Alabama’s state 911 service fee rose Friday from $1.60 to $1.75 per month for all wireless and wireline customers. Opponents have decried that, because the Alabama 911 Board requires the estimated 200,000 consumers in the state who use the FCC low-income Lifeline program to pay those fees. Lifeline provider TracFone and a coalition of seven groups have been trying to get the Lifeline subscriber rule removed from the 911 fee base, saying Alabama is the only state to require Lifeline subscribers to pay a 911 fee. The Alabama 911 Board adopted the rule last year, effective Dec. 31, requiring eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) to collect the fee from Lifeline subscribers, saying requiring those subscribers to pay the fee made it “more equitable” and better aligned it with state law (http://bit.ly/1qNUuAS).

A Senate vote on the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act (S-1431), which would make permanent the ban on Internet access taxes, isn’t yet a “political reality,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman and ITFFA original sponsor Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in prepared remarks (http://1.usa.gov/1nX8zdc) on the Senate floor Thursday. Wyden recommended a temporary moratorium on Internet access taxes through the end of 2014 “while we work out the issues raised by those who believe that allowing localities to collect taxes across the country is more important than a ban on discriminatory taxation,” referring to a portion of the Marketplace and Internet Tax Fairness Act. MITFA (S-2609), introduced by Senate Finance Committee member Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., combines the principles of the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) (HR-684), which would let states tax remote sellers with annual revenue exceeding $1 million, and the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which would extend the moratorium on Internet access taxes through Nov. 1, 2024 (WID July 21 p3; July 9 p13). Wyden voted against the MFA last year (http://1.usa.gov/1qHJcvn). ITFFA has 52 Senate co-sponsors (http://1.usa.gov/1jRXTeE); MITFA has 13 Senate co-sponsors (http://1.usa.gov/1mWMgTw).

A Senate vote on the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act (S-1431), which would make permanent the ban on Internet access taxes, isn’t yet a “political reality,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman and ITFFA original sponsor Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in prepared remarks (http://1.usa.gov/1nX8zdc) on the Senate floor Thursday. Wyden recommended a temporary moratorium on Internet access taxes through the end of 2014 “while we work out the issues raised by those who believe that allowing localities to collect taxes across the country is more important than a ban on discriminatory taxation,” referring to a portion of the Marketplace and Internet Tax Fairness Act. MITFA (S-2609), introduced by Senate Finance Committee member Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., combines the principles of the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) (HR-684), which would let states tax remote sellers with annual revenue exceeding $1 million, and the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which would extend the moratorium on Internet access taxes through Nov. 1, 2024. Wyden voted against the MFA last year (http://1.usa.gov/1qHJcvn). ITFFA has 52 Senate co-sponsors (http://1.usa.gov/1jRXTeE); MITFA has 13 Senate co-sponsors (http://1.usa.gov/1mWMgTw).

House Republicans launched an investigation into the FCC’s limited waiver of certain designated entity (DE) rules for Grain Management, a private equity and telecom infrastructure firm, prompting outcry from House Democrats. Politics of the waiver exploded in recent days, with Republican FCC commissioners questioning the merits of the waiver (CD July 25 p5), while speakers at a Minority Media and Telecom Council conference this week defended Grain as the one designated entity trying to participate in the AWS-3 spectrum auction (CD July 29 p1).

There is virtually no chance lawmakers will pass African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) renewal legislation prior to the November mid-term elections, and the prospect of enactment during the lame duck session is also unclear, said House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade ranking member Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., in an interview following a July 29 subcommittee hearing on the legislation. The measure will likely be a “minute” item on the legislative agenda following the elections, said Rangel, a proponent of the law, while emphasizing the significance of the law in preserving U.S.-sub-Saharan African trade.

There’s a deficit of information about broadcaster sharing agreements, the Government Accountability Office said in a 41-page report released Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1nOn1nv). It argued that the FCC “should determine whether it needs to collect additional data to understand the prevalence and context of broadcast agreements and whether broadcaster agreements affect its media policy goals of competition, localism, and diversity,” which the FCC accepted and has begun acting on, including by “proposing disclosure of sharing agreements.” GAO had reviewed, from July 2013 to last month, relevant FCC dockets and interviewed industry stakeholders as well as FCC officials, it told Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who requested the report. “Consumer groups raised concerns that agreements in which stations share news resources can lead to duplicative content in local newscasts,” GAO said. “Station owners counter that the agreements are needed to allow some stations to continue providing news and allow other stations that previously did not provide news to begin doing so.” It provided details on the prevalence of such sharing agreements and in which markets they are more prominent.

A set of four cybersecurity bills the House was set to vote on Monday night appeared likely to pass with strong bipartisan support, industry lawyers and lobbyists told us in interviews before the vote. Debate on the bills had not begun at our deadline. The major bill of the four was the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (HR-3696), which would codify the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) existing role in dealing with cybersecurity issues, but would not extend the department’s powers (CD Feb 6 p7). HR-3696 also deals with DHS’ role in information sharing, but lawyers and lobbyists we spoke with said the information sharing aspect of the bill has not stirred up controversy as did the House-passed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-624) or the Senate’s Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-2588).

A set of four cybersecurity bills the House was set to vote on Monday night appeared likely to pass with strong bipartisan support, industry lawyers and lobbyists told us in interviews before the vote. Debate on the bills had not begun at our deadline. The major bill of the four was the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (HR-3696), which would codify the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) existing role in dealing with cybersecurity issues, but would not extend the department’s powers (WID Feb 6 p8). HR-3696 also deals with DHS’ role in information sharing, but lawyers and lobbyists we spoke with said the information sharing aspect of the bill has not stirred up controversy as did the House-passed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-624) or the Senate’s Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-2588).

Neustar capped the contentious back and forth with Telcordia, its rival that seeks the Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA) contract Neustar now has, saying in a filing posted Monday that the FCC cannot legally grant the contract to Telcordia. The agency needs to issue a rulemaking notice before acting, Neustar said in the filing submitted Friday, at the end of the comment period on the North American Numbering Council’s recommendation to give Telcordia the contract. Neustar questioned the request for proposal process as “procedurally flawed,” in docket 09-109 (http://bit.ly/1kjyDyu).

In the July 23 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 48, No. 29), CBP published notices that propose to modify or revoke rulings and similar treatment for the tariff classification of wind turbine frames and kayaks.