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Us Congress House Bill HB651

Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB651 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 651
55 To require the Federal Communications Commission to auction spectrum
66 in the band between 1.3 gigahertz and 13.2 gigahertz, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 JANUARY23, 2025
99 Mr. A
1010 LLENintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
1111 on Energy and Commerce
1212 A BILL
1313 To require the Federal Communications Commission to auc-
1414 tion spectrum in the band between 1.3 gigahertz and
1515 13.2 gigahertz, and for other purposes.
1616 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1717 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
1818 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
1919 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Spectrum Pipeline Act 4
2020 of 2025’’. 5
2121 SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION OF SPECTRUM FOR REALLOCA-6
2222 TION AND AUCTION. 7
2323 (a) D
2424 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
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2828 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -1
2929 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-2
3030 gress’’ means— 3
3131 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 4
3232 and Transportation of the Senate; and 5
3333 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com-6
3434 merce of the House of Representatives. 7
3535 (2) A
3636 SSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-8
3737 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 9
3838 Commerce for Communications and Information. 10
3939 (3) C
4040 OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 11
4141 means the Federal Communications Commission. 12
4242 (4) C
4343 OVERED BAND .—The term ‘‘covered 13
4444 band’’ means the band of frequencies between 1.3 14
4545 gigahertz and 13.2 gigahertz. 15
4646 (5) F
4747 EDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Federal en-16
4848 tity’’ has the meaning given the term in section 17
4949 113(l) of the National Telecommunications and In-18
5050 formation Administration Organization Act (47 19
5151 U.S.C. 923(l)). 20
5252 (6) F
5353 ULL-POWER COMMERCIAL LICENSED USE 21
5454 CASES.—The term ‘‘full-power commercial licensed 22
5555 use cases’’ means flexible use wireless broadband 23
5656 services with base station power levels sufficient for 24
5757 high-power, high-density, and wide-area commercial 25
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6060 •HR 651 IH
6161 mobile services, consistent with the service rules 1
6262 under part 27 of title 47, Code of Federal Regula-2
6363 tions, or any successor regulations, for wireless 3
6464 broadband deployments throughout the covered 4
6565 band. 5
6666 (b) I
6767 DENTIFICATION FORREALLOCATION.— 6
6868 (1) I
6969 N GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary, in 7
7070 consultation with the Commission, shall identify not 8
7171 less than 2500 megahertz of spectrum in the covered 9
7272 band, that as of the date of enactment of this Act 10
7373 is allocated for Federal use or for shared Federal 11
7474 and non-Federal use, for reallocation for non-Fed-12
7575 eral use, shared Federal and non-Federal use, or a 13
7676 combination thereof, including not less than 1250 14
7777 megahertz for full-power commercial licensed use 15
7878 cases. 16
7979 (2) S
8080 CHEDULE.—The Assistant Secretary shall 17
8181 identify the spectrum under paragraph (1) according 18
8282 to the following schedule: 19
8383 (A) Not later than 2 years after the date 20
8484 of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Sec-21
8585 retary shall identify not less than 1250 mega-22
8686 hertz of spectrum. 23
8787 (B) Not later than 5 years after the date 24
8888 of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Sec-25
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9191 •HR 651 IH
9292 retary shall identify any remaining spectrum re-1
9393 quired to be identified under paragraph (1) 2
9494 after compliance with subparagraph (A) of this 3
9595 paragraph. 4
9696 (c) A
9797 UCTIONS.— 5
9898 (1) I
9999 N GENERAL.—With respect to the spec-6
100100 trum identified for reallocation under subsection (b) 7
101101 for commercial licensed use, the Commission shall 8
102102 grant licenses through systems of competitive bid-9
103103 ding for not less than 1250 megahertz of the spec-10
104104 trum for full-power commercial licensed use cases. 11
105105 (2) S
106106 CHEDULE.—The Commission shall auction 12
107107 the spectrum under paragraph (1) according to the 13
108108 following schedule: 14
109109 (A) Not later than 3 years after the date 15
110110 of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 16
111111 complete 1 or more systems of competitive bid-17
112112 ding for not less than 600 megahertz of the 18
113113 spectrum. 19
114114 (B) Not later than 6 years after the date 20
115115 of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 21
116116 complete 1 or more systems of competitive bid-22
117117 ding for any remaining spectrum required to be 23
118118 auctioned under paragraph (1) after compliance 24
119119 with subparagraph (A) of this paragraph. 25
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123123 (d) UNLICENSEDUSE.—Not later than 2 years after 1
124124 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 2
125125 make available on an unlicensed basis not less than 125 3
126126 megahertz of the spectrum in the covered band. 4
127127 (e) L
128128 ICENSED ORUNLICENSEDUSE.—Not later than 5
129129 8 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Com-6
130130 mission shall make available for use on a licensed or unli-7
131131 censed basis any remaining spectrum that is— 8
132132 (1) identified under subsection (b); and 9
133133 (2) not— 10
134134 (A) auctioned under subsection (c); or 11
135135 (B) made available on an unlicensed basis 12
136136 under subsection (d). 13
137137 (f) A
138138 UCTIONPROCEEDSTOCOVER110 PERCENT OF 14
139139 F
140140 EDERALRELOCATION ORSHARINGCOSTS.—Nothing in 15
141141 this section shall be construed to relieve the Commission 16
142142 from the requirements under section 309(j)(16)(B) of the 17
143143 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(16)(B)). 18
144144 (g) A
145145 UCTIONAUTHORITY.—Section 309(j)(11) of the 19
146146 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 309(j)(11)) is 20
147147 amended— 21
148148 (1) by striking ‘‘grant a license or permit under 22
149149 this subsection shall expire March 9, 2023’’ and in-23
150150 serting ‘‘complete a system of competitive bidding 24
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153153 •HR 651 IH
154154 under this subsection shall expire September 30, 1
155155 2027’’; 2
156156 (2) by striking ‘‘and with respect to’’ and in-3
157157 serting ‘‘with respect to’’; and 4
158158 (3) by inserting before the period at the end the 5
159159 following: ‘‘, and with respect to the electromagnetic 6
160160 spectrum in the covered band (as defined in section 7
161161 2(a) of the Spectrum Pipeline Act of 2025), such 8
162162 authority shall expire on the date that is 8 years 9
163163 after the date of enactment of that Act’’. 10
164164 (h) R
165165 EPORTINGREQUIREMENTS AND QUARTERLY 11
166166 B
167167 RIEFINGS.— 12
168168 (1) NTIA
169169 PROGRESS REPORT ON SPECTRUM 13
170170 IDENTIFICATION.— 14
171171 (A) I
172172 N GENERAL.—On each date as of 15
173173 which the Assistant Secretary, in consultation 16
174174 with the Commission, has identified the quan-17
175175 tity of spectrum required under subparagraph 18
176176 (A) or (B), respectively, of subsection (b)(2), 19
177177 the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the ap-20
178178 propriate committees of Congress a report de-21
179179 tailing the findings and conclusions that the As-22
180180 sistant Secretary used to support the identifica-23
181181 tion. 24
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185185 (B) CONTENTS.—The Assistant Secretary 1
186186 shall include in each report submitted under 2
187187 subparagraph (A)— 3
188188 (i) an analysis of the spectrum identi-4
189189 fied; and 5
190190 (ii) the Federal entities with which 6
191191 the Assistant Secretary coordinated re-7
192192 garding the spectrum identified. 8
193193 (C) F
194194 ORM OF REPORT .—Each report re-9
195195 quired under subparagraph (A) shall be sub-10
196196 mitted in unclassified form, but may contain a 11
197197 classified annex. 12
198198 (2) NTIA
199199 AND FCC REPORTS ON REALLOCA -13
200200 TION OF SPECTRUM IDENTIFIED .— 14
201201 (A) I
202202 NITIAL PROGRESS REPORT .—Not 15
203203 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 16
204204 this Act, the Assistant Secretary, in consulta-17
205205 tion with the Commission, shall submit to the 18
206206 appropriate committees of Congress a report on 19
207207 the progress of the Assistant Secretary in iden-20
208208 tifying spectrum in the covered band for re-21
209209 allocation under subsection (b) that includes— 22
210210 (i) an assessment of the operations of 23
211211 the Federal entities and non-Federal enti-24
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214214 •HR 651 IH
215215 ties that operate in the spectrum in the 1
216216 covered band; and 2
217217 (ii) a preliminary analysis of which 3
218218 portions of the covered band are being con-4
219219 sidered for reallocation in accordance with 5
220220 subsection (b)(1). 6
221221 (B) R
222222 EPORTS ON 2 TRANCHES OF IDENTI -7
223223 FIED SPECTRUM.—Not later than 60 days after 8
224224 each date as of which the Assistant Secretary, 9
225225 in consultation with the Commission, has iden-10
226226 tified the quantity of spectrum required under 11
227227 subparagraph (A) or (B), respectively, of sub-12
228228 section (b)(2), the Assistant Secretary, in con-13
229229 sultation with the Commission, shall submit to 14
230230 the appropriate committees of Congress a re-15
231231 port that includes— 16
232232 (i) an assessment of the operations of 17
233233 the Federal entities and non-Federal enti-18
234234 ties that operate in the applicable spec-19
235235 trum, current as of the date of the submis-20
236236 sion of the report; 21
237237 (ii) the steps the President has taken 22
238238 to begin the process of withdrawing or 23
239239 modifying the assignments of Federal enti-24
240240 ties in the covered band as necessary for 25
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244244 the Commission to begin and complete the 1
245245 systems of competitive bidding under sub-2
246246 section (c); 3
247247 (iii) an estimate of the funding re-4
248248 quired for the relocation or sharing costs 5
249249 (as defined in section 113(g)(3) of the Na-6
250250 tional Telecommunications and Informa-7
251251 tion Administration Organization Act (47 8
252252 U.S.C. 923(g)(3))) expected to be incurred 9
253253 by the Federal entities described in clause 10
254254 (ii) in connection with the reallocation of 11
255255 the applicable spectrum; and 12
256256 (iv) steps the Assistant Secretary is 13
257257 taking to ensure global harmonization with 14
258258 the spectrum to be reallocated. 15
259259 (C) F
260260 ORM OF REPORT .—Each report re-16
261261 quired under this paragraph shall be submitted 17
262262 in unclassified form, but may contain a classi-18
263263 fied annex. 19
264264 (3) A
265265 NNUAL BRIEFINGS.— 20
266266 (A) I
267267 N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 21
268268 after the date of enactment of this Act, and an-22
269269 nually thereafter until the date that is 10 years 23
270270 after such date of enactment, the Assistant Sec-24
271271 retary and the Chairman of the Commission 25
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275275 shall provide the appropriate committees of 1
276276 Congress with a briefing on the progress of the 2
277277 Assistant Secretary and the Chairman in com-3
278278 plying with the requirements of this section. 4
279279 (B) C
280280 ONTENTS.—The Assistant Secretary 5
281281 and the Chairman of the Commission shall in-6
282282 clude in each briefing under subparagraph 7
283283 (A)— 8
284284 (i) an update on the specific fre-9
285285 quencies of spectrum under consideration 10
286286 or that have been identified to meet the re-11
287287 quirements of subsection (b); 12
288288 (ii) an explanation of the Federal en-13
289289 tities and non-Federal entities that operate 14
290290 on the frequencies described in clause (i) 15
291291 and the specific services or systems utilized 16
292292 by those entities on those frequencies; 17
293293 (iii) the extent to which Federal enti-18
294294 ties are cooperating with the efforts of the 19
295295 Assistant Secretary and the Chairman of 20
296296 the Commission to comply with the re-21
297297 quirements of this Act; 22
298298 (iv) an update on the progress of the 23
299299 systems of competitive bidding required by 24
300300 subsection (c); and 25
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304304 (v) any additional information related 1
305305 to compliance with this Act by the Assist-2
306306 ant Secretary and the Chairman. 3
307307 (C) F
308308 ORM OF BRIEFING .—Any classified 4
309309 information that would otherwise be provided in 5
310310 a briefing under subparagraph (A) shall be pro-6
311311 vided in a separate classified briefing. 7
312312 SEC. 3. SPECTRUM RELOCATION FUND MODERNIZATION. 8
313313 (a) C
314314 ONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATIONTIMELINES.— 9
315315 Section 118 of the National Telecommunications and In-10
316316 formation Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 11
317317 928) is amended— 12
318318 (1) in subsection (d)(2)— 13
319319 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘30 14
320320 days’’ and inserting ‘‘15 days’’; and 15
321321 (B) in the matter following subparagraph 16
322322 (C), by striking ‘‘30 days’’ and inserting ‘‘15 17
323323 days’’; 18
324324 (2) in subsection (f)(2)(B)(iv), by striking ‘‘30 19
325325 days’’ and inserting ‘‘15 days’’; and 20
326326 (3) in subsection (g)(2)(D)(ii), by striking ‘‘60 21
327327 days’’ and inserting ‘‘15 days’’. 22
328328 (b) C
329329 OMPARABLECAPABILITY.—Section 113(g)(3) of 23
330330 the National Telecommunications and Information Ad-24
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333333 •HR 651 IH
334334 ministration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 923(g)(3)) is 1
335335 amended— 2
336336 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 3
337337 (A) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 4
338338 inserting a semicolon; 5
339339 (B) in clause (v), by striking the period at 6
340340 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7
341341 (C) by adding at the end the following: 8
342342 ‘‘(vi) the costs associated with replac-9
343343 ing systems and equipment with state-of- 10
344344 the-art systems and equipment, including 11
345345 systems and equipment with additional 12
346346 functions, only if the state-of-the-art sys-13
347347 tems and equipment allow for the realloca-14
348348 tion of significantly more valuable spec-15
349349 trum frequencies from Federal use to ex-16
350350 clusive non-Federal use or to shared Fed-17
351351 eral and non-Federal use than would be re-18
352352 allocated if systems and equipment were 19
353353 replaced with comparable systems and 20
354354 equipment or systems and equipment with 21
355355 incidental increases in functionality, pro-22
356356 vided the costs would not jeopardize the 23
357357 ability of the Assistant Secretary, in con-24
358358 sultation with the Chair of the Commis-25
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362362 sion, to reallocate eligible spectrum fre-1
363363 quencies from Federal use to exclusive 2
364364 non-Federal use or to shared use.’’; and 3
365365 (2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘‘inci-4
366366 dental’’. 5
367367 Æ
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