SPECTRUM NOW Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1968 To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to provide for necessary payments from the Spectrum Relocation Fund for costs of spectrum research and development and planning activities, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 25, 2019 Mr. WICKER (for himself, Mr. SCHATZ, and Mr. MORAN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Com- merce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to provide for necessary payments from the Spectrum Relocation Fund for costs of spectrum research and development and planning ac- tivities, 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 ‘‘Supplementing the 4 Pipeline for Efficient Control of The Resources for Users 5 Making New Opportunities for Wireless Act’’ or the 6 ‘‘SPECTRUM NOW Act’’. 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1968 IS SEC. 2. COSTS OF SPECTRUM RESEARCH AND DEVELOP- 1 MENT AND PLANNING ACTIVITIES. 2 Section 118(g) of the National Telecommunications 3 and Information Administration Organization Act (47 4 U.S.C. 928(g)) is amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (1)— 6 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; 7 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 8 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 9 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10 (C) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(C) the Director of OMB may make a 12 payment described in paragraph (2) from 13 amounts in the Fund other than amounts made 14 available under subparagraphs (A) and (B) if, 15 before making the payment, the Director of 16 OMB, in consultation with the NTIA, deter- 17 mines and submits to the congressional commit- 18 tees described in subsection (d)(2)(C) a certifi- 19 cation that— 20 ‘‘(i) the conditions described in sub- 21 clauses (I) and (II) of paragraph (2)(D)(i) 22 have been met; 23 ‘‘(ii) as of the date of the certification, 24 amounts made available under subpara- 25 graphs (A) and (B) are insufficient to 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1968 IS make the payment requested by the Fed- 1 eral entity in the plan approved under 2 paragraph (2)(E) by the Technical Panel 3 established under section 113(h)(3); and 4 ‘‘(iii) the payment will leave sufficient 5 amounts in the Fund to pay the relocation 6 or sharing costs that will be incurred by el- 7 igible Federal entities to complete the im- 8 plementation of all transition plans that, 9 as of the date of the certification, have 10 been found sufficient by the Technical 11 Panel under section 113(h)(4).’’; and 12 (2) in paragraph (2)— 13 (A) in subparagraph (D)(ii), by inserting 14 after ‘‘60 days’’ the following: ‘‘(or, in the case 15 of a payment under paragraph (1)(C), 30 16 days)’’; and 17 (B) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(F) CONSULTATION REGARDING SHARING 19 FREQUENCIES ON UNLICENSED BASIS.—If a 20 Federal entity that receives a payment under 21 subparagraph (A) determines, in carrying out 22 activities under a plan approved by the Tech- 23 nical Panel under subparagraph (E), that it is 24 not feasible for such Federal entity to make 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1968 IS available frequencies described in such plan for 1 reallocation for non-Federal use or shared Fed- 2 eral and non-Federal use, or a combination 3 thereof, and for auction in accordance with 4 such reallocation— 5 ‘‘(i) such Federal entity shall submit 6 to the NTIA a certification stating the de- 7 termination; and 8 ‘‘(ii) the NTIA shall consult with the 9 Commission and such Federal entity re- 10 garding whether such frequencies may be 11 shared with non-Federal entities on an un- 12 licensed basis.’’. 13 SEC. 3. INCLUSION OF SPECTRUM SHARING IN ANNUAL 14 NTIA REPORT ON RELOCATION. 15 Section 207 of the Commercial Spectrum Enhance- 16 ment Act (47 U.S.C. 928 note) is amended— 17 (1) in paragraph (1)— 18 (A) by inserting ‘‘or sharing of’’ after ‘‘re- 19 location from’’; and 20 (B) by striking ‘‘section 118(d)(2)(A)’’ and 21 inserting ‘‘section 118(d)(2)(B)’’; and 22 (2) in paragraph (2)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1968 IS (A) by striking ‘‘relocated communication 1 system’’ and inserting ‘‘such communication 2 system’’; 3 (B) by striking ‘‘relocation costs’’ and in- 4 serting ‘‘relocation or sharing costs’’; and 5 (C) by striking ‘‘relocations costs’’ and in- 6 serting ‘‘relocation or sharing costs’’. 7 SEC. 4. STUDIES ON REALLOCATION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL 8 SPECTRUM. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 10 date of the enactment of this Act, each Federal entity 11 that, as of such date of enactment, is operating on spec- 12 trum between the frequencies of 3450 megahertz to 3550 13 megahertz, inclusive, shall— 14 (1) request a payment under section 118(g)(2) 15 of the National Telecommunications and Informa- 16 tion Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 17 928(g)(2)) for the purpose of conducting a study of 18 any such frequencies on which such entity operates 19 in order to determine the feasibility of the realloca- 20 tion of such frequencies, or a portion thereof, for 21 non-Federal use or shared Federal and non-Federal 22 use, or a combination thereof, and auction in accord- 23 ance with such reallocation; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1968 IS (2) if such Federal entity receives such pay- 1 ment— 2 (A) conduct such study; and 3 (B) submit to the appropriate committees 4 of Congress and the Secretary a report on the 5 results of such study. 6 (b) CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS.— 7 (1) RECEIPT OF PAYMENT.—A Federal entity is 8 not required to conduct a study under subsection (a) 9 if such entity requests such payment in accordance 10 with section 118(g)(2) of the National Telecommuni- 11 cations and Information Administration Organiza- 12 tion Act (47 U.S.C. 928(g)(2)) but does not receive 13 such payment. 14 (2) INABILITY TO ACHIEVE COMPARABLE CAPA- 15 BILITY OF SYSTEMS.—If it is found in a study con- 16 ducted under subsection (a) that any Federal entity 17 operating on spectrum with respect to which the 18 study is conducted would not be able to achieve com- 19 parable capability of systems in the case of the re- 20 allocation of such spectrum or a portion thereof for 21 non-Federal use or shared Federal and non-Federal 22 use, or a combination thereof, and auction in accord- 23 ance with such reallocation, the Federal entity that 24 conducted the study shall submit to the National 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1968 IS Telecommunications and Information Administration 1 and the Director of the Office of Management and 2 Budget a certification stating such finding. 3 SEC. 5. IDENTIFICATION, REALLOCATION, AND AUCTION OF 4 CERTAIN FEDERAL SPECTRUM. 5 (a) IDENTIFICATION OF SPECTRUM.—Not later than 6 January 1, 2025, the Secretary shall— 7 (1) for the frequencies with respect to which a 8 Federal entity makes an affirmative feasibility deter- 9 mination under section 4(a), determine whether the 10 Secretary concurs with the determination of the 11 Federal entity; and 12 (2) if the Secretary concurs with the determina- 13 tion of the Federal entity, submit to the President 14 and the Commission a report identifying for re- 15 allocation the frequencies with respect to which the 16 Federal entity made the determination. 17 (b) CLEARING OF SPECTRUM.—The President 18 shall— 19 (1) not later than 180 days after the Secretary 20 submits a report under subsection (a)(2), begin the 21 process of withdrawing or modifying the assignment 22 to a Federal Government station of the frequencies 23 identified in such report; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1968 IS (2) not later than 30 days after completing the 1 withdrawal or modification, notify the Commission 2 that the withdrawal or modification is complete. 3 (c) REALLOCATION AND AUCTION.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall— 5 (A) reallocate the frequencies identified in 6 a report under subsection (a)(2) for non-Fed- 7 eral use or shared Federal and non-Federal use, 8 or a combination thereof; and 9 (B) notwithstanding paragraph (15)(A) of 10 section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 11 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)), not later than Janu- 12 ary 1, 2026, begin a system of competitive bid- 13 ding under such section to grant new initial li- 14 censes for the use of such frequencies, subject 15 to flexible-use service rules. 16 (2) PROCEEDS TO COVER 110 PERCENT OF FED- 17 ERAL RELOCATION OR SHARING COSTS.—Nothing in 18 this section shall be construed to relieve the Com- 19 mission from the requirements of section 20 309(j)(16)(B) of the Communications Act of 1934 21 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(16)(B)). 22 (d) AUCTION AUTHORITY.—Section 309(j)(11) of the 23 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is 24 amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 1968 IS (1) by striking the period at the end and insert- 1 ing ‘‘; and’’; 2 (2) by striking ‘‘except that, with respect to’’ 3 and inserting ‘‘except that— 4 ‘‘(A) with respect to’’; and 5 (3) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(B) with respect to the frequencies identi- 7 fied under section 5(a)(2) of the SPECTRUM 8 NOW Act, such authority shall expire on Sep- 9 tember 30, 2027.’’. 10 (e) RELATIONSHIP TO SPECTRUM PIPELINE IDENTI- 11 FICATION REQUIREMENT.—The identification of fre- 12 quencies under subsection (a)(2), withdrawal or modifica- 13 tion of the assignment to a Federal Government station 14 of such frequencies under subsection (b), or reallocation 15 or auction of such frequencies under subsection (c) does 16 not preclude such frequencies from being identified under 17 section 1006(c) of the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2015 18 (Public Law 114–74; 129 Stat. 624). 19 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 20 In this Act: 21 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 22 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 23 gress’’ means— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 1968 IS (A) the Committee on Appropriations of 1 the House of Representatives; 2 (B) the Committee on Appropriations of 3 the Senate; 4 (C) the Committee on Energy and Com- 5 merce of the House of Representatives; and 6 (D) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 7 and Transportation of the Senate. 8 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 9 means the Federal Communications Commission. 10 (3) COMPARABLE CAPABILITY OF SYSTEMS.— 11 The term ‘‘comparable capability of systems’’ has 12 the meaning described in section 113(g)(3)(B) of the 13 National Telecommunications and Information Ad- 14 ministration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 15 923(g)(3)(B)). 16 (4) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Federal en- 17 tity’’ has the meaning given such term in section 18 113(l) of the National Telecommunications and In- 19 formation Administration Organization Act (47 20 U.S.C. 923(l)). 21 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 22 the Secretary of Commerce. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1968.IS S1968 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS