[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1765 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1765
To increase penalties for common carrier violations of the
Communications Act of 1934, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 8, 2001
Mr. Upton (for himself, Mr. Stearns, Mr. Fossella, Mr. Terry, Mr.
Shimkus, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Sawyer, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Rush, Mr.
Boucher, Mr. Ehrlich, Mr. Towns, Mr. Gillmor, and Mr. Bilirakis)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To increase penalties for common carrier violations of the
Communications Act of 1934, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. COMMON CARRIER ENFORCEMENT.
(a) Cease and Desist Authority.--Section 501 of the Communications
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 501) is amended--
(1) by striking ``Any person'' and inserting ``(a) Fines
and Imprisonment.--Any person'';
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(b) Cease and Desist Orders.-- If, after a hearing, the
Commission determines that any common carrier is engaged in an act,
matter, or thing prohibited by this Act, or is failing to perform any
act, matter, or thing required by this Act, the Commission may order
such common carrier to cease or desist from such action or inaction.''.
(b) Forfeiture Penalties.--Section 503(b) of the Communications Act
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 503(b)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2)(B)--
(A) by striking ``exceed $100,000'' and inserting
``exceed $1,000,000''; and
(B) by striking ``of $1,000,000'' and inserting
``of $10,000,000'';
(2) in paragraph (2)(C), by striking ``subparagraph (A) or
(B)'' and inserting ``subparagraph (A), (B), or (C)'';
(3) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) and (D) of paragraph
(2) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively;
(4) by inserting after subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2)
the following new subparagraph:
``(C) If a common carrier has violated a cease and desist order or
has previously been assessed a forfeiture penalty for a violation of a
provision of this Act or of any rule, regulation, or order issued by
the Commission, and if the Commission or an administrative law judge
determines that such common carrier has willfully violated the same
provision, rule, regulation, that this repeated violation has caused
harm to competition, and that such common carrier has been assessed a
forfeiture penalty under this subsection for such previous violation,
the Commission may assess a forfeiture penalty not to exceed $2,000,000
for each violation or each day of continuing violation; except that the
amount of such forfeiture penalty shall not exceed $20,000,000.''; and
(5) in paragraph (6)(B), by striking ``1 year'' and
inserting ``2 years''.
(c) Evaluation of Impact.--
(1) Evaluation required.--Within 2 years after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications Commission
shall conduct an evaluation of the impact of the increased
remedies available under the amendments made by this section on
improving compliance with the requirements of the
Communications Act of 1934, and with the rules, regulations,
and orders of the Commission thereunder. Such evaluation shall
include--
(A) an assessment of the number of enforcement
proceedings commenced before and after such date of
enactment;
(B) an analysis of any changes in the number, type,
seriousness, or repetition of violations; and
(C) an analysis of such other factors as the
Commission considers appropriate to evaluate such
impact.
(2) Report.--Within 30 months after such date of enactment,
the Commission shall submit a report on the evaluation to the
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate.
SEC. 2. DISPUTE RESOLUTION.
Section 252 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 252) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (j) as subsection (k); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (i) the following new
subsection:
``(j) Dispute Resolution.--
``(1) Arbitration.--At any time after any interconnection
agreement has been approved by the State under subsection (e),
any party to that interconnection agreement may petition a
State commission to arbitrate any dispute concerning matters
included in an interconnection agreement.
``(2) Opportunity to respond.--The nonpetitioning party may
respond to the other party's petition and provide such
additional information as the nonpetitioning party wishes.
``(3) Action by state commission.--
``(A) The State Commission may require either party
to provide such information as may be necessary to
reach a decision. If any party refuses or fails
unreasonably to respond on a timely basis to any
reasonable request from the State Commission; then the
State Commission may proceed on the basis of the best
information available to it from whatever source
derived.
``(B) The State Commission shall limit its
consideration of any petition to the matters in dispute
that are described in the petition.
``(C) The State Commission shall resolve the
disputed matter not later than 60 days after receipt of
the petition.
``(D) This subsection is the exclusive
administrative remedy for disputes concerning matters
included in an interconnection agreement.''.
SEC. 3. SERVICE QUALITY.
Section 252(e)(3) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
252(e)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence:
``Nothing in this section limits or affects the authority of a State to
prescribe methods to ensure timely and effective compliance with any
interconnection agreement, including the imposition of service quality
performance requirements.''.
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