Spectrum, Satellite Amendments to House FAA Bill Not Getting Votes
The House was set to begin considering the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act FAA reauthorization bill (HR-3935) Wednesday night without four proposed satellite and spectrum amendments that the Rules Committee decided not to allow floor votes on attaching to the measure. One from Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, was specifically aimed at preventing repeats of the public conflict in 2022 between wireless carriers rolling out commercial operations on the C band and the aviation industry over potential altimeter interference (see 2201180065). Carriers agreed earlier this year to extend protection for flight operations from some C-band deployments until Jan. 1 (see 2304030070).
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Pfluger withdrew his amendment, which would have created a Transportation Department-led working group to advise the FAA “on matters and policies related to the training and preparedness of the Department’s workforce on spectrum matters to ensure that the Department is committing the necessary level of resources for the proper hiring, training, continuing education and stakeholder engagements to ensure that there is the appropriate technical expertise for improved coordination and collaboration with” NTIA and other stakeholders. The group would “assess appropriate areas for increased interagency information sharing, education, training and continuing education regarding spectrum and aviation interactions.”
Florida Reps. Mike Waltz (R) and Darren Soto (D) proposed requiring the FCC to issue a final order by Dec. 31 to establish “a coordinated nationwide approach to managing the 4.9 GHz band while retaining its locally controlled, public safety nature, and to ensure that public utility service providers shall have access to 4.9 GHz spectrum for purposes of unmanned aerial system command and control communications to conduct infrastructure and system integrity assessments and operations.” The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance urged the FCC to change course on the 4.9 GHz band and issue a single national license to FirstNet, a proposal that’s gotten a mixed reception (see 2305160065).
An amendment from Rep. Chuy Gracia, D-Ill., called for requiring DOT to coordinate with FAA, FCC and NTIA to assess “the various types of signal technology available to support collision avoidance between all types of airborne activities” while considering “noninterference with spectrum used to accommodate airborne traffic management of aircraft or automated surface traffic.”
Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, withdrew a proposal to order reports from the FCC, DOT, DOJ, Commerce Department and NASA on “the national security risks that could be exploited by commercial satellite internet constellations and unidentified foreign aerial reconnaissance vehicles and how such risks are being mitigated with technological advances.” The reports would have also assessed foreign state-owned entities' investments in U.S. "commercial satellite internet constellation entities" and interagency procedures on “data collection by commercial satellite” entities.