The three states said to divert the most 911 fee revenue for non-911 purposes look unlikely to quit the practice soon, we found last week after surveying state officials including legislators and bodies that lobby for emergency operations. At least two states -- New York and Rhode Island -- have pending legislation to require that 911 fee revenue fund only 911 services. Passage could be difficult because the bills are written by members of political minority parties and state governors won’t say 911 fee diversion is a problem, said those we interviewed. In New Jersey, a bill requiring an upgrade to next-generation 911 raises 911 fees, despite FCC estimates that the state diverts nearly 90 percent of its fund. In 2014, eight states diverted $223.4 million, or 8.8 percent of all 911 funds, said the FCC's most-recent report to Congress about 911 fee collection (see 1601080057).

Broadcasters' transition to a new TV standard shouldn't obligate multichannel video programming distributors to make the same transition, said the American Cable Association, AT&T, Dish Network and NCTA in FCC comments posted Thursday and Friday in docket 16-142 on the joint ATSC 3.0 petition from the AWARN Alliance, CTA and NAB (see 1604130065). All full-power broadcast commenters vociferously supported the petition. But pay TV, consumer groups and low-power TV interests said the petition doesn’t take their concerns fully into account, while Dolby Labs hailed ATSC 3.0 for bringing "significant advances" in broadcast audio and video performance (see 1605270024).

Three companies in the advertising-blocking industry pushed back against Newspaper Association of America allegations they're engaging in potentially deceptive and unfair practices. Eyeo-owned Adblock Plus, Brave Software and Optimal said NAA, which asked the FTC to look into the issue (see 1605260040), doesn't understand the companies' ad-blocking services and technologies. The companies said their tech is an answer to consumer demands against intrusive ads. The association in turn defended its stance.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition got a new legislative challenge in the House Wednesday via the Securing America’s Internet Domains Act (HR-5329). Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., bowed the bill, which would require NTIA to extend its existing contract with ICANN to administer the IANA functions through Sept. 30, 2019, unless the agency can certify it secured the U.S. government's “sole ownership” of the .gov and .mil top-level domains. Kelly’s office is working with several senators to get a Senate sponsor for the bill, a spokesman said. A Senate version of HR-5329 is likely to be introduced within the next two weeks, the spokesman said. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and other members of the Senate Commerce Committee raised concerns during a Tuesday hearing about whether the current agreement between the U.S. government and ICANN was sufficient to guarantee U.S. control of the two TLDs after the IANA transition is complete (see 1605240067). NTIA didn’t comment but previously said it’s working in response to Senate Commerce members' concerns to reaffirm the U.S. government's administration of the .gov and .mil TLDs. Kelly introduced the Defending Internet Freedom Act in 2014 and 2015 (see 1411200021 and 1506040052). The 2015 version of that bill (HR-2251) would require ICANN to adopt a community-driven IANA transition plan and a related set of changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms before NTIA would be allowed to proceed with the transition.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition got a new legislative challenge in the House Wednesday via the Securing America’s Internet Domains Act (HR-5329). Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., bowed the bill, which would require NTIA to extend its existing contract with ICANN to administer the IANA functions through Sept. 30, 2019, unless the agency can certify it secured the U.S. government's “sole ownership” of the .gov and .mil top-level domains. Kelly’s office is working with several senators to get a Senate sponsor for the bill, a spokesman said. A Senate version of HR-5329 is likely to be introduced within the next two weeks, the spokesman said. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and other members of the Senate Commerce Committee raised concerns during a Tuesday hearing about whether the current agreement between the U.S. government and ICANN was sufficient to guarantee U.S. control of the two TLDs after the IANA transition is complete (see 1605240067). NTIA didn’t comment but previously said it’s working in response to Senate Commerce members' concerns to reaffirm the U.S. government's administration of the .gov and .mil TLDs. Kelly introduced the Defending Internet Freedom Act in 2014 and 2015 (see 1411200021 and 1506040052). The 2015 version of that bill (HR-2251) would require ICANN to adopt a community-driven IANA transition plan and a related set of changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms before NTIA would be allowed to proceed with the transition.

The Senate on May 25 by a vote of 55-43 passed a measure (here) that would prevent inspections of Siluriformes fish and related products from transferring from the Food and Drug Administration to the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), currently set for completion on Sept. 1, 2017. But 21 House lawmakers wrote a letter (here) to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., requesting that chamber not consider the legislation. They said imported Siluriformes catfish and related products significantly threaten the American public. “Unfortunately, the FDA inspection regime was inadequate and conducted inspections on a mere 0.2 percent of imported catfish species,” the letter says. “Since USDA already inspects farm-raised meats including foreign beef, pork and poultry, Congress decided to apply the same standards to farm-raised catfish so that these products receive comprehensive inspection.” FSIS began the transitional period on April 15, during which it is selecting a subset of Siluriformes fish and fish product imports for reinspection (see 1605040041).

The FCC approved revised network outage reporting rules and a Further NPRM that would extend reporting requirements to broadband providers (see 1605050053). Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai partially dissented. Pai said the FCC is bent on imposing “regulation for its own sake.”

The FCC approved revised network outage reporting rules and a Further NPRM that would extend reporting requirements to broadband providers (see 1605050053). Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai partially dissented. Pai said the FCC is bent on imposing “regulation for its own sake.”

The FCC should ensure that efforts to streamline international licensing and other authorizations actually accomplish that, said industry parties reacting to an NTIA letter suggesting commission process changes to facilitate executive branch reviews (see 1605120035). Parties voiced concern that the administration's proposal for the FCC to require certain applicants to provide more information upfront is overly broad and could add to industry burdens. They said the FCC should issue an NPRM that proposes specific time frames and other steps to streamline its international reviews, which are coordinated with the executive branch's "Team Telecom" on national security, law enforcement and other issues. Comments on an FCC public notice teeing up the NTIA letter were posted in docket 16-155 Monday and Tuesday.

The FCC should ensure that efforts to streamline international licensing and other authorizations actually accomplish that, said industry parties reacting to an NTIA letter suggesting commission process changes to facilitate executive branch reviews (see 1605120035). Parties voiced concern that the administration's proposal for the FCC to require certain applicants to provide more information upfront is overly broad and could add to industry burdens. They said the FCC should issue an NPRM that proposes specific time frames and other steps to streamline its international reviews, which are coordinated with the executive branch's "Team Telecom" on national security, law enforcement and other issues. Comments on an FCC public notice teeing up the NTIA letter were posted in docket 16-155 Monday and Tuesday.