House Commerce Committee members on Thursday vowed to find a bipartisan solution for updating Communications Decency Act Section 230.

The Treasury Department is preparing to issue a proposed rule that could expand the powers of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., allowing CFIUS to impose higher penalties and collect a broader array of information from parties involved in non-notified transactions. The rule also could give CFIUS broader subpoena abilities, expand the circumstances in which it may fine a company, set timelines for responses to mitigation proposals, and more.

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Brett Guthrie (Ky.) are highlighting reaching a deal on an expansive spectrum legislative package as a top communications policy priority if they succeed retiring Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) as the panel's lead Republican in the next Congress. Both contenders separately told us their spectrum focus wouldn’t waver if Rodgers and other congressional leaders reach a deal this year that restores the FCC’s lapsed auction authority and other airwaves-related priorities. Talks on spectrum legislation have largely stalled since early 2023, but Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others are shopping new proposals (see 2403210063).

The 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court should reverse the FCC's ruling authorizing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2312200040) by interpreting the Communications Act “in accordance with its ordinary meaning,” Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz (Texas) and six other Republican senators wrote in an amicus brief Tuesday (docket 23-60641). The brief supports Maurine and Matthew Molak's petition to defeat the Oct. 25 declaratory ruling (see 2404030010).

The 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court should reverse the FCC's ruling authorizing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2312200040) by interpreting the Communications Act “in accordance with its ordinary meaning,” Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz (Texas) and six other Republican senators wrote in an amicus brief Tuesday (docket 23-60641). The brief supports Maurine and Matthew Molak's petition to defeat the Oct. 25 declaratory ruling (see 2404030010).

Broadcasters attending the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas will focus on exploiting and guarding against the latest advances in artificial intelligence, on making the now 7-year-old transition to ATSC 3.0 finally pay off, and on surviving an unfavorable regulatory landscape, industry officials told us. “We’ve been building out the service; now it’s put up or shut up time,” said Gray Television Senior Vice President Rob Folliard of ATSC 3.0. The show kicks off Saturday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Plaintiff-appellant Jacob Howard’s case against the Republican National Committee “hinges on a legal theory that is as novel as it is untenable,” said the RNC’s answering brief Saturday (docket 23-3826) in the 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court. Howard alleges that a text message containing a video constitutes an artificial or prerecorded voice call under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, said the RNC. But the district court recognized the “absurdity” of Howard’s claims “and rightly dismissed them,” it said. U.S. District Judge Steven Logan for Arizona in Phoenix held that the text messages weren’t actionable under the TCPA because the downloaded videos didn’t automatically begin playing (see 2402080021). The messages therefore “provided a conscious choice of whether to engage with the audible component” of the downloaded video, but that was different “from what the TCPA intended” by barring calls using a prerecorded voice, said his order. Though the TCPA protects Americans’ right to privacy, it doesn’t “impose liability for every telephone communication that a recipient dislikes,” said the RNC’s answering brief. “Nor does the TCPA permit curtailment of political speech -- even when that speech comes in the form of a text message,” it said. The TCPA also exempts political communications and certain communications from nonprofit organizations from its prohibitions, it said. Both exemptions “plainly apply here,” it said. Howard’s complaint “pleaded him out of his TCPA claim,” it said. The district court “thus properly dismissed his case,” it said. On appeal, Howard “now challenges every facet of this decision by raising any fleeting legal theory he can conjure,” it said. These theories “are uniformly without merit,” it said. The 9th Circuit should affirm, it said.

U.S. District Judge Michael Watson for Southern Ohio in Columbus overruled the objections of defendant Vivek Ramaswamy to a magistrate judge’s order granting plaintiff Thomas Grant’s motion for limited expedited discovery in his Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action against the former Republican presidential candidate (see 2404050013), said Watson’s signed opinion and order Friday (docket 2:24-cv-00281). Grant sought the discovery to preserve relevant records of calls that Ramaswamy’s campaign made to him and his putative class members to solicit their participation in his telephonic town halls. Ramaswamy had asked the court to set aside the order as “clearly erroneous and contrary to law.” But the magistrate judge rightly found there was good cause for granting the discovery motion, said the opinion and order. Though this isn’t a case involving patent infringement or unfair competition, “all the other factors” favor plaintiff Grant, it said. He persuasively argues that there’s a risk that evidence will be lost, it said. Grant’s counsel "represents" that in other TCPA cases, some of the companies that make calls on behalf of others have policies to destroy call logs within a few months, it said. "Of course, that does not prove the evidence in this case will be lost," but Grant "has presented a sufficient basis for concluding that there is a risk that the evidence will be lost," it said. That's "enough for this factor to favor allowing early discovery," it said. Ramaswamy also would suffer “little prejudice” from discovery, it said. The only thing he has to do is give Grant the name of the dialer that the campaign used, it said. The scope of the requested discovery is narrow, it said. Indeed, the plaintiff asks only for the identity of the dialer and for permission to subpoena call logs from the dialer. The request is limited to only what he needs to preserve the call transmission logs, and that factor also “supports allowing early discovery,” it said. On Ramaswamy’s argument that the magistrate judge erred by ruling on a discovery dispute before resolving his jurisdictional challenge, that argument fails because the court has subject-matter jurisdiction over the case, said the opinion and order. On the former candidate's objections to the magistrate judge allowing Grant to serve a third party with a subpoena, Ramaswamy “lacks standing to raise this objection,” it said. He offers no argument that he has “any claim of privilege to the information sought by the subpoena,” it said.

The U.S. on April 5 rejected an importer’s claim that, based on the legislation governing changed circumstances reviews, the Commerce Department may not begin any new antidumping or countervailing duty investigations on a product within two years of the prior one (Wabtec Corporation v. U.S., CIT # 23-00160, -00161).

Maryland legislators received strong responses after sending privacy and online safety bills to Gov. Wes Moore (D) for final approval. Consumer Reports (CR) applauded the General Assembly for the comprehensive privacy bill (SB-541/HB-567) that it said exceeded other states’ laws in certain ways. On the other hand, tech industry group NetChoice bemoaned a growing patchwork of state laws, 16 and counting.