II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 887 

To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

Organization Act to provide incentives for the reallocation of Federal 

Government spectrum for commercial use, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 26, 2015 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mrs. FISCHER) 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 incentives 

for the reallocation of Federal Government 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 ‘‘Federal Spectrum In5 centive Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL SPECTRUM INCENTIVES. 

7 (a) NOTICE TO COMMISSION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 113(g)(4) of the Na2 tional Telecommunications and Information Admin3 istration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)(4)) is 

4 amended— 

5 (A) by striking the heading and inserting 

6 ‘‘NOTICE TO COMMISSION.—’’; 

7 (B) in the second sentence of subpara8 graph (A), by striking ‘‘shall notify the Com9 mission’’ and all that follows and inserting the 

10 following: ‘‘shall notify the Commission— 

11 ‘‘(i) of estimated relocation or sharing 

12 costs and timelines for such relocation or 

13 sharing; or 

14 ‘‘(ii) that, instead of relocation or 

15 sharing costs under this subsection and 

16 section 118, a Federal entity will receive 

17 payment under section 120 because such 

18 entity is— 

19 ‘‘(I) discontinuing the operations 

20 that the Federal entity conducts on 

21 such eligible frequencies without relo22 cating such operations to other fre23 quencies; or 

24 ‘‘(II) relocating such operations 

25 to frequencies assigned to another 


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1 Federal entity in order for such enti2 ties to share such frequencies.’’; and 

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

4 ‘‘(D) This subsection and section 118 shall 

5 not apply with respect to the discontinuance of 

6 operations on eligible frequencies or the reloca7 tion of such operations by a Federal entity after 

8 the Commission receives notice under subpara9 graph (A)(ii) with respect to such discontinu10 ance or relocation.’’. 

11 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 

12 113(g) of the National Telecommunications and In13 formation Administration Organization Act (47 

14 U.S.C. 923(g)) is amended— 

15 (A) in paragraph (3)(A)(iii)(I), by striking 

16 ‘‘paragraph (4)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

17 (4)(A)(i)’’; 

18 (B) in paragraph (4)— 

19 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

20 ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub21 paragraph (A)(i)’’; and 

22 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

23 ‘‘subparagraphs (A) and (B)’’ and insert24 ing ‘‘subparagraphs (A)(i) and (B)’’; and 


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1 (C) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘para2 graph (4)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 

3 (4)(A)(i)’’. 

4 (b) TRANSITION PLANS.—Section 113(h) of the Na5 tional Telecommunications and Information Administra6 tion Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(h)) is amended— 

7 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘RELOCATION

8 OR SHARING’’; 

9 (2) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol10 lows: 

11 ‘‘(1) DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSITION PLAN BY

12 FEDERAL ENTITY.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 240 

14 days before the commencement of any auction 

15 of eligible frequencies described in subsection 

16 (g)(2), a Federal entity authorized to use any 

17 such frequency shall submit to the NTIA and 

18 to the Technical Panel established by paragraph 

19 (3) a transition plan in which the Federal enti20 ty— 

21 ‘‘(i) declares the intention of such en22 tity— 

23 ‘‘(I) to share such eligible fre24 quencies with a non-Federal user or 

25 to relocate to other frequencies, and 


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1 to receive relocation or sharing costs 

2 from the Spectrum Relocation Fund 

3 established by section 118; or 

4 ‘‘(II) to discontinue the oper5 ations that the Federal entity con6 ducts on such eligible frequencies 

7 without relocating such operations to 

8 other frequencies or to relocate such 

9 operations to frequencies assigned to 

10 another Federal entity in order for 

11 such entities to share such fre12 quencies, and to receive payment from 

13 the Federal Spectrum Incentive Fund 

14 established by section 120; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) describes how the entity will im16 plement the relocation, sharing, or dis17 continuance arrangement. 

18 ‘‘(B) COMMON FORMAT.—The NTIA shall 

19 specify, after public input, a common format for 

20 all Federal entities to follow in preparing tran21 sition plans under this paragraph.’’; 

22 (3) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (A) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘, to 

24 discontinue such use,’’ after ‘‘from such fre25 quencies’’; 


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1 (B) in subparagraph (F), by inserting ‘‘, 

2 discontinuance,’’ after ‘‘relocation’’; and 

3 (C) in subparagraph (G), by striking ‘‘The 

4 plans’’ and inserting ‘‘To the extent applicable 

5 given the intention declared by the entity under 

6 paragraph (1)(A)(i), the plans’’; 

7 (4) in paragraph (4)(A), by inserting ‘‘(if appli8 cable)’’ after ‘‘timelines and’’; 

9 (5) in paragraph (6)— 

10 (A) by inserting ‘‘(if applicable)’’ after 

11 ‘‘costs’’; and 

12 (B) by inserting ‘‘, discontinuance,’’ after 

13 ‘‘relocation’’ the second place it appears; and 

14 (6) in paragraph (7)(A)(ii), by inserting ‘‘, dis15 continuance,’’ after ‘‘relocation’’. 

16 (c) RELOCATION OR DISCONTINUANCE PRIORITIZED

17 OVER SHARING.—Section 113(j) of the National Tele18 communications and Information Administration Organi19 zation Act (47 U.S.C. 923(j)) is amended— 

20 (1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘OR DIS21 CONTINUANCE’’ after ‘‘RELOCATION’’; and 

22 (2) by inserting ‘‘or discontinuance of the oper23 ations that the Federal entity conducts on the band’’ 

24 after ‘‘from the band’’ each place it appears. 


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1 (d) DEPOSIT OF AUCTION PROCEEDS.—Section 

2 309(j)(8) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

3 309(j)(8)) is amended— 

4 (1) in subparagraph (C)(i), by striking 

5 ‘‘(D)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘(D)(ii), (D)(iii)’’; and 

6 (2) in subparagraph (D)— 

7 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘clause (ii)’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘clauses (ii) and (iii)’’; and 

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

10 ‘‘(iii) FEDERAL SPECTRUM INCEN11 TIVES.—Notwithstanding subparagraph 

12 (A) and except as provided in subpara13 graph (B) and clause (ii) of this subpara14 graph, in the case of proceeds (including 

15 deposits and upfront payments from suc16 cessful bidders) attributable to the auction 

17 of eligible frequencies described in section 

18 113(g)(2) of the National Telecommuni19 cations and Information Administration 

20 Organization Act with respect to which the 

21 Commission has received notice under sec22 tion 113(g)(4)(A)(ii) of such Act, 1 per23 cent of such proceeds shall be deposited in 

24 the Federal Spectrum Incentive Fund es25 tablished by section 120 of such Act and 


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1 shall be available in accordance with such 

2 section. The remainder of such proceeds 

3 shall be deposited in the general fund of 

4 the Treasury, where such proceeds shall be 

5 dedicated for the sole purpose of deficit re6 duction.’’. 

7 (e) FEDERAL SPECTRUM INCENTIVE FUND.—Part B 

8 of the National Telecommunications and Information Ad9 ministration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 921 et seq.) is 

10 amended by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 120. FEDERAL SPECTRUM INCENTIVE FUND. 

12 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

13 Treasury of the United States a fund to be known as the 

14 Federal Spectrum Incentive Fund (in this section referred 

15 to as the ‘Fund’), which shall be administered by the Of16 fice of Management and Budget (in this section referred 

17 to as ‘OMB’), in consultation with the NTIA. 

18 ‘‘(b) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—The Director of OMB 

19 shall transfer from the Fund to a Federal entity an 

20 amount equal to the amount deposited in accordance with 

21 section 309(j)(8)(D)(iii) of the Communications Act of 

22 1934 that is attributable to the auction of eligible fre23 quencies described in section 113(g)(2) of this Act being 

24 vacated by such entity. Such amount shall be available to 


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1 the Federal entity in accordance with subsection (c) and 

2 shall remain available until expended. 

3 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—A Federal entity may use an 

4 amount transferred under subsection (b) for the following 

5 purposes: 

6 ‘‘(1) OFFSET OF SEQUESTRATION.—Any pur7 poses permitted under the terms and conditions of 

8 an appropriations account of the Federal entity for 

9 which budgetary resources were cancelled for a fiscal 

10 year under a sequestration order under the Balanced 

11 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. 

12 The amount used for such purposes for a fiscal year 

13 under this paragraph may not exceed the amount by 

14 which the amount available to such entity under 

15 such account was reduced under the sequestration 

16 order for such fiscal year. 

17 ‘‘(2) TRANSFER TO INCUMBENT FEDERAL EN18 TITY.—In the case of a Federal entity that is relo19 cating operations to frequencies assigned to an in20 cumbent Federal entity in order for such entities to 

21 share such frequencies, to transfer an amount to the 

22 incumbent Federal entity for any purposes permitted 

23 under paragraph (1). The transferred amount shall 

24 remain available to the incumbent Federal entity 

25 until expended. 


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1 ‘‘(d) PROHIBITION ON DUPLICATIVE PAYMENTS.—If 

2 the Commission receives notice under section 

3 113(g)(4)(A)(ii) of a discontinuance of operations on or 

4 relocation from eligible frequencies by a Federal entity 

5 that has received, from the Spectrum Relocation Fund in 

6 accordance with section 118(d)(3), relocation or sharing 

7 costs related to pre-auction estimates or research with re8 spect to such frequencies, the Director of OMB shall de9 duct from the amount to be transferred to such entity 

10 under subsection (b) an amount equal to such costs and 

11 shall transfer such amount to the Spectrum Relocation 

12 Fund.’’. 

13 (f) DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE SPECTRUM.—Section 

14 1062(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act for 

15 Fiscal Year 2000 (Public Law 106–65) does not apply to 

16 frequencies with respect to which the Federal Communica17 tions Commission has received notice under section 

18 113(g)(4)(A)(ii) of the National Telecommunications and 

19 Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 

20 923(g)(4)(A)(ii)). 

21 SEC. 3. COSTS OF INCUMBENT FEDERAL ENTITIES RE22 LATED TO SPECTRUM SHARING. 

23 (a) DESCRIPTION OF ELIGIBLE FEDERAL ENTI24 TIES.—Section 113(g)(1) of the National TelecommuniVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:40 Apr 07, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S887.IS S887

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1 cations and Information Administration Organization Act 

2 (47 U.S.C. 923(g)(1)) is amended— 

3 (1) by striking ‘‘authorized to use a band of eli4 gible frequencies described in paragraph (2)’’; 

5 (2) by striking ‘‘spectrum frequencies’’ the first 

6 place it appears and inserting ‘‘eligible frequencies 

7 described in paragraph (2)’’; and 

8 (3) by striking ‘‘spectrum frequencies’’ the sec9 ond place it appears and inserting ‘‘eligible fre10 quencies described in such paragraph’’. 

11 (b) DEFINITION OF RELOCATION OR SHARING

12 COSTS.—Section 113(g)(3)(A) of the National Tele13 communications and Information Administration Organi14 zation Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)(3)(A)) is amended— 

15 (1) in clause (iv)(II), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

16 end; 

17 (2) in clause (v), by striking the period and in18 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

20 ‘‘(vi) the costs incurred by an incum21 bent Federal entity to accommodate shar22 ing the spectrum frequencies assigned to 

23 such entity with a Federal entity the oper24 ations of which are being relocated from el25 igible frequencies described in paragraph 


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1 (2), unless the Commission receives notice 

2 under paragraph (4)(A)(ii)(II) with respect 

3 to the relocation of such operations.’’. 

4 (c) SPECTRUM RELOCATION FUND.—Section 118 of 

5 the National Telecommunications and Information Ad6 ministration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 928) is amend7 ed— 

8 (1) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘with respect 

9 to’’ and all that follows and inserting the following: 

10 ‘‘with respect to— 

11 ‘‘(1) relocation from or sharing of such eligible 

12 frequencies; or 

13 ‘‘(2) in the case of an incumbent Federal entity 

14 described in section 113(g)(3)(A)(vi), accommo15 dating sharing the spectrum frequencies assigned to 

16 such entity with a Federal entity the operations of 

17 which are being relocated from such eligible fre18 quencies.’’; and 

19 (2) in subsection (d)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting ‘‘(or, 

21 in the case of an incumbent Federal entity de22 scribed in section 113(g)(3)(A)(vi), the eligible 

23 Federal entity the operations of which are being 

24 relocated has submitted such a plan)’’ after 

25 ‘‘transition plan’’; and 


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1 (B) in paragraph (3)(B)(ii), by inserting 

2 ‘‘except in the case of an incumbent Federal en3 tity described in section 113(g)(3)(A)(vi),’’ be4 fore ‘‘the transition plan’’. 

Æ 


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