Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., refiled their Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act Thursday to combat illegal robocall scams. S-151, originally filed in November, would increase FCC authority, allowing the agency to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call when the caller intentionally flouts the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The bill would extend to three years the window for civil enforcement. The agency also would be required to begin a rulemaking to help protect subscribers from receiving unwanted calls or texts from callers using unauthenticated numbers. S-151 would require carriers to adopt call authentication technologies that allow them to verify an incoming call is legitimate. The legislation “holds those people who participate in robocall scams and intentionally violate telemarketing laws accountable and does more to proactively protect consumers who are potential victims,” Thune said. “To address the scourge of calls, we need a simple formula: call authentication, blocking, and enforcement, and this legislation achieves all three,” Markey said. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr tweeted his praise for the senators' “leadership in helping to crack down on illegal robocalls that not only interrupt our daily lives but seek to defraud millions of Americans. Their bill addresses an issue that leads all consumer complaints at the FCC each year.” Many stakeholders lauded the bill, including AT&T, Consumer Federation of America and other consumer groups and associations, CTIA, NTCA, USTelecom and Verizon.

Votes planned for a Jan. 30 FCC meeting are at risk as the partial government shutdown drags on with no end in sight, agency observers said. Even if lawmakers jump-start negotiations and reopen FCC offices before Jan. 30, time is slipping away for deliberations and votes by officials who would be scrambling to play catch-up and address backlogs. Another complication is the looming addition of Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who hasn't been sworn in despite being confirmed (see 901170036).

Due to the ongoing FCC closure during the partial government shutdown, the agency Tuesday requested that the court hearing appeals to its common-carrier net neutrality rollback delay Feb. 1's oral argument. The agency's request noted petitioners oppose the motion. The case is Mozilla v. FCC, No. 18-1051.

Amid a federal shutdown, the Senate established some stability at the FCC Wednesday night, confirming Brendan Carr to another term as commissioner and Geoffrey Starks to the open slot vacated by Mignon Clyburn (see 1901020056). Absent Senate confirmation, both nominations would have expired, and President Donald Trump would have had to renominate both.

USTelecom appoints Patrick Halley, ex-Wilkinson Barker, senior vice president-advocacy and regulatory affairs, succeeding Jonathan Banks, who previously led USTelecom law and policy team ... RIAA President Mitch Glazier becomes chairman-CEO as previously announced (see 1704030020) and Michele Ballantyne advances to chief operating officer ... Angela Kung, ex-FCC Wireless Bureau, rejoins Mintz as of counsel, communications practice.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission voted 2-0 Thursday for an order to implement information disclosure rules for broadband internet access service providers as required by the Oregon net neutrality law restricting procurement to ISPs that don’t follow open-internet rules. Commissioners rejected calls by industry not to proceed (see 1811070037), and CenturyLink’s recommendations to clarify that obligations don’t exceed the FCC’s now-moot 2015 rules and to re-emphasize carriers’ obligation to protect customer proprietary network information. “We have the authority and the responsibility to fulfill the legislative mandate to craft rules to advance and complete the express legislative policy,” said Chair Megan Decker in the livestreamed meeting. Supporting the order in AR-618, Commissioner Stephen Bloom said he doesn’t believe the PUC has authority to “restrict remedies available” for violations of the state law. “Every email, application and video should not be subject to multiple state jurisdictions," a CenturyLink spokesperson said. "Internet traffic is inherently interstate in nature and thus best handled at the federal level.” Earlier this week, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) urged the U.S. District Court in Burlington to dismiss cable and telecom industry groups’ challenge of the state’s net neutrality law and executive order, both of which restricted government contracts to companies that follow open-internet principles (see 1810180045). Scott sought a stay while the motion to dismiss is pending, and while review of the FCC Restoring Internet Freedom order is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. “Plaintiffs lack standing because they have not alleged that an identified member of any Plaintiff “ha[s] suffered or [will] suffer harm” caused by the challenged contracting requirements,” he wrote. “Plaintiffs do not allege that any of their members have ever done anything in Vermont inconsistent with net neutrality or been prevented from doing anything inconsistent with net neutrality by State contracting requirements.” NCTA, USTelecom and other industry plaintiffs didn’t comment.

Litigation looms over a lengthy FCC jurisdictional separations freeze despite buy-in from key state regulators. Critics plan a court challenge to a Dec. 17 order extending the freeze on rules allocating most regulated costs to intrastate rather than interstate services, which they say eases illegal cross-subsidies. “We’re going to definitely appeal," said Bruce Kushnick, New Networks Institute executive director. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, chairman of a federal-state joint board on separations, and others said the rules are becoming less relevant, applying to fewer carriers.

Data security is a shared responsibility among tech-communications industry and government stakeholders, the Council to Secure the Digital Economy told the FTC in recent comments. Including the Information Technology Industry Council, USTelecom and CTA, the council suggested the FTC looks to its recent international botnet guide (see 1811290054) when addressing cybersecurity and data security issues. Earlier this month, CTA announced an effort to craft a technical standard based on the guide’s content, the council said. Antitrust enforcers should increase attention on “employer mergers and conduct that have anticompetitive labor-market effects,” American Antitrust Institute said in comments AAI sent in an email blast Tuesday.

States diverted nearly 10 percent of $2.9 billion in 911 fee revenue for unrelated purposes in 2017, the FCC reported Wednesday. For the first time, every jurisdiction responded for this year’s report, so some exact comparisons may not be possible. The FCC flagged Montana, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, West Virginia and the U.S. Virgin Islands as responsible for the $285 million in diverted revenue.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh likely will participate if the Supreme Court is asked to review the FCC net neutrality rollback, said court watchers, noting justices have wide leeway on recusals. They recused themselves without explanation from a November decision not to consider the prior commission's 2015 Communications Act Title II net neutrality order (see 1811050008). Their apparent reasons -- possible conflicts over Roberts' shares and Kavanaugh's lower court participation -- aren't expected to be repeated if the current Republican-run FCC's Title I order comes before them.