The Department of Homeland Security has issued a press release announcing that a large majority of states and territories - 46 of 56 - have informed DHS that they will not be able to meet the Dec. 31 REAL ID material compliance deadline. In order to ensure that the millions of Americans traveling this holiday season are not disrupted, DHS is extending the Dec. 31 REAL ID material compliance deadline. The May 10, 2011, deadline for full compliance remains in effect, and the Department will continue to work closely with states to meet this deadline. However, DHS states that Congress must act to address systemic problems with the REAL ID Act to advance U.S. security interests over the long term. (Press release, dated 12/18/09, available at http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1261170524591.shtm.)
According to U.S. government sources, objections raised in the Senate by Senators Shelby, Sessions, and Snowe to the House-passed bill (H.R. 4284) to extend the Generalized System of Preferences and Trade Preference Act/Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPA/ATPDEA) through December 31, 2010 appear to have been resolved.
On December 15, 2009, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2194, the "Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009" by a vote of 412-12. The bill would amend the Iran Sanctions Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) to expand the sanctions imposed against Iran. Highlights of H.R. 2194 include the following:
The National Governors Association (NGA) the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the Multistate Tax Commission and more than a dozen states threw their weight behind a satellite TV sales tax Monday that’s before the Ohio Supreme Court. The fight is over an Ohio tax requiring satellite subscribers to pay a tax equal to 5.5 percent of their service revenue, while cable customers pay nothing. The cable companies and state organizations say the tax is a near equivalent of the franchise fees required of cable providers. Comcast, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable also filed a brief with the court supporting the tax. Oral argument hasn’t been scheduled.
A fight over call routing services that reduce the cost of prisoner phone calls but are allegedly unsafe flared this week and last in industry communications with the FCC. In meetings last week, VoIP provider Millicorp told the FCC its service ConsCallHome poses no security risk to jails, and prison telcos’ blocking of the service violates federal law. Prison telco Securus disputed the statements in an ex-parte letter to the FCC late Monday. Securus and many prisons back a federal ban (CD Sept 14 p8) of call routing services like ConsCallHome, while Millicorp wants an Enforcement Bureau investigation of ongoing call blocking by Securus and others.
Antitrust review of Comcast’s purchase of a controlling stake in NBC Universal probably will center on defining the market for the combined company’s broadcast and cable programming, said a wide range of industry lawyers and officials we interviewed. Whichever agency gets the matter, the Federal Trade Commission or the Justice Department, probably will look at the merged company’s TV stations, NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks and cable channels, they predicted.
Antitrust review of Comcast’s purchase of a controlling stake in NBC Universal probably will center on defining the market for the combined company’s broadcast and cable programming, said a wide range of industry lawyers and officials we interviewed. Whichever agency gets the matter, the Federal Trade Commission or the Justice Department, probably will look at the merged company’s TV stations, NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks and cable channels, they predicted.
In the December 10, 2009 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 43, No. 50), CBP published a notice proposing to revoke one ruling and a treatment as follows:
During the recent public workshop on certain testing and certification requirements of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Commission discussed the timing of its required rulemaking to address the CPSIA's "continued compliance testing" requirements, but mostly sought input from stakeholders.
Antitrust review of Comcast’s purchase of a controlling stake in NBC Universal probably will center on defining the market for the combined company’s broadcast and cable programming, said a wide range of industry lawyers and officials we interviewed. Whichever agency gets the matter, the Federal Trade Commission or the Justice Department, probably will look at the merged company’s TV stations, NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks and cable channels, they predicted.