Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Tuesday a recent conversation she had with White House officials leads her to believe President Joe Biden may announce a new nominee for the long-vacant fifth FCC seat as soon as “this week.” Other observers’ recently believed a pick might not happen until at least the end of May (see 2305120050). Administration officials didn’t reveal the names of any potential candidates for the role, just “that we would be seeing a name soon,” Cantwell told us. “I just assume soon means momentarily, like this week, not two weeks from now or a month from now.” Former NTIA acting Administrator Anna Gomez remains the prohibitive favorite to get the FCC nod (see 2305020001), lobbyists told us. Some believe questions about how a Gomez nomination would affect U.S. preparations for the upcoming Nov. 20-Dec. 15 World Radiocommunication Conference contributed to the Biden administration’s delay in finalizing her selection for an FCC seat. Cantwell said she would oppose any White House proposal to delay confirming a nominee until November or December to accommodate a candidate completing an existing role, since the FCC has already been tied 2-2 for more than two years due to the Senate’s repeated stall of ex-pick Gigi Sohn’s confirmation. “People are dying for more certainty out of the FCC,” she said: “I don’t think we should wait” even longer.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., voted for passage of the Strengthening Transparency and Obligation to Protect Children Suffering from Abuse and Mistreatment (Stop CSAM) Act (S-1199) at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup Thursday (see 2305110048). Her no vote by proxy announced by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., during the official vote was the result of confusion between members, according to a Blackburn aide. The official vote was 21-0.

Three companies agreed to settle after an investigation by the New York Office of the Attorney General found millions of fake comments to the FCC on repeal of net neutrality rules (see 2105060058). LCX, Lead ID and Ifficient agreed to pay a combined $615,000, said a news release Wednesday. LCX will pay $400,000 to New York and $100,000 to the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. Lead ID will pay $30,000 to New York. Ifficient will pay $63,750 to New York, and $21,250 to Colorado. “Public comment opportunities are a chance for Americans to give their input on important government policies, and these companies abused that for their own selfish purposes,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James (D): "Through this agreement, we are holding three more companies accountable for impersonating Americans without their knowledge or consent." The investigation found LCX and Lead ID "each independently fabricated responses for 1.5 million consumers," while Ifficient "supplied its client with more than 840,000 fake responses it had received from the lead generators it had hired." The settlement noted that "firms working on behalf of the broadband industry" hired Ifficient to provide public comments to the FCC, but the company "misrepresent[ed] that the consumers had expressly consented to the submission of a public comment in their name and on their behalf."

Consumers' Research petitioned the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an en banc review of an opinion denying its challenge of the FCC's USF 2021 Q4 contribution factor, saying the opinion "turned the nondelegation doctrine on its head" and "conflicts with binding precedent." The court denied the group's challenge last week (see 2305040087). "Under the opinion, there is nothing stopping agencies from handing over vast powers to private companies run by industry interest groups," the group said in its petition, filed Wednesday in case 21-3886.

SpaceX supports the draft item on the 12 GHz band teed up for an FCC commissioner vote May 18 (see 2304270077), the company said in meetings with staff for all four commissioners. Starlink launched in late 2020, and “already serves over a million-and-a-half people, both in the United States and around the world” using 12 GHz spectrum, SpaceX said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-443. “The draft correctly analyzed the technical data in the record,” the company said: “SpaceX thanked the offices for having already determined that any new uses in the band must protect next-generation satellite and satellite television users from harmful interference and noted how that carries through as the proceeding continues.” Because the draft Further NPRM “takes the unusual approach of not making any proposals, any stakeholders wishing to add new services in the band must include specific proposals, along with specific technical and service rules,” Space X said.

NAB claims that broadcasters are paying more than their fair share of FCC regulatory fees (see 2211280056) ignores that work done by noncore agency employees affects all regulatory payers, including broadcasters, NCTA said Friday in docket 22-301. NCTA said there's not an adequate record to back any FCC move to create a regulatory category for unlicensed spectrum users or broadband service providers. The filing recapped meetings NCTA had with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks, and with Media Bureau and Office of Managing Director representatives. NAB didn't comment.

SpaceX's plans to offer mobile supplemental coverage from space (SCS) via its second-generation Starlink constellation (see 2302080001) proposes spectrum use not conforming to international frequency allocations, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory told the FCC Space Bureau last week in an opposition. The joint SpaceX/T-Mobile service would be "bathing [the National Radio Quiet Zone] at harmfully-interfering levels in the hopes of serving" T-Mobile phones not getting terrestrial signals in the zone, which covers parts of Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia, NRAO said. SCS "breaks radio astronomy’s historical operating model of spectrum access [and] should not be authorized until and unless a modus vivendi is reached," it said. SpaceX didn't comment Friday.

A California bill that would tax internet links based on search inquiries would create more problems than it would solve, said CCIA President Matt Schruers in a release Tuesday. Schruers testified on AB-866 -- called the California Journalism Preservation Act -- at a California Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. “Requiring a fee to send internet traffic from one site to another is not a sustainable business model for digital companies or news outlets,” said Schruers. “It is concerning to give whatever political party is in power the ability to decide which group should pay another as users roam online.” Last month, CCIA, NetChoice, the R Street Institute, Tech Freedom, the California Chamber of Commerce and others submitted a letter critical of the proposal. “The bill would start the Internet down a slippery slope,” said the letter. “Once California starts taxing links, there would be no end to California (and other states) taxing all kinds of links to other industries favored by legislatures.” The proposals in AB 866 would “entrench incumbent publishers and lead to greater media concentration, and could financially reward the spread of misinformation,” Schruers said Tuesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a petition (docket 22-451) in a maritime case (see 2305010058) could put the Chevron doctrine on “death watch,” Free State Foundation President Randolph May blogged Tuesday. “For over a decade, I have suggested that the Chevron doctrine is in tension with fundamental separation of powers principles,” May wrote: “Now, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider overruling Chevron ‘or at least clarify’ that agency interpretations are not entitled to deference in some instances of ‘statutory silence.’ With a Court majority that is more attuned -- and devoted to -- foundational separation of powers principles, the Supreme Court's coming reconsideration of Chevron is welcome.” Experts including May have noted the evolving major questions doctrine is replacing Chevron as a test for when the courts should give regulatory agencies deference (see 2302080064). “If Chevron is overturned or even narrowed meaningfully, one consequence is likely to be curbing the power of the administrative state,” May wrote. Doing so may also “force Congress to take more responsibility for writing laws that more specifically delimit agency actions -- that is, to write less ambiguous laws,” he said.

The FCC has been inconsistent in the scope of its analysis of broadband's benchmark speed and its rationale for updating or not updating that benchmark, GAO said Tuesday. "Without consistently communicating" the scope and rationale, "FCC's reporting lacks transparency," the agency said. More consistent reporting year to year "would provide stakeholders' better assurance that FCC's conclusions are not arbitrary," it said. Citing six reports issued between 2015 and 2021, GAO said five of the six reported on whether the 25/3 Mbps benchmark was enough for purposes such as video conferencing, though it didn't report on that in 2019. It said the agency's 2015 report considered future speed needs in its analysis, though no subsequent report did, although the agency had received public comments on the topic. The commission didn't comment Wednesday.