II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1854

Entitled the ‘‘Digital Opportunity Investment Trust Act’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 12, 2003

Mr. DODD (for himself, Ms. SNOWE, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL

Entitled the ‘‘Digital Opportunity Investment Trust Act’’.

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 ‘‘Digital Opportunity 

5 Investment Trust Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUST. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a trust to be 

8 known as the ‘‘Digital Opportunity Investment Trust’’ (re9 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Trust’’). 

10 (b) FUNDS.—
2

•S 1854 IS 

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Trust shall consist of 

2 such amounts as are transferred to the Trust under 

3 paragraph (2) and any interest earned on the invest4 ment of amounts in the Trust under section 4. 

5 (2) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—The Secretary of 

6 the Treasury shall transfer each fiscal year quarter, 

7 through fiscal year 2020, from the general fund of 

8 the Treasury to the Trust, an amount equal to 30 

9 percent of the cash payment received by the Federal 

10 Government during the preceding fiscal year quarter 

11 from—

12 (A) auctions of the publicly owned electro13 magnetic spectrum; and 

14 (B) fees derived from the usage of the pub15 licly owned electromagnetic spectrum, excluding 

16 the fees imposed by the Federal Communica17 tions Commission to defray the costs of the 

18 Commission’s operations associated with the 

19 electromagnetic spectrum. 

20 (c) ADMINISTRATION OF THE TRUST.—

21 (1) BOARD.—

22 (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—A board (referred 

23 to in this Act as the ‘‘Board’’) shall be estab24 lished to oversee the administration of Trust 

25 funds, consisting of 9 members appointed by 
3

•S 1854 IS 

1 the President, by and with the advice and con2 sent of the Senate, who—

3 (i) reflect representation from the 

4 public and private sectors; 

5 (ii) are not regular full-time employ6 ees of the Federal Government; 

7 (iii) are eminent in such fields as edu8 cation, telecommunications, information 

9 technology, labor and workforce develop10 ment, cultural and civic affairs, or the arts 

11 and humanities; and 

12 (iv) will provide, as nearly as prac13 ticable, a broad representation of various 

14 regions of the United States, various pro15 fessions and occupations, and various 

16 kinds of talent and experience appropriate 

17 to the functions and responsibilities of the 

18 Trust. 

19 (B) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Majority 

20 Leader of the Senate, the Minority Leader of 

21 the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Rep22 resentatives, and the Minority Leader of the 

23 House of Representatives shall submit to the 

24 President recommendations of individuals to 

25 serve as members of the Board. 
4

•S 1854 IS 

1 (C) TERMS OF APPOINTMENT.—

2 (i) DATE.—Members of the Board 

3 shall be appointed not later than 90 days 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

5 (ii) TERMS.—

6 (I) IN GENERAL.—Each member 

7 of the Board shall be appointed for 6 

8 years (except as provided in subclause 

9 (II)), with terms set to expire in non10 Federal election years. 

11 (II) STAGGERED TERMS.—From 

12 the first Board—

13 (aa) 3 members shall serve 

14 for a term of 6 years; 

15 (bb) 3 members shall serve 

16 for a term of 4 years; and 

17 (cc) 3 members shall serve 

18 for a term of 2 years. 

19 (iii) VACANCIES.—A vacancy on the 

20 Board shall not affect the Board’s powers, 

21 and shall be filled in the same manner as 

22 the original member was appointed. 

23 (D) CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR.—

24 (i) SELECTION.—The Board shall se25 lect, from among the members of the 
5

•S 1854 IS 

1 Board, an individual to serve for a 2-year 

2 term as Chair of the Board and an indi3 vidual to serve for a 2-year term as vice4 Chair of the Board. 

5 (ii) CONSECUTIVE TERMS.—An indi6 vidual may not serve for more than 2 con7 secutive terms as Chair of the Board. 

8 (E) MEETINGS.—

9 (i) FIRST MEETING.—Not later than 

10 30 days after the date on which all of the 

11 members of the Board have been con12 firmed, the Chair of the Board shall call 

13 the first meeting of the Board. 

14 (ii) QUORUM.—A majority of the 

15 members of the Board shall constitute a 

16 quorum, but a lesser number of members 

17 may hold hearings. 

18 (F) BOARD PERSONNEL MATTERS.—

19 (i) COMPENSATION.—Members of the 

20 Board shall receive no additional pay, al21 lowances, or benefits by reason of the 

22 members’ service on the Board. 

23 (ii) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The mem24 bers of the Board shall be allowed travel 

25 expenses, including per diem in lieu of sub-
6

•S 1854 IS 

1 sistence, at rates authorized for employees 

2 of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 

3 57 of title 5, United States Code, while 

4 away from their homes or regular places of 

5 business in the performance of services for 

6 the Board. 

7 (2) DIRECTOR.—A majority of the members of 

8 the Board shall select a Director of the Trust who 

9 shall serve at the discretion of the Board and shall 

10 be responsible for hiring all personnel of the Trust 

11 and instituting procedures to carry out the policies 

12 and priorities established by the Board. 

13 (d) TRUST FUND USES.—

14 (1) USES OF FUNDS.—In order to achieve the 

15 objectives of this Act, the Director of the Trust, 

16 after consultation with the Board, may use Trust 

17 funds—

18 (A) to help underwrite the digitization of 

19 the collections in the Nation’s universities, mu20 seums, libraries, and cultural institutions; 

21 (B) to enable schools, community colleges, 

22 universities, libraries, museums, civic organiza23 tions, cultural, arts, and humanities centers, 

24 and nonprofit agencies or organizations de25 scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev-
7

•S 1854 IS 

1 enue Code of 1986 that are exempt from tax

2 under section 501(a) of such Code to take ad3 vantage of innovative telecommunications and 

4 information technologies; 

5 (C) to support basic and applied research, 

6 development, and demonstrations of innovative7 based learning systems, including assessment 

8 tools and other system components; 

9 (D) to develop applications of research, in10 cluding the creation of prototypes, models, and 

11 pilot projects, as well as the initial production 

12 of content and software for digital and informa13 tion technologies for use in educational cur14 ricula and other educational purposes, including 

15 job training, skills training, public safety, civic 

16 information, and lifelong learning; 

17 (E) to develop innovative technologies for 

18 training and dissemination of public informa19 tion for safety and homeland security; 

20 (F) to develop new tools and means of dis21 semination for innovative advances in job train22 ing and retraining; and 

23 (G) to conduct assessments of legal, regu24 latory, and other issues that must be resolved 

25 to ensure rapid development and use of ad-
8

•S 1854 IS 

1 vanced learning technologies and legislative or 

2 other remedies that may remove barriers or cre3 ate incentives that can help make use of the in4 novations developed pursuant to this Act. 

5 (2) CONTRACTS AND GRANTS.—

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—In order to carry out 

7 the activities described in paragraph (1), the 

8 Director of the Trust, with the agreement of a 

9 majority of the members of the Board, may 

10 award contracts and grants to nonprofit public 

11 institutions (with or without private partners) 

12 and competent for-profit organizations and indi13 viduals. 

14 (B) PUBLIC DOMAIN.—

15 (i) IN GENERAL.—The research and 

16 development properties and materials asso17 ciated with a project in which a majority 

18 of the funding used to carry out the 

19 project is from a grant or contract under 

20 this Act shall be freely and nonexclusively 

21 available to the general public. 

22 (ii) EXEMPTION.—The Director of the 

23 Trust may exempt specific projects from 

24 the requirement of clause (i) if the Direc25 tor of the Trust and a majority of the 
9

•S 1854 IS 

1 members of the Board determine that the 

2 general public will benefit significantly in 

3 the long run due to the project not being 

4 freely and nonexclusively available to the 

5 general public. 

6 (C) EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS.—To the 

7 extent practicable, proposals for such contracts 

8 or grants shall be evaluated on the basis of 

9 comparative merit by panels of experts who rep10 resent diverse interests and perspectives, and 

11 who are appointed by the Director of the Trust. 

12 (3) COOPERATION.—The Director of the Trust, 

13 after consultation with the Board, may cooperate 

14 with business, industry, philanthropy, and local and 

15 national public service institutions, including enhanc16 ing the work of such public service institutions by 

17 seeking new ways to put telecommunications and in18 formation technologies to work in their areas of in19 terest. 

20 SEC. 3. ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING. 

21 (a) REPORT.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than April 30 of 

23 each year, the Director of the Trust shall prepare a 

24 report for the preceding fiscal year, ending Sep25 tember 30, and shall submit such report to the As-
10

•S 1854 IS 

1 sistant Secretary of the National Telecommuni2 cations and Information Administration. 

3 (2) CONTENTS.—The report shall include—

4 (A) a comprehensive and detailed report of 

5 the Trust’s operations, activities, financial con6 dition, and accomplishments, and such rec7 ommendations as the Director of the Trust de8 termines appropriate; and 

9 (B) a comprehensive and detailed inventory 

10 of funds distributed from the Trust during the 

11 preceding fiscal year. 

12 (3) SUBMISSION TO THE PRESIDENT AND CON13 GRESS.—The Assistant Secretary of the National 

14 Telecommunications and Information Administration 

15 shall submit the report received pursuant to para16 graph (1) to the President and the appropriate com17 mittees of Congress. 

18 (b) TESTIMONY.—The Chair of the Board, other 

19 members of the Board, and the Director and principal offi20 cers of the Trust shall testify before appropriate commit21 tees of Congress, upon request of such committees, with 

22 respect to—

23 (1) the report prepared under subsection (a)(1); 

24 and 
11

•S 1854 IS 

1 (2) any other matter that such committees may 

2 determine appropriate. 

3 SEC. 4. INVESTMENT OF TRUST FUNDS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Trust, after 

5 consultation with the Board and the Director of the Office 

6 of Management and Budget, shall invest the funds of the 

7 Trust in interest-bearing obligations of the United States 

8 or in obligations guaranteed as to both principal and inter9 est by the United States. 

10 (b) EXPENDITURES.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Trust 

12 shall not undertake grant or contract activities 

13 under this Act until the Trust has received the inter14 est or other proceeds from the investment of the 

15 Trust funds for not less than 1 year’s duration. 

16 Thereafter, upon approval of the annual budget of 

17 the Trust, the Director of the Trust may commence 

18 such grant or contract activities at the start of each 

19 fiscal year. 

20 (2) OBLIGATION OF FUNDS.—

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

22 subparagraph (B), in awarding grants or con23 tracts or making other expenditures, the Direc24 tor of the Trust shall not obligate funds from 

25 the Trust that exceed the proceeds received 
12

•S 1854 IS 

1 from the investment of the funds in the Trust 

2 during the preceding fiscal year. 

3 (B) CARRY OVER.—Funds from the Trust 

4 that are available for obligation for a fiscal year 

5 that are not obligated for such fiscal year shall 

6 remain available for obligation for the suc7 ceeding fiscal year.

Æ