[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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