DOJ and the FCC on Monday defended the commission’s order last year further clamping down on gear from Chinese companies, preventing the sale of yet-to-be authorized equipment in the U.S. (see 2211230065). Dahua USA and Hikvision USA challenged the order, which implements the 2021 Secure Equipment Act, questioning whether the FCC exceeded its legal authority (docket 23-1032). The case is in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Oral argument isn't scheduled.
Attendance at this week’s Senate AI briefing wasn’t as strong as the first two sessions, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s working group remains focused on establishing a regulatory framework for the rapidly evolving technology, members told us Thursday (see 2307260039).
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture Thursday on Democratic FCC nominee Anna Gomez, teeing up likely floor votes leading to her confirmation during the first full week of September. That means movement on Gomez and the resulting shift to a 3-2 Democratic FCC majority will be slower than her supporters wanted but provides a clear timeline for the changeover to take place, officials and observers told us. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others filed a cloture petition on Gomez earlier this month in hopes Schumer would hold floor votes on the nominee before Congress left for the month-plus August recess (see 2307200071).
The Senate Commerce Committee passed two kids’ privacy bills Thursday, for the second year in a row (see 2211160078 and 2207270057).
The Wireless ISP Association urged California Senate appropriators Wednesday to advance an Assembly-passed bill that would explicitly authorize wireless broadband providers to apply for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) federal funding account (FFA) grants. AB-1065 cleared the Senate Communications Committee last month (see 2306200053) and is in the Appropriations Committee’s suspense file, a category reserved for bills deemed to be costly. The California Public Utilities Commission “has only funded fiber projects through the FFA, which has led to many California residents lagging woefully behind the state in accessing high-quality internet service,” said WISPA’s letter to Appropriations Committee Chair Anthony Portantino (D). The industry group said fixed wireless “can quickly and efficiently step into this gap.”
California faces higher-than-expected construction costs as it works to complete the state’s middle-mile network, said Mark Monroe, deputy director-California Technology Department (CDT) Broadband Middle-Mile Initiative, at a partly virtual California Broadband Council meeting Thursday. And many more miles of fiber will be needed than originally planned, he said. Other state broadband officials said it’s important to keep funding the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) as California makes gains enrolling households.
The House plans to vote as soon as Tuesday under suspension of the rules on the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (HR-1338) and three other Commerce Committee-approved communications policy bills, said the office of Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. Notably absent from the agenda is the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565), which some lawmakers were pushing House leaders to bring up for a floor vote before Congress leaves on the month-plus August recess (see 2307200071). The House Rules Committee, meanwhile, will consider Wednesday whether to allow votes on three broadband-focused amendments to the FY 2024 Agriculture Department appropriations bill (HR-4368).
The FCC and the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are partnering on a trial of georouting calls to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, the commission said Thursday as commissioners approved 988 outage reporting requirements 4-0, as expected (see 2307130010). Commissioners also unanimously approved an order allowing 14 FM6 stations to broadcast analog signals as an ancillary service and an order giving tribal libraries and other E-rate participants greater access to funding.
AUSTIN -- New NARUC Telecom Committee Chair Tim Schram praised NTIA efforts making broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) allocations, in a Wednesday interview. Also, Schram and another Republican committee member, South Dakota Commissioner Chris Nelson, told us they’re glad the FCC may soon finally have all five seats filled.
AUSTIN – State commissioners softened a draft resolution meant to discipline telecom providers still using network equipment that might pose a national security risk. At NARUC’s conference here Tuesday, the Telecom Committee unanimously supported a measure that would recommend lower scoring for grant applications by providers with equipment on the FCC’s covered list.