Spectrum Relocation Enhancement Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3430 To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to enhance Federal spectrum relocation, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 17, 2023 Ms. MATSUI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to enhance Federal spectrum relocation, 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 ‘‘Spectrum Relocation 4 Enhancement Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FEDERAL SPECTRUM RELOCATION AND SHARING. 6 (a) RELOCATION OR SHARING COSTS TO SATISFY 7 OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF FEDERAL ENTITIES.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3430 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Telecommuni- 1 cations and Information Administration Organiza- 2 tion Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) is amended— 3 (A) in section 113(g)— 4 (i) in paragraph (3)— 5 (I) in the first sentence of sub- 6 paragraph (A), by striking ‘‘in order 7 to achieve comparable capability of 8 systems as before the relocation or 9 sharing arrangement’’ and inserting 10 ‘‘to deploy systems that satisfy the 11 operational requirements of such enti- 12 ty, which may have increased from the 13 operational requirements being met 14 before the relocation or sharing ar- 15 rangement’’; and 16 (II) by amending subparagraph 17 (B) to read as follows: 18 ‘‘(B) INCREASED OPERATIONAL REQUIRE- 19 MENTS.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), 20 paragraph (6), and section 118(f)(2)(B)(ii), the 21 operational requirements of a Federal entity do 22 not include any increased operational require- 23 ments the costs of which jeopardize the oppor- 24 tunity for a successful auction, sharing, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3430 IH other non-Federal use of the eligible frequencies 1 involved.’’; and 2 (ii) in paragraph (6)— 3 (I) in the first sentence, by strik- 4 ing ‘‘of comparable capability’’ and in- 5 serting ‘‘that meet the operational re- 6 quirements of such entities’’; and 7 (II) in the second sentence, by 8 striking ‘‘a Federal entity has 9 achieved comparable capability of sys- 10 tems’’ and inserting ‘‘the operational 11 requirements of a Federal entity are 12 met’’; and 13 (B) in section 118(f)(2)(B)(ii), by striking 14 ‘‘to achieve comparable capability of systems af- 15 fected by the reallocation of eligible frequencies 16 from Federal use to exclusive non-Federal use 17 or to shared use’’ and inserting ‘‘to deploy sys- 18 tems that satisfy the operational requirements 19 of the eligible Federal entity’’. 20 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made 21 by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to reloca- 22 tion or sharing costs, or payments under section 23 118(f) of the National Telecommunications and In- 24 formation Administration Organization Act (47 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3430 IH U.S.C. 928(f)), as the case may be, with respect to 1 a transition plan that is found to be sufficient under 2 section 113(h)(4) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 923(h)(4)) 3 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 4 (b) PAYMENTS FROM SPECTRUM RELOCATION FUND 5 FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING AC- 6 TIVITIES.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 118(g)(2) of the Na- 8 tional Telecommunications and Information Admin- 9 istration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 928(g)(2)) is 10 amended to read as follows: 11 ‘‘(2) USE OF AMOUNTS.— 12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director of OMB 13 may use amounts made available under para- 14 graph (1) to make payments intended to im- 15 prove the efficiency and effectiveness of the 16 spectrum use of Federal entities in order to 17 make available frequencies described in sub- 18 paragraph (C) for reallocation for non-Federal 19 use or shared Federal and non-Federal use, or 20 a combination thereof, and for auction in ac- 21 cordance with such reallocation— 22 ‘‘(i) to Federal entities for research 23 and development, engineering studies, eco- 24 nomic analyses, activities with respect to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3430 IH systems, preparing transition plans re- 1 quired by section 113(h)(1), or other plan- 2 ning activities; and 3 ‘‘(ii) to the NTIA for research and de- 4 velopment, engineering studies, economic 5 analyses, or other planning activities or to 6 conduct activities required by subpara- 7 graph (H). 8 ‘‘(B) ACTIVITIES WITH RESPECT TO SYS- 9 TEMS.—For purposes of a payment under sub- 10 paragraph (A)(i) for activities with respect to 11 systems, such systems include the following: 12 ‘‘(i) Systems (including systems that 13 obtain passive scientific observations) that 14 have increased functionality or that in- 15 crease the ability of a Federal entity to ac- 16 commodate spectrum sharing with non- 17 Federal entities. 18 ‘‘(ii) Systems that consolidate func- 19 tions or services that have been provided 20 using separate systems. 21 ‘‘(iii) Non-spectrum technology or sys- 22 tems. 23 ‘‘(C) FREQUENCIES DESCRIBED.—The fre- 24 quencies described in this subparagraph are, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3430 IH with respect to a payment under subparagraph 1 (A), frequencies— 2 ‘‘(i) that are assigned to a Federal en- 3 tity; and 4 ‘‘(ii) at the time of the activities con- 5 ducted with such payment, with respect to 6 which no relocation or sharing costs have 7 been transferred to the Federal entity 8 under subsection (d)(3) or (e). 9 ‘‘(D) CONDITIONS.—The Director of OMB 10 may not make a payment to a Federal entity 11 under subparagraph (A)(i)— 12 ‘‘(i) unless— 13 ‘‘(I) the Federal entity has sub- 14 mitted to the Technical Panel estab- 15 lished under section 113(h)(3) a plan 16 describing the activities that the Fed- 17 eral entity will conduct with such pay- 18 ment; 19 ‘‘(II) the NTIA has reviewed the 20 plan, determined that the activities 21 described in the plan and the costs as- 22 sociated with such activities are ap- 23 propriate, and advised the Director of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3430 IH OMB as to the appropriateness of 1 such costs; 2 ‘‘(III) the Technical Panel has 3 approved such plan under subpara- 4 graph (F); and 5 ‘‘(IV) the Director of OMB has 6 submitted the plan approved under 7 subparagraph (F) to the congressional 8 committees described in subsection 9 (d)(2)(C); and 10 ‘‘(ii) until 30 days have elapsed after 11 submission of the plan under clause 12 (i)(IV). 13 ‘‘(E) REQUIREMENTS FOR PLAN OF FED- 14 ERAL ENTITY.— 15 ‘‘(i) REQUIRED CONTENTS.—A plan 16 submitted by a Federal entity under sub- 17 paragraph (D)(i)(I) with respect to a pay- 18 ment under this subsection shall include 19 the following: 20 ‘‘(I) A plan and timeline for the 21 activities to be conducted with such 22 payment, including a description and 23 the estimated cost of each effort in- 24 cluded as part of each such activity. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3430 IH ‘‘(II) A schedule for such activi- 1 ties, with incremental deliverables and 2 that includes time for review by the 3 NTIA of interim results and for the 4 NTIA to advise the Director of OMB 5 regarding subsequent payments. 6 ‘‘(III) Requirements for status 7 reporting to the Director of OMB and 8 the NTIA. 9 ‘‘(IV) Requirements for partici- 10 pation in any NTIA-led activities as- 11 sociated with the plan. 12 ‘‘(ii) ESTABLISHMENT OF ADDITIONAL 13 REQUIREMENTS FOR CONTENTS.—The 14 Technical Panel established under section 15 113(h)(3) may establish additional require- 16 ments for the contents of the plan to be 17 submitted under subparagraph (D)(i)(I) to 18 facilitate review and approval or dis- 19 approval of the plan under subparagraph 20 (F). 21 ‘‘(iii) COORDINATION BY FEDERAL 22 ENTITY WITH NTIA.—A Federal entity that 23 is developing a plan to be submitted under 24 subparagraph (D)(i)(I) shall coordinate 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3430 IH with the NTIA during the development of 1 the plan, including any research, engineer- 2 ing, or analysis activities included in the 3 plan. 4 ‘‘(iv) REVISED ACTIVITIES AND UP- 5 DATED PLAN.— 6 ‘‘(I) REVISED ACTIVITIES.—If 7 the NTIA, in consultation with the 8 Director of OMB, determines that re- 9 visions to the activities that a Federal 10 entity is conducting with a payment 11 under this subsection are required to 12 achieve the most efficient and effec- 13 tive use of spectrum by Federal enti- 14 ties in order to make frequencies 15 available for reallocation for non-Fed- 16 eral use or shared Federal and non- 17 Federal use, or a combination thereof, 18 and for auction in accordance with 19 such reallocation— 20 ‘‘(aa) the NTIA, in consulta- 21 tion with the Director of OMB, 22 shall direct the Federal entity to 23 revise such activities in accord- 24 ance with the determination; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3430 IH ‘‘(bb) not later than 45 days 1 after receiving the direction 2 under item (aa), the Federal en- 3 tity shall revise such activities as 4 directed. 5 ‘‘(II) UPDATED PLAN.—If the 6 Director of OMB, in consultation with 7 the NTIA, determines that the revi- 8 sions the NTIA has directed a Fed- 9 eral entity to make under subclause 10 (I) to the activities the Federal entity 11 is conducting with a payment under 12 this subsection are outside the scope 13 of the original plan or the most recent 14 updated plan (as the case may be) of 15 the Federal entity with respect to 16 such payment that was approved 17 under subparagraph (F)— 18 ‘‘(aa) the Director of OMB 19 shall direct the Federal entity to 20 submit an updated plan under 21 subparagraph (D)(i)(I) to reflect 22 such revisions; and 23 ‘‘(bb) not later than 45 days 24 after receiving the direction 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3430 IH under item (aa), the Federal en- 1 tity shall submit such updated 2 plan under subparagraph 3 (D)(i)(I), which shall be approved 4 or disapproved under subpara- 5 graph (F) in the same manner as 6 the original plan. 7 ‘‘(F) REVIEW OF PLAN BY TECHNICAL 8 PANEL.— 9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 10 120 days after a Federal entity submits a 11 plan under subparagraph (D)(i)(I) to the 12 Technical Panel established under section 13 113(h)(3), the Technical Panel shall ap- 14 prove or disapprove such plan. 15 ‘‘(ii) CRITERIA FOR REVIEW.—In con- 16 sidering whether to approve or disapprove 17 a plan under this subparagraph, the Tech- 18 nical Panel shall consider whether— 19 ‘‘(I) the activities that the Fed- 20 eral entity will conduct with the pay- 21 ment will— 22 ‘‘(aa) increase or maintain 23 the ability of the Federal entity 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3430 IH to meet the operational require- 1 ments of the Federal entity; 2 ‘‘(bb) increase the prob- 3 ability of relocation from or shar- 4 ing of Federal spectrum; 5 ‘‘(cc) facilitate an auction 6 intended to occur not later than 7 8 years after the payment; and 8 ‘‘(dd) increase the net ex- 9 pected auction proceeds in an 10 amount not less than the time 11 value of the amount of the pay- 12 ment; and 13 ‘‘(II) the transfer will leave suffi- 14 cient amounts in the Fund for the 15 other purposes of the Fund. 16 ‘‘(G) REQUIRED USE OF PAYMENT.— 17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro- 18 vided in clause (ii), a Federal entity that 19 receives a payment under this subsection 20 may only use the payment in accordance 21 with the original plan or the most recent 22 updated plan (as the case may be) of the 23 Federal entity with respect to such pay- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 3430 IH ment that was approved under subpara- 1 graph (F). 2 ‘‘(ii) INTERIM AUTHORITY TO CON- 3 DUCT REVISED ACTIVITIES.—In the case of 4 a Federal entity that has received a direc- 5 tion from the Director of OMB under sub- 6 paragraph (E)(iv)(II)(aa) to submit an up- 7 dated plan under subparagraph (D)(i)(I) 8 to reflect revisions that the NTIA has di- 9 rected the Federal entity to make under 10 subparagraph (E)(iv)(I)(aa) to the activi- 11 ties that the Federal entity is conducting 12 with a payment under this subsection, the 13 Federal entity may use the payment to 14 conduct activities that reflect such revi- 15 sions notwithstanding clause (i) until— 16 ‘‘(I) if the Federal entity fails to 17 submit the updated plan by the dead- 18 line under subparagraph 19 (E)(iv)(II)(bb), such deadline; or 20 ‘‘(II) if the Federal entity sub- 21 mits the updated plan by the deadline 22 under subparagraph (E)(iv)(II)(bb), 23 the date on which the updated plan is 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3430.IH H3430 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 14 •HR 3430 IH approved or disapproved under sub- 1 paragraph (F). 2 ‘‘(iii) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY 3 TO USE PAYMENT.—If a Federal entity de- 4 scribed in clause (ii) fails to submit the up- 5 dated plan by the deadline under subpara- 6 graph (E)(iv)(II)(bb), or if the updated 7 plan is disapproved under subparagraph 8 (F), the Federal entity may not, after such 9 deadline or the date on which the updated 10 plan is disapproved (as the case may be), 11 conduct any activities using such payment, 12 until s [Text truncated for display. 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