I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3957

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the Federal Communications Commission to streamline its management, to eliminate unnecessarily burdensome regulatory provisions, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 2, 1996

Mr. FIELDS of Texas (for himself and Mr. DINGELL) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to require the

Federal Communications Commission to streamline its

management, to eliminate unnecessarily burdensome regulatory provisions, 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; REFERENCES.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘FCC Modernization Act of 1996’’.

6 (b) REFERENCES.—Except as otherwise expressly

7 provided, whenever in this Act an amendment or repeal

8 is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of,
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1 a section or other provision, the reference shall be consid2 ered to be made to a section or other provision of the Com3 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.).

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSES; PLAN FOR AGENCY MODERNIZATION.

5 (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

6 (1) to require the Federal Communications

7 Commission to streamline its management and pre8 pare an agency plan for accomplishing its mission

9 with reduced resources;

10 (2) to reduce regulatory burdens and agency

11 functions as competition renders those burdens and

12 functions unnecessary; and

13 (3) to repeal outdated and unnecessary provi14 sions of the Communications Act of 1934.

15 (b) PLAN FOR AGENCY MODERNIZATION.—

16 (1) PLAN REQUIRED.—Within 6 months after

17 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission

18 shall prepare a plan—

19 (A) to adjust the allocation of agency per20 sonnel to reflect the open-entry and pro-com21 petitive policies adopted by the United States;

22 (B) to propose the automation or privatiza23 tion of routine agency functions, including the

24 use of advisory committees for coordinating fre-
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1 quency assignments and automating frequency

2 assignment databases;

3 (C) to propose the termination of agency

4 functions that are no longer necessary to the

5 protection of the public interest;

6 (D) to reduce the levels of agency’s ex7 penses for management and overhead; and

8 (E) to prepare the agency for rapid re9 sponse to changes in technologies and markets.

10 (2) CONTENTS REQUIRED.—The plan required

11 by this subsection shall include—

12 (A) detailed projections of agency financial

13 and personnel requirements over the 5 succeed14 ing fiscal years;

15 (B) the savings expected from automating

16 and privatizing routine agency functions and

17 from terminating unnecessary agency functions,

18 and deadlines by which such automation, pri19 vatization, and termination will be attained;

20 (C) the appropriate level of funding for

21 agency management and overhead expenses;

22 and

23 (D) any additional authority or statutory

24 changes required to achieve the plan or carry

25 out the purposes of this section.
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1 (3) SUBMISSION OF PLAN.—The Commission

2 shall submit a copy of the plan required by this sub3 section to the President and to the Committee on

4 Commerce of the House of Representatives and the

5 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor6 tation of the Senate.

7 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO DELEGATE.

8 Section 5 (47 U.S.C. 155) is amended by adding at

9 the end the following new subsection:

10 ‘‘(f) DELEGATION TO ADVISORY COORDINATING

11 COMMITTEES.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—When necessary to the

13 prompt and orderly conduct of its business, the

14 Commission may, by published rule or order, dele15 gate its authority to grant licenses and permits (and

16 modifications and renewals thereof) for stations in

17 the private mobile services to advisory coordinating

18 committees qualified pursuant to section 332(b).

19 Any order, decision, report, or action made or taken

20 pursuant to any such delegation, unless reviewed as

21 provided in paragraph (2), shall have the same force

22 and effect, and shall be made, evidenced, and en23 forced in the same manner, as orders, decisions, re24 ports, or other actions of the Commission.
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1 ‘‘(2) REVIEW OF ACTIONS.—Any order, deci2 sion, report, or action described in paragraph (1) of

3 this subsection shall be subject to review in the same

4 manner as is provided by paragraphs (4) through

5 (7) of subsection (c) with respect to an order, deci6 sion, report, or action made or taken pursuant to

7 paragraph (1) of such subsection.’’.

8 SEC. 4. CONTRACT FILINGS.

9 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 211 (47 U.S.C. 211) is

10 amended to read as follows:

11 ‘‘SEC. 211. AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE CONTRACTS TO BE

12 FILED.

13 ‘‘The Commission may, by rule, require the filing by

14 any carrier subject to this Act of any contract, agreement,

15 or arrangement.’’.

16 (b) DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE TO PERMIT RULE17 MAKING.—The amendment made by subsection (a) shall

18 be effective 6 months after the date of enactment of this

19 Act.

20 SEC. 5. INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATES.

21 Section 212 (47 U.S.C. 212), relating to interlocking

22 directorates, is repealed.

23 SEC. 6. VALUATION OF CARRIER PROPERTY.

24 Section 213 (47 U.S.C. 213), relating to valuation

25 of carrier property, is amended—
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1 (1) by striking subsections (a) through (e);

2 (2) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘such carrier’’

3 and inserting ‘‘any carrier subject to this Act’’; and

4 (3) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as

5 subsections (a) and (b), respectively.

6 SEC. 7. ELIMINATION OF COMMISSION AUTHORITY OVER

7 NEW LINES; CONTROL OF ABANDONMENT TO

8 PROTECT UNIVERSAL SERVICE.

9 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 214 (47 U.S.C. 214) is

10 amended—

11 (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol12 lows:

13 ‘‘(a) CARRIER AUTHORITY TO DISCONTINUE, RE14 DUCE, OR IMPAIR SERVICE.—No carrier shall discontinue,

15 reduce, or impair service to a community, or part of a

16 community, unless and until there shall first have been

17 obtained from the Commission a certificate that the public

18 convenience and necessity will not be adversely affected

19 thereby; except that the Commission may, upon appro20 priate request being made, authorize temporary or emer21 gency discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of service,

22 or partial discontinuance, reduction, or impairment of

23 service, without regard to the provisions of this section.

24 As used in this section the term ‘line’ means any channel

25 of communication established by the use of appropriate
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1 equipment, other than a channel of communication estab2 lished by the interconnection of two or more existing chan3 nels.’’;

4 (2) in subsection (b)—

5 (A) by inserting ‘‘NOTICE.—’’ after the

6 subsection designation; and

7 (B) by striking ‘‘in which such line is pro8 posed to be constructed, extended, acquired, or

9 operated, or’’;

10 (3) in subsection (c)—

11 (A) by inserting ‘‘ISSUANCE AND EFFECT

12 OF CERTIFICATE.—’’ after the subsection

13 designation;

14 (B) by striking ‘‘or extension thereof’’;

15 (C) by striking ‘‘construction, extension,

16 acquisition, operation, or’’; and

17 (D) by striking ‘‘Any construction, exten18 sion, acquisition, operation, discontinuance’’

19 and inserting ‘‘Any discontinuance’’; and

20 (4) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘MANDA21 TORY EXTENSIONS OF SERVICE.—’’ after the sub22 section designation.

23 (b) EXPEDITIOUS CONSIDERATION OF WAIVER RE24 QUESTS IN CONNECTION WITH ACQUISITIONS.—A com25 mon carrier’s application for a waiver of part 36, 61, or
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1 69 of the Commission’s rules (47 C.F.R. parts 36, 61,

2 and 69) in connection with an acquisition of the lines of

3 another common carrier shall be deemed approved 6

4 months after the date on which the application is filed

5 with the Commission unless the Commission, prior to the

6 expiration of such 6-month period, finds that the applica7 tion is not in the public interest.

8 (c) DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE FOR INTER9 NATIONAL EXTENSIONS.—The amendments made by sub10 section (a) of this section are effective upon enactment,

11 except that such amendments shall not apply with respect

12 to the construction, extension, or acquisition of any line

13 for foreign communication until such date as the Commis14 sion prescribes by rule consistent with the public interest.

15 SEC. 8. TRANSACTIONS RELATING TO SERVICES AND

16 EQUIPMENT.

17 Section 215 (47 U.S.C. 215), relating to transactions

18 relating to services and equipment, is repealed.

19 SEC. 9. INQUIRIES INTO MANAGEMENT.

20 Section 218 (47 U.S.C. 218), relating to inquiries

21 into management, is amended—

22 (1) by amending the section designation and

23 heading of such section to read as follows:

24 ‘‘SEC. 218. AUTHORITY TO OBTAIN INFORMATION.’’;

25 (2) by striking the first sentence; and
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1 (3) by striking ‘‘such carriers’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘carriers subject to this Act’’.

3 SEC. 10. ANNUAL AND OTHER REPORTS.

4 Section 219 (47 U.S.C. 219) is amended to read as

5 follows:

6 ‘‘SEC. 219. FILING OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND

7 ANNUAL REPORTS.

8 ‘‘Each telecommunications carrier shall file with the

9 Commission—

10 ‘‘(1) a copy of any annual or other periodic re11 port to shareholders;

12 ‘‘(2) a copy of any prospectus, registration

13 statement, proxy statement, or other document dis14 tributed in connection with an offering of securities

15 or the solicitation of shareholder votes; and

16 ‘‘(3) a copy of such other supplementary and

17 periodic information, documents, and reports as may

18 be required by the Securities and Exchange Commis19 sion pursuant to section 13 or 15(d) of the Securi20 ties Exchange Act of 1934.’’.

21 SEC. 11. PIONEER PREFERENCES.

22 (a) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—Paragraph (13)

23 of section 309(j) (47 U.S.C. 309(j)) is amended to read

24 as follows:
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1 ‘‘(13) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY TO GRANT

2 PIONEER PREFERENCES.—The authority of the

3 Commission to provide preferential treatment in li4 censing procedures (by precluding the filing of mu5 tually exclusive applications) to persons who make

6 significant contributions to the development of a new

7 service or to the development of new technologies

8 that substantially enhance an existing service shall

9 expire on the date of enactment of the FCC Mod10 ernization Act of 1996.’’.

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 309(j)(6)

12 is amended—

13 (1) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at

14 the end of subparagraph (F);

15 (2) by striking subparagraph (G);

16 (3) by striking ‘‘section 8’’ in subparagraph (H)

17 and inserting ‘‘sections 8 and 9’’; and

18 (4) by redesignating subparagraph (H) as sub19 paragraph (G).

20 SEC. 12. USE OF NAVAL STATIONS FOR COMMERCIAL MES21 SAGES.

22 Section 327 (47 U.S.C. 327), relating to use of naval

23 stations for commercial messages, is repealed.
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1 SEC. 13. VERY HIGH FREQUENCY STATIONS AND AM RADIO

2 STATIONS.

3 Section 331 (47 U.S.C. 331), relating to very high

4 frequency stations and AM radio stations, is repealed.

5 SEC. 14. PROCEEDS OF FACILITIES SITING FEES.

6 Section 704(c) of the Telecommunications Act of

7 1996 (47 U.S.C. 332(c), note) is amended by inserting

8 before the last sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘All

9 proceeds from the fees charged by Federal departments

10 and agencies for use of property, rights-of-way, and ease11 ments shall be deposited in the Treasury in accordance

12 with chapter 33 of title 31, United States Code. As used

13 in this subsection, the term ‘agency’ has the meaning pro14 vided in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code, and

15 includes, notwithstanding any other provision of law, any

16 independent establishment in the Executive branch.’’.

17 SEC. 15. TRAVEL RESTRICTION.

18 For the 2 years following the date of enactment of

19 this Act, the Chairman of the Federal Communications

20 Commission shall not be permitted to travel more than

21 50 miles from the District of Columbia while on official

22 business.

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