IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 734 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2015 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to consolidate 

the reporting obligations of the Federal Communications 

Commission in order to improve congressional oversight 

and reduce reporting burdens. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Communica3 tions Commission Consolidated Reporting Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

5 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

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

7 following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 13. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the last quarter of every even10 numbered year, the Commission shall publish on its 

11 website and submit to the Committee on Energy and Com12 merce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

13 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

14 a report on the state of the communications marketplace. 

15 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required by sub16 section (a) shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) assess the state of competition in the com18 munications marketplace, including competition to 

19 deliver voice, video, audio, and data services among 

20 providers of telecommunications, providers of com21 mercial mobile service (as defined in section 332), 

22 multichannel video programming distributors (as de23 fined in section 602), broadcast stations, providers 

24 of satellite communications, Internet service pro25 viders, and other providers of communications serv26 ices; 


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1 ‘‘(2) assess the state of deployment of commu2 nications capabilities, including advanced tele3 communications capability (as defined in section 706 

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

5 1302)), regardless of the technology used for such 

6 deployment, including whether advanced tele7 communications capability is being deployed to all 

8 Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion; 

9 ‘‘(3) assess whether laws, regulations, or regu10 latory practices (whether those of the Federal Gov11 ernment, States, political subdivisions of States, In12 dian tribes or tribal organizations (as such terms are 

13 defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 

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

15 foreign governments) pose a barrier to competitive 

16 entry into the communications marketplace or to the 

17 competitive expansion of existing providers of com18 munications services; 

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

20 the next 2-year period for addressing the challenges 

21 and opportunities in the communications market22 place that were identified through the assessments 

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

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

25 has taken in pursuit of the agenda described pursuVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Feb 25, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H734.RFS H734

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1 ant to paragraph (4) in the previous report sub2 mitted under this section. 

3 ‘‘(c) EXTENSION.—If the President designates a 

4 Commissioner as Chairman of the Commission during the 

5 last quarter of an even-numbered year, the portion of the 

6 report required by subsection (b)(4) may be published on 

7 the website of the Commission and submitted to the Com8 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep9 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

10 and Transportation of the Senate as an addendum during 

11 the first quarter of the following odd-numbered year. 

12 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

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

15 Commission shall consider all forms of competition, 

16 including the effect of intermodal competition, facili17 ties-based competition, and competition from new 

18 and emergent communications services, including the 

19 provision of content and communications using the 

20 Internet. 

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

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

23 Commission shall compile a list of geographical 

24 areas that are not served by any provider of ad25 vanced telecommunications capability. 


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1 ‘‘(3) INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS AND DEMO2 GRAPHIC INFORMATION.—The Commission may use 

3 readily available data to draw appropriate compari4 sons between the United States communications 

5 marketplace and the international communications 

6 marketplace and to correlate its assessments with 

7 demographic information. 

8 ‘‘(4) CONSIDERING SMALL BUSINESSES.—In as9 sessing the state of competition under subsection 

10 (b)(1) and regulatory barriers under subsection 

11 (b)(3), the Commission shall consider market entry 

12 barriers for entrepreneurs and other small busi13 nesses in the communications marketplace in accord14 ance with the national policy under section 257(b). 

15 ‘‘(5) CONSIDERING CABLE RATES.—In assess16 ing the state of competition under subsection (b)(1), 

17 the Commission shall include in each report required 

18 by subsection (a) the aggregate average total 

19 amount paid by cable systems in compensation 

20 under section 325 during the period covered by such 

21 report.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONSOLIDATION OF REDUNDANT REPORTS; CON2 FORMING AMENDMENTS. 

3 (a) ORBIT ACT REPORT.—Section 646 of the Com4 munications Satellite Act of 1962 (47 U.S.C. 765e; 114 

5 Stat. 57) is repealed. 

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

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

8 (c) INTERNATIONAL BROADBAND DATA REPORT.— 

9 Section 103 of the Broadband Data Improvement Act (47 

10 U.S.C. 1303) is amended— 

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

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

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

14 (d) STATUS OF COMPETITION IN THE MARKET FOR

15 THE DELIVERY OF VIDEO PROGRAMMING REPORT.—Sec16 tion 628 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

17 548) is amended— 

18 (1) by striking subsection (g); 

19 (2) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub20 section (g); and 

21 (3) by transferring subsection (g) (as redesig22 nated) so that it appears after subsection (f). 

23 (e) REPORT ON CABLE INDUSTRY PRICES.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 623 of the Commu25 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543) is amended— 

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


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1 (B) by redesignating subsections (l) 

2 through (o) as subsections (k) through (n), re3 spectively. 

4 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

5 613(a)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

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

7 and inserting ‘‘623(k)’’. 

8 (f) TRIENNIAL REPORT IDENTIFYING AND ELIMI9 NATING MARKET ENTRY BARRIERS FOR ENTRE10 PRENEURS AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES.—Section 

11 257 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 257) 

12 is amended by striking subsection (c). 

13 (g) SECTION 706 REPORT.—Section 706 of the Tele14 communications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amend15 ed— 

16 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol17 lows: 

18 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION.—If the Commission deter19 mines in its report under section 13 of the Communica20 tions Act of 1934, after considering the availability of ad21 vanced telecommunications capability to all Americans (in22 cluding, in particular, elementary and secondary schools 

23 and classrooms), that advanced telecommunications capa24 bility is not being deployed to all Americans in a reason25 able and timely fashion, the Commission shall take immeVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Feb 25, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H734.RFS H734

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1 diate action to accelerate deployment of such capability 

2 by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by 

3 promoting competition in the telecommunications mar4 ket.’’; 

5 (2) by striking subsection (c); 

6 (3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘this sub7 section’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’; and 

8 (4) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub9 section (c). 

10 (h) STATE OF COMPETITIVE MARKET CONDITIONS

11 WITH RESPECT TO COMMERCIAL MOBILE RADIO SERV12 ICES.—Section 332(c)(1)(C) of the Communications Act 

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

14 the first and second sentences. 

15 (i) PREVIOUSLY ELIMINATED ANNUAL REPORT.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Commu17 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 154) is amended— 

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

19 (B) by redesignating subsections (l) 

20 through (o) as subsections (k) through (n), re21 spectively. 

22 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Commu23 nications Act of 1934 is amended— 

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

25 Commission’s annual report, the Commission 


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1 shall prepare an analysis of its progress in de2 veloping such systems and’’ and inserting ‘‘The 

3 Commission’’; and 

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

5 last sentence. 

6 (j) ADDITIONAL OUTDATED REPORTS.—The Com7 munications Act of 1934 is further amended— 

8 (1) in section 4— 

9 (A) in subsection (b)(2)(B)(ii), by striking 

10 ‘‘and shall furnish notice of such action’’ and 

11 all that follows through ‘‘subject of the waiver’’; 

12 and 

13 (B) in subsection (g), by striking para14 graph (2); 

15 (2) in section 215— 

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

17 (B) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub18 section (b); 

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

20 (4) in section 309(j)— 

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

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

23 clause (iv); 

24 (5) in section 331(b), by striking the last sen25 tence; 


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

2 (4) to read as follows: 

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

4 advise the Congress on the amounts collected pursu5 ant to the program required by this subsection.’’; 

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

7 (8) in section 396— 

8 (A) by striking subsection (i); 

9 (B) in subsection (k)— 

10 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking sub11 paragraph (F); and 

12 (ii) in paragraph (3)(B)(iii), by strik13 ing subclause (V); 

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

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

16 ‘‘The audit report’’; and 

17 (D) by striking subsection (m); 

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

19 sentence; 

20 (10) in section 624A(b)(1)— 

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

22 and inserting ‘‘REGULATIONS’’; 

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

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


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1 and inserting ‘‘The Commission shall issue such 

2 regulations as are necessary to assure’’; and 

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

4 and all that follows through ‘‘to assure such 

5 compatibility.’’; and 

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

7 SEC. 4. EFFECT ON AUTHORITY. 

8 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

9 Act shall be construed to expand or contract the authority 

10 of the Federal Communications Commission. 

11 SEC. 5. OTHER REPORTS. 

12 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

13 Act shall be construed to prohibit or otherwise prevent the 

14 Federal Communications Commission from producing any 

15 additional reports otherwise within the authority of the 

16 Commission. 

Passed the House of Representatives February 24, 

2015. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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