I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 918

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to States for

the construction and maintenance of highways, to direct the Federal

Communications Commission to conduct spectrum auctions to provide

funding for the grants, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 4, 1997

Mr. KNOLLENBERG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce, and in additon to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to make grants

to States for the construction and maintenance of highways, to direct the Federal Communications Commission

to conduct spectrum auctions to provide funding for the

grants, 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 ‘‘Infrastructure Im5 provement Act of 1997’’.
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1 SEC. 2. SPECTRUM AUCTIONS.

2 (a) REQUIRED AUCTIONS.—To the extent that por3 tions of the public electromagnetic spectrum allocated for

4 commercial use become available for licenses and construc5 tion during the period consisting of fiscal years 1998

6 through 2002, the Federal Communications Commission

7 shall, during such period, conduct competitive bidding in

8 accordance with section 309(j) of the Communications Act

9 of 1934 for licenses and construction permits involving

10 such portions which result in an amount of proceeds equal

11 to the sum of (1) $26,000,000,000, and (2) the amount

12 of any offsetting collections referred to in the first sen13 tence of section 309(j)(8)(B) of such Act. To the extent

14 possible, the competitive bidding shall be conducted so

15 that proceeds required under this subsection are obtained

16 in equal amounts during each fiscal year during such pe17 riod.

18 (b) TREATMENT OF PROCEEDS.—Notwithstanding

19 section 309(j)(8)(A) of the Communications Act of 1934,

20 the proceeds from competitive bidding conducted pursuant

21 to subsection (a) (less any proceeds retained pursuant to

22 the first sentence of section 309(j)(8)(B) of such section)

23 shall be deposited in the Infrastructure Improvement

24 Trust Fund established by section 9512 of the Internal

25 Revenue Code of 1986, as added by section 3 of this Act.
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1 This subsection may not be construed to apply to any pro2 ceeds from competitive bidding conducted pursuant to

3 subsection (a) in excess of the sum described in subsection

4 (a).

5 SEC. 3. INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT TRUST FUND.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 98 of the

7 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to Trust Fund

8 Code) is amended by adding at the end the following new

9 section:

10 ‘‘SEC. 9512. INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT TRUST

11 FUND.

12 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab13 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund

14 to be known as the ‘Infrastructure Improvement Trust

15 Fund’, consisting of such amounts as may be appropriated

16 or credited to such trust fund as provided in this section

17 or section 9602(b).

18 ‘‘(b) TRANSFERS TO TRUST FUND.—There are here19 by appropriated to the Infrastructure Improvement Trust

20 Fund amounts equivalent to the revenues received in the

21 Treasury from the proceeds of competitive bidding con22 ducted by the Federal Communications Commission pur23 suant to section 2(a) of the Infrastructure Improvement

24 Act of 1997.
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1 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM TRUST FUND.—Amounts

2 in the Infrastructure Improvement Trust Fund shall be

3 available, as provided in the Infrastructure Improvement

4 Act of 1997, only for purposes of making expenditures in

5 accordance with section 5 of such Act.’’

6 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

7 for such subchapter A is amended by adding at the end

8 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 9512. Infrastructure Improvement Trust Fund.’’

9 SEC. 4. AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.

10 There shall be available to the Secretary of Transpor11 tation, out of the Infrastructure Improvement Trust

12 Fund, for each of fiscal years 1998 through 2002, the

13 amount transferred to the Trust Fund for such fiscal year

14 pursuant to section 9512 of the Internal Revenue Code

15 of 1986 (plus any amount credited to the account during

16 the preceding fiscal year pursuant to section 9602(b) of

17 such Code) for carrying out section 5. Such sums shall

18 remain available until expended.

19 SEC. 5. INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT GRANTS.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—On October 1 of each of fiscal

21 years 1998 through 2002 (or as soon as possible there22 after), the Secretary of Transportation, after making the

23 deduction under subsection (b), shall apportion funds

24 made available by section 4 for such fiscal year among

25 the States so that the percentage apportioned to each
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1 State is equal to the percentage of estimated tax payments

2 attributable to highway users in the State paid into the

3 Highway Trust Fund established by section 9503 of the

4 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in the latest fiscal year

5 for which data are available. Payments of funds appor6 tioned to a State under this subsection shall be made in

7 quarterly installments in the form of grants.

8 (b) DEDUCTION.—Whenever an apportionment of

9 funds is made under subsection (a) or (d), the Secretary

10 may make a deduction in an amount not to exceed 2 per11 cent of such funds for administering the provisions of this

12 section.

13 (c) USE OF GRANTS.—Funds apportioned to a State

14 under subsection (a) shall be available only for the con15 struction and maintenance of highways in the State.

16 (d) SUBMISSION OF PLAN.—A State shall be eligible

17 to receive an apportionment of funds under subsection (a)

18 in a fiscal year only if the State submits to the Secretary,

19 on or before September 1 of the preceding fiscal year, a

20 plan describing how the funds will be used. Amounts which

21 would have been apportioned to a State but for the re22 quirement of this subsection shall be reapportioned among

23 the States in the manner specified for apportionments

24 under subsection (a).
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1 (e) APPLICABILITY OF REQUIREMENTS.—A project

2 carried out on a Federal-aid highway using funds appor3 tioned under subsection (a) shall be subject to the same

4 requirements as would have applied to the project if the

5 project had been carried out under title 23, United States

6 Code, except to the extent that the Secretary determines

7 that any requirement of such title is not consistent with

8 the objectives of this section.

9 (f) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share payable on

10 account of any project or activity carried out using funds

11 apportioned under subsection (a) shall be 80 percent of

12 the cost of the project or activity.

13 (g) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the terms

14 ‘‘construction’’, ‘‘Federal-aid highway’’, and ‘‘highway’’

15 have the meanings given such terms by section 101(a) of

16 title 23, United States Code.

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