Baldwin (WI)/Wilson, Heather (NM)

#1

Requires a cable operator with a national franchise to pay annually, whichever is greater, an amount equal to 1% of the cable operator’s annual gross revenue in that franchise area or a fee equivalent to the value, on a per subscriber, per month basis, of all PEG support currently provided by an incumbent cable operator in a franchise area pursuant to that incumbent’s existing franchise agreement.

Barton (TX)

#23

Manager's Amendment. Clarifies the following: (1) what constitutes a franchise area; (2) that a person or group seeking authority to provide service under a national franchise must agree to comply with all requirements the FCC promulgates pursuant to the consumer protection and customer service provisions in the bill; (3) that anyone with a national franchise shall be subject to all the cable operator provisions of Title VI of the Communications Act except for the ones specifically excepted in the bill; and (4) that nothing in the legislation affects existing pole attachment law.

Bean (IL)

#12

Creates a new Office of Internet Safety and Public Awareness within the FTC to coordinate national strategy with existing Internet safety initiatives.  Also authorizes grants to qualifying entities to promote Internet safety and launches a national public awareness campaign.

Bordallo (GU)

#2

Amends Section 254(g) of the Communications Act of 1934 to state that, for purposes of rate integration for wireless interstate telecommunications services, a provider of a commercial mobile radio service shall, with respect to any interstate services, be treated as a provider of interstate, interexchange telecommunications services.  By doing so, this legislation would require uniformity in rates charged by cellular phone and other wireless service providers for calls and communications to and from a U.S. territory and other areas of the United States. Cellular rate uniformity would be consistent with rate uniformity required for land line telecommunications by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Davis, Tom (VA)/Wynn (MD)

#21

Requires the FCC to act upon a complaint filed under section 616 of the Communications Act within 90 days of being filed.  If the FCC fails to do so, the matter will be submitted to binding arbitration.  Amendment offered in wake of ongoing disagreement regarding the carriage of Washington Nationals baseball games.

Davis, Tom (VA)/Wynn (MD)

#22

For those seeking a national franchise under this Act, the FCC is required to act upon a complaint filed under section 616 of the Communications Act within 90 days of its being filed.  If the FCC fails to do so, the matter will be submitted to binding arbitration.  Amendment offered in the wake of the ongoing disagreement regarding the carriage of Washington Nationals baseball games.

Doyle (PA)/Dingell (MI)

#10

Requires a national franchisee to certify compliance with municipal rights-of-way requirements. Clarifies that the FCC will not resolve rights-of-way disputes. Provides for local enforcement, with an appeal to the FCC, of the requirements on national franchisees.  Clarifies the gross revenues definition.  Establishes fee dispute resolution procedures to encourage parties to settle their differences.  Requires the FCC to consult with franchising authorities in establishing rules to implement the Act.

Gonzalez (TX)

#15

Substitute amendment to the Markey Amendment.  Extends Net Neutrality to commercial website owners with an explicit exception for political, non-profit, and educational websites.

Gordon (TN)

#11

Gives 911 calls made using VOIP (Voice Over the Internet Protocol) technology the same level of liability protection already received by wireline and wireless 911 calls.

Gutknecht (MN)/Boyd (FL)/Skelton (MO)/Herseth (SD)/Stupak (MI)/Peterson, John (PA)

#7

Preserves FCC authority to require VOIP providers to: (1) Contribute to the Federal universal service fund when they interconnect, either directly or indirectly, with incumbent local exchange carrier networks; and (2) Properly compensate network owners for the use of their network just as incumbent and competitive carriers do today.

Hinchey (NY)

#8

Amends reporting requirements of the bill to require the FCC to report to Congress on the impact that national franchising has on the concentration of media ownership within each local broadcast market of the United States.

Hinchey (NY)/Slaughter (NY)

#9

Allows national franchise providers the option of not carrying local channels that fail to conform with the fairness doctrine.  This doctrine, which was in effect at the FCC from 1949 to 1987, requires broadcast channels to provide balanced coverage of controversial or political topics.

Inslee (WA)

#13

(WITHDRAWN)  Requires the FCC to conduct a Notice of Inquiry to determine whether there are any technical, operational, or economic barriers to applying closed captioning rules to all forms of video programming, including video downloaded from the Internet. 

Jackson-Lee (TX)

#16

Provides that the FCC shall maintain and enforce its Broadband Policy Statement for at least 2 years.

Jackson-Lee (TX)

#17

Makes explicit that nothing in the Act prohibits a party aggrieved by a violation of the Act from bringing an antitrust action.

Jackson-Lee (TX)

#18

Reduces the fee paid to local franchise authorities by women-owned, small businesses, and socially and economically disadvantaged firms from 5% to 3%.

Jackson-Lee (TX)

#19

Reduces the fee paid to local franchise authorities for PEG/iNet support by women-owned, small businesses, and socially and economically disadvantaged firms from 1% to 0.5%.

Johnson, Eddie Bernice (TX)

#24

(LATE)  Increases discrimination penalty from $500,000 to $750,000 for a cable operator that denies access to cable service to residents because of the income of that group.

Markey (MA)/Eshoo (CA)/Boucher (VA)/Inslee (WA)

#20

Seeks to restore important non-discrimination requirements enforced by the Federal Communications Commission that from the inception of the Internet until August of 2005 were binding on telecommunications carriers.  This amendment essentially has 3 parts: (1) provides a policy statement in addition to the general duties of broadband network providers; provides for preserved rights and exceptions to the general statutory duties in the first part; and provides an expedited complaint process and an antitrust savings clause.

Miller, Gary (CA)/Davis, Susan (CA)

#26

(LATE)  Clarifies that all local rights-of-way disputes are to be heard by a court of competent jurisdiction, in the same manner as those disputes are heard pursuant to section 253 of the existing law.

Reichert (WA)

#27

(WITHDRAWN) (LATE)  Ensures that FCC rules are upheld that require VOIP providers to route 911 calls directly to an emergency operator at the geographically appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). Also strikes the provision in the bill that allows VOIP service providers the window of 180 days to provide E911 to their customers.

Rush (IL)

#6

Sets forth a complaint process to resolve fee disputes between a local franchise authority and a cable operator. A franchise authority or a cable operator must provide written notice to each other if there is a dispute regarding franchise fees or PEG/I-Net support.  Both parties must meet within 30 days of notification. If the local franchise authority and the cable operator have not resolve the dispute within 90 days then both parties can petition the FCC to resolve the complaint. The FCC has 90 days to resolve any fee disputes.  Provides a 3-year limitation in bringing a complaint to the FCC regarding fee disputes.

Sensenbrenner (WI)/Lofgren (CA)/Boucher (VA)/Conyers (MI)/Wilson, Heather (NM)

#14

Establishes an antitrust remedy under the Clayton Act for anticompetitive and discriminatory practices by broadband service providers.  Expressly permits a broadband network provider to take steps to manage the functioning and security of its network, to give priority to emergency communications, and to take steps to prevent violations of Federal and State law, or to comply with a court order.  Also allows for an expedited administrative process to resolve complaints alleging violations of new Section 28 of the Clayton Act.  Also clarifies that both the FCC and FTC have authority to enforce Section 28 via administrative proceedings and specify which agency has lead jurisdiction over various types of complaints.

Smith, Lamar (TX)

#25

(LATE)  Clarifies that the language in section 201 (i.e. the new section 715(b)(3) of the Communications Act) that gives exclusive authority to the FCC to adjudicate complaints concerning network neutrality does not affect the applicability of the antitrust laws to cases involving network neutrality or the jurisdiction of the courts to hear such cases.

Solis (CA)

#4

Establishes market-based incremental service requirements for a national franchisee’s access and use of the public rights-of-way within a franchise area so that the operator must eventually be capable of providing cable service to all households in the franchise area, as is required of cable operators under existing law.

Solis (CA)/Watson (CA)/Baldwin (WI)/Wu (OR)/Waxman (CA)

#3

Strengthens the anti-discrimination provision by:  (1) prohibiting discrimination not just on the basis of income but also on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex; (2) forbidding not just the denial of service but also the offering of inferior access to such service in a manner that has the purpose or effect of discriminating; and (3) allowing local enforcement of the provisions with an appeal to the FCC.

Wynn (MD)

#5

Allows a franchising authority to issue an order requiring compliance with FCC revised consumer protection rules.