A bill to amend the Communications Satellite Act of 1962 to strike the privatization criteria for INTELSAT separated entities, remove certain restrictions on separated and successor entities to INTELSAT, and for other purposes.
Public Law 109-34 · S. 1282 · 109th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by George W. Bush (R) on Jul 12, 2005 · Science, Technology, Communications
Sponsor: Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)
Cosponsors: None
Passage votes
- HouseUnanimous consent
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Amends title VI (Open-market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications Act or ORBIT Act) of the Communications Satellite Act of 1962, concerning INTELSAT (a global satellite provider of voice, data, and Internet services) and Inmarsat (a global mobile satellite communications provider), to prohibit any successor entity or separated entity from having officers or managers who are officers or managers of any signatories. (Current law prohibits any successor entity or separated entity from having officers or managers who are officers or managers of any signatories or former signatories or who have any direct financial interest in or financial relationship to any signatories or former signatories, except that such interest may be managed through a blind trust or similar mechanism.) Strikes provsions that prohibited a separated entity from having officers or directors, who are either officers or managers of any intergovernmental organization or who have any direct financial interest in or financial relationship to any international organization, except that such interest may be managed through a blind trust or similar mechanism.
Requires the United States to preserve the space segment capacity of the GMDSS (Global Maritime Distress and Safety System).
Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to review competitive market conditions of domestic and international satellite communications services and include in an annual report an analysis of those conditions.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
The record lists no related bills.
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 13 actions.
- Jul 12, 2005Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 109-34.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Jun 30, 2005FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Jun 29, 2005FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
- FloorFloor · Mr. Barton (TX) asked unanimous consent to discharge from committee and consider.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Energy and Commerce discharged.
- OtherOther · Cleared for White House.
- Jun 21, 2005FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- FloorFloor · Received in the House.
- FloorFloor · Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in Senate
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.