Congress hopes to advance comprehensive legislation to regulate AI in a matter of months, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told a Center for Strategic & International Studies event Wednesday.

House Agriculture Committee members heard from stakeholders Wednesday about the state of USDA's broadband programs and policy ideas related to the 2023 farm bill. Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and others at the hearing cited the need for federal and state agency coordination on ongoing programs and ensuring the scalability of broadband networks in rural communities (see 2209150077).

Open radio access networks are starting to hit their stride, executives said during a TelecomTV summit Wednesday. Speakers said the outlook has changed in just more than a year.

The rollout of next-generation 911 to public safety answering points remains at the top of the agenda for the National Emergency Number Association and its members, CEO Brian Fontes said in an interview. NENA's annual meeting is this week in Grapevine, Texas. Fontes warned against a "patchwork" of service across the U.S.

The FCC approved a draft ATSC 3.0 order with sunset dates for the substantially similar and A/322 physical layer requirements (see 2304070045) and is expected to release it soon, FCC and industry officials told us. The order extends the substantially similar requirement for four years, and will require the FCC to examine the progress of the new standard one year before the sunset date. The order also similarly extends the physical layer requirement. The substantially similar requirement had been set to end in July. The A/322 physical layer was to sunset in March, but that was temporarily stayed by the agency earlier this year.

House Communications Subcommittee members made the future of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program a major focus of its Wednesday commission oversight hearing, as expected (see 2306200075), but the panel didn’t result in a clear sense of whether Commerce Committee GOP leaders will back additional funding for the initiative. Subpanel Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and others haven’t committed themselves as either for or against further ACP funding (see 2305100073). Democrats strongly defended the program and urged its extension.

Senate Commerce Committee Republicans are likely to barrage FCC nominee Anna Gomez with questions during a Thursday confirmation hearing to pinpoint her positions on communications policies the commission might act on under a 3-2 Democratic majority, but won’t go as negative as during ex-candidate Gigi Sohn’s February panel (see 2302140077), lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. Gomez will get a far friendlier reception from Senate Commerce’s Democratic majority, but officials say they will be eyeing questions from three caucus members who were undecided on Sohn in the weeks before her March withdrawal (see 2303070082).

Generative-AI content shouldn’t be protected by Communications Decency Act Section 230, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., told a New America event Tuesday.

The FCC’s administration of its affordable connectivity program and other broadband initiatives won’t be the sole focus of a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing with commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners, but it’s likely to be the item with the most bearing on future policymaking, observers said in interviews. The panel is happening a day before two of the commissioners -- Republican Brendan Carr and Democrat Geoffrey Starks -- appear before the Senate Commerce Committee for a joint confirmation hearing with new FCC nominee Anna Gomez (see 2306150068). The House Communications hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

California local governments removed opposition to a bill meant to streamline broadband infrastructure deployment, they said at a California Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee meeting livestreamed Tuesday. The panel cleared AB-965 and three other broadband bills passed last month by the Assembly. One senator pushed back on AB-1065, which would explicitly authorize wireless broadband providers to get support from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband infrastructure grant and federal funding accounts.