I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1746 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish signal quality and 

content requirements for the carriage of public, educational, and governmental channels, to preserve support of such channels, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 5, 2011 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Mr. LATOURETTE) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish 

signal quality and content requirements for the carriage 

of public, educational, and governmental channels, to 

preserve support of such channels, 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 ‘‘Community Access 

5 Preservation Act’’ or the ‘‘CAP Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. PEG SIGNAL QUALITY AND CONTENT; PRESERVA2 TION OF SUPPORT OF PEG USE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 611 of the Communica4 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 531) is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub6 section (h); and 

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol8 lowing new subsections: 

9 ‘‘(f) SIGNAL QUALITY AND CONTENT.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A cable operator that oper11 ates a cable system with channel capacity designated 

12 under subsection (b) or that is required to provide 

13 channel capacity under subsection (g)(7) shall, with 

14 respect to such channel capacity— 

15 ‘‘(A) carry signals for public, educational, 

16 or governmental use from the point of origin of 

17 such signals to subscribers without material 

18 degradation and without altering or removing 

19 content or data provided as part of the public, 

20 educational, or governmental use; 

21 ‘‘(B) provide such signals to, and make 

22 such signals viewable by, every subscriber of the 

23 cable system without additional service or 

24 equipment charges; and 

25 ‘‘(C) provide to the appropriate local gov26 ernment subdivision, free of charge, any transmstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 mission services and the use of any trans2 mission facilities that are necessary to meet the 

3 requirements of subparagraph (A). 

4 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT.—The requirements of this 

5 subsection may be enforced by— 

6 ‘‘(A) a local government subdivision; or 

7 ‘‘(B) a State. 

8 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON ADDITIONAL REQUIRE9 MENTS.—A local government subdivision may not 

10 impose on a cable operator requirements relating to 

11 public, educational, or governmental use of a cable 

12 system that are in addition to the requirements of 

13 this subsection and subsection (g) unless— 

14 ‘‘(A) such requirements are not incon15 sistent with this section; and 

16 ‘‘(B) either— 

17 ‘‘(i) such local government subdivision 

18 is authorized by State law to impose such 

19 requirements; or 

20 ‘‘(ii) such local government subdivi21 sion is the franchising authority with re22 spect to such cable system at the time such 

23 requirements are imposed. 

24 ‘‘(g) PRESERVATION OF SUPPORT OF PUBLIC, EDU25 CATIONAL, AND GOVERNMENTAL USE.— 

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1 ‘‘(1) STUDY.—Not later than 180 days after 

2 the date of enactment of the Community Access 

3 Preservation Act, the Commission shall submit to 

4 Congress a report containing— 

5 ‘‘(A) an analysis of the impact of the en6 actment of State video service franchising laws 

7 since 2005 on public, educational, and govern8 mental use of cable systems; 

9 ‘‘(B) an analysis of the impact of the con10 version from analog to digital transmission 

11 technologies on public, educational, and govern12 mental use of cable systems; 

13 ‘‘(C) recommendations for changes to this 

14 section required to preserve and advance local15 ism and public, educational, and governmental 

16 use of advanced communications systems, in17 cluding broadband systems; and 

18 ‘‘(D) recommendations for changes to this 

19 section, after cable systems have converted to a 

20 fully digital delivery system, relating to require21 ments for the accessibility of public, edu22 cational, or governmental channel capacity and 

23 the placement of such channel capacity, except 

24 that such recommendations may not include al25 lowing cable operators to impose additional 

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1 charges on subscribers with respect to the qual2 ity, accessibility, functionality, or placement of 

3 such channel capacity. 

4 ‘‘(2) LEVEL OF SUPPORT REQUIRED.—In a 

5 State that adopts legislation affecting cable system 

6 franchising requirements relating to support for 

7 public, educational, or governmental use of a cable 

8 system that becomes effective after May 31, 2005, 

9 notwithstanding such legislation, a cable operator 

10 owes to any local government subdivision in which 

11 the operator provides cable service during a year be12 ginning after the date of enactment of the Commu13 nity Access Preservation Act an amount for such 

14 year to be determined by the local government sub15 division, but not to exceed the greatest of the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(A) The amount of support provided in 

18 the last calendar year ending before the effec19 tive date of such State legislation. 

20 ‘‘(B) The average annual amount of sup21 port provided over the term of the franchise 

22 under which the cable operator was operating 

23 on the day before the effective date of such 

24 State legislation. 

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1 ‘‘(C) The amount of support that the cable 

2 operator is required to provide to such local 

3 government subdivision under such State legis4 lation during the year involved. 

5 ‘‘(D) An amount of support equal to 2 per6 cent of the gross revenues of the cable operator 

7 from the operation of the cable system to pro8 vide cable services in such local government 

9 subdivision during the year involved. 

10 ‘‘(3) FORMS OF SUPPORT.—For purposes of 

11 paragraph (2), support for public, educational, or 

12 governmental use of a cable system means all cash 

13 payments, in-kind support, and free services that the 

14 operator of the cable system, or its predecessor, pro15 vides to the local government subdivision for such 

16 use of the cable system. 

17 ‘‘(4) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—For a 

18 year beginning on or after the effective date de19 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph 

20 (2), on the date that the Gross National Product 

21 Price Index is first published by the Bureau of Eco22 nomic Analysis after the end of June of such year, 

23 the amounts specified in such subparagraphs shall 

24 be increased by the percentage increase, if any, in 

25 the Index published on such date from the Index 

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1 first published after the end of June of the pre2 ceding year. 

3 ‘‘(5) CASH PAYMENTS.—A cable operator that 

4 owes amounts under paragraph (2) shall, beginning 

5 not later than 30 days after the date of enactment 

6 of the Community Access Preservation Act, pay such 

7 amounts in cash— 

8 ‘‘(A) in accordance with the schedule for 

9 payment of franchise fees, communications 

10 taxes, or other similar assessments under any 

11 applicable franchise; or 

12 ‘‘(B) if there is no payment schedule for 

13 such assessments under an applicable franchise, 

14 in accordance with the most frequent payment 

15 schedule for such assessments under applicable 

16 State or local law. 

17 ‘‘(6) USES; DISPUTES.— 

18 ‘‘(A) USES.—Support provided to any local 

19 government subdivision under this subsection 

20 shall be dedicated to public, educational, or gov21 ernmental use of channel capacity. 

22 ‘‘(B) DISPUTES.— 

23 ‘‘(i) MEDIATION.—If there is a dis24 pute as to amounts owed under this sub25 section, undisputed amounts shall be paid 

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1 to the local government subdivision, dis2 puted amounts shall be paid into an escrow 

3 account, and the parties shall submit to 

4 nonbinding mediation. 

5 ‘‘(ii) COURT PROCEEDINGS.—If the 

6 dispute cannot be settled using mediation, 

7 either party may seek relief from a court 

8 of competent jurisdiction. 

9 ‘‘(7) CHANNELS.—In a State that adopts legis10 lation affecting cable system franchising require11 ments relating to the number of channels for public, 

12 educational, or governmental use of a cable system 

13 that becomes effective after May 31, 2005, a cable 

14 operator shall, notwithstanding such legislation, pro15 vide in a local government subdivision at least the 

16 greater of the following number of channels for such 

17 use: 

18 ‘‘(A) The number of channels for such use 

19 that the operator was providing in the local gov20 ernment subdivision on the day before the effec21 tive date of such State legislation. 

22 ‘‘(B) If the operator provided fewer than 3 

23 channels for such use in the local government 

24 subdivision on the day before the effective date 

25 of such State legislation, a number specified by 

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1 the local government subdivision, but not to ex2 ceed 3. 

3 ‘‘(8) ENFORCEMENT.—The requirements of this 

4 subsection may be enforced by— 

5 ‘‘(A) a local government subdivision; or 

6 ‘‘(B) a State.’’. 

7 (b) DEFINITIONS.— 

8 (1) CABLE SERVICE.—Section 602(6) of the 

9 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522(6)) is 

10 amended by striking ‘‘means’’ and inserting ‘‘means, 

11 regardless of the technology or transmission protocol 

12 used in the provision of service’’. 

13 (2) LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUBDIVISION.—Sec14 tion 602 of such Act (47 U.S.C. 522) is amended— 

15 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (16) 

16 through (20) as paragraphs (17) through (21), 

17 respectively; and 

18 (B) by inserting after paragraph (15) the 

19 following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(16) the term ‘local government subdivision’ 

21 means— 

22 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 

23 (B), a franchising authority that derives its 

24 power to grant a franchise from State or local 

25 law; and 

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1 ‘‘(B) in a State that adopts legislation af2 fecting cable system franchising requirements 

3 relating to support for public, educational, or 

4 governmental use of a cable system that be5 comes effective after May 31, 2005, an entity 

6 that was considered a franchising authority de7 riving its power to grant a franchise from State 

8 or local law as of the day before the effective 

9 date of such State legislation;’’. 

10 (3) FRANCHISE FEE.—Section 622(g)(2) of 

11 such Act (47 U.S.C. 542(g)(2)) is amended— 

12 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘in 

13 the case of any franchise in effect on the date 

14 of enactment of this title,’’; 

15 (B) by striking subparagraph (C); and 

16 (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) 

17 and (E) as subparagraphs (C) and (D), respec18 tively. 

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