FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has a big decision ahead in coming months -- whether to seek en banc and, ultimately, Supreme Court review of Tuesday’s decision rejecting the agency’s 2010 net neutrality rules. Longtime FCC watchers disagree on the likelihood of an appeal. Some say an appeal carries a risk since the panel’s majority offered an expansive reading of FCC authority under Section 706 of the Communications Act. The decision is not the FCC’s alone to make because the solicitor general, not the commission, would have to file the appeal before the high court.
The FCC would receive $339.84 million for its salaries and expenses under a consolidated 2014 appropriations deal, lawmakers said this week as details of the legislation were unveiled. The FCC had requested a budget of $359.3 million for FY2014 (http://fcc.us/1aC0J0L). The $1.012-trillion spending package’s details were released in several documents covering how different government branches and agencies are funded by 12 appropriations bills. The continuing resolution and sequestration had left the FCC with $322 million for FY2013, despite a request for $346.8 million for that year (http://fcc.us/1alfuos). “The bill provides that $339,844,000 be derived from offsetting collections, resulting in no net appropriation,” said the explanatory document covering the FCC (http://1.usa.gov/1a4fY4A). It said the total includes $300,000 for “consultation with federally recognized Indian tribes, Alaskan Native villages, and entities related to Hawaiian Home Lands, and $11,090,000 for the FCC Office of Inspector General.” It also included provisions on in-flight mobile services emphasizing that the FCC can determine its rulemaking only from a technical perspective and cannot determine the “social or security implications,” the text said. “The FCC is directed to consult with the Secretaries of Transportation and Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation prior to a final rulemaking,” it said. “The Chairman of the FCC shall keep the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations apprised of any developments in this rulemaking.” There are also administrative provisions for the FCC in sections 510 and 511. The first extends an exemption for the USF and the second prevents the agency from “changing rules governing the Universal Service Fund regarding single connection or primary line restrictions,” it said. The same statement mentions the FTC, which would receive $298 million for salaries and expenses, under the act. NTIA would receive $46 million and the National Institute of Standards and Technology $850 million, according to a different explanatory statement (http://1.usa.gov/1hTJ2xY). “This appropriation is partially offset by premerger filing fees estimated at $103,300,000 and $15,000,000 from fees to implement the Telemarketing Sales Rule,” it said of the FTC appropriations.
The FCC would receive $339.84 million for its salaries and expenses under a consolidated 2014 appropriations deal, lawmakers said this week as details of the legislation were unveiled. The FCC had requested a budget of $359.3 million for FY2014 (http://fcc.us/1aC0J0L). The $1.012-trillion spending package’s details were released in several documents covering how different government branches and agencies are funded by 12 appropriations bills. The continuing resolution and sequestration had left the FCC with $322 million for FY2013, despite a request for $346.8 million for that year (http://fcc.us/1alfuos). “The bill provides that $339,844,000 be derived from offsetting collections, resulting in no net appropriation,” said the explanatory document covering the FCC (http://1.usa.gov/1a4fY4A). It said the total includes $300,000 for “consultation with federally recognized Indian tribes, Alaskan Native villages, and entities related to Hawaiian Home Lands, and $11,090,000 for the FCC Office of Inspector General.” It also included provisions on in-flight mobile services emphasizing that the FCC can determine its rulemaking only from a technical perspective and cannot determine the “social or security implications,” the text said. “The FCC is directed to consult with the Secretaries of Transportation and Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation prior to a final rulemaking,” it said. “The Chairman of the FCC shall keep the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations apprised of any developments in this rulemaking.” There are also administrative provisions for the FCC in sections 510 and 511. The first extends an exemption for the USF and the second prevents the agency from “changing rules governing the Universal Service Fund regarding single connection or primary line restrictions,” it said. The same statement mentions the FTC, which would receive $298 million for salaries and expenses, under the act. NTIA would receive $46 million and the National Institute of Standards and Technology $850 million, according to a different explanatory statement (http://1.usa.gov/1hTJ2xY). “This appropriation is partially offset by premerger filing fees estimated at $103,300,000 and $15,000,000 from fees to implement the Telemarketing Sales Rule,” it said of the FTC appropriations.
Not all former FCC chairmen want Congress to overhaul the Communications Act, according to written testimony for a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. The subcommittee has announced intentions to update the act, with hearings and white papers in 2014 and legislation in 2015. The former chairmen testifying before Congress are Michael Powell, Dick Wiley, Michael Copps and Reed Hundt; the latter two pushed back against the efforts and mentioned ongoing questions of net neutrality authority that should be clarified.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 funds the government through $1.012 trillion in discretionary spending for Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14), allocating $46.6 billion for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with $10.58 billion in appropriations for CBP, according to a legislation summary (here) released by the Senate Appropriations Committee majority leadership on Jan. 13. Those figures mark a DHS budgetary increase of $1.14 billion above the post-sequestration funding level for FY13 and a $715 million increase for CBP, the summary said. The legislation allocates funding for the following notable functions, according to the summary:
LAS VEGAS -- Even though the Federal Aviation Administration has decided in favor of passengers using tablets and other portable electronic devices (PEDs) during takeoff and landing, and all aircraft will be “PED friendly,” passengers will still be told to put their devices away some of the time, said Capt. Bill de Groh, an airline pilot representing the Air Line Pilots Association, Thursday at CES. In October, the FAA announced that airlines can allow the use of electronic devices during all aspects of flight, based on recommendations by the PED Aviation Rulemaking Committee. On Dec. 12, the FCC approved an NPRM seeking comment on cellphone use on airplanes.
The U.S. should consider increasing the role of African regional economic communities (RECs) through African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) renewal in order to streamline U.S. export and import capacity with the continent, said Manchester Trade President Steve Lande at a Jan. 9 House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations titled “Will there be an African Economic Community?” The African continent is making significant advances toward economic integration, aided by U.S. efforts through U.S. Trade Representative Trade and Investment Framework Agreements and State Department missions to African RECs, said Lande.
LAS VEGAS -- Even though the Federal Aviation Administration has decided in favor of passengers using tablets and other portable electronic devices (PEDs) during takeoff and landing, and all aircraft will be “PED friendly,” passengers will still be told to put their devices away some of the time, said Capt. Bill de Groh, an airline pilot representing the Air Line Pilots Association, Thursday at CES. In October, the FAA announced that airlines can allow the use of electronic devices during all aspects of flight, based on recommendations by the PED Aviation Rulemaking Committee. On Dec. 12, the FCC approved an NPRM seeking comment on cellphone use on airplanes.
The Obama Administration should lift the prohibition on U.S. exports of domestic crude oil and condensate, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), exports, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska., in a Jan. 7 keynote speech to the Brookings Institution Energy Security Initiative. The removal of the ban will send a signal to the that the U.S. is resolute in pursuing the role of a major global hydrocarbon producer, said Murkowski.
Changing FCC rules to allow use of vehicular repeater systems (VRS) and other mobile repeaters by public safety agencies on some frequencies in the VHF band would be an interference threat to utilities, electric utilities told the FCC. But the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials supported the rule change, saying repeaters are critical to public safety. In September, reacting to a 2011 petition from Pyramid Communications, the FCC sought comment on whether “there is a need to make additional spectrum available to support mobile repeater capability” in spectrum already used by Private Land Mobile Radio Service licensees, including public safety, mostly for voice (http://bit.ly/1irZ3vd).