Form letters and fraudulent filings submitted to the FCC during its the public comment process in the net neutrality rescission rulemaking (see 1708030054) “did not affect” the commission's “ability to review the record, respond to comments that raised significant issues, and make a reasoned judgment,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter to Rep. Mike Capuano, D-Mass., released Monday evening. Capuano raised concerns in December, before the 3-2 vote, about “widespread reports of fraudulent comments being submitted to the FCC” on the proceeding and said it was “simply not responsible to rush a vote” when “there is so much concern.” House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and other committee Democrats have asked the DOJ and the FBI to investigate the “potentially illegal” use of stolen and fake identities to comment in federal rulemaking proceedings, including to the FCC proceeding that resulted in the vote to rescind Communications Act Title II net neutrality rules from 2015. GAO also agreed to review the fake comments issue (see 1706280043 and 1801240024). Any “reasonable review” of the rescission order would demonstrate the FCC “painstakingly engaged with the voluminous public record in this proceeding … in reaching its conclusions,” Pai said. “To the extent you are concerned with non-substantive comments submitted under multiple different names that stated simply that the commenter supported or was opposed to the Title II classification without substantive explanation, as you can see in the Order, the agency did not rely on or cite any such comments.” The commission doesn't “attribute greater weight to comments based on the submitter's identity,” which is why the FCC “has never burdened commenters with providing identity verification or expended the massive amount of resources necessary to verify commenters' identities,” Pai said. Rather “than dwell on how well automated or form submission reflect actual popular support, the Commission has instead focused on encouraging robust participation in its proceedings and ensuring it has considered how the substance of submitted comments bear on the legal and public policy consequences of its actions."
Puerto Rico may risk additional USF funding for rebuilding communications infrastructure if the territory keeps diverting 911 fee revenue to unrelated purposes, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said in a Tuesday letter to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares (New Progressive Party). The FCC is weighing sending more support to the hurricane-slammed territory (see 1804230065). “As a steward of such ratepayer collected funding, I would find it difficult to support such a move without strong assurances that Puerto Rico is prepared to put an end to fee diversion practices once and for all," O'Rielly said. "Without this guarantee, the Commission is putting precious USF support at risk for being wasted or diverted.” Puerto Rico, which prepared but failed to send information on time to the FCC about 2016 diversion due to “clerical error,” diverted $243,100 of the 911 revenue, Rosselló said in a March 7 letter to O’Rielly. Diversion was legal under Article 19 of Act No. 66-2014, which required all savings in areas including 911 fees must be transferred to the Workforce and Economic Development Promotion Fund under Puerto Rico Trade and Export Co., Rosselló said. To prevent future failures to file with the FCC, the Puerto Rico 911 Office will create a compliance guide for all state and federal request forms, he said. O’Rielly appreciates Puerto Rico eventually filing the information but said it’s “extremely disturbing” the territory diverted. “Of all places, I do not think I need to remind you how important 9-1-1 services can be during critical times,” O’Rielly wrote. “If a surplus of 9-1-1 fees is amassed and revenue is not needed for these purposes, fees should not be collected from the consumer, especially given the devastation and personal losses your residents have endured over the last year.” O’Rielly asked Rosselló for “any concrete plans” to end the fund movement: If it's required by law, “are you prepared to help take steps to amend this act to ensure that all savings should be returned to the ratepayer or invested in network upgrades rather than diverted to a separate fund?” O’Rielly asked if Rosselló alternatively has authority to bypass the law’s diverting requirements. Hurricanes Irma and Maria last year tested Puerto Rico 911 systems and showed need for upgrades (see 1801030008).
Don’t cite state law to justify New York diversion of 911 fees for things not directly related to 911, an aide to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Monday. O’Rielly and Rep. Chris Collins (R) condemned New York diversion Friday while visiting the Niagara County Emergency Management Office public safety answering point in Buffalo. A New York department said it uses fee revenue for first responder communications and state tax law prevents the state from using the money differently. But Niagara County Sheriff James Voutour said the policy keeps 911 funding from counties responsible for handling many emergency calls.
The FCC had a more difficult time in court Friday than some expected (see 1804190056) in defending its change of the UHF discount so that stations in that part of the TV band could have twice the concentrated ownership as those lower down the dial. Every member of a three-judge panel took issue with the FCC’s lack of justification for restoring the UHF discount.
Frontier Communications hires Marissa Mitrovich, ex-Politiquette, as vice president-federal legislative affairs, succeeding Jennifer Schneider, now back at the FCC, where she is attorney/adviser, Office of Legislative Affairs ... Outgoing Commissioner Terrell McSweeny resigns as FTC member, effective April 28; she could have stayed until arrival of commissioner nominee Joseph Simons, whom President Donald Trump plans to designate chairman and who would take McSweeny's slot (see 1801250066) ... Robins Kaplan adds trial lawyers from Partridge Snow law firm to Business Litigation Practice group as partners Stephen Wald, with intellectual property and telecom experience, and Lauren Coppola, with expertise on telecom, technology, FCC and public utility commission issues.
California and Colorado lawmakers advanced net neutrality state legislation. The Colorado House voted 35-28 on party lines to pass HB-1312 to restrict state broadband support to companies that adhere to net neutrality principles. The bill will die in the Republican Senate, predicted its House sponsor. In California, a Senate panel had enough Democratic votes to clear an amended SB-822 by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D), but the vote wasn't yet final. Also Tuesday, a House subcommittee held a paid prioritization hearing (see 1804170037).
The FCC approved 5-0 an NPRM that proposes to bar use of money in any USF program to buy equipment or services from companies that “pose a national security threat” to U.S. communications networks or the communications supply chain, as expected (see 1804110032). Commissioners said the NPRM was expanded while on the eighth floor to ask additional questions, including on what the FCC could do beyond the USF. Small carriers, especially members of the Rural Wireless Association, expressed concerns because many use devices and equipment provided by Chinese suppliers Huawei and ZTE. For other ZTE news Tuesday: 1804170018.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau is acting to increase the use of the Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) to propagate emergency alert system warnings, rather than the legacy “daisychain” system, said the bureau’s report on the 2017 Nationwide EAS test, released Friday. The internet-based CAP (common alerting protocol) alerts sent through IPAWS contain more information, have better audio and allow multi-language alerts, the report said. The test shows EAS participants have “improved in their ability to successfully alert the public,” the report said, though it also shows a drop from 2016 in test participation, and a Federal Emergency Management Agency report on the nationwide test released last week questioned the accuracy of the results reporting.
Officials from Puerto Rico, Texas and the U.S. Coast Guard said last year’s massive storms showed the fault lines in the communications infrastructure. Information supplied by the FCC sometimes didn’t keep up with the disasters as they unfolded, speakers said during an FCC workshop Friday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the FCC wants to learn from what happened last year. Puerto Rico is struggling to recover from Maria, which hit it in September (see 1803160051).
States should be able to shift to connections-based USF contribution to stabilize funds, said the state chair of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service Thursday after CTIA filed its second lawsuit against states making that change. CTIA sued the Utah Public Service Commission Tuesday for its Jan. 1 shift to connections-based contribution, arguing the 36-cent fee violates federal Lifeline requirements and illegally discriminates against prepaid wireless services. CTIA urged the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to decide federal law pre-empts the Utah rule and to stop the state commission from enforcing it.