Senators told us they believe there's a feasible if narrow legislative window to reconfirm FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel this year, act on fellow Democratic commission pick Gigi Sohn and affirm NTIA administrator nominee Alan Davidson. The White House announced President Joe Biden’s intent to choose the trio Tuesday, as expected. Biden designated Rosenworcel Tuesday as permanent chair. She had been acting head since January. The White House also nominated Winston & Strawn patent lawyer Kathi Vidal as Patent and Trademark Office director.

Incumbent informing capability, a new and sophisticated sharing technology that makes use of AI and machine learning, is a major NTIA focus, but the agency doesn’t have the congressional funding it needs to put IIC in place, experts told us. IIC would be the next generation of sharing, a more sophisticated version of what's being done in the citizens broadband radio service, replacing the environmental sensing capability (ESC) used in that band.

With no comprehensive recent national privacy law, stakeholders must continue discussions about ways to rebuild consumers' trust in technology -- perhaps via standards or other agreed-upon measures, an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and XR Association conference was told Thursday. Speakers on one panel agreed the U.S. is behind on legislative efforts (see 2110200060). They said Europe is ahead, such as with the EU general data protection regulation. Boosting people's confidence that their information will be appropriately used when it's collected by devices, apps and by content providers is possible but not guaranteed, ITIF and XRA were told.

With no comprehensive recent national privacy law, stakeholders must continue discussions about ways to rebuild consumers' trust in technology -- perhaps via standards or other agreed-upon measures, an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and XR Association conference was told Thursday. Speakers on one panel agreed the U.S. is behind on legislative efforts (see 2110200060). They said Europe is ahead, such as with the EU general data protection regulation. Boosting people's confidence that their information will be appropriately used when it's collected by devices, apps and by content providers is possible but not guaranteed, ITIF and XRA were told.

There’s rich historical precedent showing government subsidies can nurture private-sector tech growth, said panelists from some of the world’s biggest chip companies on a Semiconductor Industry Association webinar Thursday. But they agreed lack of high-skilled U.S. talent is a worrisome gating factor to growth, even if Congress ultimately votes to fund the Chips Act, as the industry vehemently wants.

A Thursday Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing showed there's bipartisan support for a “strong telehealth initiative” that the Commerce and Health committees could together advance to the Senate floor this year, said subpanel Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., in an interview. Lawmakers noted interest in advancing the Temporary Reciprocity to Ensure Access to Treatment Act (HR-708/S-168) and Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act (HR-2903/S-1512), among other telehealth measures. Lujan and others also used the hearing to promote the need for further broadband money and air grievances about President Joe Biden’s delay in announcing nominees to the FCC and NTIA.

A Thursday Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing showed there is bipartisan support for a “strong telehealth initiative” that the Commerce and Health committees could together advance to the Senate floor this year, said subpanel Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., in an interview. Lawmakers noted interest in advancing the Temporary Reciprocity to Ensure Access to Treatment Act (HR-708/S-168) and Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act (HR-2903/S-1512), among other telehealth measures. Lujan and others also used the hearing as a venue to promote the need for further broadband money and air grievances about President Joe Biden’s delay in announcing nominees to the FCC and NTIA.

An order on updating the table of allotments would incorporate changes from the broadcast incentive auction, the repacking, and from after a freeze on changes was lifted in November, says the draft the FCC released Tuesday. The order is set for commissioners' Oct. 26 meeting (see 2110040068). The table was last updated in 2018. The order would remove language in regulations that became outdated with the auction’s reallocation of channels and the DTV transition. The order doesn’t stem from a preexisting notice and comment process because the revisions “merely correct outdated information from the 2018 Table as a result of channel reassignments and/or community of license changes that have already been approved by the Commission,” the draft says. A third round of connected care pilot program winners will treat "high-risk pregnancy/maternal health, mental health conditions, opioid dependency, COVID-19, and chronic conditions," says a draft public notice on docket 18-213. Selected participants would have six months to file their initial funding requests with Universal Service Administrative Co.

A petition challenging the FCC USF Q4 contribution factor is likely to fail on procedural grounds but may be part of a bigger challenge to dismantle USF entirely, legal experts said in recent interviews (see 2110010062). Some said it may be an effort to force a reevaluation of the nondelegation doctrine that prohibits Congress from delegating legislative powers to executive branch agencies.

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.