I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 734 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2015 

Mr. SCALISE (for himself, Mr. WALDEN, and Ms. ESHOO) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Communica5 tions Commission Consolidated Reporting Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

2 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

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

4 following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 13. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the last quarter of every even7 numbered year, the Commission shall publish on its 

8 website and submit to the Committee on Energy and Com9 merce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

10 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

11 a report on the state of the communications marketplace. 

12 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required by sub13 section (a) shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) assess the state of competition in the com15 munications marketplace, including competition to 

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

17 providers of telecommunications, providers of com18 mercial mobile service (as defined in section 332), 

19 multichannel video programming distributors (as de20 fined in section 602), broadcast stations, providers 

21 of satellite communications, Internet service pro22 viders, and other providers of communications serv23 ices; 

24 ‘‘(2) assess the state of deployment of commu25 nications capabilities, including advanced tele26 communications capability (as defined in section 706 


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

2 1302)), regardless of the technology used for such 

3 deployment, including whether advanced tele4 communications capability is being deployed to all 

5 Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion; 

6 ‘‘(3) assess whether laws, regulations, or regu7 latory practices (whether those of the Federal Gov8 ernment, States, political subdivisions of States, In9 dian tribes or tribal organizations (as such terms are 

10 defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 

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

12 foreign governments) pose a barrier to competitive 

13 entry into the communications marketplace or to the 

14 competitive expansion of existing providers of com15 munications services; 

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

17 the next 2-year period for addressing the challenges 

18 and opportunities in the communications market19 place that were identified through the assessments 

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

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

22 has taken in pursuit of the agenda described pursu23 ant to paragraph (4) in the previous report sub24 mitted under this section. 


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

2 Commissioner as Chairman of the Commission during the 

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

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

5 the website of the Commission and submitted to the Com6 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep7 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

8 and Transportation of the Senate as an addendum during 

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

10 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

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

13 Commission shall consider all forms of competition, 

14 including the effect of intermodal competition, facili15 ties-based competition, and competition from new 

16 and emergent communications services, including the 

17 provision of content and communications using the 

18 Internet. 

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

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

21 Commission shall compile a list of geographical 

22 areas that are not served by any provider of ad23 vanced telecommunications capability. 

24 ‘‘(3) INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS AND DEMO25 GRAPHIC INFORMATION.—The Commission may use 


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1 readily available data to draw appropriate compari2 sons between the United States communications 

3 marketplace and the international communications 

4 marketplace and to correlate its assessments with 

5 demographic information. 

6 ‘‘(4) CONSIDERING SMALL BUSINESSES.—In as7 sessing the state of competition under subsection 

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

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

10 barriers for entrepreneurs and other small busi11 nesses in the communications marketplace in accord12 ance with the national policy under section 257(b). 

13 ‘‘(5) CONSIDERING CABLE RATES.—In assess14 ing the state of competition under subsection (b)(1), 

15 the Commission shall include in each report required 

16 by subsection (a) the aggregate average total 

17 amount paid by cable systems in compensation 

18 under section 325 during the period covered by such 

19 report.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. CONSOLIDATION OF REDUNDANT REPORTS; CON21 FORMING AMENDMENTS. 

22 (a) ORBIT ACT REPORT.—Section 646 of the Com23 munications Satellite Act of 1962 (47 U.S.C. 765e; 114 

24 Stat. 57) is repealed. 


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

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

3 (c) INTERNATIONAL BROADBAND DATA REPORT.— 

4 Section 103 of the Broadband Data Improvement Act (47 

5 U.S.C. 1303) is amended— 

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

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

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

9 (d) STATUS OF COMPETITION IN THE MARKET FOR

10 THE DELIVERY OF VIDEO PROGRAMMING REPORT.—Sec11 tion 628 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

12 548) is amended— 

13 (1) by striking subsection (g); 

14 (2) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub15 section (g); and 

16 (3) by transferring subsection (g) (as redesig17 nated) so that it appears after subsection (f). 

18 (e) REPORT ON CABLE INDUSTRY PRICES.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 623 of the Commu20 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543) is amended— 

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

22 (B) by redesignating subsections (l) 

23 through (o) as subsections (k) through (n), re24 spectively. 


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1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

2 613(a)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

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

4 and inserting ‘‘623(k)’’. 

5 (f) TRIENNIAL REPORT IDENTIFYING AND ELIMI6 NATING MARKET ENTRY BARRIERS FOR ENTRE7 PRENEURS AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES.—Section 

8 257 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 257) 

9 is amended by striking subsection (c). 

10 (g) SECTION 706 REPORT.—Section 706 of the Tele11 communications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amend12 ed— 

13 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol14 lows: 

15 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION.—If the Commission deter16 mines in its report under section 13 of the Communica17 tions Act of 1934, after considering the availability of ad18 vanced telecommunications capability to all Americans (in19 cluding, in particular, elementary and secondary schools 

20 and classrooms), that advanced telecommunications capa21 bility is not being deployed to all Americans in a reason22 able and timely fashion, the Commission shall take imme23 diate action to accelerate deployment of such capability 

24 by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by 


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1 promoting competition in the telecommunications mar2 ket.’’; 

3 (2) by striking subsection (c); 

4 (3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘this sub5 section’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’; and 

6 (4) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub7 section (c). 

8 (h) STATE OF COMPETITIVE MARKET CONDITIONS

9 WITH RESPECT TO COMMERCIAL MOBILE RADIO SERV10 ICES.—Section 332(c)(1)(C) of the Communications Act 

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

12 the first and second sentences. 

13 (i) PREVIOUSLY ELIMINATED ANNUAL REPORT.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Commu15 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 154) is amended— 

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

17 (B) by redesignating subsections (l) 

18 through (o) as subsections (k) through (n), re19 spectively. 

20 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Commu21 nications Act of 1934 is amended— 

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

23 Commission’s annual report, the Commission 

24 shall prepare an analysis of its progress in deVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:05 Feb 11, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H734.IH H734

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1 veloping such systems and’’ and inserting ‘‘The 

2 Commission’’; and 

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

4 last sentence. 

5 (j) ADDITIONAL OUTDATED REPORTS.—The Com6 munications Act of 1934 is further amended— 

7 (1) in section 4— 

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

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

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

11 and 

12 (B) in subsection (g), by striking para13 graph (2); 

14 (2) in section 215— 

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

16 (B) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub17 section (b); 

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

19 (4) in section 309(j)— 

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

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

22 clause (iv); 

23 (5) in section 331(b), by striking the last sen24 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. 

Æ 


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