Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., reintroduced the Rural Spectrum Accessibility Act Monday, earning praise from the Competitive Carriers Association. “This legislation supports maximizing the use of spectrum, a finite resource, which is an outcome every policymaker in Washington wants to see,” CCA President Steve Berry said in a statement. “Recent auctions have shown the incredible demand for spectrum, and this legislation helps ensure that competitive carriers have the opportunity to access this critical input -- to benefit consumers, competition and small businesses in rural America.” A similar bill never advanced in the Senate in the last Congress.
The House Commerce Committee will mark up the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act (HR-734) this week. The Communications Subcommittee unanimously approved the legislation at a meeting last week (see 1502040036). Lawmakers will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday in 2123 Rayburn for opening statements and then reconvene Thursday at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn to vote on the bill. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced a Senate companion last month.
Congress needs to resolve net neutrality issues through compromise bipartisan legislation, insisted Ev Ehrlich, a former undersecretary of commerce during the Clinton administration, in a Monday op-ed for Roll Call. He now advises ISPs and is a fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. “Congress can cut this Gordian knot with ease, using its obvious power to pass new rules that create strong net neutrality policy without the excess baggage and uncertainty caused by Title II,” Ehrlich said. “Why go through years of litigation and the risk we end up right back where we started if the court sees things differently than the FCC (which it has already done twice on this very issue) when a simpler, cleaner, more stable answer is ready at the hand?” Ehrlich suggested legislation would create more enduring rules than what would come of the agency’s net neutrality order, to be voted on Feb. 26: “A 2016 Republican president would likely appoint an FCC chairman who would jettison the rules. Not going to the Congress for authority to impose neutrality is tantamount to an invitation -- a double-dog dare -- to do so.” Republicans have proposed draft legislation along the lines of what Ehrlich described, but Democrats warn that it includes loopholes and unnecessarily curtails FCC authority.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., in two letters the agency released Friday, on inmate calling services and local number portability administrator selection. “The goal of the Further Notice is to reform the ICS system comprehensively, while also ensuring appropriate cost recovery and transition periods for correctional facilities,” Wheeler said in one letter on inmate calling rates. “I am committed to a competitive, fair, and transparent process” regarding the choice of LNPA, Wheeler told Pallone in another letter. “The Commission is currently reviewing the record of the proceeding, including the recommendation from the North American Numbering Council on the LNPA selection and its assessment of the selection process, and we are taking into account the factors you point out in your letter. I also agree with you about the importance of a timely decision.”
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, pressed the FCC on whether it has truly operated as an independent agency, asking several questions in a Friday letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Chaffetz inquired about the agency’s independence in developing its draft net neutrality order, on circulation now. “I am interested in hearing from the FCC on this matter, in particular how the FCC communicated with the White House and other Executive Branch agencies,” Chaffetz said. He asked for several documents, including visitor logs and meeting minutes chronicling interactions between administration and agency staff as well as other communications on this front. He requested the documents and available staffers for briefings by Feb. 20.
Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, would be interested in seeing net neutrality legislation considered but there has to be a green light with both parties’ leadership first, a Democratic staffer told us Friday. There’s no real green light from Democratic leadership, the staffer said. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said last week that the bar for any legislation would be the net neutrality proposal put forth by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Green has opposed Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband, which the FCC is planning to do in an order to be considered Feb. 26. Green has led multiple letters among Democrats slamming a Title II approach. The Capitol Hill Republicans preparing net neutrality legislation also strongly oppose Title II, and their legislation would codify net neutrality protections while limiting FCC reliance on Title II or Section 706. They have aggressively sought Democratic backers to no avail, they have said, with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., telling us the only chance of avoiding Title II is Democratic backing of the legislation (see 1501270044). Green has interest in a permanent legislative solution that could get bipartisan support, with a wide selection of stakeholders on board, the Democratic staffer said. There’s some potential support among Democrats, but there has to be a true partnership and a space to do it, he said. Title II reclassification may not be permanent if courts overturn it, he added. The staffer compared Green’s position to that of House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Both told us last week they would be very open to bipartisan negotiation on legislation following the FCC’s Feb. 26 vote (see 1502040047).
Don’t expect Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., to imminently take on retransmission consent overhaul in the Senate in the way he did in the House, he told us last week at the Capitol. Gardner is a freshman senator and Commerce Committee member who was a member of the House Communications Subcommittee last Congress, where he partnered with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., on the Next Generation Television Marketplace Act (HR-3720). Scalise had introduced this bill in multiple Congresses, with Gardner his one co-sponsor in the last Congress. It had no Senate sponsor in the last Congress, although former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., backed a Senate companion previously. The legislation has never advanced in Congress. “It’s still an issue, it’s still a concern, but I don’t plan on introducing legislation here,” Gardner said, saying no coordination with Scalise on this front was currently happening. “We’ll continue discussions with industry.” A Scalise spokeswoman didn’t comment on his own plans for any Next Generation Television Marketplace Act reintroduction.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., threatened legislation following the controversy around Verizon’s “supercookies,” a type of mobile tracking technology. The use of supercookies “raises the specter of corporations being able to peek into the habits of Americans without their knowledge or consent,” Nelson said in a statement Friday. “That’s why I think we need to get to the bottom of this and perhaps new legislation.” Nelson and other Senate Democrats wrote Verizon last month inquiring about the practice (see 1501300029). Friday, Nelson and Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., sent letters to the FCC and FTC asking them to scrutinize the practice. “As we consider whether legislation may be necessary to fully protect consumers from the use of these supercookies, we also believe the [FCC] should use its full existing statutory authority to examine these practices,” they told the FCC. “The use of these supercookies may implicate the Commission’s rules and policies related to consumer privacy and transparency.” They asked the FTC to “investigate Verizon’s disclosures to wireless customers with regard to its mobile tracking technology.” A Verizon spokesman said the company takes customers’ privacy seriously and it will respond to the letters. Verizon General Counsel Craig Silliman responded to the senators’ earlier inquiry to Verizon, in a Wednesday letter. “We never share information that individually identifies our customers with third parties and we give customers appropriate choices about whether and in what circumstances they will see advertising that is tailored to them,” Silliman said. “We are also sensitive to concerns raised by our customers, and we make changes to our programs to address their concerns.” The concerns followed revelations that Turn, a third-party online advertiser, was using the unique identifier headers (UIDH) of Verizon customers. “We have confirmed with all of our advertising partners that they will not use the UIDH to regenerate deleted browser cookies,” Silliman said. "Consumers expect that their private information remain just that: private,” emailed an FCC spokesman about the letter. “The Commission takes violations of consumer privacy extremely seriously. We have put in place robust rules to protect consumer privacy and regularly pursue enforcement for violations of those rules.”
Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., reintroduced his bill Thursday that would prevent authorities from abusing a cellphone kill switch. HR-791 would “prohibit the unauthorized remote shut down of a cellular phone,” its longer title said. Griffith pressed the issue in the last Congress in the bill known as the Cell Phone Freedom Act. His legislation didn't advance in the last Congress, as Griffith himself predicted (see 1409020045). The new bill has no co-sponsors and has been referred to the Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, wants federal regulators to approve Comcast’s proposed buy of Time Warner Cable, he told the FCC and Justice Department in a Wednesday three-page letter. The deal "does not raise sufficient competitive concerns to warrant blocking,” Hatch said, urging “appropriate” conditions if necessary. He also pushed regulators not to impose any net neutrality obligations. “I urge the Commission and the Department of Justice to abide their statutory mandates and to not turn the merger review process into an opportunity to impose a controversial, unwise, and ultimately unnecessary regulatory agenda upon merging parties.” Hatch also penned a Forbes op-ed Thursday blasting Communications Act Title II rules for broadband. “The administration’s Internet power grab also completely ignores the fact that existing consumer protection laws provide all the tools necessary to ensure that the Internet remains free and open to all,” Hatch said. “Antitrust laws empower courts and the Federal Trade Commission to block business activities that harm consumers, including activities that restrict consumer choice.”