II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2166 

To provide that certain orders of the Federal Communications Commission 

shall have no force or effect until certain conditions are satisfied, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 22, 2021 

Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To provide that certain orders of the Federal Communications Commission shall have no force or effect until 

certain conditions are satisfied, 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 ‘‘Recognizing and En5 suring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary for 

6 GPS and Satellite Communications Act of 2021’’ or the 

7 ‘‘RETAIN GPS and Satellite Communications Act of 

8 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONDITIONS ON COMMERCIAL TERRESTRIAL OPER2 ATIONS. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

5 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

6 (2) COVERED GPS DEVICE.—The term ‘‘covered 

7 GPS device’’ means a device— 

8 (A) operating to provide, using, or having 

9 embedded operations requiring access to the 

10 Global Positioning System satellite constella11 tion; and 

12 (B) that is used by the Federal Govern13 ment, a non-Federal entity, a private sector en14 tity, or any other person. 

15 (3) COVERED ORDER.—The term ‘‘covered 

16 order’’ means the order and authorization of the 

17 Commission relating to the LightSquared Technical 

18 Working Group Report and other matters, adopted 

19 on April 19, 2020 (FCC 20–48; IB Docket Nos. 11– 

20 109 and 12–340). 

21 (4) INTEGRATED PLATFORM.—The term ‘‘inte22 grated platform’’ means a device or system that in23 tegrates Global Positioning System capability or sat24 ellite communications capability into the operation of 

25 the device or system, as applicable, in such a man26 ner that the Global Positioning System or satellite 


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1 communications capability cannot be effectively ret2 rofitted without replacing the device or system. 

3 (5) SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE.— 

4 The term ‘‘satellite communications device’’ means a 

5 device— 

6 (A) operating to provide, using, or having 

7 embedded operations requiring access to sat8 ellite communications; and 

9 (B) that is used by the Federal Govern10 ment, a non-Federal entity, a private sector en11 tity, or any other person. 

12 (6) TERRESTRIAL OPERATIONS ORDER.—The 

13 term ‘‘terrestrial operations order’’— 

14 (A) means an order of the Commission au15 thorizing an entity to deploy commercial terres16 trial operations in the 1525–1559 megahertz 

17 band or the 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz band; 

18 and 

19 (B) includes the covered order. 

20 (b) RESTRICTION.—Notwithstanding any terrestrial 

21 operations order adopted by the Commission before, on, 

22 or after the date of enactment of this Act, no entity may 

23 deploy commercial terrestrial operations in the 1525–1559 

24 megahertz band or the 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz band 

25 until the date that is 90 days after the date on which the 


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1 Commission determines that the entity has satisfied, or 

2 has agreed to satisfy, all of the requirements of this sec3 tion, as applicable. 

4 (c) REQUIRED UPGRADES AND REPAIRS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to obtain authoriza6 tion to deploy commercial terrestrial operations in 

7 the 1525–1559 megahertz band or the 1626.5– 

8 1660.5 megahertz band, a licensee shall upgrade, re9 pair, or replace covered GPS devices and satellite 

10 communications devices potentially impacted by 

11 those operations, including by bearing the costs of 

12 any modification, repair, or replacement of equip13 ment, spares, associated ancillary equipment, soft14 ware, facilities, operating manuals, training, or com15 pliance with regulations, including with regard to— 

16 (A) the underlying platform or system in 

17 which a Global Positioning System capability is 

18 embedded; and 

19 (B) satellite communications systems and 

20 equipment. 

21 (2) REIMBURSABLE COSTS FOR AGENCIES.— 

22 Any costs incurred by a Federal agency due to inter23 ference with operations, as determined and certified 

24 in writing to the Commission by the Federal agency 

25 experiencing interference with operations, as a result 


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1 of the operations carried out under a terrestrial op2 erations order, shall be reimbursed by the licensee, 

3 including the full costs of— 

4 (A) any engineering, equipment, software, 

5 site acquisition, systems design, or construction; 

6 (B) any legitimate and prudent transaction 

7 expense, including the hiring of any necessary 

8 additional staff, including term-limited Federal 

9 civil servants and contractor staff; 

10 (C) research, engineering, and other re11 lated studies; 

12 (D) replacing any device or integrated 

13 platform that suffers interference as a result of 

14 the conduct of commercial terrestrial operations 

15 in the 1525–1559 megahertz band or the 

16 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz band with a device or 

17 integrated platform that can provide the same 

18 operational capability, including the currently 

19 available version of the device or integrated 

20 platform (or a reasonable equivalent); 

21 (E) in the case of costs incurred by the 

22 Department of Defense, the labor cost of De23 partment of Defense personnel or external per24 sonnel in engineering, validating, and verifying 

25 any required remediation in order to provide 


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1 the Department of Defense with the same oper2 ational capability for the affected system before 

3 terrestrial operation in the 1525–1559 mega4 hertz band or the 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz 

5 band; 

6 (F) in the case of costs incurred by any 

7 Federal agency that is a member of the Inter8 department Radio Advisory Committee, the 

9 labor costs of those Federal agency personnel or 

10 external personnel in engineering, validating, 

11 and verifying any required remediation in order 

12 to provide any Federal agency that is a member 

13 of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Com14 mittee with the same operational capability for 

15 the affected system before terrestrial operation 

16 in the 1525–1559 megahertz band or the 

17 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz band; and 

18 (G) other related expenses reasonably in19 curred. 

20 (3) REIMBURSABLE COSTS FOR OTHER PER21 SONS.—Any costs incurred by a person, including a 

22 non-Federal or private sector entity, due to inter23 ference with operations, as determined and certified 

24 in writing to the Commission by the person experi25 encing interference with operations, as a result of 


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1 the operations carried out under a terrestrial oper2 ations order, shall be reimbursed by the licensee, in3 cluding the full costs of— 

4 (A) any engineering, equipment, software, 

5 site acquisition, systems design, or construction; 

6 (B) replacement of satellites; 

7 (C) any legitimate and prudent transaction 

8 expense, including the hiring of any necessary 

9 term-limited civil servants and contractor staff; 

10 (D) research, engineering, and other re11 lated studies; 

12 (E) replacing any device or integrated plat13 form that suffers interference as a result of the 

14 conduct of commercial terrestrial operations in 

15 the 1525–1559 megahertz band or the 1626.5– 

16 1660.5 megahertz band with a device or inte17 grated platform that can provide the same oper18 ational capability, including the currently avail19 able version of the device or integrated platform 

20 (or a reasonable equivalent); 

21 (F) the labor costs of personnel in engi22 neering, validating, and verifying any required 

23 remediation in order to provide the person, 

24 company, or other private sector entity with the 

25 same operational capability for the affected sysVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Jun 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2166.IS S2166

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1 tem before terrestrial operation in the 1525– 

2 1559 megahertz band or the 1626.5–1660.5 

3 megahertz band; and 

4 (G) other related expenses reasonably in5 curred. 

6 (4) TRANSFERABILITY OF REIMBURSABLE EX7 PENSES TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FROM FED8 ERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION ORDER 20– 

9 48.—All reimbursable expenses owed to a Federal 

10 agency, person, or other private sector entity that 

11 are causally attributable to implementing a terres12 trial operations order shall transfer to and be borne 

13 by any assignee, successor, or purchaser of any li14 cense that authorizes terrestrial operations in ac15 cordance with that order. 

16 (5) CERTAIN PAYMENTS PERMITTED.—Not17 withstanding section 1341, subchapter II of chapter 

18 15, or section 3302 of title 31, United States Code, 

19 a Federal agency may collect or receive any money 

20 or other thing of value from a private entity as pay21 ment or reimbursement under this section. 

Æ 


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