ASPEN -- Funding the Universal Service Fund (USF) through general appropriations might make sense on paper, but speaking practically it might not be a feasible goal for Congress, Democratic and Republican staffers said Tuesday.
ASPEN -- Finding a way to restore the affordable connectivity program (ACP) is a high priority for the end of 2024 and social media-related advertising revenue could provide potential solutions, FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez said Monday.
A change in presidential administration doesn’t worry state broadband offices around the U.S., though stability in NTIA's broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program would help, several directors from red, blue and purple states said. Since President Joe Biden stepped aside, a new president in 2025 is certain. Yet in interviews this month at the Mountain Connect conference in Denver, state leaders stressed that their goal of expanding high-speed internet to everyone will remain no matter who wins in November. A President Kamala Harris is seen as especially unlikely to change NTIA’s BEAD program in major ways, several said.
Don’t expect major daylight between a Kamala Harris administration and the Joe Biden White House on major communications policy issues, industry and policy experts predicted. Much focus and effort would center on defending the FCC's net neutrality and digital discrimination orders in the current federal circuit court challenges, as well as pursuing net neutrality rules, they said. Less clear would be the nature of the relationship between Harris' White House and Big Tech. The Harris campaign didn't comment. Deregulation and undoing net neutrality are considered high on the to-do list for the administration of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump if he's elected (see 2407110034).
The objective of Consumers' Research was getting a case about the Universal Service Fund contribution methodology before the U.S. Supreme Court. That case resulted in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' recent 9-7 en banc decision that found the contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax," legal experts said during a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition webinar Wednesday. The 5th Circuit remanded the contribution factor for Q1 2022 to the FCC for further work.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling against the FCC's Universal Service Fund contribution mechanism "should spur reform in Congress," Free State Foundation Director-Policy Studies Seth Cooper blogged Friday (see 2407300053). Congress "should act promptly to make the USF program fiscally sustainable and constitutionally sound" through direct appropriations, Cooper wrote, adding that broadband should be "intelligibly" defined as a service eligible for support. Cooper suggested requiring that "major online companies" contribute "under principles that limit subsidy amounts." There's "widespread agreement that universal service should support broadband access," Cooper said: "Congress should replace the amorphous definition of universal service as an evolving level of services that are consistent with the public interest." Should direct appropriations not be feasible, Cooper suggested amending Communications Act Section 254 to include Big Tech companies that "benefit immensely" from universal service.
The rise of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democrats' presidential nominee should have few implications for FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, industry observers agree. If anything, Rosenworcel’s ties to Harris are likely stronger than they are to President Joe Biden, they said. Biden waited until October 2021, more than nine months after his inauguration, to designate Rosenworcel as the first woman to chair the agency on a permanent basis (see 2110260001).
The FCC defended the Wireline Bureau's decision denying LTD Broadband's long-form application for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. LTD, which was the largest winning bidder, sought a reversal of the decision, claiming the FCC improperly denied its entire application. In a Monday reply brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (docket 24-1017), the commission said it "repeatedly stated that the bureau would perform an in-depth review of long-form applications" to consider the technical and financial information of winning bidders (see 2405090056).
Telecom and banking groups urged that the FCC adopt proposed modifications to its letter of credit (LOC) rules for Universal Service Fund support recipients. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 10-90 (see 2407030062). The commission proposed modifying LOC rules for its high-cost programs and Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support recipients.
The Senate Appropriations Committee's report on its Financial Services Subcommittee FY 2025 funding bill “urges” that the FCC move forward on revamping the Universal Service Fund. The Senate Appropriations Financial Services bill, which the panel approved Thursday, would increase annual funding for the FCC and FTC for FY25 (see 2408010059). Senate Appropriations said in the report, released Thursday night, that it wants the FCC to “seek public comment this fiscal year on any reform proposals that have been submitted to the commission or otherwise previously considered that would promote the sustainability and viability of [USF] and resolve inequities in the current contribution structure.” The FCC should “act as soon as possible following review of that record to adopt reforms to achieve” revamp objectives, Senate Appropriations said: The commission “should also provide specific recommendations to Congress regarding additional authority it believes it may need to enact any reforms that are found to be prudent, advisable, or necessary.” Members of a congressional working group are grappling with whether the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ July ruling that the FCC's USF contribution factor is unconstitutional will affect their work on a revamp framework (see 2407300053).