IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3310 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 4, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to consolidate 

the reporting obligations of the Federal Communications 

Commission in order to improve congressional oversight 

and reduce reporting burdens. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Communica3 tions Commission Consolidated Reporting Act of 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

5 Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

6 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 14. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the last quarter of every even10 numbered year, the Commission shall publish on its 

11 website and submit to the Committee on Energy and Com12 merce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

13 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

14 a report on the state of the communications marketplace. 

15 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required by sub16 section (a) shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) assess the state of competition in the com18 munications marketplace, including competition to 

19 deliver voice, video, audio, and data services among 

20 providers of telecommunications, providers of com21 mercial mobile service (as defined in section 332), 

22 multichannel video programming distributors (as de23 fined in section 602), broadcast stations, providers 

24 of satellite communications, Internet service pro25 viders, and other providers of communications serv26 ices; 


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1 ‘‘(2) assess the state of deployment of commu2 nications capabilities, including advanced tele3 communications capability (as defined in section 706 

4 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 

5 1302)), regardless of the technology used for such 

6 deployment, including whether advanced tele7 communications capability is being deployed to all 

8 Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion; 

9 ‘‘(3) assess whether laws, regulations, or regu10 latory practices (whether those of the Federal Gov11 ernment, States, political subdivisions of States, In12 dian tribes or tribal organizations (as such terms are 

13 defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 

14 and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b)), or 

15 foreign governments) pose a barrier to competitive 

16 entry into the communications marketplace or to the 

17 competitive expansion of existing providers of com18 munications services; 

19 ‘‘(4) describe the agenda of the Commission for 

20 the next 2-year period for addressing the challenges 

21 and opportunities in the communications market22 place that were identified through the assessments 

23 under paragraphs (1) through (3); and 

24 ‘‘(5) describe the actions that the Commission 

25 has taken in pursuit of the agenda described pursuVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:28 Jun 05, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3310.RFS H3310

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1 ant to paragraph (4) in the previous report sub2 mitted under this section. 

3 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) ASSESSING COMPETITION.—In assessing 

5 the state of competition under subsection (b)(1), the 

6 Commission shall consider all forms of competition, 

7 including the effect of intermodal competition, facili8 ties-based competition, and competition from new 

9 and emergent communications services, including the 

10 provision of content and communications using the 

11 Internet. 

12 ‘‘(2) ASSESSING DEPLOYMENT.—In assessing 

13 the state of deployment under subsection (b)(2), the 

14 Commission shall compile a list of geographical 

15 areas that are not served by any provider of ad16 vanced telecommunications capability. 

17 ‘‘(3) INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS AND DEMO18 GRAPHIC INFORMATION.—The Commission may use 

19 readily available data to draw appropriate compari20 sons between the United States communications 

21 marketplace and the international communications 

22 marketplace and to correlate its assessments with 

23 demographic information. 

24 ‘‘(4) CONSIDERING SMALL BUSINESSES.—In as25 sessing the state of competition under subsection 


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1 (b)(1) and regulatory barriers under subsection 

2 (b)(3), the Commission shall consider market entry 

3 barriers for entrepreneurs and other small busi4 nesses in the communications marketplace in accord5 ance with the national policy under section 257(b).’’. 

6 SEC. 3. CONSOLIDATION OF REDUNDANT REPORTS; CON7 FORMING AMENDMENTS. 

8 (a) ORBIT ACT REPORT.—Section 646 of the Com9 munications Satellite Act of 1962 (47 U.S.C. 765e; 114 

10 Stat. 57) is repealed. 

11 (b) SATELLITE COMPETITION REPORT.—Section 4 of 

12 Public Law 109–34 (47 U.S.C. 703) is repealed. 

13 (c) INTERNATIONAL BROADBAND DATA REPORT.— 

14 Section 103 of the Broadband Data Improvement Act (47 

15 U.S.C. 1303) is amended— 

16 (1) by striking subsection (b); and 

17 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) through (e) 

18 as subsections (b) through (d), respectively. 

19 (d) STATUS OF COMPETITION IN THE MARKET FOR

20 THE DELIVERY OF VIDEO PROGRAMMING REPORT.—Sec21 tion 628 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 

22 548) is amended— 

23 (1) by striking subsection (g); 

24 (2) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub25 section (g); and 


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1 (3) by transferring subsection (g) (as redesig2 nated) so that it appears after subsection (f). 

3 (e) REPORT ON CABLE INDUSTRY PRICES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 623 of the Commu5 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 543) is amended— 

6 (A) by striking subsection (k); and 

7 (B) by redesignating subsections (l) 

8 through (n) as subsections (k) through (m), re9 spectively. 

10 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

11 613(a)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 

12 U.S.C. 533(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘623(l)’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘623(k)’’. 

14 (f) TRIENNIAL REPORT IDENTIFYING AND ELIMI15 NATING MARKET ENTRY BARRIERS FOR ENTRE16 PRENEURS AND OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES.—Section 

17 257 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 257) 

18 is amended by striking subsection (c). 

19 (g) SECTION 706 REPORT.—Section 706 of the Tele20 communications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 1302) is amend21 ed— 

22 (1) in subsection (b)— 

23 (A) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘If the 

24 Commission’s determination is negative, it’’ and 

25 inserting ‘‘If the Commission determines in its 


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1 report under section 14 of the Communications 

2 Act of 1934 that advanced telecommunications 

3 capability is not being deployed to all Ameri4 cans in a reasonable and timely fashion, the 

5 Commission’’; and 

6 (B) by striking the first and second sen7 tences; 

8 (2) by striking subsection (c); 

9 (3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘this sub10 section’’ and inserting ‘‘this section’’; and 

11 (4) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub12 section (c). 

13 (h) STATE OF COMPETITIVE MARKET CONDITIONS

14 WITH RESPECT TO COMMERCIAL MOBILE RADIO SERV15 ICES.—Section 332(c)(1)(C) of the Communications Act 

16 of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(c)(1)(C)) is amended by striking 

17 the first and second sentences. 

18 (i) PREVIOUSLY ELIMINATED ANNUAL REPORT.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Commu20 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 154) is amended— 

21 (A) by striking subsection (k); and 

22 (B) by redesignating subsections (l) 

23 through (o) as subsections (k) through (n), re24 spectively. 


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1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Commu2 nications Act of 1934 is amended— 

3 (A) in section 9(i), by striking ‘‘In the 

4 Commission’s annual report, the Commission 

5 shall prepare an analysis of its progress in de6 veloping such systems and’’ and inserting ‘‘The 

7 Commission’’; and 

8 (B) in section 309(j)(8)(B), by striking the 

9 last sentence. 

10 (j) ADDITIONAL OUTDATED REPORTS.—The Com11 munications Act of 1934 is further amended— 

12 (1) in section 4— 

13 (A) in subsection (b)(2)(B)(ii), by striking 

14 ‘‘and shall furnish notice of such action’’ and 

15 all that follows through ‘‘subject of the waiver’’; 

16 and 

17 (B) in subsection (g), by striking para18 graph (2); 

19 (2) in section 215— 

20 (A) by striking subsection (b); and 

21 (B) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub22 section (b); 

23 (3) in section 227(e), by striking paragraph (4); 

24 (4) in section 309(j)— 

25 (A) by striking paragraph (12); and 


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1 (B) in paragraph (15)(C), by striking 

2 clause (iv); 

3 (5) in section 331(b), by striking the last sen4 tence; 

5 (6) in section 336(e), by amending paragraph 

6 (4) to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—The Commission shall annually 

8 advise the Congress on the amounts collected pursu9 ant to the program required by this subsection.’’; 

10 (7) in section 339(c), by striking paragraph (1); 

11 (8) in section 396— 

12 (A) by striking subsection (i); 

13 (B) in subsection (k)— 

14 (i) in paragraph (1), by striking sub15 paragraph (F); and 

16 (ii) in paragraph (3)(B)(iii), by strik17 ing subclause (V); 

18 (C) in subsection (l)(1)(B), by striking 

19 ‘‘shall be included’’ and all that follows through 

20 ‘‘The audit report’’; and 

21 (D) by striking subsection (m); 

22 (9) in section 398(b)(4), by striking the third 

23 sentence; 

24 (10) in section 624A(b)(1)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘REPORT; REGULATIONS’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘REGULATIONS’’; 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘Within 1 year after’’ and 

4 all that follows through ‘‘on means of assuring’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘The Commission shall issue such 

6 regulations as are necessary to assure’’; and 

7 (C) by striking ‘‘Within 180 days after’’ 

8 and all that follows through ‘‘to assure such 

9 compatibility.’’; and 

10 (11) in section 713, by striking subsection (a). 

11 SEC. 4. EFFECT ON AUTHORITY. 

12 Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 

13 Act shall be construed to expand or contract the authority 

14 of the Federal Communications Commission. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 30, 2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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