Spectrum earned a mention in Thursday’s Congressional Budget Office assessment of the White House FY 2016 $4-trillion budget proposal. CBO referred to spectrum when discussing differences in estimates of outlays. “CBO’s estimate of mandatory spending this year is below the Administration’s by $99 billion,” said its analysis, naming various factors contributing to that difference. “Receipts from a recent auction of licenses to use the electromagnetic spectrum are $9 billion lower than projected by the Administration, reflecting new information about the winning bids and CBO’s expectation that some of the proceeds will be recorded in 2016.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, wants the FCC to make four officials in the Wireline Bureau Competition Policy Division available for transcribed interviews before March 27, he told FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a letter Thursday. These interviews would be “to advance the Committee’s investigation” into whether “the White House improperly influenced the development of the draft Open Internet Order,” Chaffetz said. The FCC approved that order at its Feb. 26 meeting and released it Thursday (see 1503120053). Chaffetz wants to hear from the FCC’s Kristine Fargotstein, Melissa Kirkel, Thomas Parisi and Carol Simpson, he said. He also tallied ways the agency has not complied with his requests so far in the investigation. Wheeler declined to testify at a hearing prior to the Feb. 26 vote and “declined to make the relevant staff” heading the Wireline and Wireless bureaus available to brief Chaffetz’s office, Chaffetz observed. “The Commission offered to make ... both bureau chiefs available to discuss the Open Internet Order, but committee staff rejected the briefing," an FCC spokeswoman told us when asked about the Chaffetz letter. Chaffetz also mentioned two letters he sent requesting preservation orders “because the Commission was unwilling to provide them to my staff voluntarily.” Wheeler will testify before Chaffetz at an oversight hearing 10 a.m. Tuesday in 2154 Rayburn.
The Republican senators from Kansas seek to amend human trafficking legislation (S-178) to include a version of the Kelsey Smith Act, which would compel carriers to give location information to law enforcement officials in certain dire emergencies. Sen. Pat Roberts introduced the amendment (S-Amendment-289) last week with Sen. Jerry Moran as his one co-sponsor. They introduced the Kelsey Smith Act as a stand-alone bill last Congress. “My amendment would provide law enforcement with the ability to recover the location of children and other missing individuals in only very specific emergency situations; namely, when there is risk of death or serious bodily injury,” Roberts said on the Senate floor Thursday. “To obtain the location, law enforcement must first provide a sworn written statement to the telecommunications providers stating the facts that support probable cause to believe that disclosure of the location is required to prevent death or serious bodily injury. Furthermore, 48 hours after the location is disclosed to law enforcement, they must request a court order stating whether such agency had probable cause to believe the facts surrounding the rescue or warranty were warranted.” The amendment balances the privacy concerns and dangers, Roberts said. Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., plans to reintroduce the Kelsey Smith Act “soon,” said a Roberts news release. On the floor, Roberts has blasted the partisan delays that have affected the human trafficking bill -- divisions centering on abortion funding. He praised the many versions of the Kelsey Smith Act passed on the state level and said he plans to reintroduce a stand-alone version of the legislation later this month. The Senate will continue considering S-178 Monday.
Free Press attacked Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Friday by flying a plane over Austin displaying a message asking him not to be “an enemy of the Internet.” Cruz has criticized the FCC net neutrality order and reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, which Free Press strongly supports. The group was scheduled to have the plane fly over the state capitol Friday and Saturday. "Senator Cruz needs to decide: Is he on the side of monopoly-minded cable companies or will he stand with the millions of U.S. Internet users fighting for free speech online?" Free Press Action Fund Internet Campaign Director Candace Clement said in a statement. "The people of Texas know the answer. It's time for politicians like Cruz to cut their ties to Big Cable and support real Net Neutrality." A Free Press news release pointed out that “during his relatively short tenure in the Senate, Cruz has received more than $60,000 in campaign donations from the same phone and cable companies trying to kill Net Neutrality.” A Cruz spokeswoman didn’t comment, but Cruz was actively mentioning net neutrality via social media. “Two weeks after the #FCC passed their 313-page #NetNeutrality order, you can finally read it,” Cruz tweeted Thursday, citing the publication of the agency’s net neutrality order text. “#DontMessWithTheNet,” he added.
Some Democrats and the National Consumers League (NCL) are disappointed with the draft of the Data Security and Breach Notification Act released Thursday by Reps. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Peter Welch, D-Vt. (see 1503120065). “We have numerous concerns about the weakening of consumer protections overall, as well as the dilution of protections of customers of telecommunications and cable services," said Reps. Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Democrats, in a joint statement Thursday. Data breaches “create serious harm to consumers and businesses alike, and this bill does not provide solutions,” they said. The bill reduces consumer protections and pre-empts stronger existing state laws, said NCL Vice President Public Policy-Telecommunications and Fraud John Breyault. The bill doesn't include protections for information such as email addresses and "creates a disincentive for companies to notify affected consumers," Breyault said. Welch, who co-wrote the bipartisan legislation, called the draft “far from perfect” but an “important step.” Pallone and Schakowsky said they will “continue to work for legislation that provides the strongest possible safeguards and protections for American consumers.”
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., reintroduced legislation “to provide for the equitable distribution of Universal Service funds to rural States,” as its longer title said. Last Congress, Ayotte introduced the USF Equitable Distribution Act of 2013 (S-1766), which would have ensured that not less than 75 percent of the interstate telecom USF contributions in rural states stay within that state. It never advanced. Ayotte introduced S-734 Thursday. It has no co-sponsors and has been referred to the Commerce Committee, where Ayotte is a member. Its text is not yet online.
Lawmakers from the House Commerce Trade Subcommittee unveiled data security draft legislation Thursday called the Data Security and Breach Notification Act. They plan to debate the 25-page draft bill at a hearing at 10 a.m. Wednesday in 2123 Rayburn, with FTC representatives and “affected stakeholders” on deck to testify. House Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., wrote the draft legislation. “The legislation would replace the current patchwork of laws with a single, national standard for protection and notification,” Blackburn said in a statement. Welch judged the draft “far from perfect” but an “important step,” he said, hopeful for what he called “practical improvements.” Trade Subcommittee Chairman Michael Burgess, R-Texas, wants to “broker a deal in a timely manner,” he said. Blackburn and Welch also posted a summary of the draft bill.
The Marketplace Fairness Act was reintroduced in the Senate Tuesday by the same sponsors as last year’s Marketplace and Internet Tax Fairness Act (S-2609): Sens. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said a joint news release. Enzi introduced the MFA in 2013, which later passed the Senate 69-27. The bill would let states tax remote sellers with annual revenue exceeding $1 million. The bill is "identical" to its 2013 counterpart, with the exception of an amendment that would require states to delay the enactment of MFA for 180 days after its approval, plus an exemption for the"first Holiday shopping season" after passage, said an Enzi spokesman. He didn't clarify which season. MFA critics have said the bill has been a thorn in the side of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which would permanently bar Internet access taxes (see 1409230083). House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., reintroduced the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (HR-235) Jan. 11 (see 1501090042). MFA was a “bad bill in the last Congress and it’s still a bad bill now,” R Street Institute Executive Director Andrew Moylan said in a news release Wednesday. “By wiping away geographic limits to state tax authority, the legislation would impose serious burdens on Internet retail and undermine basic tax policy principles.” Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Jack Reed, D-R.I., Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Angus King, I-Maine, also signed on as MFA co-sponsors, the joint release said.
The House Judiciary Committee secured FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Commissioner Ajit Pai and FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright as witnesses for its antitrust-focused net neutrality hearing, a committee notice said Wednesday. The hearing will take place March 25 at 10 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn. Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., originally had planned the hearing for next week on the same day that the House Oversight Committee had scheduled a hearing with Wheeler. “Many experts agree that the FCC’s recent approval of net neutrality rules, placing burdensome regulations on the provision of Internet service, will result in consumers having fewer choices while paying higher prices,” Goodlatte said in a statement. “The Internet doesn’t need an inflexible ‘one-size-fits-all’ government mandate to ensure net neutrality. The key to an open and free Internet lies in strong enforcement of our nation’s antitrust laws.” Several prominent Judiciary Committee Democrats told us they worry the hearing could be a partisan attack on the FCC (see 1503050047). They do not believe legislation is necessary, while Goodlatte wants Congress to act. Wright, a Republican, testified before House Judiciary on net neutrality last year and has agreed with Goodlatte on an antitrust approach.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., believes that legislative negotiation on net neutrality is largely on hold until the FCC releases the text of the order approved Feb. 26, he told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday. The senator said he is still engaged in conversations with committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who had talked with Thune about the possibility since last year. “My impression all along is the Democrats are going to be reluctant to do anything with us legislatively until they see the order and can react to it and determine what some of the impacts could be,” Thune said. “I think it’s clear that it’s going to be litigated; I think you’re going to see lawsuits filed right away, which could tie this thing up in court for a long time.” That litigation creates “compelling reason” for Democrats and Republicans to join forces on what has thus far been a draft bill backed only by Republicans, Thune said. He and his GOP counterparts in the House circulated a draft text in January that would codify net neutrality protections while limiting FCC authority. “My guess is that in order to get something to the floor along the lines of what we’re talking about, we’d have to have some expectation that we could actually pass the bill and perhaps actually even get it signed,” Thune said, considering his discussions with GOP leadership. “I think moving a legislative solution is going to have to be bipartisan.” He distanced himself from what he called “partisan ways” to approach net neutrality, such as the many members who want to file a Congressional Review Act resolution against the rules or use appropriations riders. Thune, in a separate interview Monday, confirmed that snow caused the postponement of several private net neutrality stakeholder sessions last week (see 1503090033). “Hopefully we’ll get back on schedule,” said Thune. He scoffed at the snow, which “never amounts to anything. Everyone was panicked on Wednesday,” Thune remarked. “It slowed things down, but we’ll get back at it.”