AT&T stands ready to build consensus for net neutrality legislation, said Tim McKone, executive vice president. The carrier Friday accepted an invitation to industry (WID May 14 p1) by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. AT&T hopes all broadband providers will work with Congress to dispel uncertainty raised by the prospect of Internet regulation, McKone said. “While we've said that we don’t feel that the Communications Act of 1934 is the right vehicle to regulate dynamic 21st century technologies like the Internet, we do feel there are other more effective alternatives to fill the perceived void left by the court decision,” McKone said. “That’s why we would be supportive of the narrowly-tailored legislative approach outlined by Chairman Boucher and Ranking Member Cliff Stearns,” the Republican from Florida.
A compromise climate bill unveiled in the Senate Wednesday would create a “best-in-class appliance deployment” program under which bonuses would be paid to retailers and distributors of highly energy-efficient CE products and household appliances. The American Power Act bill introduced by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., would create a climate protection fund from the proceeds of sale of carbon allowances. The bonuses would be paid from this fund. Among the goals of the “best-in-class” program is to reduce the use of substances that contribute to global warming, maximize energy savings, and reduce life cycle costs for consumers and promoting innovation, the measure says. CE and appliance makers and retailers would also get “bounties” for “replacement, retirement, and recycling” of inefficient and environmentally harmful products. It would also provide “premium awards” to manufacturers for “developing and providing new super-efficient, best-in-class products.” The Kerry-Lieberman proposal scales back energy efficiency provisions, raising costs to consumers, said the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The bill “misses out on a key opportunity to address the cost of curbing climate change by including little on energy efficiency - the first, best, and least-cost carbon-reduction opportunity,” the group said. The Kerry-Lieberman proposal does much less for energy efficiency than previous major climate change bills, including the one reported out by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, it said. CEA does not support the use of taxpayer money to promote sales of CE products, “especially when consumers are already making the right energy efficiency choices in the marketplace,” said Douglas Johnson, vice president of technology policy. “We believe the key driver of efficiency in our industry are innovation and market oriented programs such as Energy Star."
On May 6, 2010, the Food and Drug Administration’s Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael Taylor testified at a House Subcommittee1 hearing on “the Role and Performance of FDA in Ensuring Food Safety.”
The Title II sections of the Communications Act the FCC would apply to broadband under Chairman Julius Genachowski’s reclassification plan could still burden operators with cumbersome rules and expose them to costly legal challenges, communications attorneys said Friday. Statements from Genachowski and FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick Thursday indicated Sections 201, 202, 208, 222, 254 and 255 would remain in place after a substantial forbearance from other Title II elements (CD May 7 p1). Sections 201 and 202 “are the key provisions of the Communications Act that have sort of kept behavior in check for almost 80 years,” said telecom lawyer Glenn Richards of Pillsbury Winthrop. “Anything that folks do, they're always thinking about it in terms of ‘Will it cause a 201 or 202 issue?'"
The Title II Sections of the Communications Act that the FCC would apply to broadband under Chairman Julius Genachowski’s reclassification plan could still burden operators with cumbersome rules and expose them to costly legal challenges, communications attorneys said Friday. Statements from Genachowski and FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick Thursday indicated Sections 201, 202, 208, 222, 254 and 255 would remain in place after a substantial forbearance from other Title II elements. Sections 201 and 202 “are the key provisions of the Communications Act that have sort of kept behavior in check for almost 80 years,” said Glenn Richards of Pillsbury Winthrop. “Anything that folks do, they're always thinking about it in terms of ‘Will it cause a 201 or 202 issue?'"
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s “third way” on broadband isn’t a compromise at all, reclassification opponents said Thursday. Several predicted the Genachowski proposal faces the same legal challenges as would reclassification. It also faces strong opposition from FCC Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker, who released a joint statement. Genachowski has avoided questions in recent weeks on his stance on reclassification. A vote on a public notice is expected within the next few weeks, FCC officials said. It’s expected to be approved 3-2, likely with dissents from the two Republicans, they said.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s “third way” on broadband isn’t a compromise at all, reclassification opponents said Thursday. Several predicted the Genachowski proposal faces the same legal challenges as would reclassification. It also faces strong opposition from FCC Republicans Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker, who released a joint statement. Genachowski has avoided questions in recent weeks on his stance on reclassification. A vote on a public notice is expected within the next few weeks, FCC officials said. It’s expected to be approved 3-2, likely with dissents from the two Republicans, they said.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski knows how to cement the commission’s authority over broadband without reclassifying it under Title II of the Communications Act, a senior commission official said late Wednesday in an e-mail sent to reporters by an agency spokeswoman. He won’t say what it is until Thursday, the spokeswoman told us. The e-mail came a few hours after Democratic Commerce Committee leaders urged the FCC to consider “all viable options,” including reclassifying broadband, in the wake of the Comcast decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski knows how to cement the commission’s authority over broadband without reclassifying it under Title II of the Communications Act, a senior commission official said late Wednesday in an e-mail sent to reporters by an agency spokeswoman. He won’t say what it is until Thursday, the spokeswoman told us. The e-mail came a few hours after Democratic Commerce Committee leaders urged the FCC to consider “all viable options,” including reclassifying broadband, in the wake of the Comcast decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The Court of International Trade and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided the following antidumping and countervailing duty law cases in the second half of April 2010.