II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1968 

To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

Organization Act to provide for necessary payments from the Spectrum 

Relocation Fund for costs of spectrum research and development and 

planning activities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 25, 2019 

Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mr. SCHATZ, and Mr. MORAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend the National Telecommunications and Information 

Administration Organization Act to provide for necessary 

payments from the Spectrum Relocation Fund for costs 

of spectrum research and development and planning activities, 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 ‘‘Supplementing the 

5 Pipeline for Efficient Control of The Resources for Users 

6 Making New Opportunities for Wireless Act’’ or the 

7 ‘‘SPECTRUM NOW Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. COSTS OF SPECTRUM RESEARCH AND DEVELOP2 MENT AND PLANNING ACTIVITIES. 

3 Section 118(g) of the National Telecommunications 

4 and Information Administration Organization Act (47 

5 U.S.C. 928(g)) is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

7 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; 

8 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

9 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 

10 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

11 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(C) the Director of OMB may make a 

13 payment described in paragraph (2) from 

14 amounts in the Fund other than amounts made 

15 available under subparagraphs (A) and (B) if, 

16 before making the payment, the Director of 

17 OMB, in consultation with the NTIA, deter18 mines and submits to the congressional commit19 tees described in subsection (d)(2)(C) a certifi20 cation that— 

21 ‘‘(i) the conditions described in sub22 clauses (I) and (II) of paragraph (2)(D)(i) 

23 have been met; 

24 ‘‘(ii) as of the date of the certification, 

25 amounts made available under subpara26 graphs (A) and (B) are insufficient to 


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1 make the payment requested by the Fed2 eral entity in the plan approved under 

3 paragraph (2)(E) by the Technical Panel 

4 established under section 113(h)(3); and 

5 ‘‘(iii) the payment will leave sufficient 

6 amounts in the Fund to pay the relocation 

7 or sharing costs that will be incurred by el8 igible Federal entities to complete the im9 plementation of all transition plans that, 

10 as of the date of the certification, have 

11 been found sufficient by the Technical 

12 Panel under section 113(h)(4).’’; and 

13 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

14 (A) in subparagraph (D)(ii), by inserting 

15 after ‘‘60 days’’ the following: ‘‘(or, in the case 

16 of a payment under paragraph (1)(C), 30 

17 days)’’; and 

18 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(F) CONSULTATION REGARDING SHARING

20 FREQUENCIES ON UNLICENSED BASIS.—If a 

21 Federal entity that receives a payment under 

22 subparagraph (A) determines, in carrying out 

23 activities under a plan approved by the Tech24 nical Panel under subparagraph (E), that it is 

25 not feasible for such Federal entity to make 


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1 available frequencies described in such plan for 

2 reallocation for non-Federal use or shared Fed3 eral and non-Federal use, or a combination 

4 thereof, and for auction in accordance with 

5 such reallocation— 

6 ‘‘(i) such Federal entity shall submit 

7 to the NTIA a certification stating the de8 termination; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the NTIA shall consult with the 

10 Commission and such Federal entity re11 garding whether such frequencies may be 

12 shared with non-Federal entities on an un13 licensed basis.’’. 

14 SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF SPECTRUM SHARING IN ANNUAL 

15 NTIA REPORT ON RELOCATION. 

16 Section 207 of the Commercial Spectrum Enhance17 ment Act (47 U.S.C. 928 note) is amended— 

18 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

19 (A) by inserting ‘‘or sharing of’’ after ‘‘re20 location from’’; and 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘section 118(d)(2)(A)’’ and 

22 inserting ‘‘section 118(d)(2)(B)’’; and 

23 (2) in paragraph (2)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘relocated communication 

2 system’’ and inserting ‘‘such communication 

3 system’’; 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘relocation costs’’ and in5 serting ‘‘relocation or sharing costs’’; and 

6 (C) by striking ‘‘relocations costs’’ and in7 serting ‘‘relocation or sharing costs’’. 

8 SEC. 4. STUDIES ON REALLOCATION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL 

9 SPECTRUM. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act, each Federal entity 

12 that, as of such date of enactment, is operating on spec13 trum between the frequencies of 3450 megahertz to 3550 

14 megahertz, inclusive, shall— 

15 (1) request a payment under section 118(g)(2) 

16 of the National Telecommunications and Informa17 tion Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 

18 928(g)(2)) for the purpose of conducting a study of 

19 any such frequencies on which such entity operates 

20 in order to determine the feasibility of the realloca21 tion of such frequencies, or a portion thereof, for 

22 non-Federal use or shared Federal and non-Federal 

23 use, or a combination thereof, and auction in accord24 ance with such reallocation; and 


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1 (2) if such Federal entity receives such pay2 ment— 

3 (A) conduct such study; and 

4 (B) submit to the appropriate committees 

5 of Congress and the Secretary a report on the 

6 results of such study. 

7 (b) CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS.— 

8 (1) RECEIPT OF PAYMENT.—A Federal entity is 

9 not required to conduct a study under subsection (a) 

10 if such entity requests such payment in accordance 

11 with section 118(g)(2) of the National Telecommuni12 cations and Information Administration Organiza13 tion Act (47 U.S.C. 928(g)(2)) but does not receive 

14 such payment. 

15 (2) INABILITY TO ACHIEVE COMPARABLE CAPA16 BILITY OF SYSTEMS.—If it is found in a study con17 ducted under subsection (a) that any Federal entity 

18 operating on spectrum with respect to which the 

19 study is conducted would not be able to achieve com20 parable capability of systems in the case of the re21 allocation of such spectrum or a portion thereof for 

22 non-Federal use or shared Federal and non-Federal 

23 use, or a combination thereof, and auction in accord24 ance with such reallocation, the Federal entity that 

25 conducted the study shall submit to the National 


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1 Telecommunications and Information Administration 

2 and the Director of the Office of Management and 

3 Budget a certification stating such finding. 

4 SEC. 5. IDENTIFICATION, REALLOCATION, AND AUCTION OF 

5 CERTAIN FEDERAL SPECTRUM. 

6 (a) IDENTIFICATION OF SPECTRUM.—Not later than 

7 January 1, 2025, the Secretary shall— 

8 (1) for the frequencies with respect to which a 

9 Federal entity makes an affirmative feasibility deter10 mination under section 4(a), determine whether the 

11 Secretary concurs with the determination of the 

12 Federal entity; and 

13 (2) if the Secretary concurs with the determina14 tion of the Federal entity, submit to the President 

15 and the Commission a report identifying for re16 allocation the frequencies with respect to which the 

17 Federal entity made the determination. 

18 (b) CLEARING OF SPECTRUM.—The President 

19 shall— 

20 (1) not later than 180 days after the Secretary 

21 submits a report under subsection (a)(2), begin the 

22 process of withdrawing or modifying the assignment 

23 to a Federal Government station of the frequencies 

24 identified in such report; and 


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1 (2) not later than 30 days after completing the 

2 withdrawal or modification, notify the Commission 

3 that the withdrawal or modification is complete. 

4 (c) REALLOCATION AND AUCTION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall— 

6 (A) reallocate the frequencies identified in 

7 a report under subsection (a)(2) for non-Fed8 eral use or shared Federal and non-Federal use, 

9 or a combination thereof; and 

10 (B) notwithstanding paragraph (15)(A) of 

11 section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 

12 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)), not later than Janu13 ary 1, 2026, begin a system of competitive bid14 ding under such section to grant new initial li15 censes for the use of such frequencies, subject 

16 to flexible-use service rules. 

17 (2) PROCEEDS TO COVER 110 PERCENT OF FED18 ERAL RELOCATION OR SHARING COSTS.—Nothing in 

19 this section shall be construed to relieve the Com20 mission from the requirements of section 

21 309(j)(16)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934 

22 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(16)(B)). 

23 (d) AUCTION AUTHORITY.—Section 309(j)(11) of the 

24 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is 

25 amended— 


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1 (1) by striking the period at the end and insert2 ing ‘‘; and’’; 

3 (2) by striking ‘‘except that, with respect to’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘except that— 

5 ‘‘(A) with respect to’’; and 

6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(B) with respect to the frequencies identi8 fied under section 5(a)(2) of the SPECTRUM 

9 NOW Act, such authority shall expire on Sep10 tember 30, 2027.’’. 

11 (e) RELATIONSHIP TO SPECTRUM PIPELINE IDENTI12 FICATION REQUIREMENT.—The identification of fre13 quencies under subsection (a)(2), withdrawal or modifica14 tion of the assignment to a Federal Government station 

15 of such frequencies under subsection (b), or reallocation 

16 or auction of such frequencies under subsection (c) does 

17 not preclude such frequencies from being identified under 

18 section 1006(c) of the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2015 

19 (Public Law 114–74; 129 Stat. 624). 

20 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON23 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con24 gress’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Appropriations of 

2 the House of Representatives; 

3 (B) the Committee on Appropriations of 

4 the Senate; 

5 (C) the Committee on Energy and Com6 merce of the House of Representatives; and 

7 (D) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

8 and Transportation of the Senate. 

9 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

10 means the Federal Communications Commission. 

11 (3) COMPARABLE CAPABILITY OF SYSTEMS.— 

12 The term ‘‘comparable capability of systems’’ has 

13 the meaning described in section 113(g)(3)(B) of the 

14 National Telecommunications and Information Ad15 ministration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 

16 923(g)(3)(B)). 

17 (4) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Federal en18 tity’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

19 113(l) of the National Telecommunications and In20 formation Administration Organization Act (47 

21 U.S.C. 923(l)). 

22 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

23 the Secretary of Commerce. 

Æ 


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