To provide for the correct treatment of territories and possessions in the health care service supports under the Communications Act of 1934.

January 30, 2004

Ms. BORDALLO (for herself, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. ACEVEDO-VILA, and Mrs. CHRISTENSEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

To provide for the correct treatment of territories and possessions in the health care service supports under the Communications Act of 1934.

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 `Pacific Insular Areas Rural Telemedicine Act'.

SEC. 2. FCC REGULATIONS REQUIRED.

Section 254(h)(1)(A) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254(h)(1)(A)) is amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: `For the purposes of this subparagraph for American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam, the Commission shall by regulation (i) designate Honolulu, Hawaii, as the urban area that shall be treated as if such urban area were in the same State as the rural areas of Guam, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, respectively; (ii) specify that the maximum allowable distance shall be the distance between the capital cities of these Pacific insular areas and Hawaii; and (iii) specify that the urban rate shall be based on the urban rate for Hawaii.'.

END