RETAIN GPS and Satellite Communications Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2166 To provide that certain orders of the Federal Communications Commission shall have no force or effect until certain conditions are satisfied, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 22, 2021 Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To provide that certain orders of the Federal Communica- tions Commission shall have no force or effect until certain conditions are satisfied, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recognizing and En- 4 suring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary for 5 GPS and Satellite Communications Act of 2021’’ or the 6 ‘‘RETAIN GPS and Satellite Communications Act of 7 2021’’. 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Jun 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2166.IS S2166 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2166 IS SEC. 2. CONDITIONS ON COMMERCIAL TERRESTRIAL OPER- 1 ATIONS. 2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 4 means the Federal Communications Commission. 5 (2) COVERED GPS DEVICE.—The term ‘‘covered 6 GPS device’’ means a device— 7 (A) operating to provide, using, or having 8 embedded operations requiring access to the 9 Global Positioning System satellite constella- 10 tion; and 11 (B) that is used by the Federal Govern- 12 ment, a non-Federal entity, a private sector en- 13 tity, or any other person. 14 (3) COVERED ORDER.—The term ‘‘covered 15 order’’ means the order and authorization of the 16 Commission relating to the LightSquared Technical 17 Working Group Report and other matters, adopted 18 on April 19, 2020 (FCC 20–48; IB Docket Nos. 11– 19 109 and 12–340). 20 (4) INTEGRATED PLATFORM.—The term ‘‘inte- 21 grated platform’’ means a device or system that in- 22 tegrates Global Positioning System capability or sat- 23 ellite communications capability into the operation of 24 the device or system, as applicable, in such a man- 25 ner that the Global Positioning System or satellite 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Jun 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2166.IS S2166 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2166 IS communications capability cannot be effectively ret- 1 rofitted without replacing the device or system. 2 (5) SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE.— 3 The term ‘‘satellite communications device’’ means a 4 device— 5 (A) operating to provide, using, or having 6 embedded operations requiring access to sat- 7 ellite communications; and 8 (B) that is used by the Federal Govern- 9 ment, a non-Federal entity, a private sector en- 10 tity, or any other person. 11 (6) TERRESTRIAL OPERATIONS ORDER.—The 12 term ‘‘terrestrial operations order’’— 13 (A) means an order of the Commission au- 14 thorizing an entity to deploy commercial terres- 15 trial operations in the 1525–1559 megahertz 16 band or the 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz band; 17 and 18 (B) includes the covered order. 19 (b) RESTRICTION.—Notwithstanding any terrestrial 20 operations order adopted by the Commission before, on, 21 or after the date of enactment of this Act, no entity may 22 deploy commercial terrestrial operations in the 1525–1559 23 megahertz band or the 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz band 24 until the date that is 90 days after the date on which the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Jun 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2166.IS S2166 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2166 IS Commission determines that the entity has satisfied, or 1 has agreed to satisfy, all of the requirements of this sec- 2 tion, as applicable. 3 (c) REQUIRED UPGRADES AND REPAIRS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to obtain authoriza- 5 tion to deploy commercial terrestrial operations in 6 the 1525–1559 megahertz band or the 1626.5– 7 1660.5 megahertz band, a licensee shall upgrade, re- 8 pair, or replace covered GPS devices and satellite 9 communications devices potentially impacted by 10 those operations, including by bearing the costs of 11 any modification, repair, or replacement of equip- 12 ment, spares, associated ancillary equipment, soft- 13 ware, facilities, operating manuals, training, or com- 14 pliance with regulations, including with regard to— 15 (A) the underlying platform or system in 16 which a Global Positioning System capability is 17 embedded; and 18 (B) satellite communications systems and 19 equipment. 20 (2) REIMBURSABLE COSTS FOR AGENCIES.— 21 Any costs incurred by a Federal agency due to inter- 22 ference with operations, as determined and certified 23 in writing to the Commission by the Federal agency 24 experiencing interference with operations, as a result 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Jun 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2166.IS S2166 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2166 IS of the operations carried out under a terrestrial op- 1 erations order, shall be reimbursed by the licensee, 2 including the full costs of— 3 (A) any engineering, equipment, software, 4 site acquisition, systems design, or construction; 5 (B) any legitimate and prudent transaction 6 expense, including the hiring of any necessary 7 additional staff, including term-limited Federal 8 civil servants and contractor staff; 9 (C) research, engineering, and other re- 10 lated studies; 11 (D) replacing any device or integrated 12 platform that suffers interference as a result of 13 the conduct of commercial terrestrial operations 14 in the 1525–1559 megahertz band or the 15 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz band with a device or 16 integrated platform that can provide the same 17 operational capability, including the currently 18 available version of the device or integrated 19 platform (or a reasonable equivalent); 20 (E) in the case of costs incurred by the 21 Department of Defense, the labor cost of De- 22 partment of Defense personnel or external per- 23 sonnel in engineering, validating, and verifying 24 any required remediation in order to provide 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Jun 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2166.IS S2166 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2166 IS the Department of Defense with the same oper- 1 ational capability for the affected system before 2 terrestrial operation in the 1525–1559 mega- 3 hertz band or the 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz 4 band; 5 (F) in the case of costs incurred by any 6 Federal agency that is a member of the Inter- 7 department Radio Advisory Committee, the 8 labor costs of those Federal agency personnel or 9 external personnel in engineering, validating, 10 and verifying any required remediation in order 11 to provide any Federal agency that is a member 12 of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Com- 13 mittee with the same operational capability for 14 the affected system before terrestrial operation 15 in the 1525–1559 megahertz band or the 16 1626.5–1660.5 megahertz band; and 17 (G) other related expenses reasonably in- 18 curred. 19 (3) REIMBURSABLE COSTS FOR OTHER PER- 20 SONS.—Any costs incurred by a person, including a 21 non-Federal or private sector entity, due to inter- 22 ference with operations, as determined and certified 23 in writing to the Commission by the person experi- 24 encing interference with operations, as a result of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Jun 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2166.IS S2166 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2166 IS the operations carried out under a terrestrial oper- 1 ations order, shall be reimbursed by the licensee, in- 2 cluding the full costs of— 3 (A) any engineering, equipment, software, 4 site acquisition, systems design, or construction; 5 (B) replacement of satellites; 6 (C) any legitimate and prudent transaction 7 expense, including the hiring of any necessary 8 term-limited civil servants and contractor staff; 9 (D) research, engineering, and other re- 10 lated studies; 11 (E) replacing any device or integrated plat- 12 form that suffers interference as a result of the 13 conduct of commercial terrestrial operations in 14 the 1525–1559 megahertz band or the 1626.5– 15 1660.5 megahertz band with a device or inte- 16 grated platform that can provide the same oper- 17 ational capability, including the currently avail- 18 able version of the device or integrated platform 19 (or a reasonable equivalent); 20 (F) the labor costs of personnel in engi- 21 neering, validating, and verifying any required 22 remediation in order to provide the person, 23 company, or other private sector entity with the 24 same operational capability for the affected sys- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Jun 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2166.IS S2166 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2166 IS tem before terrestrial operation in the 1525– 1 1559 megahertz band or the 1626.5–1660.5 2 megahertz band; and 3 (G) other related expenses reasonably in- 4 curred. 5 (4) TRANSFERABILITY OF REIMBURSABLE EX- 6 PENSES TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FROM FED- 7 ERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION ORDER 20– 8 48.—All reimbursable expenses owed to a Federal 9 agency, person, or other private sector entity that 10 are causally attributable to implementing a terres- 11 trial operations order shall transfer to and be borne 12 by any assignee, successor, or purchaser of any li- 13 cense that authorizes terrestrial operations in ac- 14 cordance with that order. 15 (5) CERTAIN PAYMENTS PERMITTED.—Not- 16 withstanding section 1341, subchapter II of chapter 17 15, or section 3302 of title 31, United States Code, 18 a Federal agency may collect or receive any money 19 or other thing of value from a private entity as pay- 20 ment or reimbursement under this section. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:43 Jun 25, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2166.IS S2166 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS