II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 888

To extend the authority of the Federal Communications Commission to use

auctions for the allocation of radio spectrum frequencies for commercial

use, to provide for private sector reimbursement of Federal governmental

user costs to vacate commercially valuable spectrum, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 7 (legislative day, JUNE 5), 1995

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

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To extend the authority of the Federal Communications

Commission to use auctions for the allocation of radio

spectrum frequencies for commercial use, to provide for

private sector reimbursement of Federal governmental

user costs to vacate commercially valuable spectrum, 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 ‘‘Spectrum Auction Act

5 of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds that—

3 (1) the National Telecommunications and Infor4 mation Administration of the Department of Com5 merce recently submitted to the Congress a report

6 entitled ‘‘U.S. National Spectrum Requirements’’ as

7 required by section 113 of the National Tele8 communications and Information Administration Or9 ganization Act (47 U.S.C. 923);

10 (2) based on the best available information the

11 report concludes that an additional 179 megahertz

12 of spectrum will be needed within the next ten years

13 to meet the expected demand for land mobile and

14 mobile satellite radio services such as cellular tele15 phone service, paging services, personal communica16 tion services, and low earth orbiting satellite commu17 nications systems;

18 (3) a further 85 megahertz of additional spec19 trum, for a total of 264 megahertz, is needed if the

20 United States is to fully implement the Intelligent

21 Transportation System currently under development

22 by the Department of Transportation;

23 (4) as required by Part B of the National Tele24 communications and Information Administration Or25 ganization Act (47 U.S.C. 921 et seq.) the Federal

26 Government will transfer 235 megahertz of spectrum
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1 from exclusive government use to non-governmental

2 or mixed governmental and non-governmental use

3 between 1994 and 2004;

4 (5) the Spectrum Reallocation Final Report

5 submitted to Congress by the National Tele6 communications and Information Administration

7 states that, of the 235 megahertz of spectrum iden8 tified for reallocation from governmental to non-gov9 ernmental or mixed use—

10 (A) 50 megahertz has already been reallo11 cated for exclusive non-governmental use,

12 (B) 45 megahertz will be reallocated in

13 1995 for both exclusive non-governmental and

14 mixed governmental and non-governmental use,

15 (C) 25 megahertz will be reallocated in

16 1997 for exclusive non-governmental use,

17 (D) 70 megahertz will be reallocated in

18 1999 for both exclusive non-governmental and

19 mixed governmental and non-governmental use,

20 and

21 (E) the final 45 megahertz will be reallo22 cated for mixed governmental and non-govern23 mental use by 2004;

24 (6) the 165 megahertz of spectrum that are not

25 yet reallocated, combined with 80 megahertz that
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1 the Federal Communications Commission is cur2 rently holding in reserve for emerging technologies,

3 are less than the best estimates of projected spec4 trum needs in the United States;

5 (7) the authority of the Federal Communica6 tions Commission to assign radio spectrum fre7 quencies using an auction process expires on Sep8 tember 30, 1998;

9 (8) a significant portion of the reallocated spec10 trum will not yet be assigned to non-governmental

11 users before that authority expires;

12 (9) the transfer of Federal governmental users

13 from certain valuable radio frequencies to other re14 served frequencies could be expedited if Federal gov15 ernmental users are permitted to accept reimburse16 ment for relocation costs from non-governmental

17 users; and

18 (10) extension of the authority to use auctions

19 and non-governmental reimbursement of Federal

20 governmental users relocation costs would allow the

21 market to determine the most efficient use of the

22 available spectrum.
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1 SEC. 3. EXTENSION AND EXPANSION OF AUCTION AUTHOR2 ITY.

3 Section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934

4 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)) is amended—

5 (1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting in

6 lieu thereof the following:

7 ‘‘(1) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—If mutually exclu8 sive applications or requests are accepted for any

9 initial license or construction permit which will in10 volve a use of the electromagnetic spectrum, then

11 the Commission shall grant such license or permit to

12 a qualified applicant through a system of competitive

13 bidding that meets the requirements of this sub14 section. The competitive bidding authority granted

15 by this subsection shall not apply to licenses or con16 struction permits issued by the Commission for pub17 lic safety radio services or for licenses or construc18 tion permits for new terrestrial digital television

19 services assigned by the Commission to existing ter20 restrial broadcast licensees to replace their current

21 television licenses.’’;

22 (2) by striking paragraph (2) and renumbering

23 paragraphs (3) through (13) as (2) through (12), re24 spectively; and

25 (3) by striking ‘‘1998’’ in paragraph (10), as

26 renumbered, and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘2002’’.
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1 SEC. 4. REIMBURSEMENT OF FEDERAL RELOCATION

2 COSTS.

3 Section 113 of the National Telecommunications and

4 Information Administration Act (47 U.S.C. 923) is

5 amended by adding at the end the following new sub6 sections:

7 ‘‘(f) RELOCATION OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STA8 TIONS.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to expedite the ef10 ficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum and not11 withstanding section 3302(b) of title 31, United

12 States Code, any Federal entity which operates a

13 Federal Government station may accept reimburse14 ment from any person for the costs incurred by such

15 Federal entity for any modification, replacement, or

16 reissuance of equipment, facilities, operating manu17 als, regulations, or other expenses incurred by that

18 entity in relocating the operations of its Federal

19 Government station or stations from one or more

20 radio spectrum frequencies to any other frequency or

21 frequencies. Any such reimbursement shall be depos22 ited in the account of such Federal entity in the

23 Treasury of the United States. Funds deposited ac24 cording to this section shall be available, without ap25 propriation or fiscal year limitation, only for the op-
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1 erations of the Federal entity for which such funds

2 were deposited under this section.

3 ‘‘(2) PROCESS FOR RELOCATION.—Any person

4 seeking to relocate a Federal Government station

5 that has been assigned a frequency within a band al6 located for mixed Federal and non-Federal use may

7 submit a petition for such relocation to NTIA. The

8 NTIA shall limit the Federal Government station’s

9 operating license to secondary status when the fol10 lowing requirements are met—

11 ‘‘(A) the person seeking relocation of the

12 Federal Government station has guaranteed re13 imbursement through money or in-kind pay14 ment of all relocation costs incurred by the

15 Federal entity, including all engineering, equip16 ment, site acquisition and construction, and

17 regulatory fee costs;

18 ‘‘(B) the person seeking relocation com19 pletes all activities necessary for implementing

20 the relocation, including construction of replace21 ment facilities (if necessary and appropriate)

22 and identifying and obtaining on the Federal

23 entity’s behalf new frequencies for use by the

24 relocated Federal Government station (where
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1 such station is not relocating to spectrum re2 served exclusively for Federal use); and

3 ‘‘(C) any necessary replacement facilities,

4 equipment modifications, or other changes have

5 been implemented and tested to ensure that the

6 Federal Government station is able to success7 fully accomplish its purposes.

8 ‘‘(3) RIGHT TO RECLAIM.—If within one year

9 after the relocation the Federal Government station

10 demonstrates to the Commission that the new facili11 ties or spectrum are not comparable to the facilities

12 or spectrum from which the Federal Government

13 station was relocated, the person seeking such relo14 cation must take reasonable steps to remedy any de15 fects or reimburse the Federal entity for the costs

16 of returning the Federal Government station to the

17 spectrum from which such station was relocated.

18 ‘‘(g) FEDERAL ACTION TO EXPEDITE SPECTRUM

19 TRANSFER.—Any Federal Government station which op20 erates on electromagnetic spectrum that has been identi21 fied for reallocation for mixed Federal and non-Federal

22 use in the Spectrum Reallocation Final Report shall, to

23 the maximum extent practicable through the use of the

24 authority granted under subsection (f) and any other ap25 plicable provision of law, take action to relocate its spec-
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1 trum use to other frequencies that are reserved for Fed2 eral use or to consolidate its spectrum use with other Fed3 eral Government stations in a manner that maximizes the

4 spectrum available for non-Federal use. Notwithstanding

5 the timetable contained in the Spectrum Reallocation

6 Final Report, the President shall seek to implement the

7 reallocation of the 1710 to 1755 megahertz frequency

8 band by January 1, 2000. Subsection (c)(4) of this section

9 shall not apply to the extent that a non-Federal user seeks

10 to relocate or relocates a Federal power agency under sub11 section (f).

12 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

13 ‘‘(1) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘Federal en14 tity’ means any Department, agency, or other ele15 ment of the Federal Government that utilizes radio

16 frequency spectrum in the conduct of its authorized

17 activities, including a Federal power agency.

18 ‘‘(2) SPECTRUM REALLOCATION FINAL RE19 PORT.—The term ‘Spectrum Reallocation Final Re20 port’ means the report submitted by the Secretary to

21 the President and Congress in compliance with the

22 requirements of subsection (a).’’.

23 SEC. 5. REALLOCATION OF ADDITIONAL SPECTRUM.

24 The Secretary of Commerce shall, within 9 months

25 after the date of enactment of this Act, prepare and sub-
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1 mit to the President and the Congress a report and time2 table recommending the reallocation of the three frequency

3 bands (225–400 megahertz, 3625–3650 megahertz, and

4 5850–5925 megahertz) that were discussed but not rec5 ommended for reallocation in the Spectrum Reallocation

6 Final Report. The Secretary shall consult with the Federal

7 Communications Commission and other Federal agencies

8 in the preparation of the report, and shall provide notice

9 and an opportunity for public comment before submitting

10 the report and timetable required by this section.

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