IIB 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 599 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JANUARY 24, 2017 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Communica-
tions Commission Consolidated Reporting Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 
Title I of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘SEC. 13. COMMUNICATIONS MARKETPLACE REPORT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the last quarter of every even- 
numbered year, the Commission shall publish on its 
website and submit to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 
a report on the state of the communications marketplace. 
‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each report required by sub-
section (a) shall— 
‘‘(1) assess the state of competition in the com-
munications marketplace, including competition to 
deliver voice, video, audio, and data services among 
providers of telecommunications, providers of com-
mercial mobile service (as defined in section 332), 
multichannel video programming distributors (as de-
fined in section 602), broadcast stations, providers 
of satellite communications, Internet service pro-
viders, and other providers of communications serv-
ices; 
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‘‘(2) assess the state of deployment of commu-
nications 
capabilities, 
including 
advanced 
tele-
communications capability (as defined in section 706 
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 
1302)), regardless of the technology used for such 
deployment, 
including 
whether 
advanced 
tele-
communications capability is being deployed to all 
Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion; 
‘‘(3) assess whether laws, regulations, or regu-
latory practices (whether those of the Federal Gov-
ernment, States, political subdivisions of States, In-
dian tribes or tribal organizations (as such terms are 
defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 
and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)), or 
foreign governments) pose a barrier to competitive 
entry into the communications marketplace or to the 
competitive expansion of existing providers of com-
munications services; 
‘‘(4) describe the agenda of the Commission for 
the next 2-year period for addressing the challenges 
and opportunities in the communications market-
place that were identified through the assessments 
under paragraphs (1) through (3); and 
‘‘(5) describe the actions that the Commission 
has taken in pursuit of the agenda described pursu-
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ant to paragraph (4) in the previous report sub-
mitted under this section. 
‘‘(c) EXTENSION.—If the President designates a 
Commissioner as Chairman of the Commission during the 
last quarter of an even-numbered year, the portion of the 
report required by subsection (b)(4) may be published on 
the website of the Commission and submitted to the Com-
mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation of the Senate as an addendum during 
the first quarter of the following odd-numbered year. 
‘‘(d) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) ASSESSING
COMPETITION.—In assessing 
the state of competition under subsection (b)(1), the 
Commission shall consider all forms of competition, 
including the effect of intermodal competition, facili-
ties-based competition, and competition from new 
and emergent communications services, including the 
provision of content and communications using the 
Internet. 
‘‘(2) ASSESSING
DEPLOYMENT.—In assessing 
the state of deployment under subsection (b)(2), the 
Commission shall compile a list of geographical 
areas that are not served by any provider of ad-
vanced telecommunications capability. 
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‘‘(3) INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS AND DEMO-
GRAPHIC INFORMATION.—The Commission may use 
readily available data to draw appropriate compari-
sons between the United States communications 
marketplace and the international communications 
marketplace and to correlate its assessments with 
demographic information. 
‘‘(4) CONSIDERING SMALL BUSINESSES.—In as-
sessing the state of competition under subsection 
(b)(1) and regulatory barriers under subsection 
(b)(3), the Commission shall consider market entry 
barriers for entrepreneurs and other small busi-
nesses in the communications marketplace in accord-
ance with the national policy under section 257(b). 
‘‘(5) CONSIDERING CABLE RATES.—In assess-
ing the state of competition under subsection (b)(1), 
the Commission shall include in each report required 
by subsection (a) the aggregate average total 
amount paid by cable systems in compensation 
under section 325 during the period covered by such 
report.’’. 
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