[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 134 (Friday, November 19, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H10024-H10025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     DIRECTING SECRETARY OF SENATE TO CORRECT ENROLLMENT OF S. 150

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
concur in the Senate concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 146) to direct 
the Secretary of the Senate to make corrections in the enrollment of 
the bill, S. 150.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 146

       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That, in the enrollment of the bill (S. 150) to 
     extend the moratorium on taxes on Internet access and 
     multiple and discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce 
     imposed by the Internet Tax Freedom Act, the Secretary of the 
     Senate shall make the following corrections:
       (1) Amend subsection (a) of section 1104 of the Internet 
     Tax Freedom Act (47 U.S.C. 151 note), as added by section 3 
     of the bill, to read as follows:
       ``(a) Pre-October 1998 Taxes.--
       ``(1) In general.--Section 1101(a) does not apply to a tax 
     on Internet access that was generally imposed and actually 
     enforced prior to October 1, 1998, if, before that date--
       ``(A) the tax was authorized by statute; and
       ``(B) either--
       ``(i) a provider of Internet access services had a 
     reasonable opportunity to know, by virtue of a rule or other 
     public proclamation made by the appropriate administrative 
     agency of the State or political subdivision thereof, that 
     such agency has interpreted and applied such tax to Internet 
     access services; or
       ``(ii) a State or political subdivision thereof generally 
     collected such tax on charges for Internet access.
       ``(2) Termination.--
       ``(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph (B), 
     this subsection shall not apply after November 1, 2007.
       ``(B) State telecommunications service tax.--
       ``(i) Date for termination.--This subsection shall not 
     apply after November 1, 2006, with respect to a State 
     telecommunications service tax described in clause (ii).
       ``(ii) Description of tax.--A State telecommunications 
     service tax referred to in subclause (i) is a State tax--

       ``(I) enacted by State law on or after October 1, 1991, and 
     imposing a tax on telecommunications service; and
       ``(II) applied to Internet access through administrative 
     code or regulation issued on or after December 1, 2002.''.

       (2) Insert after section 6 of the bill the following:

     SEC. 6A. EXCEPTION FOR TEXAS MUNICIPAL ACCESS LINE FEE.

       The Internet Tax Freedom Act (47 U.S.C. 151 note), as 
     amended by section 6, is amended by adding at the end the 
     following:

     ``SEC. 1109. EXCEPTION FOR TEXAS MUNICIPAL ACCESS LINE FEE.

       ``Nothing in this Act shall prohibit Texas or a political 
     subdivision thereof from imposing or collecting the Texas 
     municipal access line fee pursuant to Texas Local Govt. Code 
     Ann. ch. 283 (Vernon 2005) and the definition of access line 
     as determined by the Public Utility Commission of Texas in 
     its `Order Adopting Amendments to Section 26.465 As Approved 
     At The February 13, 2003 Public Hearing', issued March 5, 
     2003, in Project No. 26412.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) and the gentleman from North Carolina 
(Mr. Watt) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on S. Con. Res. 146 
currently under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the enrolling resolution before us from the other body 
makes some modest, but important, changes to S. 150, a bill to extend 
the moratorium on Internet access taxes and multiple and discriminatory 
Internet taxes, which we will consider in a few minutes. When we move 
to that bill, I will describe the underlying legislation. For now I 
will just state that the changes made by this enrolling resolution are 
necessary in order for me to support passage of S. 150.
  The most important change to S. 150 contained in the enrolling 
resolution is that it will apply the same moratorium on Internet access 
taxes to my home

[[Page H10025]]

State of Wisconsin that applies to at least 40 other States. Beginning 
in November of 2006, the special grandfathered status enjoyed by 
Wisconsin since 1998 that allows the State to continue to tax Internet 
users will end, and my State like most every other State will have to 
abide by the Internet tax moratorium and stop taxing Wisconsinites' 
Internet service.
  The House passed legislation reported by the Committee on the 
Judiciary, H.R. 49, that would have ended the special grandfathered 
status of all the 1998 States effective immediately.
  The section of language added to S. 150 by this enrolling resolution 
affecting grandfathered taxation is intended to apply to all States 
that have imposed Internet access taxes via an administrative ruling 
made well after the 1998 moratorium was enacted that taxes Internet 
access as a telecommunications service. I find this type of ex post 
facto attempt to circumvent the general moratorium without new State 
legislative action to be offensive. However, out of the 1998 
grandfathered States, I believe only Wisconsin's actions today meet the 
requisite objective criteria in this provision. Therefore, only 
Wisconsin will find its 1998 grandfather status revoked by this 
language.
  The other change contained in the resolution adds a new section to 
the bill that would clarify that certain taxes and fees imposed by 
Texas municipalities are not included within the scope of the 
moratorium on Internet access and that such Texas municipalities could 
continue to collect franchising and right-of-way fees when 
telecommunications companies build infrastructure and use public rights 
of way. We believe that this provision clearly only applies to Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to extend the Internet tax freedom once 
again to most of our citizens and join me in supporting this concurrent 
resolution and the underlying bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) that the House suspend the 
rules and concur in the Senate concurrent resolution, S. Con. Res. 146.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate concurrent resolution 
was concurred in.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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