[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 355 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 355

      To prohibit the National Telecommunications and Information 
 Administration from relinquishing responsibility with respect to the 
             Internet Assigned Numbers Authority functions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 14, 2015

  Mr. Duffy introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To prohibit the National Telecommunications and Information 
 Administration from relinquishing responsibility with respect to the 
             Internet Assigned Numbers Authority functions.

    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 ``Global Internet Freedom Act of 
2015'' or the ``GIF Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On October 1, 2012, the National Telecommunications and 
        Information Administration of the Department of Commerce 
        entered into a contract with the non-profit Internet 
        Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to administer the 
        Internet Assigned Numbers Authority functions.
            (2) On March 14, 2014, the National Telecommunications and 
        Information Administration announced its intention to 
        transition key Internet domain name functions to the Internet 
        Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the global 
        multistakeholder community.
            (3) Clause 2 of section 3 of article IV of the Constitution 
        states that ``[t]he Congress shall have Power to dispose of . . 
        . Property belonging to the United States''.
            (4) In a report issued in 2000, the Government 
        Accountability Office stated that ``it is unclear if the 
        Department [of Commerce] has the requisite authority'' to 
        transfer control of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority 
        functions to a private entity.

SEC. 3. NTIA PROHIBITED FROM RELINQUISHING RESPONSIBILITY FOR IANA 
              FUNCTIONS.

    The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and 
Information may not relinquish the responsibility of the National 
Telecommunications and Information Administration with respect to the 
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority functions, including the following:
            (1) Coordination of the assignment of technical Internet 
        protocol parameters.
            (2) Performance of administrative functions associated with 
        Internet domain name system root zone management.
            (3) Allocation of Internet numbering resources.
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