II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2223 

To facilitate a national pipeline of spectrum for commercial use, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2019 

Mr. GARDNER (for himself, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. RUBIO, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, 

Mrs. CAPITO, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. DAINES) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To facilitate a national pipeline of spectrum for commercial 

use, 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 ‘‘Advancing Innovation 

5 and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electro6 magnetic Spectrum Act’’ or the ‘‘AIRWAVES Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

8 It is the sense of Congress that the United States 

9 should strive to— 


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1 (1) advance innovation with respect to, and in2 vestment in, wireless broadband internet access; 

3 (2) promote the benefits of connecting all indi4 viduals in the United States to quality wireless 

5 broadband internet access, including those individ6 uals in rural communities; and 

7 (3) support comprehensive, technology-neutral 

8 spectrum policy that includes licensed, unlicensed, 

9 and shared use of spectrum bands. 

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act— 

12 (1) the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Federal 

13 Communications Commission; 

14 (2) the term ‘‘Federal entity’’ has the meaning 

15 given the term in section 113(l) of the National 

16 Telecommunications and Information Administration 

17 Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(l)); 

18 (3) the term ‘‘relocation or sharing costs’’ has 

19 the meaning given the term in section 113(g)(3) of 

20 the National Telecommunications and Information 

21 Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 

22 923(g)(3)); 

23 (4) the term ‘‘Spectrum Relocation Fund’’ 

24 means the fund established under section 118 of the 


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1 National Telecommunications and Information Ad2 ministration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 928); and 

3 (5) the term ‘‘system of competitive bidding’’ 

4 means a system of competitive bidding conducted 

5 under section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 

6 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)). 

7 SEC. 4. EXPANDING ACCESS TO SPECTRUM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December 31, 

9 2022, the Commission shall— 

10 (1) complete a system of competitive bidding 

11 for the use of at least 500 megahertz of commer12 cially licensed spectrum in frequency bands below 6 

13 gigahertz; and 

14 (2) make available at least 500 megahertz of 

15 additional unlicensed spectrum in frequency bands 

16 above 5 gigahertz. 

17 (b) INCUMBENT PROTECTIONS.—With respect to any 

18 frequency band with respect to which the Commission con19 ducts a system of competitive bidding under subsection 

20 (a)(1) (referred to in this subsection as the ‘‘covered 

21 band’’), the Commission— 

22 (1) may not proceed with any action (including 

23 relocating incumbents or registrants that are, as of 

24 the date of enactment of this Act, operational in the 

25 covered band from the covered band, or permitting 


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1 new entrants into the covered band) if that action 

2 may result in the dislodging or harming of any such 

3 incumbent or registrant in the covered band until 

4 the Commission determines, including by requiring 

5 testing and technical studies, if appropriate, that 

6 any such action will neither cause harmful inter7 ference with nor unreasonably constrain any such in8 cumbent or registrant in the covered band; and 

9 (2) if the Commission determines that the relo10 cation of an incumbent or registrant from the cov11 ered band to another equivalent frequency band as 

12 a result of carrying out subsection (a)(1) is not pos13 sible, and if the Commission determines that no 

14 mitigation technology, alternative sharing approach, 

15 or incentives-based approach would reliably prevent 

16 harmful interference to incumbents or registrants in 

17 the covered band, shall provide a notification to the 

18 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor19 tation of the Senate and the Committee on Energy 

20 and Commerce of the House of Representatives re21 garding those determinations. 

22 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec23 tion may be construed as preventing the Commission 

24 from— 


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1 (1) completing a system of competitive bidding 

2 for the use of more than 500 megahertz of commer3 cially licensed spectrum under subsection (a)(1); or 

4 (2) making available more than 500 megahertz 

5 of additional unlicensed spectrum under subsection 

6 (a)(2). 

7 SEC. 5. RURAL SET-ASIDE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 

9 309(j)(8) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

10 309(j)(8)), the Commission shall allocate 10 percent of the 

11 proceeds attributable to each system of competitive bid12 ding conducted under this Act for the deployment of wire13 less infrastructure in areas that the Commission has de14 termined are underserved or unserved with respect to 

15 wireless broadband internet access service, except that, be16 fore making such an allocation, the Commission shall 

17 cover the relocation or sharing costs of any Federal entity 

18 that is relocated from the frequency to which that system 

19 of competitive bidding relates. 

20 (b) LIMITATIONS.—No amounts allocated under sub21 section (a) may be combined with amounts that are used 

22 to fund any other program that is in existence on the date 

23 on which the allocation is made, including any program 

24 established under section 254 of the Communications Act 

25 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254). 


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1 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion may be construed to affect the amounts with which 

3 the Spectrum Relocation Fund is credited under section 

4 118(b) of the National Telecommunications and Informa5 tion Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 928(b)). 

6 SEC. 6. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 

7 (a) FREQUENCY RANGES.—Any frequency range de8 scribed in this Act shall be construed as including the 

9 upper and lower frequency in the frequency range. 

10 (b) ASSESSMENT OF ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

11 REALLOCATION.—Nothing in this Act may be construed 

12 as affecting any requirement under section 156 of the Na13 tional Telecommunications and Information Administra14 tion Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 921 note). 

Æ 


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