[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4700 Introduced in House (IH)]

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) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit unjust enrichment 
       in the award of licenses by means of pioneer preferences.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pioneer Preference Reform 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 Commission from 
                awarding licenses to those persons who make significant 
                contributions to the development of a new 
                telecommunications service or technology, except that--
                            ``(i) the Commission shall prevent unjust 
                        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 
                        restrictions, and other technical 
                        characteristics to the license awarded to such 
                        person; and
                            ``(ii) the authority of the Commission to 
                        provide preferential treatment in licensing 
                        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 
                        development of new technologies that 
                        substantially 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 exclusive applications) 
        to persons who make significant contributions to the 
        development of a new service or to the development of new 
        technologies that substantially enhance an existing service.
    (b) Rulemaking Required.--The Federal Communications Commission 
shall prescribe regulations specifying 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 enhance an existing service. 
Such regulations shall--
            (1) specify the procedures and criteria by which the 
        significance of such contributions will be determined, 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 applicant 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 licenses 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.
                                 <all>