I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4700
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit unjust enrichment
in the award of licenses by means of pioneer preferences.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 30, 1994
Mr. DINGELL (for himself, Mr. MOORHEAD, Mr. MARKEY, and Mr. SABO) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit un-
just enrichment in the award of licenses by means of
pioneer preferences.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pioneer Preference Re-
form Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. PIONEER PREFERENCES.
(a) RECOVERY OF VALUE OF PUBLIC SPECTRUM.—
(1) AMENDMENT.—Section 309(j)(6)(G) of the
Communications 
Act 
of 
1934 
(47 
U.S.C.
309(j)(6)(G)) is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(G) be construed to prevent the Commis-
sion from awarding licenses to those persons
who make significant contributions to the devel-
opment of a new telecommunications service or
technology, except that—
‘‘(i) the Commission shall prevent un-
just enrichment of any such person and
shall recover for the public a portion of the
value of the public spectrum resource made
available to such person by requiring such
person to pay a sum equal to not less than
90 percent of highest bid for a license
(awarded under this subsection) that is
most reasonably comparable in terms of
bandwidth, area designation, usage restric-
tions, and other technical characteristics to
the license awarded to such person; and
‘‘(ii) the authority of the Commission
to provide preferential treatment in licens-
ing procedures (by precluding the filing of
mutually exclusive applications) to persons
who make significant contributions to the
development of a new service or to the de-
velopment of new technologies that sub-
stantially enhance an existing service shall
expire on September 30, 1998; or’’.
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made
by paragraph (1) of this subsection shall apply to
any licenses issued on or after June 3, 1994, by the
Federal Communications Commission pursuant to
any licensing procedure that provides preferential
treatment (by precluding the filing of mutually ex-
clusive applications) to persons who make significant
contributions to the development of a new service or
to the development of new technologies that substan-
tially enhance an existing service.
(b) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—The Federal Commu-
nications Commission shall prescribe regulations specify-
ing the procedures and criteria by which the Commission
will evaluate applications for preferential treatment in its
licensing processes (by precluding the filing of mutually
exclusive applications) for persons who make significant
contributions to the development of a new service or to
the development of new technologies that substantially en-
hance an existing service. Such regulations shall—
(1) specify the procedures and criteria by which
the significance of such contributions will be deter-
mined, after an opportunity for review by experts in
the radio sciences drawn from among persons who
are not employees of the Commission or by any ap-
plicant for such preferential treatment;
(2) require the duplication of an applicant’s test
results by independent parties;
(3) include such other procedures as may be
necessary to prevent unjust enrichment by ensuring
that the value of any such contribution justifies any
reduction in the amounts paid for comparable li-
censes under section 309(j) of the Communications
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)); and
(4) be prescribed not later than 6 months after
the date of enactment of this section.
Æ