIOLENCE AND OTHER OBJEC19 TIONABLE CONTENT ON TELEVISION.

20 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS ON VOLUNTARY ESTAB21 LISHMENT OF RATING CODE.—It is the sense of Con22 gress—

23 (1) to encourage appropriate representatives of

24 the broadcast television industry and the cable tele25 vision industry to establish in a voluntary manner
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1 rules for rating the level of violence or other objec2 tionable content in television programming, includ3 ing rules for the transmission by television broadcast

4 stations and cable systems of—

5 (A) signals containing ratings of the level

6 of violence or objectionable content in such pro7 gramming; and

8 (B) signals containing specifications for

9 blocking such programming;

10 (2) to encourage such representatives to estab11 lish such rules in consultation with appropriate pub12 lic interest groups and interested individuals from

13 the private sector; and

14 (3) to encourage television broadcasters and

15 cable operators to comply voluntarily with such rules

16 upon the establishment of such rules.

17 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF RATING

18 CODE.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the representatives of the

20 broadcast television industry and the cable television

21 industry do not establish the rules referred to in

22 subsection (a)(1) by the end of the 1-year period be23 ginning on the date of the enactment of this Act,

24 there shall be established on the day following the

25 end of that period a commission to be known as the
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1 Television Rating Commission (hereafter in this sec2 tion referred to as the ‘‘Television Commission’’).

3 The Television Commission shall be an independent

4 establishment in the executive branch as defined

5 under section 104 of title 5, United States Code.

6 (2) MEMBERS.—

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Television Com8 mission shall be composed of 5 members ap9 pointed by the President, by and with the ad10 vice and consent of the Senate, of whom—

11 (i) three shall be individuals who are

12 members of appropriate public interest

13 groups or are interested individuals from

14 the private sector; and

15 (ii) two shall be representatives of the

16 broadcast television industry and the cable

17 television industry.

18 (B) NOMINATION.—Individuals shall be

19 nominated for appointment under subparagraph

20 (A) not later than 60 days after the date of the

21 establishment of the Television Commission.

22 (D) TERMS.—Each member of the Tele23 vision Commission shall serve until the termi24 nation of the commission.
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1 (E) VACANCIES.—A vacancy on the Tele2 vision Commission shall be filled in the same

3 manner as the original appointment.

4 (2) DUTIES OF TELEVISION COMMISSION.—The

5 Television Commission shall establish rules for rat6 ing the level of violence or other objectionable con7 tent in television programming, including rules for

8 the transmission by television broadcast stations and

9 cable systems of—

10 (A) signals containing ratings of the level

11 of violence or objectionable content in such pro12 gramming; and

13 (B) signals containing specifications for

14 blocking such programming.

15 (3) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—

16 (A) CHAIRMAN.—The Chairman of the

17 Television Commission shall be paid at a rate

18 equal to the daily equivalent of the minimum

19 annual rate of basic pay payable for level IV of

20 the Executive Schedule under section 5314 of

21 title 5, United States Code, for each day (in22 cluding traveltime) during which the Chairman

23 is engaged in the performance of duties vested

24 in the commission.
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1 (B) OTHER MEMBERS.—Except for the

2 Chairman who shall be paid as provided under

3 subparagraph (A), each member of the Tele4 vision Commission shall be paid at a rate equal

5 to the daily equivalent of the minimum annual

6 rate of basic pay payable for level V of the Ex7 ecutive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5,

8 United States Code, for each day (including

9 traveltime) during which the member is en10 gaged in the performance of duties vested in

11 the commission.

12 (4) STAFF.—

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Chairman of the

14 Television Commission may, without regard to

15 the civil service laws and regulations, appoint

16 and terminate an executive director and such

17 other additional personnel as may be necessary

18 to enable the commission to perform its duties.

19 The employment of an executive director shall

20 be subject to confirmation by the commission.

21 (B) COMPENSATION.—The Chairman of

22 the Television Commission may fix the com23 pensation of the executive director and other

24 personnel without regard to the provisions of

25 chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of
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1 title 5, United States Code, relating to classi2 fication of positions and General Schedule pay

3 rates, except that the rate of pay for the execu4 tive director and other personnel may not ex5 ceed the rate payable for level V of the Execu6 tive Schedule under section 5316 of such title.

7 (5) CONSULTANTS.—The Television Commis8 sion may procure by contract, to the extent funds

9 are available, the temporary or intermittent services

10 of experts or consultants under section 3109 of title

11 5, United States Code. The commission shall give

12 public notice of any such contract before entering

13 into such contract.

14 (6) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be ap15 propriated to the Commission such sums as are nec16 essary to enable the Commission to carry out its du17 ties under this Act.

18 SEC. 504. REQUIREMENT FOR MANUFACTURE OF TELE19 VISIONS THAT BLOCK PROGRAMS.

20 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Section 303 (47 U.S.C. 303),

21 as amended by this Act, is further amended by adding

22 at the end the following:

23 ‘‘(w) Require, in the case of apparatus designed to

24 receive television signals that are manufactured in the

25 United States or imported for use in the United States
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1 and that have a picture screen 13 inches or greater in

2 size (measured diagonally), that such apparatus—

3 ‘‘(1) be equipped with circuitry designed to en4 able viewers to block the display of channels during

5 particular time slots; and

6 ‘‘(2) enable viewers to block display of all pro7 grams with a common rating.’’.

8 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—In adopting the requirement

9 set forth in section 303(w) of the Communications Act of

10 1934, as added by subsection (a), the Federal Commu11 nications Commission, in consultation with the television

12 receiver manufacturing industry, shall determine a date

13 for the applicability of the requirement to the apparatus

14 covered by that section.

15 SEC. 505. SHIPPING OR IMPORTING OF TELEVISIONS THAT

16 BLOCK PROGRAMS.

17 (a) REGULATIONS.—Section 330 (47 U.S.C. 330) is

18 amended—

19 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub20 section (d); and

21 (2) by adding after subsection (b) the following

22 new subsection (c):

23 ‘‘(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), no per24 son shall ship in interstate commerce, manufacture, as25 semble, or import from any foreign country into the Unit-
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1 ed States any apparatus described in section 303(w) of

2 this Act except in accordance with rules prescribed by the

3 Commission pursuant to the authority granted by that

4 section.

5 ‘‘(2) This subsection shall not apply to carriers trans6 porting apparatus referred to in paragraph (1) without

7 trading it.

8 ‘‘(3) The rules prescribed by the Commission under

9 this subsection shall provide performance standards for

10 blocking technology. Such rules shall require that all such

11 apparatus be able to receive transmitted rating signals

12 which conform to the signal and blocking specifications es13 tablished by the Commission.

14 ‘‘(4) As new video technology is developed, the Com15 mission shall take such action as the Commission deter16 mines appropriate to ensure that blocking service contin17 ues to be available to consumers.’’.

18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 330(d), as

19 redesignated by subsection (a)(1), is amended by striking

20 ‘‘section 303(s), and section 303(u)’’ and inserting in lieu

21 thereof ‘‘and sections 303(s), 303(u), and 303(w)’’.
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1 TITLE VI—NATIONAL EDUCATION

2 TECHNOLOGY FUNDING CORPORATION

3 SEC. 601. SHORT TITLE.

4 This title may be cited as the ‘‘National Education

5 Technology Funding Corporation Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 602. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows:

8 (1) CORPORATION.—There has been established

9 in the District of Columbia a private, nonprofit cor10 poration known as the National Education Tech11 nology Funding Corporation which is not an agency

12 or independent establishment of the Federal Govern13 ment.

14 (2) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.—The Corporation is

15 governed by a Board of Directors, as prescribed in

16 the Corporation’s articles of incorporation, consist17 ing of 15 members, of which—

18 (A) five members are representative of

19 public agencies representative of schools and

20 public libraries;

21 (B) five members are representative of

22 State government, including persons knowledge23 able about State finance, technology and edu24 cation; and
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1 (C) five members are representative of the

2 private sector, with expertise in network tech3 nology, finance and management.

4 (3) CORPORATE PURPOSES.—The purposes of

5 the Corporation, as set forth in its articles of incor6 poration, are—

7 (A) to leverage resources and stimulate

8 private investment in education technology in9 frastructure;

10 (B) to designate State education tech11 nology agencies to receive loans, grants or other

12 forms of assistance from the Corporation;

13 (C) to establish criteria for encouraging

14 States to—

15 (i) create, maintain, utilize and up16 grade interactive high capacity networks

17 capable of providing audio, visual and data

18 communications for elementary schools,

19 secondary schools and public libraries;

20 (ii) distribute resources to assure eq21 uitable aid to all elementary schools and

22 secondary schools in the State and achieve

23 universal access to network technology;

24 and
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1 (iii) upgrade the delivery and develop2 ment of learning through innovative tech3 nology-based instructional tools and appli4 cations;

5 (D) to provide loans, grants and other

6 forms of assistance to State education tech7 nology agencies, with due regard for providing

8 a fair balance among types of school districts

9 and public libraries assisted and the disparate

10 needs of such districts and libraries;

11 (E) to leverage resources to provide maxi12 mum aid to elementary schools, secondary

13 schools and public libraries; and

14 (F) to encourage the development of edu15 cation telecommunications and information

16 technologies through public-private ventures, by

17 serving as a clearinghouse for information on

18 new education technologies, and by providing

19 technical assistance, including assistance to

20 States, if needed, to establish State education

21 technology agencies.

22 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this title is to recog23 nize the Corporation as a nonprofit corporation operating

24 under the laws of the District of Columbia, and to provide
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1 authority for Federal departments and agencies to provide

2 assistance to the Corporation.

3 SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS.

4 For the purpose of this title—

5 (1) the term ‘‘Corporation’’ means the National

6 Education Technology Funding Corporation de7 scribed in section 602(a)(1);

8 (2) the terms ‘‘elementary school’’ and ‘‘second9 ary school’’ have the same meanings given such

10 terms in section 14101 of the Elementary and Sec11 ondary Education Act of 1965; and

12 (3) the term ‘‘public library’’ has the same

13 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Library

14 Services and Construction Act.

15 SEC. 604. ASSISTANCE FOR EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY PUR16 POSES.

17 (a) RECEIPT BY CORPORATION.—Notwithstanding

18 any other provision of law, in order to carry out the cor19 porate purposes described in section 602(a)(3), the Cor20 poration shall be eligible to receive discretionary grants,

21 contracts, gifts, contributions, or technical assistance from

22 any Federal department or agency, to the extent otherwise

23 permitted by law.

24 (b) AGREEMENT.—In order to receive any assistance

25 described in subsection (a) the Corporation shall enter into
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1 an agreement with the Federal department or agency pro2 viding such assistance, under which the Corporation

3 agrees—

4 (1) to use such assistance to provide funding

5 and technical assistance only for activities which the

6 Board of Directors of the Corporation determines

7 are consistent with the corporate purposes described

8 in section 602(a)(3);

9 (2) to review the activities of State education

10 technology agencies and other entities receiving as11 sistance from the Corporation to assure that the cor12 porate purposes described in section 602(a)(3) are

13 carried out;

14 (3) that no part of the assets of the Corpora15 tion shall accrue to the benefit of any member of the

16 Board of Directors of the Corporation, any officer or

17 employee of the Corporation, or any other individual,

18 except as salary or reasonable compensation for

19 services;

20 (4) that the Board of Directors of the Corpora21 tion will adopt policies and procedures to prevent

22 conflicts of interest;

23 (5) to maintain a Board of Directors of the

24 Corporation consistent with section 602(a)(2);
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1 (6) that the Corporation, and any entity receiv2 ing the assistance from the Corporation, are subject

3 to the appropriate oversight procedures of the Con4 gress; and

5 (7) to comply with—

6 (A) the audit requirements described in

7 section 605; and

8 (B) the reporting and testimony require9 ments described in section 606.

10 (c) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this title shall be

11 construed to establish the Corporation as an agency or

12 independent establishment of the Federal Government, or

13 to establish the members of the Board of Directors of the

14 Corporation, or the officers and employees of the Corpora15 tion, as officers or employees of the Federal Government.

16 SEC. 605. AUDITS

17 (a) AUDITS BY INDEPENDENT CERTIFIED PUBLIC

18 ACCOUNTANTS.—

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Corporation’s financial

20 statements shall be audited annually in accordance

21 with generally accepted auditing standards by inde22 pendent certified public accountants who are mem23 bers of a nationally recognized accounting firm and

24 who are certified by a regulatory authority of a

25 State or other political subdivision of the United
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1 States. The audits shall be conducted at the place or

2 places where the accounts of the Corporation are

3 normally kept. All books, accounts, financial records,

4 reports, files, and all other papers, things, or prop5 erty belonging to or in use by the Corporation and

6 necessary to facilitate the audit shall be made avail7 able to the person or persons conducting the audits,

8 and full facilities for verifying transactions with the

9 balances or securities held by depositories, fiscal

10 agents, and custodians shall be afforded to such per11 son or persons.

12 (2) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The report

13 of each annual audit described in paragraph (1)

14 shall be included in the annual report required by

15 section 606(a).

16 (b) RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS; AUDIT AND

17 EXAMINATION OF BOOKS.—

18 (1) RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS.—The

19 Corporation shall ensure that each recipient of as20 sistance from the Corporation keeps—

21 (A) separate accounts with respect to such

22 assistance;

23 (B) such records as may be reasonably

24 necessary to fully disclose—
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1 (i) the amount and the disposition by

2 such recipient of the proceeds of such as3 sistance;

4 (ii) the total cost of the project or un5 dertaking in connection with which such

6 assistance is given or used; and

7 (iii) the amount and nature of that

8 portion of the cost of the project or under9 taking supplied by other sources; and

10 (C) such other records as will facilitate an

11 effective audit.

12 (2) AUDIT AND EXAMINATION OF BOOKS.—The

13 Corporation shall ensure that the Corporation, or

14 any of the Corporation’s duly authorized representa15 tives, shall have access for the purpose of audit and

16 examination to any books, documents, papers, and

17 records of any recipient of assistance from the Cor18 poration that are pertinent to such assistance. Rep19 resentatives of the Comptroller General shall also

20 have such access for such purpose.

21 SEC. 606. ANNUAL REPORT; TESTIMONY TO THE CONGRESS.

22 (a) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than April 30 of

23 each year, the Corporation shall publish an annual report

24 for the preceding fiscal year and submit that report to

25 the President and the Congress. The report shall include
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1 a comprehensive and detailed evaluation of the Corpora2 tion’s operations, activities, financial condition, and ac3 complishments under this title and may include such rec4 ommendations as the Corporation deems appropriate.

5 (b) TESTIMONY BEFORE CONGRESS.—The members

6 of the Board of Directors, and officers, of the Corporation

7 shall be available to testify before appropriate committees

8 of the Congress with respect to the report described in

9 subsection (a), the report of any audit made by the Comp10 troller General pursuant to this title, or any other matter

11 which any such committee may determine appropriate.

12 TITLE VII—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

13 SEC. 701. SPECTRUM AUCTIONS.

14 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

15 (1) the National Telecommunications and Infor16 mation Administration of the Department of Com17 merce recently submitted to the Congress a report

18 entitled ‘‘U.S. National Spectrum Requirements’’ as

19 required by section 113 of the National Tele20 communications and Information Administration Or21 ganization Act (47 U.S.C. 923);

22 (2) based on the best available information the

23 report concludes that an additional 179 megahertz

24 of spectrum will be needed within the next ten years

25 to meet the expected demand for land mobile and
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1 mobile satellite radio services such as cellular tele2 phone service, paging services, personal communica3 tion services, and low earth orbiting satellite commu4 nications systems;

5 (3) a further 85 megahertz of additional spec6 trum, for a total of 264 megahertz, is needed if the

7 United States is to fully implement the Intelligent

8 Transportation System currently under development

9 by the Department of Transportation;

10 (4) as required by part B of the National Tele11 communications and Information Administration Or12 ganization Act (47 U.S.C. 921 et seq.) the Federal

13 Government will transfer 235 megahertz of spectrum

14 from exclusive government use to non-governmental

15 or mixed governmental and non-governmental use

16 between 1994 and 2004;

17 (5) the Spectrum Reallocation Final Report

18 submitted to Congress under section 113 of the Na19 tional Telecommunications and Information Admin20 istration Organization Act by the National Tele21 communications and Information Administration

22 states that, of the 235 megahertz of spectrum iden23 tified for reallocation from governmental to non-gov24 ernmental or mixed use—
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1 (A) 50 megahertz has already been reallo2 cated for exclusive non-governmental use,

3 (B) 45 megahertz will be reallocated in

4 1995 for both exclusive non-governmental and

5 mixed governmental and non-governmental use,

6 (C) 25 megahertz will be reallocated in

7 1997 for exclusive non-governmental use,

8 (D) 70 megahertz will be reallocated in

9 1999 for both exclusive non-governmental and

10 mixed governmental and non-governmental use,

11 and

12 (E) the final 45 megahertz will be reallo13 cated for mixed governmental and non-govern14 mental use by 2004;

15 (6) the 165 megahertz of spectrum that are not

16 yet reallocated, combined with 80 megahertz that

17 the Federal Communications Commission is cur18 rently holding in reserve for emerging technologies,

19 are less than the best estimates of projected spec20 trum needs in the United States;

21 (7) the authority of the Federal Communica22 tions Commission to assign radio spectrum fre23 quencies using an auction process expires on Sep24 tember 30, 1998;
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1 (8) a significant portion of the reallocated spec2 trum will not yet be assigned to non-governmental

3 users before that authority expires;

4 (9) the transfer of Federal governmental users

5 from certain valuable radio frequencies to other re6 served frequencies could be expedited if Federal gov7 ernmental users are permitted to accept reimburse8 ment for relocation costs from non-governmental

9 users; and

10 (10) non-governmental reimbursement of Fed11 eral governmental users relocation costs would allow

12 the market to determine the most efficient use of the

13 available spectrum.

14 (b) EXTENSION AND EXPANSION OF AUCTION AU15 THORITY.—Section 309(j) (47 U.S.C. 309(j)) is amend16 ed—

17 (1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting in

18 lieu thereof the following:

19 ‘‘(1) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—If mutually exclu20 sive applications or requests are accepted for any

21 initial license or construction permit which will in22 volve a use of the electromagnetic spectrum, then

23 the Commission shall grant such license or permit to

24 a qualified applicant through a system of competitive

25 bidding that meets the requirements of this sub-
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1 section. The competitive bidding authority granted

2 by this subsection shall not apply to licenses or con3 struction permits issued by the Commission for pub4 lic safety radio services or for licenses or construc5 tion permits for new terrestrial digital television

6 services assigned by the Commission to existing ter7 restrial broadcast licensees to replace their current

8 television licenses.’’;

9 (2) by striking paragraph (2) and renumbering

10 paragraphs (3) through (13) as (2) through (12), re11 spectively; and

12 (3) by striking ‘‘1998’’ in paragraph (10), as

13 renumbered, and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘2000’’.

14 (c) REIMBURSEMENT OF FEDERAL RELOCATION

15 COSTS.—Section 113 of the National Telecommunications

16 and Information Administration Act (47 U.S.C. 923) is

17 amended by adding at the end the following new sub18 sections:

19 ‘‘(f) RELOCATION OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STA20 TIONS.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to expedite the ef22 ficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum and not23 withstanding section 3302(b) of title 31, United

24 States Code, any Federal entity which operates a

25 Federal Government station may accept reimburse-
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1 ment from any person for the costs incurred by such

2 Federal entity for any modification, replacement, or

3 reissuance of equipment, facilities, operating manu4 als, regulations, or other expenses incurred by that

5 entity in relocating the operations of its Federal

6 Government station or stations from one or more

7 radio spectrum frequencies to any other frequency or

8 frequencies. Any such reimbursement shall be depos9 ited in the account of such Federal entity in the

10 Treasury of the United States. Funds deposited ac11 cording to this section shall be available, without ap12 propriation or fiscal year limitation, only for the op13 erations of the Federal entity for which such funds

14 were deposited under this section.

15 ‘‘(2) PROCESS FOR RELOCATION.—Any person

16 seeking to relocate a Federal Government station

17 that has been assigned a frequency within a band al18 located for mixed Federal and non-Federal use may

19 submit a petition for such relocation to NTIA. The

20 NTIA shall limit the Federal Government station’s

21 operating license to secondary status when the fol22 lowing requirements are met—

23 ‘‘(A) the person seeking relocation of the

24 Federal Government station has guaranteed re25 imbursement through money or in-kind pay-
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1 ment of all relocation costs incurred by the

2 Federal entity, including all engineering, equip3 ment, site acquisition and construction, and

4 regulatory fee costs;

5 ‘‘(B) the person seeking relocation com6 pletes all activities necessary for implementing

7 the relocation, including construction of replace8 ment facilities (if necessary and appropriate)

9 and identifying and obtaining on the Federal

10 entity’s behalf new frequencies for use by the

11 relocated Federal Government station (where

12 such station is not relocating to spectrum re13 served exclusively for Federal use); and

14 ‘‘(C) any necessary replacement facilities,

15 equipment modifications, or other changes have

16 been implemented and tested to ensure that the

17 Federal Government station is able to success18 fully accomplish its purposes.

19 ‘‘(3) RIGHT TO RECLAIM.—If within one year

20 after the relocation the Federal Government station

21 demonstrates to the Commission that the new facili22 ties or spectrum are not comparable to the facilities

23 or spectrum from which the Federal Government

24 station was relocated, the person seeking such relo25 cation must take reasonable steps to remedy any de-
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1 fects or reimburse the Federal entity for the costs

2 of returning the Federal Government station to the

3 spectrum from which such station was relocated.

4 ‘‘(g) FEDERAL ACTION TO EXPEDITE SPECTRUM

5 TRANSFER.—Any Federal Government station which op6 erates on electromagnetic spectrum that has been identi7 fied for reallocation for mixed Federal and non-Federal

8 use in the Spectrum Reallocation Final Report shall, to

9 the maximum extent practicable through the use of the

10 authority granted under subsection (f) and any other ap11 plicable provision of law, take action to relocate its spec12 trum use to other frequencies that are reserved for Fed13 eral use or to consolidate its spectrum use with other Fed14 eral Government stations in a manner that maximizes the

15 spectrum available for non-Federal use. Notwithstanding

16 the timetable contained in the Spectrum Reallocation

17 Final Report, the President shall seek to implement the

18 reallocation of the 1710 to 1755 megahertz frequency

19 band by January 1, 2000. Subsection (c)(4) of this section

20 shall not apply to the extent that a non-Federal user seeks

21 to relocate or relocates a Federal power agency under sub22 section (f).

23 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

24 ‘‘(1) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘Federal en25 tity’ means any Department, agency, or other ele-
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1 ment of the Federal Government that utilizes radio

2 frequency spectrum in the conduct of its authorized

3 activities, including a Federal power agency.

4 ‘‘(2) SPECTRUM REALLOCATION FINAL RE5 PORT.—The term ‘Spectrum Reallocation Final Re6 port’ means the report submitted by the Secretary to

7 the President and Congress in compliance with the

8 requirements of subsection (a).’’.

9 (d) REALLOCATION OF ADDITIONAL SPECTRUM.—

10 The Secretary of Commerce shall, within 9 months after

11 the date of enactment of this Act, prepare and submit to

12 the President and the Congress a report and timetable rec13 ommending the reallocation of the two frequency bands

14 (3625–3650 megahertz and 5850–5925 megahertz) that

15 were discussed but not recommended for reallocation in

16 the Spectrum Reallocation Final Report under section

17 113(a) of the National Telecommunications and Informa18 tion Administration Organization Act. The Secretary shall

19 consult with the Federal Communications Commission

20 and other Federal agencies in the preparation of the re21 port, and shall provide notice and an opportunity for pub22 lic comment before submitting the report and timetable

23 required by this section.

24 (e) BROADCAST AUXILIARY SPECTRUM RELOCA25 TION.—
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1 (1) ALLOCATION OF SPECTRUM FOR BROAD2 CAST AUXILIARY USES.—Within one year after the

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall

4 allocate the 4635–4685 megahertz band transferred

5 to the Commission under section 113(b) of the Na6 tional Telecommunications and Information Admin7 istration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(b)) for

8 broadcast auxiliary uses.

9 (2) MANDATORY RELOCATION OF BROADCAST

10 AUXILIARY USES.—Within 7 years after the date of

11 enactment of this Act, all licensees of broadcast aux12 iliary spectrum in the 2025–2075 megahertz band

13 shall relocate into spectrum allocated by the Com14 mission under paragraph (1). The Commission shall

15 assign and grant licenses for use of the spectrum al16 located under paragraph (1)—

17 (A) in a manner sufficient to permit timely

18 completion of relocation; and

19 (B) without using a competitive bidding

20 process.

21 (3) ASSIGNING RECOVERED SPECTRUM.—With22 in 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act,

23 the Commission shall allocate the spectrum recov24 ered in the 2025–2075 megahertz band under para25 graph (2) for use by new licensees for commercial
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1 mobile services or other similar services after the re2 location of broadcast auxiliary licensees, and shall

3 assign such licenses by competitive bidding.

4 SEC. 702. RENEWED EFFORTS TO REGULATE VIOLENT PRO5 GRAMMING.

6 (a) FINDINGS.—The Senate finds that:

7 (1) Violence is a pervasive and persistent fea8 ture of the entertainment industry. According to the

9 Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, by the

10 age of 18, children will have been exposed to nearly

11 18,000 televised murders and 800 suicides.

12 (2) Violence on television is likely to have a se13 rious and harmful effect on the emotional develop14 ment of young children. The American Psychological

15 Association has reported that children who watch ‘‘a

16 large number of aggressive programs tend to hold

17 attitudes and values that favor the use of aggression

18 to solve conflicts’’. The National Institute of Mental

19 Health has stated similarly that ‘‘violence on tele20 vision does lead to aggressive behavior by children

21 and teenagers’’.

22 (3) The Senate recognizes that television vio23 lence is not the sole cause of violence in society.

24 (4) There is a broad recognition in the United

25 States Congress that the television industry has an
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1 obligation to police the content of its own broadcasts

2 to children. That understanding was reflected in the

3 Television Violence Act of 1990, which was specifi4 cally designed to permit industry participants to

5 work together to create a self-monitoring system.

6 (5) After years of denying that television vio7 lence has any detrimental effect, the entertainment

8 industry has begun to address the problem of tele9 vision violence. In the spring of 1994, for example,

10 the network and cable industries announced the ap11 pointment of an independent monitoring group to

12 assess the amount of violence on television. These

13 reports are due out in the fall of 1995 and winter

14 of 1996, respectively.

15 (6) The Senate recognizes that self-regulation

16 by the private sector is generally preferable to direct

17 regulation by the Federal Government.

18 (b) SENSE OF THE SENATE.—It is the sense of the

19 Senate that the entertainment industry should do every20 thing possible to limit the amount of violent and aggres21 sive entertainment programming, particularly during the

22 hours when children are most likely to be watching.
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1 SEC. 703. PREVENTION OF UNFAIR BILLING PRACTICES

2 FOR INFORMATION OR SERVICES PROVIDED

3 OVER TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE CALLS.

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find5 ings:

6 (1) Reforms required by the Telephone Disclo7 sure and Dispute Resolution Act of 1992 have im8 proved the reputation of the pay-per-call industry

9 and resulted in regulations that have reduced the in10 cidence of misleading practices that are harmful to

11 the public interest.

12 (2) Among the successful reforms is a restric13 tion on charges being assessed for calls to 800 tele14 phone numbers or other telephone numbers adver15 tised or widely understood to be toll free.

16 (3) Nevertheless, certain interstate pay-per-call

17 businesses are taking advantage of an exception in

18 the restriction on charging for information conveyed

19 during a call to a ‘‘toll-free’’ number to continue to

20 engage in misleading practices. These practices are

21 not in compliance with the intent of Congress in

22 passing the Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Reso23 lution Act.

24 (4) It is necessary for Congress to clarify that

25 its intent is that charges for information provided

26 during a call to an 800 number or other number
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1 widely advertised and understood to be toll free shall

2 not be assessed to the calling party unless the call3 ing party agrees to be billed according to the terms

4 of a written subscription agreement or by other ap5 propriate means.

6 (b) PREVENTION OF UNFAIR BILLING PRACTICES.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 228(c) (47 U.S.C.

8 228(c)) is amended—

9 (A) by striking out subparagraph (C) of

10 paragraph (7) and inserting in lieu thereof the

11 following:

12 ‘‘(C) the calling party being charged for in13 formation conveyed during the call unless—

14 ‘‘(i) the calling party has a written

15 agreement (including an agreement trans16 mitted through electronic medium) that

17 meets the requirements of paragraph (8);

18 or

19 ‘‘(ii) the calling party is charged for

20 the information in accordance with para21 graph (9); or’’; and

22 (B) by adding at the end the following new

23 paragraphs:
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1 ‘‘(8) SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENTS FOR BILLING

2 FOR INFORMATION PROVIDED VIA TOLL-FREE

3 CALLS.—

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para5 graph (7)(C), a written subscription does not

6 meet the requirements of this paragraph unless

7 the agreement specifies the material terms and

8 conditions under which the information is of9 fered and includes—

10 ‘‘(i) the rate at which charges are as11 sessed for the information;

12 ‘‘(ii) the information provider’s name;

13 ‘‘(iii) the information provider’s busi14 ness address;

15 ‘‘(iv) the information provider’s regu16 lar business telephone number;

17 ‘‘(v) the information provider’s agree18 ment to notify the subscriber of all future

19 changes in the rates charged for the infor20 mation; and

21 ‘‘(vi) the subscriber’s choice of pay22 ment method, which may be by direct

23 remit, debit, prepaid account, phone bill or

24 credit or calling card.
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1 ‘‘(B) BILLING ARRANGEMENTS.—If a sub2 scriber elects, pursuant to subparagraph

3 (A)(vi), to pay by means of a phone bill—

4 ‘‘(i) the agreement shall clearly ex5 plain that charges for the service will ap6 pear on the subscriber’s phone bill;

7 ‘‘(ii) the phone bill shall include, in

8 prominent type, the following disclaimer:

9 ‘Common carriers may not dis10 connect local or long distance tele11 phone service for failure to pay dis12 puted charges for information serv13 ices.’; and

14 ‘‘(iii) the phone bill shall clearly list

15 the 800 number dialed.

16 ‘‘(C) USE OF PINS TO PREVENT UNAU17 THORIZED USE.—A written agreement does not

18 meet the requirements of this paragraph unless

19 it requires the subscriber to use a personal

20 identification number to obtain access to the in21 formation provided, and includes instructions

22 on its use.

23 ‘‘(D) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding

24 paragraph (7)(C), a written agreement that
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1 meets the requirements of this paragraph is not

2 required—

3 ‘‘(i) for calls utilizing telecommuni4 cations devices for the deaf;

5 ‘‘(ii) for services provided pursuant to

6 a tariff that has been approved or per7 mitted to take effect by the Commission or

8 a State commission; or

9 ‘‘(iii) for any purchase of goods or of

10 services that are not information services.

11 ‘‘(E) TERMINATION OF SERVICE.—On re12 ceipt by a common carrier of a complaint by

13 any person that an information provider is in

14 violation of the provisions of this section, a car15 rier shall—

16 ‘‘(i) promptly investigate the com17 plaint; and

18 ‘‘(ii) if the carrier reasonably deter19 mines that the complaint is valid, it may

20 terminate the provision of service to an in21 formation provider unless the provider sup22 plies evidence of a written agreement that

23 meets the requirements of this section.

24 ‘‘(F) TREATMENT OF REMEDIES.—The

25 remedies provided in this paragraph are in ad-
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1 dition to any other remedies that are available

2 under title V of this Act.

3 ‘‘(9) CHARGES IN ABSENCE OF AGREEMENT.—

4 A calling party is charged for a call in accordance

5 with this paragraph if the provider of the informa6 tion conveyed during the call—

7 ‘‘(A) clearly states to the calling party the

8 total cost per minute of the information pro9 vided during the call and for any other informa10 tion or service provided by the provider to

11 which the calling party requests connection dur12 ing the call; and

13 ‘‘(B) receives from the calling party—

14 ‘‘(i) an agreement to accept the

15 charges for any information or services

16 provided by the provider during the call;

17 and

18 ‘‘(ii) a credit, calling, or charge card

19 number or verification of a prepaid account

20 to which such charges are to be billed.

21 ‘‘(10) DEFINITION.—As used in paragraphs (8)

22 and (9), the term ‘calling card’ means an identifying

23 number or code unique to the individual, that is is24 sued to the individual by a common carrier and en25 ables the individual to be charged by means of a
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1 phone bill for charges incurred independent of where

2 the call originates.’’

3 (2) REGULATIONS.—The Federal Communica4 tions Commission shall revise its regulations to com5 ply with the amendment made by paragraph (1) not

6 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment

7 of this Act.

8 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made

9 by paragraph (1) shall take effect on the date of the

10 enactment of this Act.

11 (c) CLARIFICATION OF ‘‘PAY-PER-CALL SERVICES’’

12 UNDER TELEPHONE DISCLOSURE AND DISPUTE RESO13 LUTION ACT.—Section 204(1) of the Telephone Disclo14 sure and Dispute Resolution Act (15 U.S.C. 5714(1)) is

15 amended to read as follows:

16 ‘‘(1) The term ‘pay-per-call services’ has the

17 meaning provided in section 228(j)(1) of the Com18 munications Act of 1934, except that the Commis19 sion by rule may, notwithstanding subparagraphs

20 (B) and (C) of such section, extend such definition

21 to other similar services providing audio information

22 or audio entertainment if the Commission deter23 mines that such services are susceptible to the unfair

24 and deceptive practices that are prohibited by the

25 rules prescribed pursuant to section 201(a).’’.
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1 SEC. 704. DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN RECORDS FOR INVES2 TIGATIONS OF TELEMARKETING FRAUD.

3 Section 2703(c)(1)(B) of title 18, United States

4 Code, is amended—

5 (1) by striking out ‘‘or’’ at the end of clause

6 (ii);

7 (2) by striking out the period at the end of

8 clause (iii) and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘; or’’; and

9 (3) by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(iv) submits a formal written request for infor11 mation relevant to a legitimate law enforcement in12 vestigation of the governmental entity for the name,

13 address, and place of business of a subscriber or

14 customer of such provider, which subscriber or cus15 tomer is engaged in telemarketing (as such term is

16 in section 2325 of this title).’’.

17 SEC. 705. TELECOMMUTING PUBLIC INFORMATION PRO18 GRAM.

19 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find20 ings—

21 (1) Telecommuting is the practice of allowing

22 people to work either at home or in nearby centers

23 located closer to home during their normal working

24 hours, substituting telecommunications services, ei25 ther partially or completely, for transportation to a

26 more traditional workplace;
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1 (2) Telecommuting is now practiced by an esti2 mated two to seven million Americans, including in3 dividuals with impaired mobility, who are taking ad4 vantage of computer and telecommunications ad5 vances in recent years;

6 (3) Telecommuting has the potential to dra7 matically reduce fuel consumption, mobile source air

8 pollution, vehicle miles traveled, and time spent com9 muting, thus contributing to an improvement in the

10 quality of life for millions of Americans; and

11 (4) It is in the public interest for the Federal

12 Government to collect and disseminate information

13 encouraging the increased use of telecommuting and

14 identifying the potential benefits and costs of

15 telecommuting.

16 (b) TELECOMMUTING RESEARCH PROGRAMS AND

17 PUBLIC INFORMATION DISSEMINATION.—The Secretary

18 of Transportation, in consultation with the Secretary of

19 Labor and the Administrator of the Environmental Pro20 tection Agency, shall, within three months of the date of

21 enactment of this Act, carry out research to identify suc22 cessful telecommuting programs in the public and private

23 sectors and provide for the dissemination to the public of

24 information regarading—
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1 (1) the establishment of successful

2 telecommuting programs; and

3 (2) the benefits and costs of telecommuting.

4 (c) REPORT.—Within one year of the date of enact5 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall

6 report to Congress its findings, conclusions, and rec7 ommendations regarding telecommuting developed under

8 this section.

9 SEC. 706. AUTHORITY TO ACQUIRE CABLE SYSTEMS.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the provisions of

11 section 613(b)(6) of the Communications Act of 1934, as

12 added by section 203(a) of this Act, a local exchange car13 rier (or any affiliate of such carrier owned by, operated

14 by, controlled by, or under common control with such car15 rier) may purchase or otherwise acquire more than a 10

16 percent financial interest, or any management interest, or

17 enter into a joint venture or partnership with any cable

18 system described in subsection (b) within the local ex19 change carrier’s telephone service area.

20 (b) COVERED CABLE SYSTEMS.—Subsection (a) ap21 plies to any cable system serving no more than 20,000

22 cable subscribers of which no more than 12,000 of those

23 subscribers live within an urbanized area, as defined by

24 the Bureau of the Census.
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1 (c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the

2 term ‘‘local exchange carrier’’ has the meaning given such

3 term in section 3 (kk) of the Communications Act of 1934,

4 as added by section 8(b) of this Act.

Passed the Senate June 15 (legislative day, June 5),

1995.

Attest:

Secretary.
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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 652

AN ACT

To provide for a pro-competitive, de-regulatory naother purposes. communications markets to competition, and for and services to all Americans by opening all tele- telecommunications and information technologies rapidly private sector deployment of advanced tional policy framework designed to accelerate