<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="billres.xsl"?>
<!DOCTYPE bill PUBLIC "-//US Congress//DTDs/bill.dtd//EN" "bill.dtd">
<bill bill-stage="Introduced-in-House" dms-id="H4AC5FBEE07FC4018B1BE1FF7EB763A75" public-private="public" key="H" bill-type="olc"><metadata xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<dublinCore>
<dc:title>119 HR 1717 IH: Communications Security Act</dc:title>
<dc:publisher>U.S. House of Representatives</dc:publisher>
<dc:date>2025-02-27</dc:date>
<dc:format>text/xml</dc:format>
<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
</dublinCore>
</metadata>
<form>
<distribution-code display="yes">I</distribution-code><congress display="yes">119th CONGRESS</congress><session display="yes">1st Session</session><legis-num display="yes">H. R. 1717</legis-num><current-chamber>IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES</current-chamber><action display="yes"><action-date date="20250227">February 27, 2025</action-date><action-desc><sponsor name-id="M001226">Mr. Menendez</sponsor> introduced the following bill; which was referred to the <committee-name committee-id="HIF00">Committee on Energy and Commerce</committee-name></action-desc></action><legis-type>A BILL</legis-type><official-title display="yes">To direct the Federal Communications Commission to establish a council to make recommendations on ways to increase the security, reliability, and interoperability of communications networks, and for other purposes.</official-title></form><legis-body id="H1E30FA3041EC4B5B8FEE5B9413331FFC" style="OLC"> 
<section id="HE1860DC4FC79492D82867DF00639631C" section-type="section-one"><enum>1.</enum><header>Short title</header><text display-inline="no-display-inline">This Act may be cited as the <quote><short-title>Communications Security Act</short-title></quote>.</text></section> <section id="H2A06B80C0000411DA85601C475B9B532"><enum>2.</enum><header>Council on communications security, reliability, and interoperability</header> <subsection id="H49A2B219120A40FAAB71D9A996A8D0E1"><enum>(a)</enum><header>Establishment</header><text>Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall—</text>
<paragraph id="HCE455B467F434B22A784AAF742B6909E"><enum>(1)</enum><text>establish a council to advise the Commission on issues including the security, reliability, and interoperability of communications networks; or</text></paragraph> <paragraph id="H8EB70A3259F94AB9ADDBD18C31BF0A23"><enum>(2)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">designate for purposes of this section an advisory committee of the Commission that is operating on the date of the enactment of this Act under a charter for the purpose of addressing the issues described in paragraph (1) and, if the membership of such committee does not comply with subsection (b), modify such membership to comply with such subsection.</text></paragraph></subsection>
<subsection id="H8A487542AD044762B8856CEAE6CAC8A2"><enum>(b)</enum><header>Membership</header>
<paragraph id="H0088806DA12741518628CC694169040A"><enum>(1)</enum><header>Appointment</header><text>The members of the council shall be appointed by the Chair.</text></paragraph> <paragraph id="H1A84568066E0480494E741387373E86D"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Composition</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">To the extent practicable, the membership of the council shall be composed of the following:</text>
<subparagraph id="HBDA0DC354F2D4941BA2D35D0C4275BB1"><enum>(A)</enum><text>Representatives of companies in the communications industry, except companies that are determined by the Chair to be not trusted.</text></subparagraph> <subparagraph id="HBA2C3D3B0C214893A1786AA18045FFC8"><enum>(B)</enum><text>Representatives of public interest organizations or academic institutions, except public interest organizations or academic institutions that are determined by the Chair to be not trusted.</text></subparagraph>
<subparagraph id="H9CAAB8F6B9D84A93BD7B3712F0B4F283"><enum>(C)</enum><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Representatives of the Federal Government, State governments, local governments, or Tribal Governments, with at least one member representing each such type of government.</text></subparagraph></paragraph> <paragraph id="H9669E4A70DC34ADFBEAEC40DBB53FE24"><enum>(3)</enum><header>Knowledge and experience</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Each member of the council shall have knowledge and experience relevant to the purpose and goals of the council.</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="HB6EA9FEE8A0A488C83B9C755067F18AD"><enum>(4)</enum><header>Terms</header>
<subparagraph id="H764B10A58CF945DE8137F580C718D407"><enum>(A)</enum><header>In general</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Each member of the council shall be appointed for a term of 2 years, except as provided in subparagraph (B).</text></subparagraph> <subparagraph id="H2BCC838F0E70428DA1F9326C15C8E866"><enum>(B)</enum><header>Vacancies</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Any member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration of the term for which the member’s predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of that term. A member may serve after the expiration of that member’s term until a successor has taken office.</text></subparagraph></paragraph></subsection>
<subsection id="H8760AF27DB05430CA641889C4FEF29B1"><enum>(c)</enum><header>Reports</header>
<paragraph id="H8134F905196D4D31BDFAC4DD245DEA3C"><enum>(1)</enum><header>In general</header><text>Not later than 2 years after the date on which the council is established or designated (as the case may be) under subsection (a), and every 2 years thereafter, the council shall submit to the Chair each report adopted by the council during the preceding 2-year period, and any report adopted by any working group of the council during such period, including any such report of the council or a working group containing recommendations on ways to increase the security, reliability, and interoperability of communications networks, and on other relevant issues as appropriate.</text></paragraph> <paragraph id="H55CB2CFDFA064976805DFF98DDF44EA3"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Availability on Commission website</header><text>The Commission shall make each report submitted under paragraph (1) publicly available on the website of the Commission.</text></paragraph></subsection>
<subsection id="HFFD07726E0B34980A23CB40B072FEE29" commented="no"><enum>(d)</enum><header>Duration</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">Section 1013(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code (relating to the termination of advisory committees) shall not apply to the council.</text></subsection> <subsection id="H91A6F19B3696489E95B9B8BF9F4F0B57"><enum>(e)</enum><header>Definitions</header><text>In this section:</text>
<paragraph id="HD8A3421C61ED4020B8A346E9B19F8600"><enum>(1)</enum><header>Chair</header><text>The term <quote>Chair</quote> means the Chair of the Commission. </text></paragraph> <paragraph id="H72DFCCE513024531AAE36C6830253A4A"><enum>(2)</enum><header>Commission</header><text>The term <quote>Commission</quote> means the Federal Communications Commission.</text></paragraph>
<paragraph id="H0FCC09EAB01B456AADA4C4451F02DC9D"><enum>(3)</enum><header>Council</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <quote>council</quote> means the council established under subsection (a)(1) or the advisory committee designated under subsection (a)(2), as the case may be.</text></paragraph> <paragraph id="H9E25FD8A7B5B44DE85FBB762109448BE" commented="no"><enum>(4)</enum><header>Not trusted</header> <subparagraph id="H90EF00944F514CD285E4CD19F472EFBF" commented="no"><enum>(A)</enum><header>In general</header><text>The term <quote>not trusted</quote> means, with respect to an entity, that—</text>
<clause id="HBD46C87ABA6044FA9512EBEC624C3710" commented="no"><enum>(i)</enum><text>the Chair has made a public determination that such entity is owned by, controlled by, or subject to the influence of a foreign adversary; or</text></clause> <clause id="H35D3BFE2DCFF48C1B4124FD2AA52FD19" commented="no"><enum>(ii)</enum><text>the Chair otherwise determines that such entity poses a threat to the national security of the United States.</text></clause></subparagraph>
<subparagraph id="HF77D16AAC60946789F7B8A753FDCE34D" commented="no"><enum>(B)</enum><header>Criteria for determination</header><text>In making a determination under subparagraph (A)(ii), the Chair shall use the criteria described in paragraphs (1) through (4) of section 2(c) of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/47/1601">47 U.S.C. 1601(c)</external-xref>), as appropriate.</text></subparagraph></paragraph> <paragraph id="H0C5FD19A484247EB9B6ADF688B6FAFBE" commented="no"><enum>(5)</enum><header>State</header><text display-inline="yes-display-inline">The term <quote>State</quote> has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (<external-xref legal-doc="usc" parsable-cite="usc/47/153">47 U.S.C. 153</external-xref>). </text></paragraph></subsection></section> 
</legis-body></bill>

