[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 415 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 415

 To provide the FCC with authority to conduct incentive auctions, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 17, 2011

  Mr. Warner introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide the FCC with authority to conduct incentive auctions, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Spectrum Optimization Act''.

SEC. 2. PROVISION OF INCENTIVE AUCTION AUTHORITY.

    Paragraph (8) of section 309(j) of the Communications Act of 1934 
(47 U.S.C. 309(j)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``(B), (D), and (E),'' 
        and inserting ``(B), (D), (E), and (F),''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(F) Voluntary incentive auction authority.--
                            ``(i) Establishment of rules.--Not later 
                        than 180 days after the date of enactment of 
                        the Spectrum Optimization Act, the Commission 
                        shall establish rules for the conduct of 
                        auctions of licensed spectrum that is 
                        voluntarily relinquished by a licensee for 
                        assignment of new initial licenses subject to 
                        new service rules or for other purposes, in 
                        which a portion of the auction proceeds are 
                        shared with such relinquishing licensees, 
                        consistent with the public interest in 
                        maximizing utilization of the spectrum.
                            ``(ii) Content of rules.--The rules 
                        established under clause (i) shall--
                                    ``(I) identify the initial spectrum 
                                band or bands that will be eligible for 
                                incentive auctions under this 
                                subparagraph;
                                    ``(II) establish a maximum revenue 
                                sharing threshold applicable to all 
                                licensees within any auction, unless 
                                the establishment of such threshold 
                                would increase the amount of spectrum 
                                cleared or would increase the net 
                                revenue from the auction of such 
                                spectrum; and
                                    ``(III) minimize the cost to the 
                                taxpayer of the transition of the 
                                spectrum to be auctioned to its newly 
                                identified use.
                            ``(iii) Schedule for auctions.--
                                    ``(I) Initial auction.--The 
                                Commission shall commence incentive 
                                auctions under this subparagraph not 
                                later than 2 years after the date of 
                                enactment of the Spectrum Optimization 
                                Act.
                                    ``(II) Other spectrum.--The 
                                Commission may, in its discretion and 
                                at any time after the date of enactment 
                                of the Spectrum Optimization Act, use 
                                the authority provided in this 
                                subparagraph in connection with the 
                                auction of other licensed spectrum, 
                                provided that the auction of such other 
                                spectrum is conducted pursuant to the 
                                rules established under this 
                                subparagraph.''.
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