Comments are due May 4, replies May 21 on FCC proposals to implement Section 7 of the Communications Act and speed review of new technologies and services, said Wednesday's Federal Register. An NPRM was approved Feb. 23, with Chairman Ajit Pai urging removal of bureaucratic barriers to innovation, and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn raising objections (see 1802220045 and 1802230055).

Comments are due May 4, replies May 21 on FCC proposals to implement Section 7 of the Communications Act and speed review of new technologies and services, said Wednesday's Federal Register. An NPRM was approved Feb. 23, with Chairman Ajit Pai urging removal of bureaucratic barriers to innovation, and Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Mignon Clyburn raising objections (see 1802220045 and 1802230055).

TVs imported from China would bear an especially heavy burden under the U.S. Trade Representative’s list of products targeted for 25 percent tariffs under President Donald Trump’s March 22 memorandum accusing the Chinese of unfair trade practices (see 1803220043). CTA President Gary Shapiro called the Trump administration wrong for having “singled out TVs as one of the largest proposed categories for a 25 percent tariff.”

NTCA is the latest group to express concerns about an NPRM teed up for a vote at the April 17 commissioners’ meeting proposing to bar use of money in any USF program to buy equipment or services from companies that “pose a national security threat” to U.S. communications networks or the communications supply chain (see 1803260037). The draft NPRM cites a 2012 report by the House Intelligence Committee raising concerns about Chinese equipment makers Huawei and ZTE.

Serious Hill consideration of an infrastructure legislative package will “probably have to wait until after” the November midterm elections, President Donald Trump cautioned in a Thursday speech in Richfield, Ohio, that was aimed at touting the proposal he released in February. Trump's plan proposes $50 billion in federal funding for rural infrastructure projects allocated via state block grants that could be spent for broadband. It would also deal with streamlining broadband-related regulations (see 1802120001). Trump cited his January executive order and presidential memorandum aimed at improving broadband deployments in rural areas (see 1801080060 and 1801080063) as one of the “first elements of this plan” that “have already been put into place.” The infrastructure proposal would help people who “have not been taken care of by the Democrats,” Trump said. He blamed Hill Democrats for causing much of the delay in advancing infrastructure legislation, because they “say 'don't give him any more wins'” similar to the December tax cut bill before the election. Democrats have strongly pushed for direct funding, but the Trump proposal's approach to broadband infrastructure has also drawn criticism from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and some other Republicans (see 1802140052, 1802140064 and 1803010050). GOP lawmakers also raised concerns about how to pay for the full $200 billion the Trump plan proposes. House Commerce Committee Republicans highlighted a series of infrastructure-related bills originating within the committee “that fit the president’s vision,” including a bevy of broadband bills that they're sorting through after a January House Communications hearing that they intend to blend into legislation to reflect Trump's proposal (see 1801300051 and 1803080062). Language from five of those bills made it into the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill that Trump signed last week (see 1803210041, 1803210068, 1803220048 and 1803230038), including via the text of the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986), House Commerce said. The included bills were the Communications Facilities Deployment on Federal Property Act (HR-4795), the Inventory of Assets for Communications Facilities Act (HR-4798), the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act (HR-4800), the Making Available Plans to Promote Investment in Next Generation Networks Without Overbuilding and Waste (Mapping Now) Act (HR-4810) and the Broadband Deployment Streamlining Act (HR-4847).

Serious Hill consideration of an infrastructure legislative package will “probably have to wait until after” the November midterm elections, President Donald Trump cautioned in a Thursday speech in Richfield, Ohio, that was aimed at touting the proposal he released in February. Trump's plan proposes $50 billion in federal funding for rural infrastructure projects allocated via state block grants that could be spent for broadband. It would also deal with streamlining broadband-related regulations (see 1802120001). Trump cited his January executive order and presidential memorandum aimed at improving broadband deployments in rural areas (see 1801080060 and 1801080063) as one of the “first elements of this plan” that “have already been put into place.” The infrastructure proposal would help people who “have not been taken care of by the Democrats,” Trump said. He blamed Hill Democrats for causing much of the delay in advancing infrastructure legislation, because they “say 'don't give him any more wins'” similar to the December tax cut bill before the election. Democrats have strongly pushed for direct funding, but the Trump proposal's approach to broadband infrastructure has also drawn criticism from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and some other Republicans (see 1802140052, 1802140064 and 1803010050). GOP lawmakers also raised concerns about how to pay for the full $200 billion the Trump plan proposes. House Commerce Committee Republicans highlighted a series of infrastructure-related bills originating within the committee “that fit the president’s vision,” including a bevy of broadband bills that they're sorting through after a January House Communications hearing that they intend to blend into legislation to reflect Trump's proposal (see 1801300051 and 1803080062). Language from five of those bills made it into the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill that Trump signed last week (see 1803210041, 1803210068, 1803220048 and 1803230038), including via the text of the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986), House Commerce said. The included bills were the Communications Facilities Deployment on Federal Property Act (HR-4795), the Inventory of Assets for Communications Facilities Act (HR-4798), the Broadband Conduit Deployment Act (HR-4800), the Making Available Plans to Promote Investment in Next Generation Networks Without Overbuilding and Waste (Mapping Now) Act (HR-4810) and the Broadband Deployment Streamlining Act (HR-4847).

Sensible Medical Innovations (SMI) countered arguments by the GPS Innovation Alliance opposing a waiver SMI is seeking for a system that uses ultra-wideband (UWB) medical imaging to obtain lung fluid measurements for congestive heart failure patients in a noninvasive way (see 1803130030). But two other commenters also raised question in replies. GPS systems won’t be compromised by its ReDS (remote dielectric sensing) System, SMI said in reply comments in docket 18-39. “The ReDS System is used indoors, while satellite navigation systems primarily operate outdoors,” SMI said. “ReDS devices also use low power transmissions, and energy is coupled into a patient’s body, resulting in extremely low power leakage -- at least 27 dB below the limits that are applicable to unintentional consumer appliances.” Globalstar raised concerns about mobile satellite service operations at 1.6 GHz. “Before acting on the Waiver Request, the Commission should require SMI to submit a more detailed technical showing demonstrating that its UWB devices will not cause harmful interference to licensed services above 1 GHz, including Globalstar’s MSS offerings,” Globalstar said. Philips Healthcare questioned potential interference to wireless medical telemetry service equipment “deployed at hundreds of hospitals throughout the United States,” which primarily uses spectrum at 1395-1400 and 1427-1431.5 MHz. “Our concern is heightened because Sensible’s proposed device is intended to be used in the same healthcare facilities, including potentially on the same patients being monitored by Philips’ wireless monitoring systems,” the company said.

The Court of International Trade will hear arguments March 29 on whether it should issue a temporary block of recently imposed Section 232 steel tariffs as they apply to a Miami-based importer. Severstal Export Miami, a subsidiary of the Russian steel manufacturer PAO Severstal, argues that the tariffs are unconstitutional because they weren’t actually meant to address national security -- a fact purportedly belied by President Donald Trump’s own tweets -- and unenforceable for failure to provide fair notice to companies with shipments already on the water.

The FTC has opened a nonpublic investigation into potential privacy practice violations at Facebook, following allegations that Cambridge Analytica misused personal data of 50 million Americans for political purposes (see 1803200047), acting Director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Tom Pahl said Monday. Pahl said the FTC enforces against failures to comply with the Privacy Shield, the FTC Act and data security requirements, among other areas of consumer privacy concern. “The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook,” Pahl said. The National Association of Attorneys General on Monday sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking for answers about the company’s user privacy policies and practices. The group of 37 state and territory AGs also asked Zuckerberg how the company is making it easier for users to control their privacy. “These revelations raise many serious questions concerning Facebook’s policies and practices, and the processes in place to ensure they are followed,” the group wrote.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Mike O’Rielly drew renewed scrutiny Monday for their attendance at the American Conservative Union's February Conservative Political Action Conference, this time from House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa. Carr, O’Rielly and Pai spoke on a panel at CPAC about process and structural changes at the FCC made since the commission shifted to majority-Republican control last year (see 1802230037). The Project on Government Oversight cited O’Rielly’s comment calling for the re-election of President Donald Trump as a potential violation of the Hatch Act, which restricts government officials' partisan political activity (see 1802270035). On the advice of FCC lawyers (see 1803020033), Pai turned down the National Rifle Association's Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award, which was awarded at CPAC for his role in and the hostile fallout from the rollback of the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules. “Your willingness to attend and help promote a political rally raises serious concerns about your roles as leaders of an independent federal agency, and the potential of taxpayer dollars being spent towards political ends,” Pallone and Doyle said in a letter to the GOP commissioners. “The public should be able to expect that independent agencies” like the FCC “will carry out their responsibilities in a nonpartisan manner.” Since the FCC shifted to majority-GOP control, the commission “has become not only more partisan, but increasingly political,” the Democratic lawmakers said. “Commissioners seem to be using their positions during this administration as a platform to promote and even raise funds towards a political agenda.” Doyle and Pallone noted Pai’s decision to turn down the NRA award, but “we are nonetheless concerned about how an FCC Chair allowed himself to be put in a situation where such an ethically questionable award could be presented to him.” The lawmakers asked the commissioners to respond by April 16 to a series of questions about their decision to attend CPAC, including whether they sought advice from the FCC’s Office of General Counsel about “whether you could attend CPAC under the FCC’s or other relevant ethics rules” and whether they used FCC resources in any way to support their appearance at the event. The FCC didn’t comment, but a commission official noted “many government officials,” including Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon, spoke at CPAC.