Lawmaker interest in the draft order on improving its broadband coverage data collection practices continued Wednesday and Thursday before its afternoon release (see 1907110071). The order and broadband mapping legislation came up repeatedly during a House Agriculture Commodity Exchanges Subcommittee hearing. A day earlier, the Senate Commerce Committee scuttled a planned markup of the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act (S-1822), one of several measures seen as potentially influencing the proposal's direction (see 1907100061).
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
The House passed on voice votes Thursday four telecom-related amendments to its version of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-2500), including three addressing concerns about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE (see 1907020060). The Senate passed its 2020 NDAA version (S-1790) in June without language from any of the three proposed anti-Huawei amendments (see 1906270051). The House also approved an amendment led by Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., that would attach language from the 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (Saves) Act (HR-1629/S-1015). It would change the federal government's classification of public safety call-takers and dispatchers to “protective service occupations" rather than administrative or clerical occupations (see 1904050054). AT&T “enthusiastically supports” the HR-1629 language, Executive Vice President-Federal Relations Tim McKone said. House Rules Committee cleared the Torres and anti-Huawei/ZTE amendments Tuesday. One, led by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., would impose conditions for the Department of Commerce to lift Bureau of Industry and Security addition of Huawei to its entity list that would impose export restrictions on the company, including a finding that Huawei and its executives haven't violated U.S. or UN sanctions and haven't engaged in theft of U.S. intellectual property during the preceding five years (see 1906190054). Undersecretary-Industry and Security Nazak Nikakhtar said Tuesday the department is reviewing export license applications to sell to Huawei to “mitigate as much of the negative impacts of the entity listing as possible” and hopes to have decisions “soon” (see 1907100013). A second Gallagher-led proposal would direct the president to submit a report to Congress on ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048). Language from Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., would restrict the use of telecom equipment made by companies originating in countries that are U.S. adversaries at Department of Defense installations in U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean. Commerce plans multiple guidances on its blacklisting of Huawei due to the large number of questions from U.S. exporters, officials told a BIS conference Thursday, to address the most common questions from U.S. industries. “We've gotten a lot of questions and we’ve been funneling them up the chain for clearance,” said Hillary Hess, director of Commerce’s regulatory policy division. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., meanwhile, criticized Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Thursday after a report Mnuchin is encouraging Huawei's U.S. suppliers to seek licenses that would resume their sales to the company. “I strongly 'discourage' any American company from seeking licenses to deal with Huawei,” Cotton tweeted. The company “is a threat to Americans’ security, privacy, & prosperity. Don’t be the proverbial capitalist who sells the rope the communists will hang us with.”
The House Communications Subcommittee plans a July 16 hearing on developing a “comprehensive approach” to U.S. spectrum policy, including for 5G. Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., meanwhile, told reporters Tuesday he began circulating a draft of a planned revised version of his Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (Airwaves) Act. The bill, filed last Congress, aims to identify spectrum for unlicensed use and free up mid-band spectrum for wireless industry purchase via an FCC auction (see 1802070054). “Congress has a critical role to play in crafting spectrum policy and facilitating America’s 5G future,” said Doyle and House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. “We must ensure that consumers are protected and that thoughtful policy choices are made. This hearing will explore how we can best do both.” The panel is to begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last month blamed the Commerce Department for recent hiccups in work to free up spectrum for commercial 5G use (see 1906120076). The Airwaves Act draft is “very much a work in progress” that will be shaped by feedback from stakeholders who have seen it, Doyle told reporters. The legislative language "could change between now and when we actually” file the final measure. “Our goal is to get a bill that we can pass with the Republicans and with the Senate,” Doyle said. “It's not going to be easy to do. It's complicated” and “there's not mass agreement amongst all the stakeholders. We're trying to thread a needle.”
The Senate Commerce Committee pulled the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act from consideration before its planned Wednesday markup during a committee executive session. S-1822 is one of several measures seen as potentially influencing the direction of a yet-to-be-released FCC order on collecting more-granular broadband coverage data (see 1907050044). Commissioners are expected to vote on the pending order at their Aug. 1 meeting (see 1906120076).
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and other lawmakers urged a resolution to retransmission fee disputes between Nexstar and AT&T's DirecTV that resulted in blackouts of more than 120 Nexstar-owned stations. The blackout began last week and was continuing. AT&T contends Nexstar ended access to its channels “even though we offered Nexstar more money to keep them available to you. Nexstar simply said no and elected to remove them from your lineups instead, putting you in the middle of its negotiations.” The broadcaster said it's “reiterating its offer of an unconditional extension of the existing distribution agreement for 30 days to restore the blacked-out programming to viewers and allow the parties to reach a new agreement.” Thune and Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., were among those asking both companies to continue negotiations, in letters to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson that Nexstar released Tuesday. Thune said DirecTV should “provide carriage” to two Nexstar-owned South Dakota stations -- KCLO-TV Rapid City and KELO-TV Sioux Falls -- “so that the parties can continue negotiations without impacting consumers’ ability to view their local news coverage in the affected broadcast markets.” Kennedy said the blackout is affecting “multiple markets across Louisiana … at the height of hurricane season. While I take no sides in negotiations between two for-profit companies, I am concerned that your failure to reach an agreement is negatively impacting Louisiana families.” AT&T should “accept Nexstar's offer of a short-term extension while you resolve your differences,” Kennedy said. Rep. Anthony Brindisi, D-N.Y., wrote Stephenson and Nexstar CEO Perry Sook Tuesday urging an end to blackouts of at least six central New York stations: WBGH-CD Binghamton, WIVT Binghamton, WFXV Utica, WPNY-LP Utica, WSYR-TV Syracuse and WUTR Utica. Four Democrats of Massachusetts' congressional delegation -- Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern and Rep. Richard Neal -- cited DirecTV subscribers' loss of access to Nexstar-owned WWLP Springfield. The lawmakers wrote Stephenson and Sook in a letter released Monday that “this is unacceptable, and your consumers should not be caught in the middle.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also urged DirecTV to allow a carriage extension through Aug. 2, this time for Nexstar-owned WCTX and WTNH, both New Haven. “This cutoff seems to have the sole purpose of enhancing DirecTV bargaining leverage -- with severe harm to Connecticut consumers,” Blumenthal said in the Friday letter, which Nexstar published.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and other telecom-focused lawmakers are expected to move on legislation to improve FCC broadband coverage data collection process despite commissioners' planned Aug. 1 vote on a yet-to-be-released order on producing more-granular maps (see 1906120076). Officials and lobbyists believe further advancement of legislation like the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Data) Act (S-1822) could influence the direction in the pending order.
Lawmakers “would be well served to take” up policy issues on their work on privacy legislation like anti-conservative censorship, antitrust concerns and wireless carriers' location tracking practices (see 1906120076) “a piece at a time and come to bipartisan agreement so that we have guidelines that are going to last,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. She's on a Judiciary Committee informal privacy legislative working group (see 1903180038), one of several ongoing efforts to draft a bill. Also at Wednesday's Free State Foundation event, FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips urged Congress to not adopt privacy legislation that would allow a private right of action.
Rural and small ISP officials urged Congress to step in to complement FCC actions aimed at fixing the agency's broadband coverage data collection practices. The appeal came during a House Small Business Committee Infrastructure Subcommittee hearing Tuesday. They cited legislation and the commission's planned August vote on a proposal from Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1906120076). The broadband mapping issue has repeatedly drawn the ire of lawmakers (see 1905150061). The House Rules Committee, meanwhile, cleared for floor consideration three broadband-related amendments to the FY 2020 budget bill (HR-3351) containing funding for the FCC and FTC (see 1906240061).
The House Communications Subcommittee advanced the compromise Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-3375) Tuesday. But Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., also renewed his concerns about it not being a direct companion to his Senate-passed Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151). HR-3375 would clarify the definition of a robocall and clarify exemptions to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. It would direct the FCC to issue rules requiring carriers to offer opt-out robocall blocking and caller ID services to consumers for free; increases to three years -- and in some cases, four -- the statute of limitations for illegal spoofing; and would increase FCC ability to impose fines (see 1906200061).
House lawmakers are seeking to add at least seven broadband, anti-robocall and privacy-related amendments to the FY 2020 budget bill containing funding for the FCC and FTC (HR-3351) before the chamber begins considering the measure later this week. The House Rules Committee was expected to decide Monday night which of the at least 115 filed proposals it will allow to move to the floor. Lawmakers still need to take a final vote on the “minibus” FY 2020 budget bill (HR-3055) that includes funding for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and the Agriculture Department (see 1906190061). The House already approved seven tech and telecom-related amendments to HR-3055 (see 1906210001).