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Union Calendar No. 19 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 734 

[Report No. 114–27] 

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 

FEBRUARY 24, 2015 

Additional sponsor: Mr. SESSIONS

FEBRUARY 24, 2015 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 

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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. 

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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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

7 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

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

9 following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 13. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the last quarter of every even12 numbered year, the Commission shall publish on its 

13 website and submit to the Committee on Energy and Com14 merce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

15 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

16 a report on the state of the communications marketplace. 

17 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required by sub18 section (a) shall— 

19 ‘‘(1) assess the state of competition in the com20 munications marketplace, including competition to 

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

22 providers of telecommunications, providers of com23 mercial mobile service (as defined in section 332), 

24 multichannel video programming distributors (as de25 fined in section 602), broadcast stations, providers 

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1 of satellite communications, Internet service pro2 viders, and other providers of communications serv3 ices; 

4 ‘‘(2) assess the state of deployment of commu5 nications capabilities, including advanced tele6 communications capability (as defined in section 706 

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

8 1302)), regardless of the technology used for such 

9 deployment, including whether advanced tele10 communications capability is being deployed to all 

11 Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion; 

12 ‘‘(3) assess whether laws, regulations, or regu13 latory practices (whether those of the Federal Gov14 ernment, States, political subdivisions of States, In15 dian tribes or tribal organizations (as such terms are 

16 defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 

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

18 foreign governments) pose a barrier to competitive 

19 entry into the communications marketplace or to the 

20 competitive expansion of existing providers of com21 munications services; 

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

23 the next 2-year period for addressing the challenges 

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1 place that were identified through the assessments 

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

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

4 has taken in pursuit of the agenda described pursu5 ant to paragraph (4) in the previous report sub6 mitted under this section. 

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

8 Commissioner as Chairman of the Commission during the 

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

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

11 the website of the Commission and submitted to the Com12 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep13 resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

14 and Transportation of the Senate as an addendum during 

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

16 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

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

19 Commission shall consider all forms of competition, 

20 including the effect of intermodal competition, facili21 ties-based competition, and competition from new 

22 and emergent communications services, including the 

23 provision of content and communications using the 

24 Internet. 

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

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

3 Commission shall compile a list of geographical 

4 areas that are not served by any provider of ad5 vanced telecommunications capability. 

6 ‘‘(3) INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS AND DEMO7 GRAPHIC INFORMATION.—The Commission may use 

8 readily available data to draw appropriate compari9 sons between the United States communications 

10 marketplace and the international communications 

11 marketplace and to correlate its assessments with 

12 demographic information. 

13 ‘‘(4) CONSIDERING SMALL BUSINESSES.—In as14 sessing the state of competition under subsection 

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

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

17 barriers for entrepreneurs and other small busi18 nesses in the communications marketplace in accord19 ance with the national policy under section 257(b). 

20 ‘‘(5) CONSIDERING CABLE RATES.—In assess21 ing the state of competition under subsection (b)(1), 

22 the Commission shall include in each report required 

23 by subsection (a) the aggregate average total 

24 amount paid by cable systems in compensation 

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1 under section 325 during the period covered by such 

2 report.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. CONSOLIDATION OF REDUNDANT REPORTS; CON4 FORMING AMENDMENTS. 

5 (a) ORBIT ACT REPORT.—Section 646 of the Com6 munications Satellite Act of 1962 (47 U.S.C. 765e; 114 

7 Stat. 57) is repealed. 

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

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

10 (c) INTERNATIONAL BROADBAND DATA REPORT.— 

11 Section 103 of the Broadband Data Improvement Act (47 

12 U.S.C. 1303) is amended— 

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

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

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

16 (d) STATUS OF COMPETITION IN THE MARKET FOR

17 THE DELIVERY OF VIDEO PROGRAMMING REPORT.—Sec18 tion 628 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

19 548) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking subsection (g); 

21 (2) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub22 section (g); and 

23 (3) by transferring subsection (g) (as redesig24 nated) so that it appears after subsection (f). 

25 (e) REPORT ON CABLE INDUSTRY PRICES.— 

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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 623 of the Commu2 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543) is amended— 

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

4 (B) by redesignating subsections (l) 

5 through (o) as subsections (k) through (n), re6 spectively. 

7 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

8 613(a)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

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

10 and inserting ‘‘623(k)’’. 

11 (f) TRIENNIAL REPORT IDENTIFYING AND ELIMI12 NATING MARKET ENTRY BARRIERS FOR ENTRE13 PRENEURS AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES.—Section 

14 257 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 257) 

15 is amended by striking subsection (c). 

16 (g) SECTION 706 REPORT.—Section 706 of the Tele17 communications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amend18 ed— 

19 (1) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol20 lows: 

21 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION.—If the Commission deter22 mines in its report under section 13 of the Communica23 tions Act of 1934, after considering the availability of ad24 vanced telecommunications capability to all Americans (in25 cluding, in particular, elementary and secondary schools 

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1 and classrooms), that advanced telecommunications capa2 bility is not being deployed to all Americans in a reason3 able and timely fashion, the Commission shall take imme4 diate action to accelerate deployment of such capability 

5 by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by 

6 promoting competition in the telecommunications mar7 ket.’’; 

8 (2) by striking subsection (c); 

9 (3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘this sub10 section’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’; and 

11 (4) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub12 section (c). 

13 (h) STATE OF COMPETITIVE MARKET CONDITIONS

14 WITH RESPECT TO COMMERCIAL MOBILE RADIO SERV15 ICES.—Section 332(c)(1)(C) of the Communications Act 

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

17 the first and second sentences. 

18 (i) PREVIOUSLY ELIMINATED ANNUAL REPORT.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Commu20 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 154) 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 AMENDMENTS.—The Commu2 nications Act of 1934 is amended— 

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

4 Commission’s annual report, the Commission 

5 shall prepare an analysis of its progress in de6 veloping such systems and’’ and inserting ‘‘The 

7 Commission’’; and 

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

9 last sentence. 

10 (j) ADDITIONAL OUTDATED REPORTS.—The Com11 munications Act of 1934 is further amended— 

12 (1) in section 4— 

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

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

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

16 and 

17 (B) in subsection (g), by striking para18 graph (2); 

19 (2) in section 215— 

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

21 (B) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub22 section (b); 

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

24 (4) in section 309(j)— 

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

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

2 clause (iv); 

3 (5) in section 331(b), by striking the last sen4 tence; 

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

6 (4) to read as follows: 

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

8 advise the Congress on the amounts collected pursu9 ant to the program required by this subsection.’’; 

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

11 (8) in section 396— 

12 (A) by striking subsection (i); 

13 (B) in subsection (k)— 

14 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking sub15 paragraph (F); and 

16 (ii) in paragraph (3)(B)(iii), by strik17 ing subclause (V); 

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

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

20 ‘‘The audit report’’; and 

21 (D) by striking subsection (m); 

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

23 sentence; 

24 (10) in section 624A(b)(1)— 

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

2 and inserting ‘‘REGULATIONS’’; 

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

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

5 and inserting ‘‘The Commission shall issue such 

6 regulations as are necessary to assure’’; and 

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

8 and all that follows through ‘‘to assure such 

9 compatibility.’’; and 

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

11 SEC. 4. EFFECT ON AUTHORITY. 

12 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

13 Act shall be construed to expand or contract the authority 

14 of the Federal Communications Commission. 

15 SEC. 5. OTHER REPORTS. 

16 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

17 Act shall be construed to prohibit or otherwise prevent the 

18 Federal Communications Commission from producing any 

19 additional reports otherwise within the authority of the 

20 Commission. 

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Union Calendar No. 19 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 734 

[Report No. 114–27] 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to condens. congressional oversight and reduce reporting bur- Communications Commission in order to improve solidate the reporting obligations of the Federal 

FEBRUARY 24, 2015 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

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