[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3498 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3498

 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to improve the operations of 
                the Telecommunications Development Fund.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 1999

 Mr. Towns (for himself, Mr. Tauzin, Mr. Dingell, Mr. Markey, and Mr. 
    Oxley) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to improve the operations of 
                the Telecommunications Development Fund.

    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 ``Telecommunications Development Fund 
Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. DEPOSITS AND USE OF ACCOUNTS FOR UPFRONT PAYMENTS.

    Section 309(j)(8)(C) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
309(j)(8)(C)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Deposit and use of auction escrow 
        accounts'' and inserting ``Deposits and use of auction escrow 
        accounts for upfront payments''; and
            (2) by striking ``deposits'' each place it appears and 
        inserting ``upfront payments''.

SEC. 3. DEPOSITS AND USE OF ACCOUNTS FOR DOWN PAYMENTS.

    Section 309(j)(8) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
309(j)(8)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraphs:
                    ``(D) Deposits and use of auction escrow accounts 
                for down payments.--Any down payment that the 
                Commission may require any bidder to submit before 
                issuance of a license or permit in a system of 
                competitive bidding pursuant to this subsection shall 
                be deposited in an interest-bearing account at a 
                financial institution designated for purposes of this 
                subsection by the Commission (after consultation with 
                the Secretary of the Treasury). Within 45 days 
                following the issuance of a license or permit--
                            ``(i) the down payments of successful 
                        bidders shall be paid to the Treasury; and
                            ``(ii) the interest accrued to the account 
                        shall be transferred to the Telecommunications 
                        Development Fund established pursuant to 
                        section 714.
                    ``(E) Treatment of transferred amounts.--Any 
                amounts transferred under subparagraph (C) or (D) to 
                the Telecommunications Development Fund established 
                pursuant to section 714 shall qualify for purposes of 
                the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 and the 
                definitions in section 103(9) of such Act (15 U.S.C. 
                662(9)(A)).''.

SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.

    Within 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Federal Communications Commission shall make such modifications to its 
rules as are necessary to carry out the amendments made by this Act.
                                 <all>