The death of Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, will create new vacancies atop both the Judiciary and Commerce committees in the next session of Congress, lawmakers said Tuesday. Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy, D-Vt., now the longest serving member of the upper chamber, was sworn in as the new president pro tempore on Tuesday and could now succeed Inouye as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told reporters Tuesday she will likely become the next chairman of the Judiciary Committee after Leahy announces his departure from the committee. Separately, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said no decision had been made on who would fill the Commerce seat vacated by Inouye, who passed on Monday night after suffering from a respiratory illness.

Europe’s digital agenda is going well but “it’s not enough” because the digital economy is growing seven times faster than the rest of the economy, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said at a Tuesday press briefing. She set out revised priorities for 2013-2014, and warned that risk-avoidance in Brussels and national governments must stop. “I'm in a fighting spirit” about showing that Europe isn’t just about accounting and rules, but about giving people opportunities, she said. The European Commission also listed the actions it will take by the end of this legislative cycle in 2014 to modernize copyright laws for the online world.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge said he will rule “as quickly as I can” on a motion for a preliminary injunction against a new California law that would require registered sex offenders to give local law enforcement a list of their ISPs and certain online user names. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Electronic Frontier Foundation challenged the law, which voters approved as Proposition 35 on Election Day. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson oversaw a hearing Monday on that motion and another to allow the ballot measure sponsors to intervene on behalf of California. Henderson said he is inclined to grant the latter motion and took both matters under submission. The law has yet to take effect as the court weighs the injunction motion.

Sprint Nextel’s successful bid to buy full ownership of Clearwire is unlikely to face a tough time winning regulatory approval, industry legal experts told us. Sprint, which already owned 51 percent of Clearwire, said Monday that Clearwire’s other shareholders had unanimously agreed to sell Sprint their 49 percent stake for $2.2 billion. That deal represented an improvement from the $2.1 billion Sprint offered last week (CD Dec 14 p15).

The NAACP, AFL-CIO and various other union and public interest groups expressed concerns about Deutsche Telekom’s proposed plan to combine MetroPCS with T-Mobile USA, in reply comments to the FCC. Only the Communications Workers of America raised objections when petitions to deny were due in November. DT, T-Mobile and MetroPCS meanwhile asked the FCC to proceed expeditiously to approve the transaction in light of little opposition.

Colorado capped its high-cost USF fund, plans to deregulate competitive parts of the state and wants to keep its hands off Internet Protocol services. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission adopted a rulemaking order (http://bit.ly/UMLLdB) Monday, and it’s effective Dec. 24. The deadline for any appeals for rehearing, reargument or reconsideration is Jan. 14. The order follows a series of hearings and comments throughout the fall (CD Sept 10 p5). The proceeding began in August.

Stakeholders expressed confusion and frustration over the status of a mobile app code of conduct (http://1.usa.gov/12kT9SZ) presented by the App Developer’s Alliance at last month’s discussion, during Monday’s multistakeholder meeting on mobile app privacy and transparency. Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel at the ACLU and co-author of the App Developer’s Alliance code of conduct draft, said the document “is a working draft, not a final document.” Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president of government affairs for the Direct Marketing Association, came to the meeting prepared to discuss the code of conduct, he said. “I'm either confused, or I'm pissed."

Sirius XM’s share price rose slightly Monday, nearing a 52-week high, after a Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision imposed only slight music royalty increases through 2017. An analyst said the increase was less than he expected, while another said it was a good outcome for the satellite radio company. Sirius’ stock closed Monday up one cent at $2.92.

Multichannel video programming distributors remain divided on whether the FCC should adopt a standard of rebuttable presumptions against withholding from other MVPDs channels that are affiliated with cable operators, comments on a rulemaking show. NCTA and programmers and operators that own channels opposed the presumptions that program access rules are violated by exclusive contracts for cable-affiliated regional sports networks (RSN) and national sports networks. Vertically-integrated operator/programmers also opposed the notion that once a channel affiliated with an operator is found to have one unfair exclusive contact, it can’t get more. The presumptions would be rebuttable by defendants.

Parties have 60 days to appeal a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision to the FCC. But does a USAC invoice count as a “decision"? That was the question before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday, as call center software provider inContact argued the Wireline Bureau exceeded its authority in finding the clock started from the date of an invoice. The full commission acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when it “rubber stamped” the bureau’s decision, said inContact attorney Jacqueline Hankins of Marashlian and Donahue. An FCC spokesman told us “the Commission’s decision was fully considered and legally sound."