SEC. 2. RECOVERY BY STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL OF 
CERTAIN FORFEITURE PENALTIES DETER-
MINED BY FCC. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 227(b) of the Commu-
nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 227(b)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(5) RECOVERY
BY
STATE
ATTORNEYS
GEN-
ERAL OF FORFEITURE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS 
WITH INTENT.— 
‘‘(A) CIVIL ACTION.—In any case in which 
a State attorney general has reason to believe 
that an interest of the residents of such State 
has been adversely affected by a violation de-
scribed in paragraph (4)(B) for which the Com-
mission has determined a forfeiture penalty 
under such paragraph, the State attorney gen-
eral may bring a civil action on behalf of the 
residents of such State exclusively in a district 
court of the United States of appropriate juris-
diction to recover any unpaid amount of such 
forfeiture penalty. 
‘‘(B) DEPOSIT OF FUNDS IN TREASURY; 
RETENTION OF COSTS.— 
‘‘(i) DEPOSIT.—Except as provided in 
clause (ii), a State attorney general shall, 
not later than 30 days after recovering any 
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funds in a civil action under subparagraph 
(A), deposit such funds in the general fund 
of the Treasury of the United States for 
the sole purpose of deficit reduction. 
‘‘(ii) RETENTION.—A State attorney 
general who recovers any funds in a civil 
action under subparagraph (A) may retain 
an amount of such funds equal to the 
amount of costs incurred by the State at-
torney general in bringing such action. 
‘‘(C) 
CONSOLIDATION
OF
ACTIONS 
BROUGHT BY TWO OR MORE STATE ATTORNEYS 
GENERAL.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—Except as pro-
vided in clause (ii), whenever a civil action 
under subparagraph (A) is pending and 
another civil action or actions are filed 
under such subparagraph in a different 
district court or courts of the United 
States that involve one or more common 
questions of fact, a defendant in such ac-
tions may elect for all such actions (or, if 
the Attorney General of the United States 
has intervened in two or more such actions 
under subparagraph (D), the Attorney 
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General of the United States may elect for 
all such actions in which the Attorney Gen-
eral of the United States has intervened) 
to be transferred for the purposes of con-
solidated pretrial proceedings and trial to 
the United States District Court for the 
District of Columbia. 
‘‘(ii) 
EXCEPTION.—An 
action 
de-
scribed in clause (i) may not be transferred 
under such clause if pretrial proceedings in 
such action have been concluded before a 
subsequent action described in such clause 
is filed by a State attorney general. Noth-
ing in this clause may be construed to pro-
hibit the transfer of any other action de-
scribed in clause (i). 
‘‘(D) NOTICE TO AND INTERVENTION BY 
ATTORNEY
GENERAL
OF
THE
UNITED 
STATES.— 
‘‘(i) NOTICE.—A State attorney gen-
eral shall provide prior written notice of 
any civil action under subparagraph (A) to 
the Attorney General of the United States 
and provide the Attorney General of the 
United States a copy of the complaint of 
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the State attorney general in such action, 
except in any case in which such prior no-
tice is not feasible, in which case the State 
attorney general shall serve such notice im-
mediately upon filing such action. 
‘‘(ii) RIGHT TO INTERVENE.—The At-
torney General of the United States shall 
have the right to intervene in a civil action 
filed by a State attorney general under 
subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(iii) EFFECT OF INTERVENTION.— 
‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—If the Attor-
ney General of the United States in-
tervenes in an action filed by a State 
attorney general under subparagraph 
(A), the Attorney General of the 
United States shall have the primary 
responsibility for prosecuting the ac-
tion, and shall not be bound by an act 
of the State attorney general. The 
State attorney general shall have the 
right to continue as a party to the ac-
tion, subject to the limitations set 
forth in subclauses (II) through (IV). 
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‘‘(II) DISMISSAL.—The Attorney 
General of the United States may dis-
miss the action notwithstanding the 
objections of the State attorney gen-
eral if the State attorney general has 
been notified by the Attorney General 
of the United States of the filing of 
the motion and the court has provided 
the State attorney general with an op-
portunity for a hearing on the motion. 
‘‘(III) LIMITATION
OF
PARTICI-
PATION
ON
SHOWING
BY
ATTORNEY 
GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES.— 
Upon a showing by the Attorney Gen-
eral of the United States that unre-
stricted 
participation 
during 
the 
course of the litigation by the State 
attorney general would interfere with 
or unduly delay the prosecution of the 
case by the Attorney General of the 
United States, or would be repeti-
tious, irrelevant, or for purposes of 
harassment, the court may, in its dis-
cretion, impose limitations on the par-
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ticipation by the State attorney gen-
eral, such as— 
‘‘(aa) limiting the number of 
witnesses the State attorney gen-
eral may call; 
‘‘(bb) limiting the length of 
the testimony of such witnesses; 
‘‘(cc) limiting the cross-ex-
amination of witnesses by the 
State attorney general; or 
‘‘(dd) otherwise limiting the 
participation by the State attor-
ney general in the litigation. 
‘‘(IV) LIMITATION OF PARTICIPA-
TION ON SHOWING BY DEFENDANT.— 
Upon a showing by the defendant that 
unrestricted participation during the 
course of the litigation by the State 
attorney general would be for pur-
poses of harassment or would cause 
the defendant undue burden or unnec-
essary expense, the court may limit 
the participation by the State attorney 
general in the litigation. 
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‘‘(E) RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN
FEDERAL 
AND STATE ACTIONS.— 
‘‘(i) NO
FEDERAL
ACTION
AFTER 
STATE ACTION FILED.—After a civil action 
under subparagraph (A) has been filed by 
a State attorney general, the Attorney 
General of the United States may not 
bring a separate action under section 
504(a) to recover the same forfeiture pen-
alty against a defendant named in the civil 
action filed by the State attorney general. 
‘‘(ii) NO STATE ACTION AFTER FED-
ERAL ACTION FILED OR INTERVENTION BY 
ATTORNEY
GENERAL
OF
THE
UNITED 
STATES.—If the Attorney General of the 
United States has filed a civil action under 
section 504(a) to recover a forfeiture pen-
alty determined under paragraph (4)(B), a 
State attorney general may not bring a 
civil action under subparagraph (A) to re-
cover the same forfeiture penalty against a 
defendant named in the action filed by the 
Attorney General of the United States. If 
the Attorney General of the United States 
has intervened in a civil action brought by 
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State attorney general by the laws of such State 
to— 
‘‘(i) conduct investigations; 
‘‘(ii) administer oaths or affirmations; 
or 
‘‘(iii) compel attendance of witnesses 
or the production of documentary and 
other evidence. 
‘‘(I) STATE
ATTORNEY
GENERAL
DE-
FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘State at-
torney general’ means the chief legal officer of 
a State.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) in section 227(b)(4)(C), by inserting ‘‘para-
graph (5) or’’ after ‘‘recoverable under’’; and 
(2) in section 504— 
(A) in subsection (a)— 
(i) by inserting ‘‘or as otherwise pro-
vided in section 227(b)(5) of this Act’’ 
after ‘‘under section 503(b)(3) of this 
Act’’; and 
(ii) by striking ‘‘It shall be’’ and in-
serting ‘‘Except as provided in section 
227(b)(5) of this Act, it shall be’’; and 
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(B) in subsection (b), by inserting after 
‘‘such forfeitures’’ the following: ‘‘(or, in the 
case of a suit instituted by a State attorney 
general under section 227(b)(5) of this Act, the 
State attorney general, and the Attorney Gen-
eral of the United States if the Attorney Gen-
eral of the United States has intervened in such 
suit, upon request of the Commission, shall 
take such actions as are necessary to dis-
continue such suit)’’. 
Æ 
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