II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3433 

To require a radio spectrum inventory of bands managed by the Federal 

Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications & 

Information Administration. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 25, 2012 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Mr. WARNER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To require a radio spectrum inventory of bands managed 

by the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration. 

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 ‘‘Radio Spectrum Inven5 tory Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SPECTRUM INVENTORY. 

7 (a) AMENDMENT TO COMMUNICATIONS ACT.—Part 

8 I of title III of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 3433 IS

1 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

2 following: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 343. SPECTRUM INVENTORY. 

4 ‘‘(a) RADIO SPECTRUM INVENTORY.—Not later than 

5 1 year after the date of enactment of the Radio Spectrum 

6 Inventory Act of 2012, and biennially thereafter, the Com7 mission, in consultation with the NTIA and the Office of 

8 Science and Technology Policy, shall carry out the fol9 lowing activities: 

10 ‘‘(1) REPORT.—Prepare a report that includes 

11 an inventory of each radio spectrum band, from 300 

12 Megahertz to 6.5 Gigahertz, at a minimum, man13 aged by each such agency. Except as provided in 

14 subsection (b), the report shall include— 

15 ‘‘(A) the licensee or Federal Government 

16 user authorized in the band; 

17 ‘‘(B) the total spectrum authorized for 

18 each licensee or Federal Government user (in 

19 percentage terms and in sum) in the band; 

20 ‘‘(C) the approximate number of transmit21 ters, end-user terminals, or receivers, excluding 

22 unintended radiators, that have been deployed 

23 or authorized, for each licensee or Federal Gov24 ernment user, in the band; and 

25 ‘‘(D) if such information is available— 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 3433 IS

1 ‘‘(i) the type of transmitters, end-user 

2 terminals, or receivers, excluding unin3 tended radiators, operating in the band 

4 and whether they are space-, air-, or 

5 ground-based; 

6 ‘‘(ii) the type of transmitters, end7 user terminals, or receivers, excluding un8 intended radiators, authorized to operate 

9 in the band and whether they are space-, 

10 air-, or ground-based; 

11 ‘‘(iii) contour maps or other informa12 tion that illustrate the coverage area, re13 ceiver performance, and other parameters 

14 relevant to an assessment of the avail15 ability of spectrum in each band; 

16 ‘‘(iv) the approximate geo-location of 

17 base stations or fixed transmitters; 

18 ‘‘(v) the approximate extent of use, by 

19 geography, of each band of frequencies, 

20 such as the amount and percentage of time 

21 of use, number of end-users, or other 

22 measures as appropriate to the particular 

23 band; 

24 ‘‘(vi) the activities, capabilities, func25 tions, or missions supported by the transVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:02 Jul 26, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3433.IS S3433

jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 3433 IS

1 mitters, end-user terminals, or receivers; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(vii) the types of unlicensed devices 

4 authorized to operate in the band. 

5 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC ACCESS.—Create a centralized 

6 portal or website utilizing data from the Commission 

7 and the NTIA to make a centralized inventory of the 

8 bands of each agency available to the public via an 

9 Internet-accessible and searchable website. 

10 ‘‘(3) UPDATES.—Make all reasonable efforts to 

11 maintain and update the information required under 

12 paragraph (2) no less frequently than quarterly to 

13 reflect, at a minimum, any transfer or auction of li14 censes or change in allocation, assignment, or au15 thorization. 

16 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL SECURITY; CLASSIFIED INFORMA17 TION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the head of a Federal 

19 agency determines that disclosure of information re20 quired by subsection (a) would be harmful to the na21 tional security of the United States, the agency 

22 shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) notify the NTIA of its determination; 

24 and 

25 ‘‘(B) provide to the NTIA— 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 3433 IS

1 ‘‘(i) the other publicly releasable infor2 mation required by subsection (a); 

3 ‘‘(ii) to the maximum extent prac4 ticable, a summary description of the infor5 mation with respect to which the deter6 mination was made; and 

7 ‘‘(iii) an annex containing the infor8 mation with respect to which the deter9 mination was made. 

10 ‘‘(2) CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.—If the head 

11 of a Federal agency determines that any information 

12 required by subsection (a) is classified in accordance 

13 with Executive Order 13526 of December 29, 2009, 

14 or any successor Executive order establishing or 

15 modifying the uniform system for classifying, safe16 guarding, and declassifying national security infor17 mation, the agency shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) notify the NTIA of its determination; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(B) provide to the NTIA— 

21 ‘‘(i) the information required by sub22 section (a)(1) that is not classified; 

23 ‘‘(ii) to the maximum extent prac24 ticable, a summary description of the infor25 mation that is classified; and 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 3433 IS

1 ‘‘(iii) an annex containing the infor2 mation that is classified. 

3 ‘‘(3) ANNEX RESTRICTION.—The NTIA shall 

4 make an annex described in paragraph (1)(B)(iii) or 

5 (2)(B)(iii) available to the Commission. Neither the 

6 NTIA nor the Commission may make any such 

7 annex available to the public pursuant to subsection 

8 (a)(2) or to any unauthorized person through any 

9 other means. 

10 ‘‘(c) PUBLIC SAFETY NONDISCLOSURE.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a licensee of non-Federal 

12 spectrum determines that public disclosure of certain 

13 information held by that licensee and required to be 

14 included in the report under subsection (a) would re15 veal information for which public disclosure would be 

16 detrimental to public safety, or that the licensee is 

17 otherwise prohibited by law from disclosing, the li18 censee may petition the Commission for a partial or 

19 total exemption from inclusion on the centralized 

20 portal or website under subsection (a)(2) and in the 

21 reports required under subsection (d). 

22 ‘‘(2) BURDEN.—A licensee seeking an exemp23 tion under this subsection bears the burden of justi24 fying the exemption and shall provide clear and con25 vincing evidence to support the requested exemption. 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 3433 IS

1 ‘‘(3) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—If the Com2 mission grants an exemption under this subsection, 

3 the licensee shall provide to the Commission— 

4 ‘‘(A) the publicly releasable information re5 quired by subsection (a)(1) for the inventory; 

6 ‘‘(B) to the maximum extent practicable, a 

7 summary description, suitable for public re8 lease, of the information for which public disclo9 sure would be detrimental to public safety or 

10 that the licensee is prohibited by law from dis11 closing; and 

12 ‘‘(C) an annex, under appropriate cover, 

13 containing the information that the Commission 

14 has determined should be withheld from public 

15 disclosure. 

16 ‘‘(d) INFORMING THE CONGRESS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para18 graph (3), the NTIA and the Commission shall sub19 mit each report required by subsection (a)(1) to the 

20 appropriate Congressional committees. 

21 ‘‘(2) NONDISCLOSURE OF ANNEXES.—Each 

22 such report shall be submitted in unclassified form, 

23 but may include one or more annexes as provided for 

24 by subsections (b)(1)(B)(iii), (b)(2)(B)(iii), and 

25 (c)(3)(C). No Congressional committee may make 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 3433 IS

1 any such annex available to the public or to any un2 authorized person. 

3 ‘‘(3) CLASSIFIED ANNEXES.—If a report in4 cludes a classified annex as provided for by sub5 section (b)(2)(B)(iii), the NTIA and the Commission 

6 shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) submit the classified annex only to 

8 the appropriate Congressional committees with 

9 primary oversight jurisdiction for the user agen10 cies or licensees concerned; and 

11 ‘‘(B) provide notice of the submission to 

12 the other appropriate Congressional commit13 tees. 

14 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT16 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate Congressional com17 mittees’ means the Committee on Commerce, 

18 Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the Com19 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

20 Representatives, and any other congressional com21 mittee with primary oversight jurisdiction for the 

22 user agencies or licensees concerned. 

23 ‘‘(2) NTIA.—The term ‘NTIA’ means the Na24 tional Telecommunications and Information Admin25 istration.’’. 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 3433 IS

1 (b) PROGRESS REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission 

3 and the National Telecommunications and Information 

4 Administration shall provide an update as to the status 

5 of the inventory and report required by section 343(a) of 

6 the Communications Act of 1934, as added by subsection 

7 (a) of this Act, to the Senate Committee on Commerce, 

8 Science, and Transportation and the House of Represent9 atives Committee on Energy and Commerce. 

Æ 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS