The Congressional Review Act could pose privacy risks if Capitol Hill Republicans use it to abolish the FCC’s ISP privacy rules, Democratic lawmakers warned. A CRA resolution of disapproval is a tool that can nix federal regulations within a certain time frame after their issuance. It requires only a simple majority in the Senate, unlike normal legislation, and it prevents any similar rules from coming out in the future without specific congressional authorization. It's subject to presidential veto. Observers question whether Senate timing constraints will allow Congress to even target such rules using the tool, given other GOP priorities.
New Mexico Public Regulation Commissioner Sandy Jones named chairman; new Commissioner Cynthia Hall named vice chairwoman ... Commissioner Donald Polmann began Thursday on the Florida Public Service Commission, appointed by Gov. Rick Scott (R) to a term ending in January 2021 ... Among those Trump-Pence Presidential Transition Team adds to White House policy team are Zina Bash, Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, for areas including regulatory reform, and Peter White, ex-FCC and FTC and most recently aide to Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., as senior policy analyst ... BakerHostetler adds to Federal Policy team as senior advisers ex-Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., and government affairs consultant James Murphy, ex-Donald J. Trump for President, who has done telecom work.
News Friday that Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., will lead the House Communications Subcommittee (see 1701060001) sparked a range of reactions from industry observers. They foresaw the potential for her to take action on what have often been partisan priorities on net neutrality and municipal broadband. She succeeds Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., the new chair of Commerce, and was seen as having the edge among Commerce Republicans for the positions (see 1612300029), with people judging her both knowledgeable and effective but also divisive. The subcommittee overseeing the FTC also got a new head who is known to FCC watchers: Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio. Blackburn, an executive vice chairwoman for the transition team of President-elect Donald Trump, pledged last month the new Congress would get started on net neutrality legislation soon.
Intel hired Linda Kinney, ex-NTIA, as managing counsel-product regulatory ... American National Standards Institute adds Mary Saunders, leaving the National Institute of Standards and Technology and former ANSI vice chairwoman, as vice president-government relations and public policy, effective March 1, succeeding Scott Cooper, retired ... Viacom Kids & Family Group Chief Operating Officer Sarah Levy moves to COO of the company's Global Entertainment Group, new position ... Washington Utilities and Transportation Commissioner Philip Jones won't seek a third term after his term ended Jan. 1; Gov. Jay Inslee (D) extended his service until Feb. 28.
Parties offered a jumble of views on possible telecom deregulation in biennial review reply comments posted Tuesday and Wednesday in various dockets, including 16-132. Wireline and wireless telcos and others generally proposed the commission repeal numerous rules in initial comments (see 1612060072). Republican Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly, who will gain the majority under incoming President Donald Trump, have voiced enthusiasm for clearing what they term "regulatory underbrush," raising the profile of the proceeding (see 1612070040 and 1611030042).
Small ISPs want Congress to protect them from the net neutrality order’s enhanced transparency reporting requirements, which they will soon face. The American Cable Association, Competitive Carriers Association, NTCA and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association sent a letter to the bicameral backers of the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act, which stalled last Congress but would have exempted ISPs with 250,000 subscribers or fewer. The bill cleared the House without substantial Democratic objection. A temporary exemption from the FCC for ISPs with 100,000 or fewer subscribers expired last month, and the requirements take effect Jan. 17 (see 1612160059). “Unfortunately, because of unexpected inaction by the Federal Communications Commission, small broadband providers, who make up the majority of our associations, now face the prospect of imminent and irreparable harm from the rules going into effect in less than three weeks,” they told the lawmakers in a letter Tuesday. “To prevent this unjust outcome, we ask that you act again, and advance legislation relieving small businesses of these burdens as the 115th Congress convenes.”
President Barack Obama sent the renomination of Jessica Rosenworcel to the Senate, for its new session that began Tuesday. Her last day as an FCC member was also Tuesday. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., whose committee would need to OK Rosenworcel before the full Senate could vote on her reappointment, had signaled her imminent return to the agency was unlikely.
Undoing some of the more controversial orders approved on 3-2 votes under FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler could take a year or more and requires lots of work, said industry and government officials. Some of the more controversial aspects of Wheeler’s legacy are likely to be around for a while, even if Republicans appear bent on change, they said. One wild card is changes pushed through by the Republican-controlled Congress without the need for FCC action.
President Barack Obama’s signing into law of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2017 (S-2943) Friday sets up next steps for the administration on both the Broadcasting Board of Governors and cybersecurity policy. The White House announced opposition to what’s widely known as dual-hat leadership of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. The new law also includes language on spectrum, initially negotiated in the House version earlier this year and re-emerging in the conference report several weeks ago (see 1612050042).
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had to “postpone some of the next steps in this combined approach” on cybersecurity -- addressing “a combination of market-based incentives and appropriate regulatory oversight where the market does not, or cannot, do the job effectively” -- due to the “impending change in Administrations,” he told Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in a Dec. 2 letter released Wednesday. Warner will be ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee starting next year. “Addressing loT threats remains a National imperative and should not be stalled by the normal transition of a new president,” Wheeler told Warner. “I've attached an outline of a program that I believe would reduce the risk of cyber threats to America's citizens and businesses. This program includes collaborative efforts with key Internet stakeholder groups; increased interagency cooperation; and consideration of regulatory solutions by the Commission to address residual risk that cannot be addressed by market forces alone due to market failure.” That attached plan, a page and a half in length, is titled the 5G/IoT Cybersecurity Risk Reduction Program Plan and has three sections: one on Federal Advisory Committee/voluntary stakeholder engagement; one on leveraging interagency relationships; and final one on regulatory and rulemaking activities. The FCC should issue a notice of inquiry “to develop a record and identify residual risk in the IoT commons, with the goal of determining where market failure may exist in the ISP, network element manufacturer, and device manufacturer community” and nail down best practices, the plan recommended. Then the agency should issue an NPRM “to examine regulatory measures the FCC could take to help address cyber risks that cannot be addressed through market-based measures,” it said. “The NPRM could examine changes to the FCC's equipment certification process to protect networks from loT device security risks. … Explore the potential of a cybersecurity certification (possibly self-certification) to create a floor and identifiable risk relevant levels above the floor for device cybersecurity and a consumer labeling requirement to address any asymmetry in the availability of information and help consumers understand and make better decisions regarding the potential cyber risks of a product or service.” This month, an NOI sought comment on cybersecurity for 5G devices (see 1612160063), and the agency's Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council met (see 1612210060). Wheeler had been seen as backing off of pursuing a vote on a draft that would set up framework for the commission to hold confidential meetings with communications sector executives aimed at providing assurances on the firms’ cybersecurity practices (see 1611300063). Wheeler also told Warner the FCC’s authority over broadband empowers its cybersecurity initiatives, and staffers are “actively examining cyber challenges presented by today's end-to-end Internet environment.” A senior Republican staffer for the Senate Commerce Committee recently questioned the FCC’s approach to cybersecurity under Wheeler (see 1612060074).