USTelecom and some of its member telcos met with FCC Wireline Bureau officials Feb. 20 to discuss eligible telecom carrier status as the FCC implements Connect America Fund Phase II in territories served by price cap carriers, said an ex parte filing posted Thursday (http://bit.ly/1fLO4KK). The ILECs discussed how to ensure obligations and funding are “appropriately matched” while avoiding consumer disruption. The groups discussed “how this can be achieved with the coming charge from very broad geographic support under legacy programs to the CAF II program’s targeting of universal service support to very narrow, discrete geographic areas for specifically defined services,” the filing said, without going into further detail.

Advertising tax deductibility is again at issue, among many other provisions, in a House proposal to revamp U.S. tax code. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., issued the discussion draft Wednesday. “Under the provision, 50 percent of certain advertising expenses would be currently deductible and 50 percent would be amortized ratably over a ten-year period,” said the Ways and Means explanatory analysis of the draft (http://1.usa.gov/1hpq8wG). “This rule would phase in for tax years beginning before 2018 as follows: for tax years beginning in 2015, 80 percent of advertising costs would be deductible and 20 percent amortized; in 2016, 70 percent of advertising costs would be deductible and 30 percent amortized; and in 2017, 60 percent of advertising costs would be deductible and 40 percent amortized.” Advertising expenses are treated as business expenses now, it said. In November, NAB issued a statement saying it was strongly opposes “limits that would be placed on the ability of businesses to annually deduct costs for advertising.” The Camp analysis said the provision would “increase revenues by $169.0 billion over 2014-2023.” NAB slammed the provision in Camp’s draft. “NAB strongly opposes any job-killing proposal that would limit the ability of thousands of large and small businesses from fully deducting their annual advertising expenses,” NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton said in a statement. “Advertising on local radio and television stations is a key driver of the American economy -- indeed, a recent study found local broadcast advertising generates $1.05 trillion in GDP and supports 1.48 million jobs.” The association will lobby “to ensure the advertising tax deduction continues to create economic prosperity and well-paying jobs,” Wharton said. USTelecom President Walter McCormick called the overall draft “a critical first step” and mentioned that it included “lowering the corporate tax rate to make U.S. companies more competitive in the world economy.”

The White House marked the one-year anniversary Wednesday of President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (CD Feb 14/13 p1), showcasing the release of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) final “Version 1.0” of the Cybersecurity Framework. The White House also touted the start of the Department of Homeland Security’s voluntary Critical Infrastructure Cyber Community (C3) program to encourage industry adoption of the framework. The Version 1.0 framework drew praise from Capitol Hill and several industry stakeholders.

Congress must extend the bonus depreciation provision of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, CenturyLink said Thursday (http://bit.ly/1eBKtyc). The provision expired Dec. 31, and USTelecom, CTIA, NCTA, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance, Telecommunications Industry Association and PCIA-The Wireless Infrastructure Association said last month it should be extended. “Bonus depreciation provides tax incentives to companies that continue to invest, or expand their investments, in a slow economy,” CenturyLink said in a post on its policy blog. “Such investments include infrastructure improvements that create new jobs and lead to increased productivity. Extending the bonus depreciation provision will provide companies with the certainty they need to make investments that will improve our global competitiveness and help drive our economy forward.” Opponents said extending the provision would be a costly, poor policy decision.

Don’t impose video device interoperability rules on cable operators, because they and other multichannel video programming distributors are providing increasing amounts of content from pay-TV networks and other sources over IP to devices bought from firms besides MVPDs, said NCTA. Criticizing a request last month for a rulemaking from high-technology companies and makers of consumer electronics that seek interoperability rules (CD Jan 21 p12), NCTA CEO Michael Powell wrote FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who used to run that group. In what some CE officials told us they see as a possibly defensive move, Powell cited the array of content at last month’s CES that’s available on many devices and not just set-top boxes that receive encrypted cable content. Powell’s predecessor Kyle McSlarrow, who later went to work for NCTA’s biggest member, Comcast, sent a similar letter to then-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski after the 2011 CES (http://bit.ly/1eYX6zS) (CD Jan 28/11 p5).

E-rate modernization is “at the top of my agenda,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the Digital Learning Day conference at the Library of Congress Wednesday. “During my tenure as chairman of the FCC there will be no bigger and more significant issue than making sure our schools and libraries are connected to high-speed broadband networks.” A public notice due out in the coming weeks will seek comment on “how to appropriately phase out legacy services, including low-bandwidth connections, and reprioritize on broadband,” Wheeler said. “My goal is to have this process completed before students return to classrooms in the fall.” One former agency chairman called Wheeler’s speech the “most important” chairman’s speech about schools and libraries ever delivered.

As Congress considers updating communications law, some want extreme changes. Comments on the committee’s first Communications Act update white paper were due Friday. Several commenters posted or shared their comments with us, and the House Commerce Committee posted them Wednesday at the #CommActUpdate section of its website (http://1.usa.gov/1lBg6gN). House Republicans have said they want to update the Communications Act over the next two years.

Comments are due Feb. 19 on a USTelecom petition for waiver of the FCC’s rules on “non-exogenous cost data filing requirements” for the short-form tariff review plan, a public notice said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1boedKs). USTelecom asks that all price cap LECs receive a waiver from the requirement that they submit PC-1 and IND-1 forms. They also seek a deadline extension. Reply comments in WC docket 14-18 are due March 3.

The telecom market isn’t “uniformly competitive, due to the industry’s history of government-sanctioned monopolies,” Sprint warned the House in comments on overhauling the Communications Act. “While there is remarkable diversity in terms of service providers, network architectures, and customer markets, there remain key choke points that impact the operation of the entire ecosystem.” Sprint insisted any rewrite of the Communications Act “preserve and promote interconnection rights and obligations” and maintain access to “critical competitive inputs” and “carefully tailored regulatory oversight and safeguards.” It pointed to a “handful” of companies that still control the bulk of the market. Comments were due to the House Commerce Committee Friday (CD Feb 3 p8).

Video interests reign, as industry has spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying Capitol Hill on key communications issues, Q4 lobbying disclosure reports showed this week. Spending was often significantly up from the same period last year, particularly for stakeholders with video interests, but not always. Many disclosure reports highlighted pending priorities before Congress, such as the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), which expires at the end of 2014 and is the source of much debate -- such as whether the reauthorization should address updates to retransmission consent law. Lobbying is widely expected to spike in 2014 as the House takes on an overhaul of the Communications Act.