GPS Legislation

Title 10 of the U.S. Code, Section 2281 assigns the Secretary of Defense statutory authority to sustain and operate GPS for military and civil purposes.

The statute directs the Secretary of Defense to provide civil GPS service on a continuous, worldwide basis, free of direct user fees.

It directs the Secretary of Defense to coordinate with the Secretary of Transportation on GPS requirements and GPS augmentation systems, and to coordinate with the Secretary of Commerce and others to facilitate civil and commercial GPS uses.

The statute directs the Secretary of Defense to develop measures for preventing hostile use of GPS in a particular area without hindering peaceful civil use of the system elsewhere.

It requires the Federal Radionavigation Plan to be published every two years.

10 U.S.C. § 2281 was created by Section 1074 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 1998.

The statute also incorporates the following legislation:

• Section 1607 of the NDAA for FY 2020, regarding a prototype program for multi-GNSS receiver development.
• Section 1609 of the John S. McCain NDAA for FY 2019, as amended by Section 1607 of the NDAA for FY 2020, regarding enhancement of PNT capacity.
• Section 1610 of the John S. McCain NDAA for FY 2019, as amended by Section 1602 of the NDAA for FY 2020, regarding M-Code receivers.
• Section 1621 of the NDAA for FY 2016, which requires quarterly reports on the GPS III space segment, GPS operational control segment, and military GPS user equipment acquisition programs.
• Section 913 of the Ike Skelton NDAA for FY 2011, which requires all military GPS user equipment purchased after FY 2017 to be M Code capable, except in the case of cars or where waived by the Secretary of Defense.
• Section 911 of the John Warner NDAA for FY 2007, which authorizes multi-agency funding of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee and related organizations.
• Section 218 of the Strom Thurmond NDAA for FY 1999, which requires the development of an enhanced GPS (i.e., modernization).
• Section 279 of the NDAA for FY 1996, which requires a development plan for navigation warfare. View PDF
• Section 152 of the NDAA for FY 1994 and Section 260 of the NDAA for FY 2006, which require all military aircraft, ships, armored vehicles, and indirect-fire weapon systems bought after September 2007 to be GPS-equipped. View PDF

The statute previously required biennial reports to Congress on GPS. Congress repealed the reporting requirement in 2013,, three years after reassigning it from the Secretary of Defense to the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing.

Title 10 of the U.S. Code, Section 2279b, establishes the Council on Oversight of the Department of Defense Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Enterprise.

The Council is responsible for oversight of the DOD PNT enterprise, including PNT services provided to civil, commercial, scientific, and international users.

10 U.S.C. § 2279b was created by Section 1603 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016.

Title 10 of the U.S. Code, Section 2279d, limits the construction of GNSS monitoring stations controlled by certain foreign governments within U.S. territory.

10 U.S.C. § 2279d was created by Section 1602 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (originally as § 2279c).

The statute incorporates Section 1602(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, which was originally codified as a note to 10 U.S.C. § 2281.

Title 51 of the U.S. Code, Section 50112, encourages the continuous, worldwide operation of GPS free of direct user fees, international promotion of GPS as an international standard, and protection of the radio spectrum used by GPS.

51 U.S.C. § 50112 incorporates Section 104 of the Commercial Space Act of 1998.

This statute was originally designated 42 U.S.C. § 14712.

Title 49 of the U.S. Code, Section 301, authorizes the establishment of the Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System (NDGPS).

49 U.S.C. § 301 allows the Department of Transportation to receive decommissioned Ground Wave Emergency Network (GWEN) sites from the Department of Defense and integrate them with the Coast Guard's maritime differential GPS stations. The legislation also encourages the integration of NDGPS with the Commerce Department's Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) and the use of NDGPS stations for GPS-based meteorology.

49 U.S.C. § 301 incorporates Section 346 of the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998.

On December 4, 2018, President Trump signed the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-282), which includes as Section 514 the National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018.

The act amends Title 49 of the U.S. Code to include the following language:

§ 312. Alternative timing system
(a) In General.—Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary of Transportation shall provide for the establishment, sustainment, and operation of a land-based, resilient, and reliable alternative timing system—
(1) to reduce critical dependencies and provide a complement to and backup for the timing component of the Global Positioning System (referred to in this section as ‘GPS’); and
(2) to ensure the availability of uncorrupted and non-degraded timing signals for military and civilian users in the event that GPS timing signals are corrupted, degraded, unreliable, or otherwise unavailable.
The act goes on to provide specific direction regarding: establishment of requirements; implementation plan; LORAN facilities; and agreement authority.

Legislative History

Previously, the House of Representatives incorporated the National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018 into its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2019 (H.R. 5515), where it appeared as Section 4514, "Backup Global Positioning System." However, that section was not included in the final defense act.

The National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018 incorporates elements of previous legislation, including

• National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2017 (S. 2220)
• DHS Authorization Act (H.R. 2825, Sec. 5411)
• Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2017 (H.R. 2518, Sec. 411)
• Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Amendments Act of 2016 (H.R. 5978, Sec. 106)
• Miscellaneous Maritime Transportation Amendments Act of 2016 (H.R. 5531, Sec. 102)
• National Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 1678)

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held two hearings where the need for GPS backup was discussed:

• June 2017 (see 1:22:05 in video)
• September 2016

President Obama signed this act into law on February 8, 2016.

Section 610 provides guidance and authority concerning "Disposition of Infrastructure Related to E-LORAN". It repeals and replaces the previous guidance enacted in Section 229 of the Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014 (see below).

Section 610 also amends the statutory authorities of the Coast Guard Commandant codified at 14 U.S.C. § 93(a) (view text at house.gov) to include:

(25) enter into cooperative agreements, contracts, and other agreements with Federal entities and other public or private entities, including academic entities, to develop a positioning, navigation, and timing system to provide redundant capability in the event Global Positioning System signals are disrupted, which may consist of an enhanced LORAN system.

Sections 524 and 540 also address LORAN infrastructure.

President Obama signed this act into law on December 18, 2014. However, Section 229 was repealed in 2016 by the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015 (see above).

Section 229 ("E-LORAN") provided that

 The Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating may not carry out activities related to the dismantling or disposal of infrastructure that supported the former LORAN system until the later of....

The provision originated with the House transportation committee.

President Obama signed this act into law on October 28, 2009.

Section 559 allows termination of LORAN-C and decommissioning of the infrastructure after

• The Coast Guard Commandant certifies the termination will not adversely impact maritime safety; and
• The Secretary of Homeland Security certifies the LORAN-C infrastructure is not needed as a backup to GPS or to meet any other federal navigation requirement.

President Obama signed this act into law on October 15, 2010.

Section 219 directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to conclude a study of whether a single, domestic system is needed as a backup navigation system to GPS.

Earlier versions of the legislation in the House and Senate included specific provisions on E-LORAN, but these were dropped after passage of the law allowing LORAN-C termination.

(a) Sense Of Congress.—It is the sense of Congress that the importance of positioning, navigation, and timing for national security and economic prosperity requires highly reliable and secure positioning, navigation, and timing systems, such as the Global Positioning System, to support commercial, civil, and national security programs.

(b) Strategy On PNT Signals.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees a strategy to ensure that positioning, navigation, and timing receivers of the Department of Defense best leverage the global availability of positioning, navigation, and timing signals from the Global Positioning System, the Galileo system, and other positioning, navigation, and timing systems, including commercial positioning, navigation, and timing solutions that use commercial satellite constellations.

(2) ELEMENTS.—The strategy under paragraph (1) shall address the following:

(A) Issues associated with monitoring and verification of the accuracy, integrity, availability, and security of foreign and commercial positioning, navigation, and timing signals.

(B) Mechanisms for timely notification to military users of the current and projected reliability of such foreign and commercial systems.

(C) Methods for sharing information across the Global Positioning System, the Galileo system, and other positioning, navigation, and timing systems to improve the interoperability and effectiveness of the systems for military users.

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall establish a National Executive Committee on Weather to coordinate weather-related matters across the departments and agencies of the Federal Government. The President shall base the National Executive Committee on Weather on the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee.

The Fiscal Year 2019 appropriations act for the Department of Transportation, HUD, and related agencies includes the following provision applicable to the Department of Transportation.

Sec. 143. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to mandate global positioning system (GPS) tracking in private passenger motor vehicles without providing full and appropriate consideration of privacy concerns under 5 U.S.C. chapter 5, subchapter II.

5 U.S.C. chapter 5, subchapter II, refers to the Administrative Procedure Act.

Legislative History

Congress enacted identical language for Fiscal Years 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015:

• Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Division L, Section 143)
• Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (Division K, Section 143)
• Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (Division L, Section 143)
• Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Division K, Section 417)

DOT proposed to repeal the FY 2016 provision, stating it "would limit NHTSA's GPS work."

The FY 2013 THUD funding bill included similar language (Section 429). It passed the House but was not enacted.

The Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act seeks to establish a legal framework that gives government agencies, commercial entities, and private citizens clear guidelines for when and how geolocation information can be accessed and used.

The bill would create a process whereby government agencies can get a probable cause warrant to obtain geolocation information in the same way that they currently get warrants for wiretaps or other types of electronic surveillance.

In addition, the GPS Act would prohibit businesses from disclosing geographical tracking data about its customers to others without the customers' permission.

Bill Status

• In July 2017, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) reintroduced the House legislation following the resignation of its previous sponsor.
• In February 2017, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) reintroduced the legislation for the 115th Congress. Their bills (S. 395 and H.R. 1062) were referred to the House and Senate judiciary committees and the House intelligence committee.

Legislative History

• Sen. Wyden and Rep. Chaffetz originally introduced the legislation during the 112th Congress, and the House judiciary committee held a hearing on it.
• The bills were reintroduced in the 113th and 114th Congresses, but saw no further movement.

The report to accompany the House bill states that LightSquared's 2011 authorization from the FCC has expired, so the appropriations committee did not address the matter in its FY 2015 spending bill for FCC.

The committee previously passed legislation covering FY 2012 through FY 2014 that limited the FCC from approving LightSquared operations.

Section 625 of Division E prohibits the FCC from using FY 2014 funds to remove the conditions in LightSquared's January 2011 authorization, or to otherwise permit commercial LightSquared operations, until the FCC has resolved GPS interference concerns. The FY 2012 omnibus act included the same provision, which was extended to FY 2013.

The FCC received its FY 2013 funding through a continuing resolution. The continuing resolution extended all conditions in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012, on the use of FCC funds into FY 2013, including the LightSquared-related provision.

Legislative History

The House appropriations committee's June 26, 2012, report on the above-titled bill includes the following text, which refers to the FCC's pending decision on the LightSquared matter.

The Committee supports the actions proposed in the FCC's Public Notice released on February 15, 2012 in IB Docket No. 11-109 (DA 12-214) and urges their prompt adoption. The Committee has previously expressed concern about the potential impact on Global Positioning Systems (GPS) of planned terrestrial broadband operations in the L Band. However, the Committee encourages the FCC to work with the licensee to provide other spectrum to deploy broadband services while heeding previous concerns regarding potential interference to commercially available GPS devices. In fiscal year 2012, the Committee restricted the FCC from using funds to allow for the operation of a terrestrial broadband network in the L Band until potential interference issues could be resolved. The Committee is pleased that the FCC continues to engage in a thorough examination of this issue. The Committee will continue to monitor the FCC's consideration of future licenses and waivers and remains concerned about the impact on GPS functionality of terrestrial broadband networks in the L Band.

The bill went no further than the House committee. The Senate version had no related provision.

On December 23, 2011, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2012, an omnibus spending measure that includes funding for the FCC.

Section 628 of Division C prohibits the FCC from using FY 2012 funds to remove the conditions in LightSquared's January 2011 authorization, or to otherwise permit commercial LightSquared operations, until the FCC has resolved GPS interference concerns.

This provision remained in effect during FY 2013 under the terms of the continuing resolution for FY 2013. .

Legislative History

The omnibus measure includes the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2012. The provision related to LightSquared originated in Section 633 of the House version of that bill.

The Senate version of the Financial Services bill did not mention GPS.

On December 31, 2011, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012.

Section 911(a) forbids the FCC from approving operations of the LightSquared terrestrial wireless network until the FCC has resolved concerns of widespread harmful interference to military GPS devices. It also requires a public comment period on the spring 2011 report of the LightSquared-GPS Technical Working Group.

Section 911(b) requires DoD to conduct a review every 90 days for the next two years on whether commercial communications services interfere with military GPS receivers, and to notify Congress if such is the case.

Legislative History

The original House bill simply required congressional notification of GPS interference from commercial communication systems. The report to accompany that version highlighted concerns about potential GPS interference and suggested, "the FCC should indefinitely postpone final decision [on approval of LightSquared operations] until the harmful interference issue has been resolved, with the full coordination and approval of the Department of Defense."

The House later amended its bill to include the requirements found in Section 911(a) of the final act.

The Senate version included the provisions found in Section 911(b) of the final act. View bill text and report language.

On November 18, 2011, President Obama signed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2012. The signed act includes no provisions related to LightSquared-GPS interference.

The House-Senate conference report to accompany the act includes a reporting requirement concerning the LightSquared-GPS Technical Working Group.

The conferees direct the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to provide a report within 60 days based on the following, earlier guidance from the House Appropriations Committee:

The Committee is aware that NTIA and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are in the midst of a regulatory process with respect to the Global Positioning System and that a technical working group is reviewing potential interference issues. NTIA is directed to report to the Committee following completion of the technical working group activities, but no later than August 1, 2011, regarding the discoveries of this technical working group and the scientific steps necessary to address any potential interference concerns.

Legislative History

This mini-omnibus ("minibus") spending act consolidates multiple appropriations bills. Two of the component bills contained LightSquared-related provisions in earlier versions:

• Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012
  The NTIA reporting requirement originated with the House version of this bill.
• Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012
  The House report to accompany the original agriculture bill notes the criticality of GPS to USDA and to U.S. farmers and ranchers. The language directs USDA to ensure the FCC is aware of the agricultural concerns about LightSquared-GPS interference, and to work with DoD, DOT, and other agencies to address them (View source). The Senate did not include equivalent language.

President Obama signed this act into law on November 25, 2015.

Title III amends the Title 51 statutory functions of the Commerce Department's Office of Space Commerce to include: "provide support to Federal Government organizations working on Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing policy, including the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Position [sic], Navigation, and Timing."

Title 10 of the U.S. Code, Section 2281, authorizes multi-agency funding of the National Coordination Office.

In addition to being hosted by the Commerce Department, the National Coordination Office receives operational funds from the Departments of Defense and Transportation, and personnel from multiple agencies.

Title 10 of the U.S. Code, Section 2281, directs the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Transportation to jointly prepare the Federal Radionavigation Plan on a biennial basis. 

Section 1610 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 requires the Secretary of Defense to provide two briefings on the Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX) program to the congressional defense committees, as a condition on the full use of FY 2017 OCX funding.

The House report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 directs the Air Force "to provide a briefing to the congressional defense committees on the contingency plans and capabilities for the GPS/OCX program to ensure that warfighter requirements will be met and the program risk will be appropriately managed."

Section 1622 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 directs the Secretary of Defense to arrange an independent assessment of OCX and submit a report on the results to the congressional defense committees. 

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 directs the Air Force to submit regular reports to GAO on GPS space, control, and user segment acquisition programs.

The act also directs GAO to provide a briefing to the congressional defense committees on the Air Force's first quarterly report, and as GAO considers appropriate thereafter.

• View GAO report 1
• View GAO report 2

The joint explanatory statement on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, directs DOD "to determine if the current GPS III satellite launch plan should be adjusted to ensure necessary operational testing on early vehicles has been completed and potential satellite deficiencies have been discovered before more satellites are launched." 

The House report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 directs GAO to report on DOD's progress in deploying GPS M-Code capability.

The Senate report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 directs GAO to review the cost, scope, and schedule of the Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX), including synchronization with the launch of the GPS III constellation. 

The Senate report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 directs the Air Force to assess the feasibility of multi-year procurement of GPS III satellites.

The House report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 directs the Air Force to submit a report to Congress on "lower-cost solutions for providing GPS capability following the procurement of the GPS III satellites." It also directs GAO to review the Air Force report. 

Section 215 of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 compels DOD to complete and report to Congress on an analysis of alternatives for the satellite and ground architectures, satellite technologies, and tactics, techniques, and procedures for the next generation GPS. 

Section 218(d) of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 requires DOD to submit a plan for the development of an enhanced Global Positioning System (i.e., GPS modernization). 

Section 1239 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 requires a congressional report including, among other things: "(R) A plan to counter the military capabilities of the Russian Federation, which, in addition to elements the Secretary of Defense determines to be appropriate, shall include recommendations for— (i) improving the capability of United States Armed Forces to operate in a Global Positioning System (GPS)-denied or GPS-degraded environment"

Section 1698 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 requires congressional notification if the Secretary of Defense determines commercial communications services are causing or will cause widespread harmful interference with DOD GPS devices. The legislation requires the Secretary to conduct quarterly reviews for two years to identify such interference.

Section 911 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 requires congressional notification of any suspected foreign disruption of national security space capabilities.

• The original House text cited space-based PNT (i.e., GPS) as a capability of concern. View PDF (1.5 MB)
• The joint explanatory statement for the final act states, "this notice is not intended to be notification of every anomaly instance; this is only notification when there is reason to believe that there was an intentional attempt to disrupt, degrade, or destroy a national security space capability." 

Section 342 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2013 directs the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress on the readiness of the joint force to operate in environments where there is no access to GPS and other Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems.

The National Timing Resilience and Security Act of 2018 (Section 514 of the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2018) requires "that the Secretary of Transportation shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives a report setting forth the following: (A) A plan to develop, construct, and operate the system required by subsection (a). (B) A description and assessment of the advantages of a system to provide a follow-on complementary and backup positioning and navigation capability to the timing component of GPS."

Section 1606 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 requires the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Transportation, and the Secretary of Homeland Security to jointly develop a plan for carrying out a backup GPS capability demonstration for the Global Positioning System. The Secretaries are required to provide a briefing on this plan to the appropriate congressional committees. 

Section 1618 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 directs the Secretaries of Defense, Transportation, and Homeland Security to "jointly conduct a study to assess and identify the technology-neutral requirements to backup and complement the positioning, navigation, and timing capabilities of the Global Positioning System for national security and critical infrastructure."

Section 219 of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to conclude a study of whether a single, domestic system is needed as a backup navigation system to GPS. 

The Senate report on the FY 2016 transportation appropriations bill directs the FAA to provide a progress update on its plans to upgrade the GPS Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Due date: within 180 days of enactment.

The joint committee print to accompany the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, calls for a letter report on the status of precision approach capability, including updates on WAAS satellite integration, WAAS equipage, and WAAS-enabled airports.

The joint committee print to accompany the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, directs the Department of Transportation to submit a recapitalization plan for the Nationwide Differential GPS.

Section 1607 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 requires the Secretary of Defense to develop and implement a plan to increase resilience for the positioning, navigation, and timing capacity for the Department of Defense. This section requires the plan to ensure that military GPS user equipment (MGUE) terminals have the capability to receive the signals from the Galileo satellites of the European Union and the QZSS satellites of Japan, beginning with increment 2 of the acquisition of such terminals. This plan would also include an assessment of the feasibility, benefits, and risks of military GPS MGUE terminals having the capability to receive foreign PNT signals, beginning with increment 2 of the acquisition of such terminals. Such plan would also include an assessment of options to use hosted payloads to provide redundancy for the GPS signal; ensure that the Secretary of Defense, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, engages with relevant U.S. allies to enable MGUE terminals to receive allied signals and negotiates other potential agreements relating to PNT enhancement; and include any other options the Secretary of Defense determines appropriate. Finally, this section requires the Secretary of Defense to submit the plan along with certain evaluations to specified congressional committees not later than 180 days after the enactment of the Act.

Section 1608 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 directs that, "the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Director of National Intelligence shall jointly submit to the appropriate congressional committees an assessment of the risks to national security and to the operations and plans of the Department of Defense from using a non-allied positioning, navigation, and timing system or service provided by such a system." 

The accompanying House report "directs the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense to provide a briefing... on the extent to which the Department uses either the Russian Federation's Glonass or the People's Republic of China's Beidou Global Navigation Satellite System or telecommunications systems that rely on them, and potential impacts of prohibiting use of such systems.

The House report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 "directs the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to submit a report... outlining the national security benefits that the Department of Defense would expect to derive from a decision by the FCC to approve the European Commission request for the Galileo GNSS system and any other matters they deem relevant." 

The House report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 directs DOD to provide a report on GNSS ground monitoring stations operated by Russia near any U.S./allied military installation overseas or any other sensitive installation.

The joint committee print to accompany the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, directs the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to prepare a report on U.S. industry access to Galileo markets, to assess compliance with the 2004 GPS-Galileo Agreement. 

The conference report to accompany the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2000, directs DOD to initiate a GPS spectrum harmonization study to be conducted by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Section 8137 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 1999, requires the DOD to submit a national strategy to protect GPS spectrum against interference and disruption, achieve its full and effective use of ITU-allocated satellite navigation spectrum, and provide any additional spectrum necessary for GPS evolution.

Section 911(b) of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012 directed the Secretary of Defense to conduct a review every 90 days during 2012-2013 on the ability of military GPS devices to operate without widespread harmful interference, particularly from commercial communications services. The law required congressional notification if such interference occurred. This provision was repealed by Section 1698 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.

10 U.S.C. § 2281 previously directed the co-chairs of the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing to submit a biennial report to Congress on GPS. Congress repealed this requirement in 2013. 

In January 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement must obtain a warrant before physically attaching a GPS tracking device to a suspect's vehicle. The decision (United States v. Antoine Jones) was based on a narrow application of the Fourth Amendment, since device installation involves physical intrusion on a suspect's vehicle. The Supreme Court did not resolve the broader issue of whether the Fourth Amendment protects geolocation privacy rights.

Since the Jones decision, the Supreme Court has issued the following additional rulings relating to cellphone location history privacy, but these do not address the issue of live GPS tracking

• Carpenter v. United States (No. 16-402)
  June 2018: The Supreme Court held that law enforcement must obtain a search warrant supported by probable cause in order to obtain at least seven days of historic cell-site location information associated with a suspect's cell phone. The decision extended the expectation of privacy in one's physical location and movements, afforded by the Fourth Amendment and as articulated in United States v. Jones, to include cell-site location information held by cell phone service providers. It did not, however, address GPS tracking or other forms of geolocation including "other business records that might incidentally reveal location information."
• Riley v. California (No. 13-132)
  June 2014: The Supreme Court ruled that police need a warrant before searching the contents of a suspect's cell phone. The opinion specifically discusses the location history stored inside a phone (often collected automatically via GPS) as an example of personal information deserving protection from unwarranted disclosure.

A number of other federal and state courts have ruled on the use of GPS-based vehicle surveillance by law enforcement, both before and after the 2012 Supreme Court decision. However, several of the lower court opinions are in conflict, so the Supreme Court may need to revisit this topic in the future.

Relevant decisions issued after United States v. Jones include

• United States v. Katzin (No. 12-2548)
  Oct 2014: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, upon rehearing the case, ruled as admissible GPS evidence collected without a warrant prior to the 2012 Supreme Court ruling.
• United States v. Katzin (No. 12-2548)
  Oct 2013: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that law enforcement must have a warrant to use GPS-based vehicle trackers. But the court later vacated its ruling and agreed to rehear the case.
• Commonwealth v. Rousseau & Dreslinski (SJC-11227, SJC-11228)
  June 2013: The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled that vehicle occupants have legal standing under federal and state law to challenge the sufficiency of warrants that authorize GPS-based vehicle surveillance.
• United States v. Skinner (No. 09-6497)
  Aug 2012: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that law enforcement did not violate a suspect's Fourth Amendment rights by tracking his movements on public roads in real time using his cell phone's GPS capability after obtaining a federal judge's authority to do so.
• United States v. Pineda-Moreno (No. 08-30385)
  Aug 2012: The Supreme Court ordered this case to be reconsidered in light of the Jones decision. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed its 2010 ruling that installing a GPS tracker on a vehicle parked in the defendant's driveway without a warrant did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights.

Several U.S. states and non-U.S. jurisdictions have enacted laws establishing personal location privacy rights. However, current U.S. statute at the federal level does not provide clear protection of geolocation information.

Members of Congress have proposed legislation to prevent misuse of such information by law enforcement, companies, and individuals. However, as of October 2018, no comprehensive legislation on geolocation privacy has been enacted into law.