I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3019 

To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

Organization Act to improve the process of reallocation of spectrum 

from Federal Government uses to commercial uses. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2009 

Mr. INSLEE (for himself, Mr. UPTON, and Mr. BOUCHER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the National Telecommunications and Information 

Administration Organization Act to improve the process 

of reallocation of spectrum from Federal Government 

uses to commercial uses. 

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 ‘‘Spectrum Relocation 

5 Improvement Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF FEDERAL ENTI2 TIES IN THE SPECTRUM RELOCATION PROC3 ESS. 

4 (a) ELIGIBLE FEDERAL ENTITIES.—Section 

5 113(g)(1) of the National Telecommunications and Infor6 mation Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 

7 923(g)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE FEDERAL ENTITIES.—Any Fed9 eral entity, as defined in subsection (i), that operates 

10 a Federal Government station assigned to a band of 

11 eligible frequencies, as described in paragraph (2), 

12 and that incurs relocation costs because of the re13 allocation of frequencies from Federal use to non14 Federal use shall receive payment for such costs 

15 from the Spectrum Relocation Fund if the Federal 

16 entity is found by the Office of Management and 

17 Budget (‘OMB’) to comply with the requirements of 

18 this section and section 118. For purposes of this 

19 paragraph, Federal power agencies exempted under 

20 subsection (c)(4) that choose to relocate from the 

21 frequencies identified for reallocation pursuant to 

22 subsection (a) are eligible to receive payment under 

23 this paragraph.’’. 

24 (b) PUBLIC INFORMATION ON RELOCATION PROC25 ESS.—Section 113(g) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)) is 

26 amended by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (7) 


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1 and by inserting after paragraph (5) the following new 

2 paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(6) PUBLIC NOTICE OF RELOCATION PLANS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) Not later than 60 days after the date 

5 on which the NTIA, on behalf of eligible Fed6 eral entities and after review by OMB, notifies 

7 the Commission of estimated relocation costs 

8 and timelines for such relocation as required by 

9 subsection (g)(4)(A), NTIA shall post on its 

10 website detailed transition plans from each of 

11 the eligible Federal entities. Each Federal enti12 ty’s transition plan shall provide the public with 

13 the following information about its spectrum re14 location requirements: 

15 ‘‘(i) Current use of the spectrum. 

16 ‘‘(ii) Geographic location of the Fed17 eral entities’ facilities or systems. 

18 ‘‘(iii) Frequency bands used by such 

19 facilities or systems, described by geo20 graphic location. 

21 ‘‘(iv) The steps to be taken by the 

22 Federal entity to relocate its current spec23 trum uses from the eligible frequencies, de24 tailed according to timelines for specific 

25 geographic locations in sufficient detail to 


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1 indicate when use of such frequencies at 

2 specific locations will be shared between 

3 the Federal entity and the commercial li4 censee. 

5 ‘‘(v) The specific interactions between 

6 eligible Federal entities and NTIA needed 

7 to implement the transition plan. 

8 ‘‘(vi) The professional staff, including 

9 managers, who are responsible for the Fed10 eral entity’s relocation efforts and who are 

11 authorized to meet and negotiate with 

12 commercial licensees regarding the reloca13 tion process. 

14 ‘‘(vii) The Federal entity’s plans and 

15 timeline for using relocation funds received 

16 from the Spectrum Relocation Fund. 

17 ‘‘(viii) The Federal entity’s plans and 

18 timeline for procuring new equipment and 

19 additional personnel needed for the reloca20 tion. 

21 ‘‘(ix) The Federal entity’s plans and 

22 timeline for field-testing and deploying new 

23 equipment needed in the relocation. 


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1 ‘‘(x) The Federal entity’s plans and 

2 timeline for hiring and relying on contract 

3 personnel, if any. 

4 ‘‘(xi) Risk factors in the relocation 

5 process that could affect the Federal enti6 ty’s fulfillment of its transition plan. 

7 ‘‘(B) To be eligible to receive payment for 

8 relocation costs from the Spectrum Relocation 

9 Fund— 

10 ‘‘(i) Federal entities shall make the 

11 transition plans described in this sub12 section available to NTIA at least 60 days 

13 prior to the date that NTIA must make 

14 such plans publicly available on its website 

15 pursuant to subparagraph (A), in a com16 mon format to be specified by NTIA after 

17 public input; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) each transition plan shall be 

19 evaluated by a standing 3-member tech20 nical panel (in this section referred to as 

21 the ‘Technical Panel’), which shall report 

22 to NTIA and to the Federal entity, within 

23 30 days after the plan’s submission to 

24 NTIA, on the sufficiency of the plan under 

25 this paragraph, including whether the reVerDate Nov 24 2008 07:17 Jun 25, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3019.IH H3019

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1 quired public information is included and 

2 whether proposed timelines and estimated 

3 relocation costs are reasonable. 

4 ‘‘(C) The Director of OMB, the Adminis5 trator of NTIA, and the Chairman of the FCC 

6 shall each appoint one member to the Technical 

7 Panel, and each such member shall be a radio 

8 engineer or technical expert not employed by, or 

9 a paid consultant to, any Federal or State gov10 ernmental agency. NTIA shall adopt regulations 

11 to govern the workings of the Technical Panel 

12 after public notice and comment, subject to 

13 OMB approval, and the members of the Tech14 nical Panel shall be appointed, within 180 days 

15 of the date of enactment of the Spectrum Relo16 cation Improvement Act of 2008. 

17 ‘‘(D) If any of the information otherwise 

18 required in subparagraph (g)(6) is ‘classified in19 formation,’ as that term is defined in section 

20 798(b) of title 18, United States Code, the Fed21 eral entity’s transition plan shall explain the ex22 clusion of any such information as specifically 

23 as possible, shall make all relevant non-classi24 fied information available in its transition plan, 

25 and shall discuss as a risk factor the extent of 


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1 the classified information and the effect on the 

2 relocation process of the classified informa3 tion.’’. 

4 (c) SHARING AND COORDINATION OF SPECTRUM BE5 TWEEN COMMERCIAL LICENSEES AND FEDERAL ENTI6 TIES DURING RELOCATION TRANSITION.—Section 118 of 

7 such Act (47 U.S.C. 928) is amended by adding at the 

8 end the following new subsections: 

9 ‘‘(f) ELIGIBILITY FOR PAYMENT OF RELOCATION

10 COSTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) SPECTRUM SHARING.—To be eligible to re12 ceive payment for relocation costs from the Spec13 trum Relocation Fund, a Federal entity must— 

14 ‘‘(A) in its transition plan for relocating its 

15 current spectrum uses, provide, to the fullest 

16 extent possible, for sharing and coordination of 

17 eligible frequencies with commercial licensees, 

18 including reasonable accommodation by the 

19 Federal entity for the use of eligible frequencies 

20 by the commercial licensee during the period 

21 that the Federal entity is relocating its spec22 trum uses (in this subsection referred to as the 

23 ‘transition period’); 

24 ‘‘(B) during the transition period, make 

25 itself available, within 30 days after a written 


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1 request, for negotiation and discussion with 

2 commercial licensees; and 

3 ‘‘(C) during the transition period, make 

4 available to a commercial licensee with appro5 priate security clearances any ‘classified infor6 mation’ as that term is defined in section 

7 798(b) of title 18, United States Code, regard8 ing the relocation process, on a need-to-know 

9 basis, to assist the commercial licensee in the 

10 relocation process with that Federal entity or 

11 other Federal entities. 

12 ‘‘(2) TIMELY AND SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION

13 OF RELOCATION.—In addition to the conditions of 

14 paragraph (1), to be eligible to receive payment for 

15 relocation costs from the Spectrum Relocation Fund, 

16 a Federal entity must— 

17 ‘‘(A) complete the relocation of its current 

18 spectrum uses not later than 1 year after the 

19 date upon which funds are transferred to the 

20 entity to fund the relocation unless, prior to the 

21 date that NTIA is required to post publicly the 

22 Federal entity’s transition plan, the Federal en23 tity receives written approval from OMB, with 

24 advice of NTIA, for a different time period for 

25 completion; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) make available to NTIA, not later 

2 than 15 days prior to the date that is the half3 way point of the time period described in sub4 paragraph (A), a complete update of its transi5 tion plan. NTIA shall post such update publicly 

6 on its website not later than the date that is the 

7 halfway point of the time period described in 

8 subparagraph (A). 

9 ‘‘(3) Nothing in paragraphs (1) or (2) shall be 

10 construed to adversely affect critical communications 

11 related to the mission of any Federal entity. 

12 ‘‘(4) Subject to subsection (d), payments for re13 location costs from the Spectrum Relocation Fund 

14 shall be made to an eligible Federal entity not later 

15 than 30 days after the grant of the first license fol16 lowing the close of the auction. 

17 ‘‘(g) DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) If, during the spectrum relocation process, 

19 a dispute arises over the execution, timing, or cost 

20 of the Federal entity’s transition plan, either the 

21 Federal entity or the affected commercial licensee 

22 may seek resolution of the dispute from a 3-member 

23 dispute resolution board, consisting of a representa24 tive of OMB, NTIA, and the Commission, and 

25 chaired by the representative of OMB. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The dispute resolution board shall meet 

2 with representatives of the Federal entity and the 

3 commercial licensee together to discuss the dispute. 

4 The dispute resolution board may require the parties 

5 to make written submissions to it. The dispute reso6 lution board shall rule on any dispute within 28 days 

7 after the date that the dispute was brought before 

8 it. 

9 ‘‘(3) The dispute resolution board shall be as10 sisted by the Technical Panel described in section 

11 113(g)(6)(C). 

12 ‘‘(4) Subject to OMB approval, NTIA shall 

13 adopt regulations to govern the working of the dis14 pute resolution board and the role of the Technical 

15 Panel after public notice and comment within 180 

16 days after the date of enactment of the Spectrum 

17 Relocation Improvement Act of 2009. 

18 ‘‘(5) Appeals may be taken from decisions of 

19 the dispute resolution board to the United States 

20 Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Cir21 cuit by filing a notice of appeal with that court with22 in 30 days after the date of such decision. Each 

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1 ing attorneys’ fees, for any litigation to enforce this 

2 subsection or any decision rendered under it.’’. 

Æ 


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