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S. 2319, a Bill to Amend the Communications Act of 1934 1 (July 5, 2016)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo3032 and id is 1 raw text is: 




                  CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
                             COST ESTIMATE

                                                                      July 5, 2016


                                    S. 2319
              A bill to amend   the Communications Act of 1934

As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
                               on December  9, 2015


S. 2319 would amend current law to require that certain payments related to auctions held
by the Federal Communications Commission  the (FCC) be deposited in the Treasury.
Under current law, the proceeds from the FCC's auctions of licenses to use the
electromagnetic spectrum are deposited in different types of financial institutions
depending on the phase of the auction process. Most of the offsetting receipts from those
auctions are already deposited directly in the Treasury. However, the amounts paid before
the start of an auction, which are known as upfront payments, must initially be deposited in
an interest-bearing account at a designated financial institution. The FCC currently
requires upfront payments to be deposited in the agency's account at the Federal Reserve
Bank  of New York. After the auction closes, the upfront payments for winning bids are
transmitted to the Treasury and the remainder is refunded to the unsuccessful bidders. Fees
charged by banks for those transactions are deducted from auction receipts.

Pay-as-you-go procedures apply because enacting S. 2319 would reduce direct spending.
Eliminating transaction fees, which are paid by the federal government from auction
receipts, would increase net offsetting receipts. (Offsetting receipts are considered to be
reductions in direct spending.) However, based on financial information from the FCC,
CBO  estimates that the transaction fees charged by the Federal Reserve Bank are
negligible; therefore, any increase in auction proceeds stemming from enacting the bill also
would be negligible. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.

CBO  estimates that enacting S. 2319 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget
deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027.

S. 2319 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded  Mandates Reform  Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.

The CBO  staff contact for this estimate is Kathleen Gramp. The estimate was approved by
H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

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