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SEC. 307. AUTOMATED SHIP DISTRESS AND SAFETY SYS-
TEMS.
Notwithstanding any provision of the Act, a ship docu-
mented under the laws of the United States operating in
accordance with the Global Maritime Distress and Safety
System provisions of the Safety of Life at Sea Convention
shall not be required to be equipped with a radio telegraphy
station operated by one or more radio officers or operators.
SEC. 308. RESTRICTIONS ON OVER-THE-AIR RECEPTION DE-
VICES.
Within 180 days after the enactment of this Act, the
Commission shall, pursuant to section 303, promulgate reg-
ulations to prohibit restrictions that inhibit a viewer’s abil-
ity to receive video programming services through signal
receiving devices designed for off-the-air reception of tele-
vision broadcast signals or direct broadcast satellite serv-
ices.
SEC. 309. DBS SIGNAL SECURITY.
Section 705(e)(4) of the Act (47 U.S.C. 605(e)) is
amended by inserting after ‘‘satellite cable programming’’
the following: ‘‘or programming of a licensee in the direct
broadcast satellite service’’.
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TITLE IV—EFFECT ON OTHER
LAWS
SEC. 401. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.
(a) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—Parts II
and III of title II of the Communications Act of 1934 (as
added by this Act) shall supersede the Modification of Final
Judgment, except that such part shall not affect—
(1) section I of the Modification of Final Judg-
ment, relating to AT&T reorganization,
(2) section II(A) (including appendix B) and
II(B) of the Modification of Final Judgment, relating
to equal access and nondiscrimination,
(3) section IV(F) and IV(I) of the Modification
of Final Judgment, with respect to the requirements
included in the definitions of ‘‘exchange access’’ and
‘‘information access’’,
(4) section VIII(B) of the Modification of Final
Judgment, relating to printed advertising directories,
(5) section VIII(E) of the Modification of Final
Judgment, relating to notice to customers of AT&T,
(6) section VIII(F) of the Modification of Final
Judgment, relating to less than equal exchange access,
(7) section VIII(G) of the Modification of Final
Judgment, relating to transfer of AT&T assets, in-
164
cluding all exceptions granted thereunder before the
date of the enactment of this Act, and
(8) with respect to the parts of the Modification
of Final Judgment described in paragraphs (1)
through (7)—
(A) section III of the Modification of Final
Judgment, relating to applicability and effect,
(B) section IV of the Modification of Final
Judgment, relating to definitions,
(C) section V of the Modification of Final
Judgment, relating to compliance,
(D) section VI of the Modification of Final
Judgment, relating to visitorial provisions,
(E) section VII of the Modification of Final
Judgment, relating to retention of jurisdiction,
and
(F) section VIII(I) of the Modification of
Final Judgment, relating to the court’s sua
sponte authority.
(b) ANTITRUST LAWS.—Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to modify, impair, or supersede the applicability
of any of the antitrust laws.
(c) FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL LAW.—(1) Except
as provided in paragraph (2), parts II and III of title II
of the Communications Act of 1934 shall not be construed
165
to modify, impair, or supersede Federal, State, or local law
unless expressly so provided in such part.
(2) Parts II and III of title II of the Communications
Act of 1934 shall supersede State and local law to the extent
that such law would impair or prevent the operation of such
part.
(d) TERMINATION.—The provisions of the GTE consent
decree shall cease to be effective on the date of enactment
of this Act. For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘‘GTE
consent decree’’ means the order entered on December 21,
1984 (as restated on January 11, 1985), in United States
v. GTE Corporation, Civil Action No. 83–1298, in the
United States District Court for the District of Columbia,
and includes any judgment or order with respect to such
action entered on or after December 21, 1984.
(e) INAPPLICABILITY OF FINAL JUDGMENT TO WIRE-
LESS SUCCESSORS.—No person shall be subject to the provi-
sions of the Modification of Final Judgment by reason of
having acquired wireless exchange assets or operations pre-
viously owned by a Bell operating company or an affiliate
of a Bell operating company.
(f) ANTITRUST LAWS.—As used in this section, the
term ‘‘antitrust laws’’ has the meaning given it in sub-
section (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C.
12(a)), except that such term includes the Act of June 19,
166
1936 (49 Stat. 1526; 15 U.S.C. 13 et seq.), commonly
known as the Robinson Patman Act, and section 5 of the
Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent
that such section 5 applies to unfair methods of competi-
tion.
SEC. 402. PREEMPTION OF LOCAL TAXATION WITH RESPECT
TO DBS SERVICES.
(a) PREEMPTION.—A provider of direct-to-home sat-
ellite service, or its agent or representative for the sale or
distribution of direct-to-home satellite services, shall be ex-
empt from the collection or remittance, or both, of any tax
or fee, as defined by subsection (b)(4), imposed by any local
taxing jurisdiction with respect to the provision of direct-
to-home satellite services. Nothing in this section shall be
construed to exempt from collection or remittance any tax
or fee on the sale of equipment.
(b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section—
(1) DIRECT-TO-HOME SATELLITE SERVICE.—The
term ‘‘direct-to-home satellite service’’ means the
transmission or broadcasting by satellite of program-
ming directly to the subscribers’ premises without the
use of ground receiving or distribution equipment, ex-
cept at the subscribers’ premises or in the uplink
process to the satellite.
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(2) DIRECT-TO-HOME SATELLITE SERVICE PRO-
VIDER.—For purposes of this section, a ‘‘provider of
direct-to-home satellite service’’ means a person who
transmits or broadcasts direct-to-home satellite serv-
ices.
(3) LOCAL
TAXING
JURISDICTION.—The term
‘‘local taxing jurisdiction’’ means any municipality,
city, county, township, parish, transportation dis-
trict, or assessment jurisdiction, or any other local ju-
risdiction with the authority to impose a tax or fee.
(4) TAX OR FEE.—The terms ‘‘tax’’ and ‘‘fee’’
mean any local sales tax, local use tax, local intangi-
ble tax, local income tax, business license tax, utility
tax, privilege tax, gross receipts tax, excise tax, fran-
chise fees, local telecommunications tax, or any other
tax, license, or fee that is imposed for the privilege of
doing business, regulating, or raising revenue for a
local taxing jurisdiction.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall be effective
as of June 1, 1994.
TITLE V—DEFINITIONS
SEC. 501. DEFINITIONS.
(a) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the Act
(47 U.S.C. 153) is amended—
(1) in subsection (r)—
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(A) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘means’’; and
(B) by inserting before the period at the end
the following: ‘‘, or (B) service provided through
a system of switches, transmission equipment, or
other facilities (or combination thereof) by which
a subscriber can originate and terminate a tele-
communications service within a State but
which does not result in the subscriber incurring
a telephone toll charge’’; and
(2) by adding at the end thereof the following:
‘‘(35) AFFILIATE.—The term ‘affiliate’, when
used in relation to any person or entity, means an-
other person or entity who owns or controls, is owned
or controlled by, or is under common ownership or
control with, such person or entity.
‘‘(36) BELL
OPERATING
COMPANY.—The term
‘Bell operating company’ means—
‘‘(A) Bell Telephone Company of Nevada,
Illinois Bell Telephone Company, Indiana Bell
Telephone Company, Incorporated, Michigan
Bell Telephone Company, New England Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company, New Jersey Bell
Telephone Company, New York Telephone Com-
pany, U S West Communications Company,
South Central Bell Telephone Company, South-
169
ern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company,
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, The Bell
Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, The Chesa-
peake and Potomac Telephone Company, The
Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of
Maryland, The Chesapeake and Potomac Tele-
phone Company of Virginia, The Chesapeake
and Potomac Telephone Company of West Vir-
ginia, The Diamond State Telephone Company,
The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, The Pacific
Telephone and Telegraph Company, or Wiscon-
sin Telephone Company;
‘‘(B) any successor or assign of any such
company that provides telephone exchange serv-
ice.
‘‘(37) CABLE SYSTEM.—The term ‘cable system’
has the meaning given such term in section 602(7) of
this Act.
‘‘(38) CUSTOMER
PREMISES
EQUIPMENT.—The
term ‘customer premises equipment’ means equipment
employed on the premises of a person (other than a
carrier) to originate, route, or terminate tele-
communications.
‘‘(39) DIALING PARITY.—The term ‘dialing par-
ity’ means that a person that is not an affiliated en-
170
terprise of a local exchange carrier is able to provide
telecommunications services in such a manner that
customers have the ability to route automatically,
without the use of any access code, their telecommuni-
cations to the telecommunications services provider of
the customer’s designation from among 2 or more tele-
communications services providers (including such
local exchange carrier).
‘‘(40) EXCHANGE ACCESS.—The term ‘exchange
access’ means the offering of telephone exchange serv-
ices or facilities for the purpose of the origination or
termination of interLATA services.
‘‘(41) INFORMATION SERVICE.—The term ‘infor-
mation service’ means the offering of a capability for
generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, process-
ing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available infor-
mation via telecommunications, and includes elec-
tronic publishing, but does not include any use of any
such capability for the management, control, or oper-
ation of a telecommunications system or the manage-
ment of a telecommunications service.
‘‘(42) 
INTERLATA
SERVICE.—The 
term
‘interLATA service’ means telecommunications be-
tween a point located in a local access and transport
area and a point located outside such area.
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‘‘(43) LOCAL ACCESS AND TRANSPORT AREA.—
The term ‘local access and transport area’ or ‘LATA’
means a contiguous geographic area—
‘‘(A) established by a Bell operating com-
pany such that no exchange area includes points
within more than 1 metropolitan statistical
area, consolidated metropolitan statistical area,
or State, except as expressly permitted under the
Modification of Final Judgment before the date
of the enactment of this paragraph; or
‘‘(B) established or modified by a Bell oper-
ating company after the date of enactment of
this paragraph and approved by the Commis-
sion.
‘‘(44) LOCAL
EXCHANGE
CARRIER.—The term
‘local exchange carrier’ means any person that is en-
gaged in the provision of telephone exchange service or
exchange access. Such term does not include a person
insofar as such person is engaged in the provision of
a commercial mobile service under section 332(c), ex-
cept to the extent that the Commission finds that such
service as provided by such person in a State is a re-
placement for a substantial portion of the wireline
telephone exchange service within such State.
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‘‘(45) MODIFICATION OF FINAL JUDGMENT.—The
term ‘Modification of Final Judgment’ means the
order entered August 24, 1982, in the antitrust action
styled United States v. Western Electric, Civil Action
No. 82–0192, in the United States District Court for
the District of Columbia, and includes any judgment
or order with respect to such action entered on or
after August 24, 1982.
‘‘(46) NUMBER PORTABILITY.—The term ‘number
portability’ means the ability of users of telecommuni-
cations services to retain existing telecommunications
numbers without impairment of quality, reliability,
or convenience when changing from one provider of
telecommunications services to another, as long as
such user continues to be located within the area
served by the same central office of the carrier from
which the user is changing.
‘‘(47) RURAL TELEPHONE COMPANY.—The term
‘rural telephone company’ means a local exchange
carrier operating entity to the extent that such en-
tity—
‘‘(A) provides common carrier service to
any local exchange carrier study area that does
not include either—
173
‘‘(i) any incorporated place of 10,000
inhabitants or more, or any part thereof,
based on the most recent available popu-
lation statistics of the Bureau of the Census;
or
‘‘(ii) any territory, incorporated or un-
incorporated, included in an urbanized
area, as defined by the Bureau of the Cen-
sus as of August 10, 1993;
‘‘(B) provides telephone exchange service,
including telephone exchange access service, to
fewer than 50,000 access lines;
‘‘(C) provides telephone exchange service to
any local exchange carrier study area with fewer
than 100,000 access lines; or
‘‘(D) has less than 15 percent of its access
lines in communities of more than 50,000 on the
date of enactment of this paragraph.
‘‘(48) TELECOMMUNICATIONS.—The term ‘tele-
communications’ means the transmission, between or
among points specified by the subscriber, of informa-
tion of the subscriber’s choosing, without change in
the form or content of the information as sent and re-
ceived, by means of an electromagnetic transmission
medium, including all instrumentalities, facilities,
174
apparatus, and services (including the collection, stor-
age, forwarding, switching, and delivery of such in-
formation) essential to such transmission.
‘‘(49) TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT.—The
term ‘telecommunications equipment’ means equip-
ment, other than customer premises equipment, used
by a carrier to provide telecommunications services,
and includes software integral to such equipment (in-
cluding upgrades).
‘‘(50) 
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
SERVICE.—The
term ‘telecommunications service’ means the offering,
on a common carrier basis, of telecommunications fa-
cilities, or of telecommunications by means of such fa-
cilities. Such term does not include an information
service.’’.
(b) STYLISTIC CONSISTENCY.—Section 3 of the Act (47
U.S.C. 153) is amended—
(1) in subsections (e) and (n), by redesignating
clauses (1), (2) and (3), as clauses (A), (B), and (C),
respectively;
(2) in subsection (w), by redesignating para-
graphs (1) through (5) as subparagraphs (A) through
(E), respectively;
175
(3) in subsections (y) and (z), by redesignating
paragraphs (1) and (2) as subparagraphs (A) and
(B), respectively;
(4) by redesignating subsections (a) through (ff)
as paragraphs (1) through (32);
(5) by indenting such paragraphs 2 em spaces;
(6) by inserting after the designation of each
such paragraph—
(A) a heading, in a form consistent with the
form of the heading of this subsection, consisting
of the term defined by such paragraph, or the
first term so defined if such paragraph defines
more than one term; and
(B) the words ‘‘The term’’;
(7) by changing the first letter of each defined
term in such paragraphs from a capital to a lower
case letter (except for ‘‘United States’’, ‘‘State’’,
‘‘State commission’’, and ‘‘Great Lakes Agreement’’);
and
(8) by reordering such paragraphs and the addi-
tional paragraphs added by subsection (a) in alpha-
betical order based on the headings of such para-
graphs and renumbering such paragraphs as so reor-
dered.
176
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Act is amend-
ed—
(1) in section 225(a)(1), by striking ‘‘section
3(h)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3’’;
(2) in section 332(d), by striking ‘‘section 3(n)’’
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘section 3’’; and
(3) in sections 621(d)(3), 636(d), and 637(a)(2),
by striking ‘‘section 3(v)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3’’.
TITLE VI—SMALL BUSINESS
COMPLAINT PROCEDURE
SEC. 601. COMPLAINT PROCEDURE.
(a) PROCEDURE REQUIRED.—The Federal Commu-
nications Commission shall establish procedures for the re-
ceipt and review of complaints concerning violations of the
Communications Act of 1934, and the rules and regulations
thereunder, that are likely to result, or have resulted, as a
result of the violation, in material financial harm to a pro-
vider of telemessaging service, or other small business en-
gaged in providing an information service or other tele-
communications service. Such procedures shall be estab-
lished within 120 days after the date of enactment of this
Act.
(b) DEADLINES FOR PROCEDURES; SANCTIONS.—The
procedures under this section shall ensure that the Commis-
sion will make a final determination with respect to any
177
such complaint within 120 days after receipt of the com-
plaint. If the complaint contains an appropriate showing
that the alleged violation occurred, as determined by the
Commission in accordance with such regulations, the Com-
mission shall, within 60 days after receipt of the complaint,
order the common carrier and its affiliates to cease engag-
ing in such violation pending such final determination. In
addition, the Commission may exercise its authority to im-
pose other penalties or sanctions, to the extent otherwise
provided by law.
(c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, a small
business shall be any business entity that, along with any
affiliate or subsidiary, has fewer than 300 employees.
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