House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told us he’s going to continue to press for progress on major tech and telecom legislation during the remainder of this Congress rather than coast toward retirement, after his October announcement he won’t run for re-election (see 2110180043). Doyle concedes progress on net neutrality legislation, a top issue since he became lead Communications Democrat in 2017, may not happen before he retires. Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui of California and two other members -- Reps. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Yvette Clarke of New York -- confirmed to us they’re considering whether they would like to succeed Doyle as the subpanel’s lead Democrat.
Backers of two bills aimed at mandating improvements to spectrum policy coordination between the FCC and other federal agencies are hopeful President Joe Biden’s recent FCC and NTIA nominations (see 2110260076) will mean a clearer path to those measures’ enactment. The House Communications Subcommittee unanimously advanced one of the measures, the Spectrum Coordination Act (HR-2501), during a Wednesday markup. The subpanel also unanimously cleared the Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (HR-1218).
The Biden administration is committed to releasing a national spectrum strategy, a goal the Trump administration never met. NTIA didn’t have a permanent administrator for much of the Trump administration, as been true so far during the Biden administration. President Joe Biden is trying to change that by nominating Mozilla Foundation Senior Adviser Alan Davidson to head the agency. Biden's also filling out the FCC by renominating Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and picking Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy’s Gigi Sohn for the vacant Democratic commission seat (see 2110260076).
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said Monday he won’t seek re-election in 2022. “The time has come to pass the torch to the next generation,” he said during a news conference in Pittsburgh. Doyle cited the likelihood that Pennsylvania’s redistricting plans “will change this district and most likely push part of it outside Allegheny County,” which makes it “a good transition time for a new member to start in a newly drawn district.” Doyle has been House Communications’ lead Democrat since 2017 and became chairman when Democrats gained a majority in the chamber after the 2018 election (see 1901150056). He spearheaded House Democrats’ years long legislative push to undo FCC rescission of 2015 net neutrality rules (see 2103300001) and advocated for major broadband money to be included in infrastructure legislation. He recently filed the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-5378) to authorize an FCC auction of at least 200 MHz on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2109290071). Doyle’s announcement immediately prompted speculation about potential contenders to succeed him as lead Communications Democrat. Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chair Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., is known to be seeking to succeed Doyle, Capitol Hill aides and Democratic-focused lobbyists told us. Matsui’s office didn’t comment.
The House Communications Subcommittee plans an Oct. 6 hearing on the newly filed Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-5378), Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act (HR-2489) and 10 other telecom-centric bills aimed at “strengthening” U.S. networks, the House Commerce Committee said Wednesday. Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., filed HR-5378 Wednesday as a vehicle for enacting language to authorize an FCC auction of at least 200 MHz on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band separately from the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation. Commerce advanced its portion of reconciliation earlier this month with the spectrum language, plus $10 billion for next-generation 911 and $4 billion for the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund (see 2109140063). Doyle’s office touted support from the Competitive Carriers Association, NCTA, New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge. The other bills on Communications’ hearing docket: the Protecting Critical Infrastructure Act (HR-1042), Federal Broadband Deployment in Unserved Area Act (HR-1046), Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act (HR-1049), Wireless Resiliency and Flexible Investment Act (HR-1058), Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (HR-1218), Spectrum Coordination Act (HR-2501), Communications Act Section 331 Obligation Clarification Act (HR-4208), Information Sharing and Advanced Communication Alerting Act (HR-5028), Broadband Incentives for Communities Act (HR-5058) and Preventing Disruptions to Universal Service Funds Act (HR-5400). The partly virtual hearing begins at noon EDT in 2123 Rayburn.
AT&T confirms hiring Axios' Kim Hart, who becomes vice president-corporate communications, overseeing public policy communications ... VMware rehires Kyle Victor, leaving office of Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., as the company's senior director and head-U.S. government relations ... Phone2Action hires Adrian Muniz, ex-Logi Analytics, as chief financial officer, and Mikhail Opletayev, ex-Higher Logic and Real Magnet, as chief technology officer, announces CEO Steven Schneider, who joined in June, also from Logi Analytics ... Shentel's William Pirtle's departure delayed until Dec. 31 from Aug. 2, "to assist with the orderly transition" of sales in "an internal reorganization"; he's now senior vice president-sales.
To address threats to 5G security, the FCC needs to work closely with the rest of the federal government, said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chair Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., at a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar Thursday. That was Rosenworcel’s theme as a minority commissioner -- that spectrum conflicts occurred in the past four years because agencies weren’t working together.
Much of the FCC's focus under Democrats has been on COVID-19-related spending for broadband, and that will continue, said William Davenport, chief of staff to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, at a Wireless Infrastructure Association virtual conference Tuesday. Others agreed implementing spending mandated by Congress will dominate the early months under acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
Rep. Anna Eshoo and 12 other Democratic members of California’s House delegation urged Attorney General-designate Merrick Garland to “withdraw” DOJ from the federal government’s lawsuit at U.S. District Court for Eastern California challenging that state’s net neutrality law (case 2:18-cv-02660). The department is expected to leave that legal challenge once President-elect Joe Biden takes office next week (see 2101070067). The arguments DOJ and industry groups made in U.S. v. California “extend further than even the FCC’s” order rescinding its 2015 net neutrality rules “and have implications on the ability of California and other states to regulate many communications and technology policy issues,” Eshoo and others wrote Garland Tuesday. Others signing the letter were House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chair Doris Matsui, Jared Huffman, Ro Khanna, Barbara Lee, Mike Levin, Ted Lieu, Jerry McNerney, Jimmy Panetta, Jackie Speier, Eric Swalwell, Mike Thompson and Mark Takano. Biden’s transition team and DOJ didn’t comment Wednesday.
Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chair Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., Friday urged President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration to adopt a “unified approach to spectrum policy and a clearly articulated process for resolving interagency disputes.” The FCC and other federal agencies repeatedly fought over spectrum policy issues during President Donald Trump’s administration, and stakeholders hope that's reduced under Biden (see 2010260001). “These frequent, public conflicts encouraged a combative rather than collaborative posture among federal agencies and often necessitated congressional intervention,” Matsui wrote Biden. “This spectrum management approach is untenable. Non-federal users deserve the certainty needed for long-term strategic investments and, as federal stewards, agencies deserve the requisite resources to" fulfill their mandates. "More intensive use of federal spectrum will be necessary” and “require new coexistence and sharing techniques that have the potential to cause friction,” she said. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai agrees that “we must coordinate with NTIA and other stakeholders on proposals in bands with federal government equities,” he responded to GAO’s June recommendation the commission work with NTIA and others to develop goals for 5G plans (see 2006290061). It “would be unwise to prejudge the engineering, economic, and other technical outcomes by setting artificial benchmarks, as GAO recommends,” Pai said in letters to House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and other lawmakers released Thursday. “Our goal always is to put spectrum to the highest and best use in the public interest, which we accomplish by relying upon our transparent and inclusive administrative process.”