The FCC sought comment on a proposal to create a new inventory of records system to be used by the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. The 1974 Privacy Act requires agencies to provide notice of the existence and character of records maintained by an agency, said a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register. “These records enable CGB personnel to contact interested parties concerning its public events, e.g., workshops, conferences, and Webinars, etc., as well as recent developments at the FCC, and to share contact information of governmental, law enforcement, industry, advocacy groups, employment centers, faith-based organizations, libraries, policy organizations, media outlets, schools, seniors centers, veterans groups, national governmental associations or tribal intergovernmental organizations.” Comments are due Aug. 18, and the new record keeping will start Aug. 29 “unless comments are received that require a contrary determination,” the FCC said.

Bipartisan support is expanding for a bill that would bar exports of “sacred Native American items” and raise penalties for stealing and illegally trafficking inherited cultural goods, said Arizona Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain, who are among co-sponsors of the bill (here). The bill would also create a tribal working group to help federal agencies grasp the problem and find possible solutions. “I will continue working with my colleagues and tribal communities to ensure we build on this momentum so we can help repatriate stolen culturally significant artifacts back to Indian Country,” original bill sponsor Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said in a statement. Several Native American tribes have endorsed the legislation, which was introduced July 6 (see 1607070036), including the Navajo Nation and the Jicarilla Apache Nation, according to Flake’s and McCain’s offices.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau and Blue Jay Wireless settled an investigation into whether the company improperly enrolled Hawaii customers into enhanced tribal support options under the USF Lifeline low-income program. Under an order approving a consent decree, Blue Jay will reimburse USF about $2 million and undertake compliance measures, said an agency release Friday. "This settlement makes clear that no Lifeline provider should turn a blind eye to potential fraud on the program," said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc. The bureau found the company incorrectly requested and received the extra tribal funding (up to $25 extra per subscriber monthly) for consumers not residing in the Hawaiian Home Lands, the release said. Despite being informed in 2014 by Hawaii state regulators that the number of tribal subscribers it was claiming appeared to exceed the number of households in the Hawaiian Home Lands, Blue Jay continued to seek tribal support while it gathered more information, it added. The consent decree said Blue Jay admitted that from May to August 2014, it certified that it obtained tribal certifications from some subscribers who were later determined by Blue Jay to be nonresidents of the Hawaiian Home Lands. Commissioner Ajit Pai said the settlement confirms Lifeline still contains waste, fraud and abuse: "I can confirm that Blue Jay Wireless is one target of my ongoing investigation and that I flagged further suspicious conduct for the Enforcement Bureau’s investigation earlier this year. I will continue to work with my colleagues, the Enforcement Bureau, the Inspector General, and the Universal Service Administrative Company to end the abuse of taxpayer money by unscrupulous wireless resellers." The commission last year sought public comment on whether to require additional evidence of tribal residency beyond self-certification and on how providers should provide proof in order to prevent waste, fraud and abuse, said the FCC release. Blue Jay said the settlement memorializes its process for verifying subscriber self-certifications, which included building its own geo-mapping tool. "USAC concluded that this process was 'conservative to the Fund' because FCC rules require only applicant self-certification," Blue Jay said in a statement. "The settlement also allows Blue Jay to make good on a prior commitment to 'make the Fund whole.'" CEO David Wareikis said that the carrier "made the commitment to make the Fund whole because it did not want to be seen as benefiting in any way from erroneous self-certifications made by subscribers." The agreement "contains no finding or admission of wrongdoing by Blue Jay, and affirms Blue Jay's good standing" as an eligible telecom carrier, he said. "The consent decree shows that Blue Jay took voluntary proactive efforts to protect against possible fraud and would never turn a blind eye to potential fraud in the program.”

Comments are due July 21, replies Aug. 5 on the Connect America Fund auction the FCC is planning after a summary of a Further NPRM in docket 10-90 was published in Tuesday's Federal Register. The FCC approved the CAF Phase II auction FNPRM along with an order May 25 to provide $215 million in annual broadband-oriented support to unsubsidized rural areas traditionally served by larger telcos (see 1605250046). "The Commission seeks comment on three discrete sets of issues relating to the process for determining winning bidders: How to apply weights to the different levels of performance adopted in the Order above; measures to achieve the public interest objective of ensuring appropriate support for all of the states; and measures to achieve the public interest objective of expanding broadband on Tribal lands," said the summary.

Comments are due July 21, replies Aug. 5 on the Connect America Fund auction the FCC is planning after a summary of a Further NPRM in docket 10-90 was published in Tuesday's Federal Register. The FCC approved the CAF Phase II auction FNPRM along with an order May 25 to provide $215 million in annual broadband-oriented support to unsubsidized rural areas traditionally served by larger telcos (see 1605250046). "The Commission seeks comment on three discrete sets of issues relating to the process for determining winning bidders: How to apply weights to the different levels of performance adopted in the Order above; measures to achieve the public interest objective of ensuring appropriate support for all of the states; and measures to achieve the public interest objective of expanding broadband on Tribal lands," said the summary.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, succeeded at quietly watering down the Senate’s set-top box rider attached to the FY 2017 Financial Services funding bill, which advanced through the full Appropriations Committee Thursday in a 30-0 vote. The rider, which would force a pause to the FCC's set-top rulemaking for further study, never came up directly during the long markup, encompassing FY2017 FCC and FTC funding. But Schatz changed the wording of the set-top rider through the bill’s manager’s package, unanimously accepted as part of the bill.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, succeeded at quietly watering down the Senate’s set-top box rider attached to the FY 2017 Financial Services funding bill, which advanced through the full Appropriations Committee Thursday in a 30-0 vote. The rider, which would force a pause to the FCC's set-top rulemaking for further study, never came up directly during the long markup, encompassing FY2017 FCC and FTC funding. But Schatz changed the wording of the set-top rider through the bill’s manager’s package, unanimously accepted as part of the bill.

The FCC shouldn’t leave states in the cold as the commission mulls changes to rate-of-return rules for carrier cost recovery, said the Michigan Public Service Commission. The regulator and others filed reply comments that were due Monday in docket 10-90. The Michigan PSC said the FCC shouldn’t reduce or eliminate existing reporting requirements including Form 481, and urged the federal agency to reject the tentative conclusion that eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) shouldn't file a copy of Form 481 with states. Filling out and sending the form doesn’t cost much to telecom companies, but provides valuable information used by state regulators to prevent waste, fraud and abuse, the PSC said. Developing an online tool to permit access to all information submitted by ETCs is a good idea but shouldn’t exempt providers from filing a copy of Form 481 with states, it said. The PSC opposed removing service quality standards and consumer protection rules for ETC certification. “Many states, including Michigan, no longer have service quality and consumer protection standards due to deregulation,” it said. “Eliminating this requirement could create an environment for fraud and abuse and have the opposite effect of what the FCC intends.” Separately, rural carriers continued to warn about possible unintended consequences from sweeping changes, as they had in the first round of comments (see 1605130035). The FCC should “avoid injecting substantial administrative burdens and regulatory uncertainty into time-tested systems through subjective changes that will end up becoming a form of ‘Monday Morning Quarterbacking’ with respect to carrier operations,” NTCA said. “Instead, the Commission should focus its efforts on providing targeted prospective clarity where needed under existing rules to achieve policy objectives, promote certainty, and ensure accountability.” WTA said efficient USF spending is an important goal, but it shouldn't come at the cost of effective broadband deployment in rural areas. Acknowledging the complexity of the docket, the National Tribal Telecommunications Association urged the FCC to tackle tribal broadband issues first and separately from other issues. “The acceleration of broadband deployment on Tribal lands must be addressed as soon as possible and should not be delayed while the Commission resolves the multitude of additional complex issues raised in the Notice,” NTTA said.

The FCC shouldn’t leave states in the cold as the commission mulls changes to rate-of-return rules for carrier cost recovery, said the Michigan Public Service Commission. The regulator and others filed reply comments that were due Monday in docket 10-90. The Michigan PSC said the FCC shouldn’t reduce or eliminate existing reporting requirements including Form 481, and urged the federal agency to reject the tentative conclusion that eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) shouldn't file a copy of Form 481 with states. Filling out and sending the form doesn’t cost much to telecom companies, but provides valuable information used by state regulators to prevent waste, fraud and abuse, the PSC said. Developing an online tool to permit access to all information submitted by ETCs is a good idea but shouldn’t exempt providers from filing a copy of Form 481 with states, it said. The PSC opposed removing service quality standards and consumer protection rules for ETC certification. “Many states, including Michigan, no longer have service quality and consumer protection standards due to deregulation,” it said. “Eliminating this requirement could create an environment for fraud and abuse and have the opposite effect of what the FCC intends.” Separately, rural carriers continued to warn about possible unintended consequences from sweeping changes, as they had in the first round of comments (see 1605130035). The FCC should “avoid injecting substantial administrative burdens and regulatory uncertainty into time-tested systems through subjective changes that will end up becoming a form of ‘Monday Morning Quarterbacking’ with respect to carrier operations,” NTCA said. “Instead, the Commission should focus its efforts on providing targeted prospective clarity where needed under existing rules to achieve policy objectives, promote certainty, and ensure accountability.” WTA said efficient USF spending is an important goal, but it shouldn't come at the cost of effective broadband deployment in rural areas. Acknowledging the complexity of the docket, the National Tribal Telecommunications Association urged the FCC to tackle tribal broadband issues first and separately from other issues. “The acceleration of broadband deployment on Tribal lands must be addressed as soon as possible and should not be delayed while the Commission resolves the multitude of additional complex issues raised in the Notice,” NTTA said.

The FCC needs to address questions about wireless facility siting and tribes that were raised in a May petition by PTA-FLA, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance said in a filing Friday. PTA-FLA, a Jacksonville Beach, Florida-based carrier, said wireless companies' repeated notifications to tribes, often when there's no possible impairment to an Indian site, can add months to the siting process. “It should be possible to strike an appropriate balance between the entirely legitimate interests of Tribal Nations in protecting locations of meaningful historic significance to them and the public interest in facilitating deployment of antenna facilities that are used in delivering public safety, public service, broadband and other wireless communications,” EWA said. “The changes proposed in the Petition may not achieve that optimal balance, but the issues raised are substantive and should be addressed.” The filing was posted in docket 15-80.