[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 352 Considered and Passed Senate (CPS)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 352
To postpone the DTV transition date.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 29, 2009
Mr. Rockefeller (for himself, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Kerry, Ms. Klobuchar,
Mr. Pryor, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Harkin,
and Mr. Casey) introduced the following bill; which was read twice,
considered, read the third time, and passed
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To postpone the DTV transition date.
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 ``DTV Delay Act''.
SEC. 2. POSTPONEMENT OF DTV TRANSITION DATE.
(a) In General.--Section 3002(b) of the Digital Television
Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is
amended--
(1) by striking ``February 18, 2009;'' in paragraph (1) and
inserting ``June 13, 2009;''; and
(2) by striking ``February 18, 2009,'' in paragraph (2) and
inserting ``that date''.
(b) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Section 3008(a)(1) of that Act (47 U.S.C. 309 note) is
amended by striking ``February 17, 2009.'' and inserting ``June
12, 2009.''.
(2) Section 309(j)(14)(A) of the Communications Act of 1934
(47 U.S.C. 309(j)(14)(A)) is amended by striking ``February 17,
2009.'' and inserting ``June 12, 2009.''.
(3) Section 337(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 337(e)(1)) is amended by striking ``February 17, 2009.''
and inserting ``June 12, 2009.''.
(c) License Terms.--
(1) Extension.--The Federal Communications Commission shall
extend the terms of the licenses for the recovered spectrum,
including the license period and construction requirements
associated with those licenses, for a 116-day period.
(2) Definition.--In this subsection, the term ``recovered
spectrum'' means--
(A) the recovered analog spectrum, as such term is
defined in section 309(j)(15)(C)(vi) of the
Communications Act of 1934; and
(B) the spectrum excluded from the definition of
recovered analog spectrum by subclauses (I) and (II) of
such section.
SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER BOX PROGRAM.
(a) Extension of Coupon Program.--Section 3005(c)(1)(A) of the
Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C.
309 note) is amended by striking ``March 31, 2009,'' and inserting
``July 31, 2009,''.
(b) Treatment of Expired Coupons.--Section 3005(c)(1) of the
Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C.
309 note) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(D) Expired coupons.--The Assistant Secretary may
issue to a household, upon request by the household,
one replacement coupon for each coupon that was issued
to such household and that expired without being
redeemed.''.
(c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 3005(c)(1)(A) of the Digital
Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (47 U.S.C. 309
note) is amended by striking ``receives, via the United States Postal
Service,'' and inserting ``redeems''.
(d) Condition of Modifications.--The amendments made by this
section shall not take effect until the enactment of additional budget
authority after the date of enactment of this Act to carry out the
analog-to-digital converter box program under section 3005 of the
Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005.
SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION.
(a) Permissive Early Termination Under Existing Requirements.--
Nothing in this Act is intended to prevent a licensee of a television
broadcast station from terminating the broadcasting of such station's
analog television signal (and continuing to broadcast exclusively in
the digital television service) prior to the date established by law
under section 3002(b) of the Digital Television Transition and Public
Safety Act of 2005 for termination of all licenses for full-power
television stations in the analog television service (as amended by
section 2 of this Act) so long as such prior termination is conducted
in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission's requirements
in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, including the flexible
procedures established in the Matter of Third Periodic Review of the
Commission's Rules and Policies Affecting the Conversion to Digital
Television (FCC 07-228, MB Docket No. 07-91, released December 31,
2007).
(b) Public Safety Radio Services.--Nothing in this Act, or the
amendments made by this Act, shall prevent a public safety service
licensee from commencing operations consistent with the terms of its
license on spectrum recovered as a result of the voluntary cessation of
broadcasting in the analog or digital television service pursuant to
subsection (a). Any such public safety use shall be subject to the
relevant Federal Communications Commission rules and regulations in
effect on the date of enactment of this Act, including section 90.545
of the Commission's rules (47 C.F.R. Sec. 90.545).
(c) Expedited Rulemaking.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, the Federal Communications Commission and the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration shall, not later than
30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, each adopt or revise
its rules, regulations, or orders or take such other actions as may be
necessary or appropriate to implement the provisions, and carry out the
purposes, of this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF COMMISSION AUCTION AUTHORITY.
Section 309(j)(11) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.
309(j)(11)) is amended by striking ``2011.'' and inserting ``2012.''.
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