Labor unions are united in opposing Trade Promotion Authority, also known as fast track, over concerns that new trade deals will cut U.S. employment, said leaders of dozens of unions in a Monday letter to House and Senate members. “Fast-track is an undemocratic, unaccountable and completely unacceptable way to develop economic policies that affect us all,” said the letter, signed by the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO and others. “America needs a new version of trade negotiating authority that brings the process out from behind closed doors and prioritizes making life better for people, instead of just making life easier for corporations.” The AFL-CIO and other unions take to Capitol Hill Wednesday to lobby more than 120 lawmakers on TPA opposition, the AFL-CIO said in a separate release.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans a hearing on FirstNet March 11, at 10 a.m., in 253 Russell. FirstNet Chairwoman Sue Swenson will testify, as will Commerce Department Deputy Secretary Bruce Andrews, Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser and the Government Accountability Office's Mark Goldstein. "The hearing will examine the progress of FirstNet's nationwide wireless broadband network for emergency responders," a notice for the hearing said. "Witnesses will discuss progress and challenges in building the network, as well as FirstNet’s future as a self-funding entity as required by the Act."
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance urged people to contact members of Congress to oppose GOP municipal broadband legislation. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and House Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced the States’ Rights Municipal Broadband Act (S-597/HR-1106) Thursday to stop the FCC from pre-empting state laws restricting municipal broadband networks. It has eight co-sponsors in the House, all Republican, and none in the Senate. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance called Tillis and Blackburn a “Dystopian duo” and slammed their effort. “If Blackburn and Tillis are so convinced the FCC is overstepping, why not let the matter be decided in the courts?” the group said in a Monday blog post. “They know the law is not on their side, that's why.” House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., suspects the bill “may” move through the full Commerce Committee. “There’s even a constitutional Tenth Amendment question as to whether Congress has the authority to do this,” Walden said during an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators shown this weekend. “I think that [the FCC municipal broadband] order will get struck down by the courts. … I’d rather leave this up to the states to decide.”
Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., became co-sponsors of the Local Radio Freedom Act (S. Con. Res. 4) last week. The NAB-backed resolution opposes any new taxes or royalties for terrestrial broadcasters (see 1502250032). Senate and House (H. Con. Res. 17) versions of the resolution were introduced last week; the latter has 108 co-sponsors.
The FCC has enjoyed much greater capacity than necessary to receive and process pole applications from railroads as part of the positive train control deployment process, Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., in a Feb. 11 letter the agency released last week. “Under the new review process, the Commission can accept applications for up to 1,400 poles from the major freight railroads every two weeks,” Wheeler told Matsui. “As of January 23, 2015, the seven Class I freight railroads had submitted for review a total of 6,386 poles, out of a possible total of 25,200. This equates to approximately 25 percent of the Commission's processing capacity.”
House lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation Friday on how video services collect information. HR-1164 would “provide for notification to consumers before a video service collects visual or auditory information from the viewing area and to provide consumers with choices that do not involve the collection of such information, and for other purposes,” its longer title said. Rep. Michael Capuano, D-Mass., is the primary sponsor, with Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., its one co-sponsor. The legislation has been referred to the Commerce Committee, and its text is not yet online.
Two Senate Republicans want information on many agencies’ inspectors general, including those of the FCC, FTC and Commerce Department. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent letters to 72 agencies’ inspectors general Friday. “Congress often hears when an agency stonewalls an inspector general but not always,” Grassley said in a statement. “This letter gives every inspector general the chance to weigh in on problems. If an inspector general doesn’t have interference problems, Congress ought to know that, too.” The senators wanted to know of any agency attempts to interfere with the independence of agency IGs.
Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and Tom Marino, R-Pa., introduced the Law Enforcement Access to Data Stored Abroad (Leads) Act Friday, a joint news release said. The bill is the House companion to a Senate bill introduced Feb. 12 by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Chris Coons, D-Del. The Leads Act would protect U.S. data stored abroad by "reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) to promote international comity and law enforcement cooperation,” a Hatch news release said earlier this month. “If we cannot accomplish the act of passing this reasonable legislation, U.S. companies will find it increasingly difficult to compete overseas and online user privacy will diminish,” Marino said in his release. “U.S. companies need clear guidelines on when they have to turn over electronic communications to law enforcement if that information is stored abroad,” DelBene said. “The current uncertainty harms U.S. businesses and their customers, and does not well-serve our foreign relationships.” Leads Act supporters include Apple, AT&T, Microsoft, the Telecommunications Industry Association and Verizon, the House release said. “Data localization is being pursued by countries around the globe in the absence of congressional action to establish a rule of law,” Microsoft said in blog post Friday. Microsoft said it anticipates working with House Judiciary Committee members to ensure the bill’s passage.
The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act (S-253) during a markup session Thursday. “This bill is the product of bipartisan negotiations,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., saying he hopes the legislation passes the full Senate soon. The House passed a companion version 411-0 earlier this week. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced the bill, which “both sides have been working on for a number of years,” Heller said, noting he anticipates and expects “good results on the floor.” Heller offered substitute text for the bill. Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is now a co-sponsor of the bill. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., successfully introduced an amendment to require the FCC “to draw comparisons between the extent of broadband service capability in communities abroad to the extent of broadband service capability in communities in the United States,” its text said. Schatz’s goal in co-sponsoring the bill “is to support the FCC and to make sure they are dedicating their limited resources to their core mission; protecting consumers and promoting competition,” he said in a statement. “Consolidating these reports will ensure that we are maintaining transparency which helps us protect consumers and gauge the competitive telecom landscape.”
The reintroduced Local Radio Freedom Act (H. Con. Res. 17) has 94 House co-sponsors, NAB said in a news release Wednesday. Senate (S. Con. Res. 4) and House versions of the resolution were introduced Tuesday (see 1502240067). The resolutions would oppose terrestrial radio stations from paying any new taxes or royalties. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., are the principal sponsors of S. Con. Res. 4; Reps. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, and Gene Green, D-Texas, headed up the resolution’s introduction in the House. “NAB applauds lawmakers for standing with hometown broadcasters in opposing a job-killing performance royalty that would damage the No. 1 platform for exposing new music," CEO Gordon Smith said in the release. House Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., members Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and House Commerce Committee Vice Chair Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sent a letter to lawmakers Tuesday asking that they not support LRFA. They called terrestrial broadcasters' exemption from public performance royalties an "unjust business model." The musicFIRST Coalition, which advocates for terrestrial broadcasters to pay public performance royalties, in a blog post Tuesday criticized NAB’s claim that such broadcasters can’t afford to pay new royalties. MFC cited a GAO study that said a public performance royalty would cost major broadcasters 2 percent of their revenue. Despite efforts to thwart the resolutions, NAB expects the number of co-sponsors to grow “considerably” in the coming months, said a spokesman.