H.R. 9151

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9151 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9151

To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Assistant 
Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, to develop a 
plan for how the United States will advance and advocate for Wi-Fi and 
other unlicensed technologies, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 4, 2026

Mr. Latta (for himself and Mr. Carter of Louisiana) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a 
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To require the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Assistant 
Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, to develop a 
plan for how the United States will advance and advocate for Wi-Fi and 
other unlicensed technologies, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Advancing American Wi-Fi Against 
Foreign Adversaries Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the leadership of the United States with respect to Wi-
Fi, 6G, and satellite technologies is a national priority;
(2) the United States is the birthplace of Wi-Fi technology 
and home to the world's leading developers, manufacturers, and 
innovators with respect to unlicensed spectrum;
(3) Wi-Fi contributes more than $1,000,000,000,000 annually 
to the economy of the United States, and is estimated to 
contribute $2,400,000,000,000 in 2027, which helps to enable 
commercial activity, the provision of education and health 
care, and the maintenance of public safety;
(4) maintaining and advocating for a global system that 
supports Wi-Fi technology is essential to continuing the 
leadership of the United States in advanced technologies and 
building networks of trusted telecommunications infrastructure;
(5) strategic and unified engagement at, and leading up to, 
the World Radiocommunication Conferences of the International 
Telecommunication Union is critical to--
(A) advance the spectrum priorities of the United 
States; and
(B) counter actions from adversaries that seek to 
upend the leadership of the United States;
(6) adversaries, such as the People's Republic of China, 
have pushed for spectrum policies at World Radiocommunication 
Conferences and in other fora that seek to reverse the global 
momentum made with respect to Wi-Fi technology, with the aim of 
forcing reliance on untrusted, foreign-controlled 
infrastructure;
(7) because the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027 
will be held in Shanghai, China, coordination between key 
Federal agencies is essential to creating a unified strategy 
and building a coalition of countries allied on spectrum 
priorities and countering adverse action by the People's 
Republic of China; and
(8) it is critical for the success of the United States at 
the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027 to--
(A) achieve timely decisions on national technology 
and spectrum priorities;
(B) appoint a head of delegation as swiftly as 
possible to support the positions of the United States; 
and
(C) actively engage allies and potential allies to 
build support for the stated spectrum priorities of the 
United States.

SEC. 3. PLAN FOR ADVANCEMENT OF UNLICENSED TECHNOLOGIES.

(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
Senate;
(C) the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 
House of Representatives; and
(D) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 
of Representatives.
(2) Assistant secretary.--The term ``Assistant Secretary'' 
means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications 
and Information.
(3) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
Communications Commission.
(4) Plan.--The term ``Plan'' means the plan described in 
subsection (b).
(5) Unlicensed.--The term ``unlicensed'' means, with 
respect to technology, that the technology may be operated 
without an individual license, as provided in part 15 of title 
47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulations.
(6) Wi-fi technology.--The term ``Wi-Fi technology''--
(A) means wireless local area networking technology 
that is--
(i) commonly known as ``Wi-Fi''; and
(ii) based on Institute of Electrical and 
Electronics Engineers standards 802.11, or any 
successor standards; and
(B) includes the spectrum access and regulatory 
frameworks that enable the technology described in 
subparagraph (A).
(7) WRC-27.--The term ``WRC-27'' means the International 
Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference 
scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China, from October 11 to 
November 12, 2027.
(b) Plan.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce, acting 
through the Assistant Secretary, in coordination with the 
Commission, the Secretary of State, the United States Trade 
Representative, the Under Secretary of Commerce for 
International Trade, and the heads of other relevant Federal 
agencies, shall develop, submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees, and make publicly available on the 
website of the National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration a plan describing how the United States will 
advance, and advocate for, the global adoption of Wi-Fi 
technologies, unlicensed technologies, and spectrum allocations 
for unlicensed technologies, including at WRC-27, through, 
among other actions, promoting global harmonization of the band 
of electromagnetic spectrum from 5925 megahertz to 7125 
megahertz for the use of Wi-Fi technologies and unlicensed 
technologies.
(2) Public input.--The Assistant Secretary shall--
(A) seek public comment in developing the Plan; and
(B) consider comments received pursuant to 
subparagraph (A) when finalizing the Plan.
(3) Required contents.--The Plan shall include an 
assessment of, and strategies to counter, efforts by the 
Chinese Communist Party, representatives of the government of 
the People's Republic of China, and representatives of other 
governments that are adversaries of the United States to 
undermine unlicensed technologies and Wi-Fi technologies.
(c) Report on Implementation.--Not later than 90 days after the 
date on which WRC-27 concludes, the Assistant Secretary shall submit to 
the appropriate congressional committees a report describing the 
implementation of the Plan, which shall--
(1) to the extent possible, include a mechanism to track 
the progress of the implementation of the Plan; and
(2) be submitted in an unclassified form, but may include a 
classified annex.
(d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be construed 
to require the disclosure of classified information, information that 
is subject to privilege, or proprietary or trade secret information.
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