Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign pledge to bring the FCC, FTC and other independent regulatory agencies under executive branch control would likely involve expanding Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs review of proposed rules to those agencies, administrative law OIRA experts told us. The White House has the statutory and constitutional ability to do so, but it would be a political fight, they said. Former FCC officials and others consider the proposal more likely bluster than something that could be easily achieved if Trump is reelected president. The FCC and FTC didn't comment.

Canada recently proposed “significant changes” to its sanctions laws -- featuring a new 50% rule similar to the U.S. Treasury Department's -- that could change how companies conduct sanctions due diligence, including on Russia, law firms said this month. The firms said companies may need to review and update their due diligence processes to better identify beneficial owners but warned the proposed laws could make that process exponentially more challenging.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is asking the State Department to warn Uganda's president that if he signs a bill that discriminates against gay and lesbian citizens, his country's participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act will be revoked.

The FCC’s Section 214 international authorizations order and NPRM, approved by commissioners 4-0 last week (see 2304200039), got a number of changes in approach and language between the draft and final version, based on a side-by-side comparison. The item was posted in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. The order authorizes a one-time collection of foreign-ownership information from holders of international Communications Act Section 214 authorizations and seeks comment on rules requiring carriers to renew these authorizations every 10 years, “or in the alternative,” periodic updates.

The roster of negligence and public nuisance lawsuits brought by U.S. school districts against social media platforms continues to spiral, with new cases filed this week in California, Florida, Indiana and Kentucky. Hendy Johnson added to the firm’s roster of nearly 20 public nuisance cases in federal courts in Kentucky and Indiana, some of which have been wrapped into Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (docket 4:22-md-3047) under U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Northern California, Oakland. The latest Hendy Johnson suit (docket 6:23-cv-00071), filed by Bell County Public Schools Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Eastern Kentucky in London, alleges Facebook, Instagram, Snap, TikTok and YouTube are contributing to a mental health crisis among American youth. The law firm filed a nearly identical suit Monday in U.S. District Court for Northern Indiana in Fort Wayne for plaintiff Fort Wayne Community Schools. The suits claim public nuisance and seek orders that defendants are jointly and severally liable and must end the described nuisance; equitable relief to fund prevention education and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media; actual, compensatory and statutory damages; plus attorneys’ fees and legal costs. Frantz Law, which has filed about 20 lawsuits against social media companies on behalf of school districts in various states, filed (docket 3:23-cv-02015) its latest Tuesday for Florida’s Volusia County Schools, with over 62,000 students in 90 schools. In addition to public nuisance, it claims negligence and violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Frantz Law filed a nearly identical suit Monday on behalf of Evergreen School District, Clark County, Washington, requesting an injunction for actions contributing to public nuisance; relief to fund prevention education and treatment; actual, compensatory and statutory damages; plus attorneys’ fees and legal costs. The lawsuits anticipate defendants will raise Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as a shield for their conduct, but the plaintiffs argue Section 230 is no shield for defendants' acts in designing, marketing and operating social media platforms that are harmful to youth.

The Inflation Reduction Act will encourage the building of "a clean energy manufacturing ecosystem, rooted in supply chains here in North America and extending to Europe, Japan and elsewhere," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a speech April 27 in Washington. "This is how we will turn the IRA from a source of friction to a source of strength and reliability."

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo countered Republicans’ renewed assertions that NTIA’s notice of funding opportunity for the $42.5 billion broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program includes rate regulation requirements and other provisions Congress didn’t mandate via the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, during a Wednesday Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee hearing. Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune of South Dakota, meanwhile, is eyeing potential next steps in Commerce Committee Republicans’ push for NTIA to revise or otherwise strip out language from the NOFO they find objectionable (see 2304200064).

The FAA is “not planning to seek an extension” of wireless carriers’ previous commitment to delay some use of their C-band spectrum for 5G past the current July 1 deadline, acting Administrator Billy Nolen said during a Wednesday House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee hearing. The House, meanwhile, easily passed two spectrum bills -- the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-1343) and Advanced, Local Emergency Response Telecommunications Parity Act (HR-1353).

A New York Senate panel approved a sweeping privacy bill Tuesday with a private right of action. After the hearing, Consumer Reports praised the bill, but tech industry groups raised concerns. Parts of the proposed New York Privacy Act are stricter than other state laws, said Fox Rothschild attorney Odia Kagan.

Businesses lined up against tech regulation bills at hearings Monday in Florida and Minnesota. Opposition failed to deter the Florida Senate Rules Committee from advancing comprehensive privacy bill to the Senate floor. But at a Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier that day, multiple members suggested taking more time to study a kids’ privacy bill rather than pass it this year.