H.R. 1888: Federal Spectrum Incentive Act of 2017

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H.R. 1888: Federal Spectrum Incentive Act of 2017

115th Congress · introduced 2017-04-04 · Science, Technology, Communications · Latest: Referred to the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.

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Official title

Federal Spectrum Incentive Act of 2017

Plain summary

Federal Spectrum Incentive Act of 2017 This bill amends the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization Act to allow federal entities that utilize government station licenses to participate in the incentive auction program under which licensees of electromagnetic spectrum voluntarily relinquish their spectrum rights in order for such spectrum to be auctioned for a repurposed commercial use in exchange for a percentage of the auction proceeds. Instead of being reimbursed for the costs of sharing frequencies with nonfederal users or relocating to other frequencies as provided for under current law, such federal entities may receive a percentage of the proceeds from spectrum it relinquishes for auction by electing to: (1) discontinue operations on eligible frequencies without relocating to other frequencies, or (2) relocate operations to frequencies assigned to another federal entity in order for such entities to share frequencies. The bill establishes in the Treasury a Federal Spectrum Incentive Fund to be administered by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in consultation with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The bill requires 1% of the proceeds from such auctions to be deposited in such fund and the remainder to be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury for the sole purpose of deficit reduction. OMB must transfer from the fund to a federal entity a specified amount attributable to the auction of frequencies vacated by such entity. Federal entities may use such amounts for: (1) any purposes permitted under the terms and conditions of an appropriations account that was subject to sequestration for any fiscal year under the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, provided that the amount used does not exceed the amount by which the account was reduced by sequestration for such fiscal year; or (2) a transfer of amounts to an incumbent federal entity for such purposes when the federal entity relinquishing spectrum relocates its operations to frequencies assigned to another federal entity in order to share frequencies.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Guthrie, Brett [R-KY-2] · 1 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Doris O. Matsui (D-CA)

Sponsor's campaign money: Rep. Guthrie, Brett [R-KY-2] reported raising $6.0 million (2025–2026). Details. Shown for context only; it does not mean any donor supported this bill.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-115hr1888.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/115/hr>

Record fed-us-cong115-hr1888 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115