A bill to require the Comptroller General of the United States to submit a report to Congress on the effectiveness of the Federal Communications Commission's universal service reforms.
Latest action · Apr 22, 2013 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedApr 22, 2013
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Directs the Comptroller General (GAO), beginning on or before December 31, 2013, and annually thereafter for the following five years, to prepare a report to aid Congress in monitoring and measuring the effects of a series of reforms by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) intended to promote the availability and affordability of broadband service throughout the United States.
Requires such report to include measurements, statistics, and metrics with respect to:
- the implementation progress on the reforms adopted in the FCC's Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted on October 27, 2011;
- any effects of such reforms on retail end-user rates for local voice telephony, interconnected VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), long distance voice, mobile wireless voice, bundles of voice telephony or VoIP, fixed broadband Internet access, and mobile broadband Internet access services;
- any disparities or trends with respect to the relative average (such as per consumer) retail rates charged for each service to residential and business consumers located in rural and urban areas as well as between incumbent local exchange carriers subject to price cap regulation and those subject to rate-of-return regulation;
- any effects on average fixed and mobile broadband Internet access speeds available to residential and business consumers as well as speed disparities between rural and urban areas;
- any effects on the magnitude and pace of investments in broadband-capable networks in rural areas, including investments financed by the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Utilities Service under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, and investment disparities between rural and urban areas;
- any disparities or trends with respect to the magnitude and pace of investments in broadband-capable networks in areas served by carriers subject to price cap regulation and areas served by carriers subject to rate-of-return regulation;
- any effects on adoption of broadband Internet access services by end users; and
- any effects on state universal service funds or initiatives, including carrier-of-last-resort requirements.
Cosponsors 9
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Apr 22, 2013 to May 21, 2013, with 1 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-NE | Deb Fischer | Original | Apr 22, 2013 |
| R-IA | Chuck Grassley | Apr 24, 2013 | |
| D-SD | Tim Johnson | May 20, 2013 | |
| D-MN | Al Franken | May 21, 2013 | |
| D-MN | Amy Klobuchar | May 21, 2013 | |
| D-MI | Debbie Stabenow | May 21, 2013 | |
| D-OR | Jeff Merkley | May 21, 2013 | |
| R-WY | Michael B. Enzi | May 21, 2013 | |
| D-IA | Tom Harkin | May 21, 2013 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Apr 22, 2013Introduced in Senate
- Apr 22, 2013Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications.
- Administrative law and regulatory procedures
- Congressional oversight
- Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
- Government studies and investigations
- Internet and video services
- Internet, web applications, social media
- Performance measurement
- Science, Technology, Communications
- Telecommunication rates and fees
- Telephone and wireless communication
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Apr 22, 2013Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.