[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 407 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 407

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the authority of the 
 Federal Communications Commission to authorize foreign investment in 
       United States broadcast and common carrier radio licenses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 5, 1997

 Mr. McCain (for himself and Mr. Burns) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to clarify the authority of the 
 Federal Communications Commission to authorize foreign investment in 
       United States broadcast and common carrier radio licenses.

    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 ``International Telecommunications 
Investment Clarification Act''.

SEC. 2. FOREIGN OWNERSHIP.

    Section 310(b) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 310(b)) 
is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b)(1) No broadcast or common carrier or aeronautical en route or 
aeronautical fixed radio station license shall be granted to or held 
by--
            ``(A) any alien or the representative of any alien;
            ``(B) any corporation organized under the laws of any 
        foreign government; or
            ``(C) any corporation of which more then one-fifth of the 
        capital stock is owned of record or voted by a foreign 
        government or representative thereof.
    ``(2) No common carrier or aeronautical en route or aeronautical 
fixed radio station license shall be granted to or held by any 
corporation of which more than one-fifth of the capital stock is owned 
of record or voted by aliens or their representatives or by any 
corporation organized under the laws of a foreign country, if the 
Commission finds that the public interest will be served by the refusal 
or revocation of such license.
    ``(3) No broadcast radio station license shall be granted to or 
held by--
            ``(A) any corporation of which more than one-fifth of the 
        capital stock is owned of record or voted by aliens or their 
        representatives or by any corporation organized under the laws 
        of a foreign country; or
            ``(B) any corporation directly or indirectly controlled by 
        any other corporation of which more than one-fourth of the 
        capital stock is owned of record or voted by aliens, their 
        representatives, or by a foreign government or representative 
        thereof, or by any corporation organized under the laws of a 
        foreign country, if the Commission finds that the public 
        interest will be served by the refusal or revocation of such 
        license.''.

SEC. 3. SUBMARINE CABLE AMENDMENT.

    Section 2 of the Act of May 27, 1921, entitled ``An Act relating to 
the landing and operation of submarine cables in the United States'' 
(47 U.S.C. 35), is amended by inserting before the period at the end 
thereof the following: ``: And provided further, That the Federal 
Communications Commission shall not deny any license to land or operate 
such a cable solely on the grounds that such license will be issued to 
a corporation that is directly or indirectly owned by aliens, their 
representatives, or by any corporation organized under the laws of a 
foreign government''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; REGULATIONS.

    (a) Effective Date.--This Act and the amendments made by this Act 
are effective upon enactment.
    (b) Regulations.--Within 60 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall take all actions 
necessary to implement this Act, including amending its rules and 
regulations, but the Commission shall not, after such effective date, 
take any action to enforce any rule, regulation, or policy that is 
inconsistent with the amendments made by this Act.
                                 <all>