[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4817 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4817

   To require the reallocation and auction for commercial use of the 
electromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies from 1755 megahertz to 
                            1780 megahertz.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 26, 2012

Mr. Stearns (for himself and Ms. Matsui) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the reallocation and auction for commercial use of the 
electromagnetic spectrum between the frequencies from 1755 megahertz to 
                            1780 megahertz.

    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 ``Efficient Use of Government Spectrum 
Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. REALLOCATION AND AUCTION OF 1755-1780 MHZ BAND.

    (a) Withdrawal or Modification of Federal Government Station 
Assignments.--The President shall--
            (1) not later than 5 years after the date of the enactment 
        of this Act, withdraw or modify the assignment to a Federal 
        Government station of the electromagnetic spectrum described in 
        subsection (e); and
            (2) not later than 30 days after completing the withdrawal 
        or modification, notify the Commission that the withdrawal or 
        modification is complete.
    (b) Reallocation and Auction.--Notwithstanding paragraph (15)(A) of 
section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)), 
not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of the Middle 
Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-96), the 
Commission shall--
            (1) reallocate the electromagnetic spectrum described in 
        subsection (e) for commercial use; and
            (2) as part of the system of competitive bidding required 
        by section 6401(b)(1)(B) of such Act (47 U.S.C. 1451(b)(1)(B)), 
        grant new initial licenses, subject to flexible-use service 
        rules, for the use of such spectrum, paired with the spectrum 
        between the frequencies from 2155 megahertz to 2180 megahertz, 
        inclusive.
    (c) Auction Proceeds.--For purposes of depositing the proceeds from 
the competitive bidding described in subsection (b)(2) that are 
attributable to the electromagnetic spectrum described in subsection 
(e), such spectrum shall be treated as spectrum that is required to be 
auctioned by section 6401(b)(1)(B) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and 
Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1451(b)(1)(B)).
    (d) Relocation of and Sharing by Federal Government Stations.--
            (1) Relocation prioritized over sharing.--Except as 
        provided in paragraph (2), the President shall withdraw under 
        subsection (a)(1) the assignments to all Federal Government 
        stations of the electromagnetic spectrum described in 
        subsection (e).
            (2) Sharing if relocation not possible.--
                    (A) In general.--If the President determines, based 
                on an operational impact assessment, that a Federal 
                Government station cannot be relocated from the 
                electromagnetic spectrum described in subsection (e) 
                without jeopardizing essential military capability, the 
                President shall modify under subsection (a)(1) the 
                assignment to such station of such spectrum to permit 
                shared Federal and non-Federal use.
                    (B) Identification of stations.--Not later than 18 
                months prior to the commencement of the competitive 
                bidding described in subsection (b)(2), the President 
                shall--
                            (i) identify any Federal Government 
                        stations the assignments of which will be 
                        modified in accordance with subparagraph (A); 
                        and
                            (ii) notify--
                                    (I) the Assistant Secretary of any 
                                stations so identified; and
                                    (II) each Federal entity that 
                                operates such a station that the 
                                station has been so identified.
                    (C) Development of transition plan.--For any 
                station identified by the President under subparagraph 
                (B)(i), the transition plan required by section 
                113(h)(1) of the National Telecommunications and 
                Information Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 
                923(h)(1)) shall enable non-Federal users to share with 
                such station the electromagnetic spectrum described in 
                subsection (e). Where exclusion zones are necessary for 
                the protection of essential military capability, such 
                plan shall provide for the smallest possible zones 
                consistent with such protection.
    (e) Spectrum Described.--The electromagnetic spectrum described in 
this subsection is the spectrum between the frequencies from 1755 
megahertz to 1780 megahertz, inclusive.
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Assistant secretary.--The term ``Assistant Secretary'' 
        means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications 
        and Information.
            (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission.
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