PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Creates the Department of Justice Telecommunications Carrier Compliance Fund in the U.S. Treasury. The Attorney General can use it, with no yearly time limit, to pay telecommunications carriers, equipment makers, and telecom support service providers under section 1008. Other U.S. agencies with law enforcement or intelligence roles may put unused, available balances into the Fund if they follow any required Congressional reprogramming notices. The Attorney General can close the Fund when it is no longer needed, and any money left then goes to the Treasury’s General Fund. That closing decision cannot be reviewed by a court. Money in the Fund cannot be spent until an implementation plan is sent to every member of the House and Senate Judiciary and Appropriations Committees and Congress does not block the spending; the funds must follow the reprogramming rules in section 605 of the Department of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997. The implementation plan must cover four things: law enforcement capability needs and how they would connect to carriers; proposed and maximum capacity for simultaneous intercepts and related tools, shown county-by-county for wireline and by market area for wireless with the historical baseline; a prioritized list of carrier equipment, facilities, and services deployed on or before January 1, 1995 to be modified; and a projected reimbursement plan estimating costs for the coming fiscal year and future years based on those priorities. Each year the Attorney General must send Congress a report listing all deposits and spending under subchapter I. That report must go to each member of the Judiciary and Appropriations Committees in both chambers and to House and Senate leaders within 60 days after the fiscal year ends.

Title 47, §1021

Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Establishment of Fund

There is hereby established in the United States Treasury a fund to be known as the Department of Justice Telecommunications Carrier Compliance Fund (hereafter referred to as “the Fund”), which shall be available without fiscal year limitation to the Attorney General for making payments to telecommunications carriers, equipment manufacturers, and providers of telecommunications support services pursuant to section 1008 of this title.

(b)Deposits to Fund

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any agency of the United States with law enforcement or intelligence responsibilities may deposit as offsetting collections to the Fund any unobligated balances that are available until expended, upon compliance with any Congressional notification requirements for reprogrammings of funds applicable to the appropriation from which the deposit is to be made.

(c)Termination

(1)The Attorney General may terminate the Fund at such time as the Attorney General determines that the Fund is no longer necessary.

(2)Any balance in the Fund at the time of its termination shall be deposited in the General Fund of the Treasury.

(3)A decision of the Attorney General to terminate the Fund shall not be subject to judicial review.

(d)Availability of funds for expenditure

Funds shall not be available for obligation unless an implementation plan as set forth in subsection (e) is submitted to each member of the Committees on the Judiciary and Appropriations of both the House of Representatives and the Senate and the Congress does not by law block or prevent the obligation of such funds. Such funds shall be treated as a reprogramming of funds under section 605 of the Department of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997, and shall not be available for obligation or expenditure except in compliance with the procedures set forth in that section and this section.

(e)Implementation plan

The implementation plan shall include:

(1)the law enforcement assistance capability requirements and an explanation of law enforcement’s recommended interface;

(2)the proposed actual and maximum capacity requirements for the number of simultaneous law enforcement communications intercepts, pen registers, and trap and trace devices that authorized law enforcement agencies may seek to conduct, set forth on a county-by-county basis for wireline services and on a market service area basis for wireless services, and the historical baseline of electronic surveillance activity upon which such capacity requirements are based;

(3)a prioritized list of carrier equipment, facilities, and services deployed on or before January 1, 1995, to be modified by carriers at the request of law enforcement based on its investigative needs;

(4)a projected reimbursement plan that estimates the cost for the coming fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, based on the prioritization of law enforcement needs as outlined in (3), of modification by carriers of equipment, facilities and services, installed on or before January 1, 1995.

(f)Annual report to Congress

The Attorney General shall submit to the Congress each year a report specifically detailing all deposits and expenditures made pursuant to subchapter I of this chapter in each fiscal year. This report shall be submitted to each member of the Committees on the Judiciary and Appropriations of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and to the Speaker and minority leader of the House of Representatives and to the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, no later than 60 days after the end of each fiscal year.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 605 of the Department of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997, referred to in subsec. (d), probably means section 605 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997, Pub. L. 104–208, div. A, title I, § 101(a) [title VI], Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009–64, which is not classified to the Code. Subchapter I of this chapter, referred to in subsec. (f), was in the original “this Act” and was translated as reading “title I of this Act”, meaning title I of Pub. L. 103–414, Oct. 25, 1994, 108 Stat. 4279, which is classified to subchapter I of this chapter, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Direct Payments From Fund Pub. L. 106–246, div. B, title II, July 13, 2000, 114 Stat. 542, provided in part: “That, hereafter, in the discretion of the Attorney General, any expenditures from the [Telecommunications Carrier Compliance] Fund to pay or reimburse pursuant to section 104(e) and 109(a) of Public Law 103–414 [47 U.S.C. 1003(e), 1008(a)], may be made directly to any parties specified in section 401(a) thereof [47 U.S.C. 1021(a)], and may be made either pursuant to the

Regulations

promulgated under such section 109, or pursuant to firm fixed-price agreements, upon provision of such information as the Attorney General may require”.

§1021 Department of Justice Telecommunications Carrier Compliance Fund