[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1244 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1244

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish signal quality and 
   content requirements for the carriage of public, educational, and 
 governmental channels, to preserve support of such channels, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 7, 2015

Ms. Baldwin (for herself and Mr. Markey) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to establish signal quality and 
   content requirements for the carriage of public, educational, and 
 governmental channels, to preserve support of such channels, 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 ``Community Access Preservation Act''.

SEC. 2. PEG SIGNAL QUALITY AND CONTENT; PRESERVATION OF SUPPORT OF PEG 
              USE.

    (a) In General.--Section 611 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 531) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (h); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
    ``(f) Signal Quality and Content.--
            ``(1) In general.--A cable operator that operates a cable 
        system with channel capacity designated under subsection (b) or 
        that is required to provide channel capacity under subsection 
        (g)(6) shall, with respect to such channel capacity--
                    ``(A) carry signals for public, educational, or 
                governmental use from the point of origin of such 
                signals to subscribers without material degradation and 
                without altering or removing content or data provided 
                as part of the public, educational, or governmental 
                use;
                    ``(B) provide such signals to, and make such 
                signals viewable by, every subscriber of the cable 
                system without additional service or equipment charges;
                    ``(C) provide to the appropriate local government 
                subdivision, free of charge, any transmission services 
                and the use of any transmission facilities that are 
                necessary to meet the requirements of subparagraph (A);
                    ``(D) upon request by the appropriate local 
                government subdivision, provide, not later than 180 
                days after the date of the request, for the 
                transmission of such signals in--
                            ``(i) high definition format; or
                            ``(ii) the highest quality format that is 
                        provided by a majority of local television 
                        broadcast stations in the applicable designated 
                        market area, if the quality of that format is 
                        better than high definition; and
                    ``(E) upon request by the appropriate local 
                government subdivision, provide, not later than 180 
                days after the date of the request, the ability for the 
                programming schedules of such signals to be present and 
                updated on the electronic program guide of the cable 
                operator in the same manner and with the same 
                functionality as television broadcast stations in the 
                applicable designated market area--
                            ``(i) through the cable operator directly; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) by the cable operator facilitating 
                        the inclusion of the programming schedules 
                        through a third party vendor, at a rate not to 
                        exceed the actual incremental cost of the 
                        inclusion.
            ``(2) Rule of construction.--Nothing in paragraph (1)(D) 
        shall be construed to--
                    ``(A) remove other obligations of a cable operator 
                that are not specified under this Act;
                    ``(B) require a cable operator to upgrade the 
                quality of a signal to comply with paragraph (1)(D) if 
                the appropriate local government subdivision determines 
                that it is not capable of producing and transmitting 
                programming in the required format; or
                    ``(C) prohibit a cable operator from voluntarily 
                upgrading the quality of a signal to comply with 
                paragraph (1)(D).
            ``(3) Enforcement.--The requirements of this subsection may 
        be enforced by--
                    ``(A) a local government subdivision; or
                    ``(B) a State.
    ``(g) Preservation of Support of Public, Educational, and 
Governmental Use.--
            ``(1) Level of support required.--In a State that adopts 
        legislation affecting cable system franchising requirements 
        relating to support for public, educational, or governmental 
        use of a cable system that becomes effective after May 31, 
        2005, notwithstanding such legislation, a cable operator owes 
        to any local government subdivision in which the operator 
        provides cable service during a year beginning after the date 
        of enactment of this subsection an amount for such year to be 
        determined by the local government subdivision, but not to 
        exceed the greatest of the following:
                    ``(A) The amount of support provided in the last 
                calendar year ending before the effective date of such 
                State legislation.
                    ``(B) The average annual amount of support provided 
                over the term of the franchise under which the cable 
                operator was operating on the day before the effective 
                date of such State legislation.
                    ``(C) The amount of support that the cable operator 
                is required to provide to such local government 
                subdivision under such State legislation during the 
                year involved.
                    ``(D) An amount of support equal to 2 percent of 
                the gross revenues of the cable operator from the 
                operation of the cable system to provide cable services 
                in such local government subdivision during the year 
                involved.
            ``(2) Forms of support.--For purposes of paragraph (1), 
        support for public, educational, or governmental use of a cable 
        system means all cash payments, in-kind support, and free 
        services that the operator of the cable system, or its 
        predecessor, provides to the local government subdivision for 
        such use of the cable system.
            ``(3) Adjustment for inflation.--For a year beginning on or 
        after the effective date described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) 
        of paragraph (1), on the date that the Gross National Product 
        Price Index is first published by the Bureau of Economic 
        Analysis after the end of June of such year, the amounts 
        specified in such subparagraphs shall be increased by the 
        percentage increase, if any, in the Index published on such 
        date from the Index first published after the end of June of 
        the preceding year.
            ``(4) Cash payments.--A cable operator that owes amounts 
        under paragraph (1) shall, beginning not later than 30 days 
        after the date of enactment of this subsection, pay such 
        amounts in cash--
                    ``(A) in accordance with the schedule for payment 
                of franchise fees, communications taxes, or other 
                similar assessments under any applicable franchise; or
                    ``(B) if there is no payment schedule for such 
                assessments under an applicable franchise, in 
                accordance with the most frequent payment schedule for 
                such assessments under applicable State or local law.
            ``(5) Uses; disputes.--
                    ``(A) Uses.--Support provided to any local 
                government subdivision under this subsection shall be 
                dedicated to public, educational, or governmental use 
                of channel capacity.
                    ``(B) Disputes.--
                            ``(i) Mediation.--If there is a dispute as 
                        to amounts owed under this subsection, 
                        undisputed amounts shall be paid to the local 
                        government subdivision, disputed amounts shall 
                        be paid into an escrow account, and the parties 
                        shall submit to nonbinding mediation.
                            ``(ii) Court proceedings.--If the dispute 
                        cannot be settled using mediation, either party 
                        may seek relief from a court of competent 
                        jurisdiction.
            ``(6) Channels.--In a State that adopts legislation 
        affecting cable system franchising requirements relating to the 
        number of channels for public, educational, or governmental use 
        of a cable system that becomes effective after May 31, 2005, a 
        cable operator shall, notwithstanding such legislation, provide 
        in a local government subdivision at least the greater of the 
        following number of channels for such use:
                    ``(A) The number of channels for such use that the 
                operator was providing in the local government 
                subdivision on the day before the effective date of 
                such State legislation.
                    ``(B) If the operator provided fewer than 3 
                channels for such use in the local government 
                subdivision on the day before the effective date of 
                such State legislation, a number specified by the local 
                government subdivision, but not to exceed 3.
            ``(7) Enforcement.--The requirements of this subsection may 
        be enforced by--
                    ``(A) a local government subdivision; or
                    ``(B) a State.''.
    (b) Definitions.--
            (1) Cable service.--Section 602(6) of the Communications 
        Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522(6)) is amended by striking ``means'' 
        and inserting ``means, regardless of the technology or 
        transmission protocol used in the provision of service''.
            (2) Local government subdivision.--Section 602 of the 
        Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522) is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (13) through (20) 
                as paragraphs (14) through (21), respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after paragraph (12) the 
                following:
            ``(13) the term `local government subdivision' means--
                    ``(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), a 
                franchising authority that derives its power to grant a 
                franchise from State or local law; and
                    ``(B) in a State that adopts legislation affecting 
                cable system franchising requirements relating to 
                support for public, educational, or governmental use of 
                a cable system that becomes effective after May 31, 
                2005, an entity that was considered a franchising 
                authority deriving its power to grant a franchise from 
                State or local law as of the day before the effective 
                date of such State legislation;''.
            (3) Franchise fee.--Section 622(g)(2) of the Communications 
        Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 542(g)(2)) is amended--
                    (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``in the case 
                of any franchise in effect on the date of enactment of 
                this title,'';
                    (B) by striking subparagraph (C); and
                    (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) and (E) as 
                subparagraphs (C) and (D), respectively.
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