The Senate Commerce Committee plans a March 21 spectrum policy hearing that will focus at least in part on a potential clean FCC auction mandate renewal in the face of stalled talks on a more comprehensive package, panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday. Senate Commerce hadn’t yet formally noticed the hearing Thursday afternoon. Cantwell has been eyeing a five-to-seven-year FCC reauthorization and has received a score on the proposal from the Congressional Budget Office, communications policy lobbyists told us.
A comprehensive Minnesota data privacy bill cleared a second House committee Tuesday. The State and Local Government Committee voted by voice to advance a comprehensive privacy measure (HF-2309) to the Ways and Means Committee. Last week, the Commerce Committee approved the bill that is based on a model Connecticut and several other states adopted (see 2403050049). The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to weigh the similar SB-2915 on Wednesday. The House committee approved an amendment to HF-2309 that sponsor Rep. Steve Elkins (D) described as more “wordsmithing” based on suggestions by Google, Consumer Reports and others. Exempting airlines, the amendment also refines the definition of sale and aligns sections on data controllers’ responsibilities and implementation requirements, said Elkins. The bill drew opposition from the panel’s lead Republican, Rep. Jim Nash (R), who said he would prefer a federal law to a state patchwork. A U.S. law would be better, but federal legislation is stalled, responded Elkins. "It's been left to the states to take this on." States are “working very hard to align our bills as closely as possible … to avoid that 50-state patchwork that you described,” he said. Still, Rep. Danny Nadeau (R) complained that the Minnesota measure is "really complicated" and "confusing." Meanwhile, other state privacy bills advanced Monday. The Kentucky Senate voted 35-0 for HB-15. Kentucky's House previously approved the bill (see 2402210044) but now must concur with Senate changes. In addition, Maryland’s House Economic Matters Committee voted 14-4 to clear a privacy (HB-567) bill and 19-0 to approve a kids’ safety bill (HB-603). The committee heard the bills last month (see 2402140053).
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) aims to avoid industry litigation that has stymied kids’ social media laws in other states, his aide told a Tennessee House committee during a hearing Tuesday on an administration-sponsored bill requiring parental consent for kids younger than 18 on social networks. But afterward, Computer & Communications Industry Association State Director Kara Boender told us her group “still [has] concerns surrounding the bill's provisions.”
The House Communications Subcommittee unanimously advanced the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (HR-820), Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhancing Networks Act (HR-1513) and two other anti-China communications security bills Tuesday. House China Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., meanwhile, is pressing the FCC on whether it will act on reports that mobile devices in the U.S. are still processing signals from China’s BeiDou and Russia’s global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).
The House will vote Wednesday on legislation that would ban TikTok in the U.S. unless Chinese parent company ByteDance divests the popular social media app, an aide for House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., confirmed Tuesday.
Republican opposition couldn’t stop a Minnesota House bill on local broadband authority from advancing Monday. The Commerce Committee split by political party in a 10-6 vote to send HF-4182 to the House State and Local Government Committee. Also, the committee voted by voice to make an anti-junk fees bill (HF-3438) eligible for a full House vote. HF-4182 would establish local franchise authority for broadband in Minnesota much like what currently exists for cable. Rep. Isaac Schultz (R) slammed the bill, which he said would set up a “slush fund” for local governments by allowing unlimited fees with no directions for how to use the money. Rep. Harry Niska (R) added that it’s not transparent to put fees on monthly internet bills, where he said customers are less likely to expect a local tax. However, local franchising authorities and public, educational and governmental (PEG) stations support the bill, said Jodie Miller, Northern Dakota County Cable Communications Commission executive director. The bill would fill a revenue gap from quickly declining cable franchise fees, she said. "Our residents don't mind paying franchise fees when they know their dollars are being employed locally to provide our franchise office and our local programming.” The bill would extend cable franchise benefits to broadband, said Mayor Dan Roe of Roseville, Minnesota. Through franchising, local governments can ensure all their residents are served with high-speed internet, said local government attorney Michael Bradley. However, telecom and cable industry groups opposed HF-4182. "The bill authorizes every level of local government to impose unlimited, overlapping franchise fees" on broadband that will hurt low-income customers most, said Minnesota Cable Communications Association attorney Tony Mendoza. Minnesota Telecom Alliance members planned to spend $300 million this year to expand broadband, but "this bill puts that figure in doubt,” warned MTA President Brent Christensen, adding that no other state has a similar law. The proposed law may conflict with FCC wireless rules, cautioned CTIA Assistant Vice President-State Legislative Affairs Jeremy Crandall. The FCC requires cost-based fees, but the Minnesota bill would allow charges for raising revenue, he said. CTIA also opposed the junk-fees bill. Mobile companies should be exempted because they are already covered by FCC broadband labeling and truth-in-billing rules, testified lobbyist Sarah Psick for the wireless industry association.
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., filed their long-circulating 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act Monday with some changes from a draft version proposed in the fall (see 2311220063). The proposal drew sharply divided reactions from communications policy stakeholders. Some lobbyists suggested Cruz and Thune filed the measure Monday to get ahead of NTIA's planned release later this week of its implementation plan for the Biden administration's national spectrum strategy (see 2403050048).
President Joe Biden is requesting increased funding in FY 2025 for the FCC, Patent Office and the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (see 2303130070). The FY25 requests are lower than FY24's for the FTC, NTIA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, DOJ’s Antitrust Division and some Agriculture Department broadband programs, though in some cases the Biden proposal exceeds ultimate Congressional allocations for FY24. Biden signed off Saturday on the Consolidated Appropriations Act FY24 appropriations minibus package (HR-4366), which included funding cuts for NTIA and other Commerce agencies but a slight increase for DOJ Antitrust (see 2403040083). The Senate voted 75-22 Friday night to approve the package.
The Senate voted 63-33 Friday afternoon to invoke cloture on the motion to concur on the House-passed Consolidated Appropriations Act FY 2024 appropriations minibus package (HR-4366), which includes cutting annual funding for NTIA and other Commerce Department agencies but a slight increase for the DOJ Antitrust Division (see 2403060062). The cloture vote set up a final vote on the measure as soon as Friday night, but there could be a delay because some Republican senators are seeking floor votes on proposed amendments. Commerce and other federal agencies covered in the minibus would see their appropriations lapse after midnight if the Senate didn't approve HR-4366 by that time.
Congress must act now to address national security issues surrounding TikTok, a bipartisan group of senators told us last week leading up to the House Commerce Committee's passage of two TikTok-related bills (see 2403070066). Meanwhile, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday defended TikTok, though he signed an executive order against the platform while president.