United States S 4827: SPACE Act of 2020

Bill Text

II
116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION S. 4827
To authorize the Assistant Secretary of Space Commerce to provide space
situational awareness data, information, and services to non-United
States Government entities, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
OCTOBER 21 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020
Mr. WICKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To authorize the Assistant Secretary of Space Commerce
to provide space situational awareness data, information,
and services to non-United States Government entities,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Space Preservation 4
And Conjunction Emergency Act of 2020’’ or the 5
‘‘SPACE Act of 2020’’. 6
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SEC. 2. BUREAU OF SPACE COMMERCE. 1
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-2
gress that— 3
(1) growing commercial activity in space re-4
quires immediate action to address the increasing 5
probability of collisions between spacecraft and or-6
bital debris; 7
(2) such collisions threaten the billions of dol-8
lars of existing United States and allied spacecraft, 9
including the International Space Station, and en-10
danger the future usability of space; 11
(3) the provision of accurate and timely notice 12
to commercial satellite operators with respect to po-13
tential conjunctions enhances safety; and 14
(4) a 2020 National Academies for Public Ad-15
ministration study identified the Department of 16
Commerce as the preferred Federal agency to pro-17
vide space situational awareness services to commer-18
cial satellite operators. 19
(b) AMENDMENTS.—Chapter 507 of title 51, United 20
States Code, is amended— 21
(1) in the chapter heading, by striking ‘‘OF-22
FICE’’ and inserting ‘‘BUREAU’’; 23
(2) by amending section 50701 to read as fol-24
lows: 25
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‘‘§ 50701. Definition of Bureau 1
‘‘In this chapter, the term ‘Bureau’ means the Bu-2
reau of Space Commerce established in section 50702.’’; 3
(3) in section 50702— 4
(A) by amending subsection (a) to read as 5
follows: 6
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 7
Department of Commerce a Bureau of Space Commerce.’’; 8
(B) by amending subsection (b) to read as 9
follows: 10
‘‘(b) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The Bureau shall be 11
headed by an Assistant Secretary for Space Commerce, 12
to be appointed by the President, with the advice and con-13
sent of the Senate, and compensated at level II or III of 14
the Executive Schedule, as determined by the Secretary 15
of Commerce. The Assistant Secretary shall report directly 16
to the Secretary of Commerce.’’; 17
(C) in subsection (c)— 18
(i) in the subsection heading, by strik-19
ing ‘‘OFFICE’’ and inserting ‘‘BUREAU’’; 20
(ii) in the matter preceding paragraph 21
(1), by striking ‘‘Office’’ and inserting 22
‘‘Bureau’’; 23
(iii) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, 24
including activities licensed under chapter 25
601’’ before the semicolon; and 26
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(iv) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘Po-1
sition,’’ and inserting ‘‘Positioning,’’; and 2
(D) in subsection (d)— 3
(i) in the subsection heading, by strik-4
ing ‘‘DIRECTOR’’ and inserting ‘‘ASSIST-5
ANT SECRETARY’’; 6
(ii) in the matter preceding paragraph 7
(1)— 8
(I) by striking ‘‘Director’’ and in-9
serting ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’; and 10
(II) by striking ‘‘Office shall’’ 11
and inserting ‘‘Bureau shall, under 12
the direction and supervision of the 13
Secretary of Commerce,’’; 14
(iii) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 15
through (7) as paragraphs (3) through (9), 16
respectively; 17
(iv) by inserting before paragraph (3), 18
as redesignated, the following: 19
‘‘(1) overseeing the issuing of licenses under 20
chapter 601; 21
‘‘(2) coordinating Department of Commerce 22
policy affecting commercial space activities and 23
working with other executive agencies to promote 24
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policies that advance commercial space activities;’’; 1
and 2
(v) in paragraph (8), as redesignated, 3
by inserting ‘‘, consistent with the inter-4
national obligations, foreign policy, and na-5
tional security interests of the United 6
States’’ before the semicolon; 7
(4) in section 50703— 8
(A) by striking ‘‘Office’’ and inserting 9
‘‘Bureau’’; and 10
(B) by striking ‘