How universal service fits into Congress’ planned rewrite of the Telecom Act is expected to come up at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday on the Universal Service Fund, industry lobbyists said Monday. The Senate hearing opens a new avenue of Hill dialog on USF, an issue that lately has been mainly the domain of the House. House and Senate Commerce Committee staff meetings on the telecom law revamp start Friday (CD June 21 p8).

The FCC is considering comments in a rulemaking on robocalls. The commission is proposing changes to its rules under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and it intends to harmonize “TCPA rules with the FTC’s recently amended Telemarketing Sales Rule,” the commission said in the notice. The FCC is considering adopting the FTC’s rule, which would require companies to obtain prior express written consent from consumers before transmitting prerecorded messages to them.

A sharply divided FCC Thursday approved a notice of inquiry seeking comments on Chairman Julius Genachowski’s proposed “third way” broadband reclassification proposal. FCC Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker dissented sharply. Debate on the NOI showed deep divisions among the commissioners in their view of the broadband market and whether the FCC needs to reclassify Internet service under Title II of the Communications Act, while effectively keeping Internet content and applications under more light-handed Title I.

A hearing on Internet accessibility legislation exploded into a political brawl after Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., lashed out at CEA President Gary Shapiro. Testifying Thursday to the House Communications Subcommittee, Shapiro had said Markey’s bill (HR-3101) could kill start-up consumer electronics manufacturers by requiring them to make all products accessible to people with any disability. Republicans defended the CEA executive and scolded Markey. Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., tried to steer the discussion back toward areas of agreement.

High-level broadband and consumer electronics industry executives are slated to testify at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing Thursday on Internet accessibility, a subcommittee spokeswoman said. Invited witnesses include USTelecom President Walter McCormick, Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro, CTIA Executive Vice President Bobby Franklin and NCTA Executive Vice President James Assey. Also testifying are Lise Hamlin, public policy director for the Hearing Loss Association of America, and retired U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Jesse Acosta.

The FCC’s report to Congress under Section 706 of the Telecom Act should reflect “the extraordinarily rapid deployment of broadband networks to the vast majority of Americans,” USTelecom said in an ex parte filing. While there are gaps in broadband deployment and adoption, the conclusions in the report “should be sufficiently granular to recognize the unprecedented rate at which the private sector has deployed broadband networks” throughout most of the country, the group said.

Communications should be treated as critical infrastructure and security access should be allowed during disasters and emergencies, citing lessons learned from disasters like the Haiti earthquake, speakers said during a Federal Communications Bar Association panel. Ken Moran, senior deputy chief of the FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, identified the National Response Framework as the legal framework for all levels of domestic incident response.

Hill staffers moving to USTelecom: Gregory Willis, ex-general counsel to Senate Business Committee, named vice president, general business policy issues; Annie Chavez, ex-aide to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., becomes director, government affairs … Enrique Rodriguez, ex-Microsoft, hired by Cisco as senior vice president and general manager of service-provider video-technology group … Amina Fazlullah joins Benton Foundation as policy counsel to work on National Broadband Plan implementation issues. Joanne Hovis, CTC, named to Benton board … Ameer Karim, ex-Hewlett-Packard, named by Entone as vice president of hybrid TV initiatives for the Americas … Bill Feininger, ex-Nielsen Media Research, becomes senior vice president of FourthWall Media’s new media measurement unit … Chad Harris promoted by Hallmark Channels to senior vice president for integrated marketing and new media … Robert Miron retiring at year-end as Bright House Networks chairman; CEO Steven Miron will assume responsibility for company … Shirley Fujimoto, Jeffey Sheldon, David Rines and Kevin Cookler, partners at McDermott Will, move to Fish & Richardson’s Washington office… Rebecca Murphy Thompson, ex-Patton Boggs, becomes Rural Cellular Association general counsel … Hossein Moiin, ex-BT, joins Nokia Siemens Networks as chief technology officer July 1 … Global Crossing promotes John Sutton to executive vice president-general manager, federal sector … Alan Wells, Iowa Telecom, joins Windstream board … Stephanie Brom promoted to new position of senior vice president and managing director of Petry Network … Marc Forest, ex-IMG Media, becomes MSG Media vice president, programming & development.

Free Press and Public Knowledge said they're concerned that wireless is getting special treatment in a notice of inquiry about Chairman Julius Genachowski’s “third way” broadband reclassification proposal. That’s based on discussions they've held at the commission and on a notice on the June meeting. Wireless industry representatives had no comment Friday. Meanwhile, AT&T and USTelecom noted that a majority of House members appear to oppose the reclassification proposal.

House and Senate sponsors of Internet accessibility bills hope to pass the legislation this year. At a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., said he aims to have S-3304, which he co-sponsored with Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., ready for President Barack Obama’s signature this year. Kerry said he hopes to address concerns raised by USTelecom “in the next few days.” Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who has a similar bill in the House (HR-3101), agreed in testimony that the bill should be passed this year.