[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 747 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 747

          To improve the Telecommunications Development Fund.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 2003

   Mr. Towns (for himself, Mr. Upton, and Mrs. Wilson of New Mexico) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
          To improve 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 of 2003''.

SEC. 2. TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT FUND.

    (a) Deposits and Use of Auction Escrow Accounts.--Section 309(j)(8) 
of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(8)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (C)--
                    (A) by striking ``Deposit and use of auction escrow 
                accounts'' and inserting ``Deposits and use of auction 
                escrow accounts for up-front payments''; and
                    (B) by striking ``deposits'' each place it appears 
                and inserting ``up-front payments''; and
            (2) by adding at the end thereof the following new 
        subparagraph:
                    ``(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.''-
    (b) Lending and Credit Operations.--Section 714(f) of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 614(f)) is amended by striking 
``the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661 et seq.) and any 
other'' and inserting ``any''.
    (c) 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 section.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply only to spectrum license auctions initiated by the Federal 
Communications Commission on or after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. Nothing in this Section shall affect the down payments of any 
successful bidder in the Federal Communications Commission's C and F 
block broadband personal communications service spectrum auction, also 
referred to as ``auction 35'', or the claim of any person to any 
entitlement to interest on any such down payment upon return of such 
down payment to such person for any reason.
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