A dozen House Democrats, led by Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., recently introduced a bill that asks the Biden administration to coordinate with Mexico to increase outbound inspections by CBP on the land border with Mexico, with the aim of reducing the number of guns smuggled from the U.S. to Mexico.

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee is pushing CBP to roll out its long-awaited electronic export manifest within the next COAC term and make progress on aligning truck manifests with both Canada and Mexico to streamline exports traveling by land.

SpaceX's "aura of invincibility" in satellite-delivered residential broadband does not extend to the aviation connectivity marketplace, William Blair's Louie DiPalma wrote investors Monday, pointing to American Airlines' announcement that it signed an in-flight Wi-Fi contract with Intelsat. The American Airlines deal follows Intelsat agreements struck with Air Canada and Alaska Airlines earlier this year as well as Delta's pact with EchoStar, he said. SpaceX landed contracts with Qatar and FlexJet but seems to have won fewer than 3% of commercial and business aviation deals that were awarded since it entered the market two years ago, he said.

China's stranglehold on minerals used in electric vehicle battery-making, and their head start on making quality, affordable EVs makes U.S. and European firms anxious, panelists said at a Georgetown Business School webinar on the future of auto value chains.

A bill that would ban the importation of commodities grown or produced on illegally deforested land was reintroduced in both the House and the Senate. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., are the co-sponsors in the House; Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., are the co-sponsors in the Senate.

The FCC received only three comments as of Friday in response to its August notice asking about spectrum access in tribal and native Hawaiian areas. Comments were due Thursday in docket 23-265 (see 2308040039). During a recent webinar, FCC officials expressed hope for comments that would help in other proceedings (see 2311160057). The United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET) urged the FCC to create a tribal window, similar to that before the 2.5 GHz auction (see 2009030012), for other bands. “Since the late 1990s, the federal government has attempted to subsidize telecommunications deployment in Indian Country, but these efforts have not kept pace with ever-changing and advancing technologies, especially in the areas of spectrum management and use,” USET said. USET cited the $22.4 billion 3.45 GHz auction as an example of the challenges tribes face: “The extremely high price point for obtaining spectrum licenses creates an insurmountable barrier to entry for Tribal Nations, especially since federal funds or credit offsets are non-existent or do not adequately provide the financial support required to participate in these auctions.” The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe said tribes need spectrum in areas where local providers have failed to offer service. “This failure is largely due to the lack of a rate of investment as tribal lands generally are less populated and have large numbers of low-income households steering local internet service providers away from tribal communities,” the tribe said. Make the renewal process easier for tribes through “an automatic renewal process for received/granted FCC licenses,” the Makah Indian Tribe said. “Tribes have historically faced a high employee turnover rate that has caused issues in license renewals in which the granted FCC license has lapsed due to the current process guidelines,” the tribe said.

The Biden administration should take several steps to boost U.S. agricultural exports, including by negotiating new free trade deals and better eliminating tariff and nontariff barriers, industry executives said during a President’s Export Council meeting this week. They also urged the administration to enforce existing trade agreements and more quickly make progress in reforming the World Trade Organization.

The idea of holding states liable for damages that stem from launch missions they host is being tested by evolving space capabilities, such as launches not just from land but the high seas or aircraft, Gerardine Goh Escolar, National University of Singapore adjunct law professor, said Wednesday during a U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs conference. She said there also are questions around legal liability arising from in-orbit transfers of property, such as a satellite launched by one country and then effectively owned and operated in orbit by another. Some nations have criticized the idea of imposing liability on a state that allowed its territory to be used for a launch when what was launched is under the control of another state, she said. And some nations have interpreted the Outer Space Treaty and the liability convention to exclude the liability of a launching state when a private space activity or private space actor is involved, but that’s contrary to the wider interpretation taken by the U.N. General Assembly, Goh Escolar said. Liability is restricted to damage caused by a space object, and there is fuzziness around the idea of what constitutes a space object, she said. It's not strictly defined in U.N. texts, but is understood to implicitly mean items with physical properties, including launch vehicles and components of launchers that never enter space, she said. Objects without such physical properties, like electromagnetic waves, are excluded. That limits liability to physical damage caused by, for example, a falling rocket. Yet liability doesn’t extend to service interruption, she added. Goh Escolar said debate continues on whether orbital debris is within the definition of a space object. Given the rapidly growing numbers of objects in orbit, it's going to be difficult to attribute fault when it comes to damage caused by a debris field, Goh Escolar said. She said an international space situational awareness framework could help tackle legal and policy questions, including liability for damages.

The U.S. Supreme Court might opt to avoid likely fights over the FCC's digital discrimination rules or proposed Title II net neutrality rules, Andrew Schwartzman, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society's senior counselor, told Communications Daily this month. In an extensive sit-down interview, Schwartzman spoke about his long career as a public interest advocate within telecommunications, evolution of that domain, and how the FCC's net neutrality regulatory push is not merely a repeat of the past. The following transcript of our conversation was edited for length and clarity.

The California Public Utilities Commission should reject a proposed change to NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) model rules that would affect how the state treats licensed fixed wireless (LFW) services, wireless industry groups said this week. The CPUC released comments Tuesday on volumes one and two of draft BEAD initial proposals (docket R.23-02-016). AT&T, CTIA and California’s cable association urged the commission to reject a cheap broadband requirement proposed in case Congress doesn’t renew the affordable connectivity program (ACP).