Backers of Congress giving the FCC stopgap funding to keep the affordable connectivity program running through FY 2024 latched onto President Joe Biden's short mention of internet affordability in his State of the Union speech Thursday night to bolster that push. Biden also said Congress should pass comprehensive data privacy legislation and briefly touched on other tech policy issues. He didn't mention the House Commerce Committee's push to require TikTok Chinese owner ByteDance to divest the app for it to continue operating in the U.S., despite its supporters' rapid push to advance it (see 2403080035).
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist and more than two-dozen others, including former aides to ex-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, believe House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) and other congressional GOP leaders should “swiftly hold NTIA accountable” for “weaponizing” the broadband equity, access and deployment program. NTIA appears to be violating language in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that bars rate regulation in the BEAD program by forcing "a $30 per month mandate on all states that participate,” Norquist and the others wrote in a letter to Republican leaders released Thursday. NTIA is instead instituting a “price fix by proxy” that rejects state BEAD applications "until the desired price point is included,” they added. The rate regulation opponents cited NTIA’s rejection last year of the Virginia Office of Broadband’s Volume 2 application “because ‘the low-cost option must be established in the Initial proposal as an exact price or formula.’” Virginia “has proposed multiple compromises between their desired market-driven approach to middle class affordability and NTIA’s preferred $30 per month mandate, but all have been rejected,” Norquist and the others told the GOP lawmakers, including House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz (Texas). “NTIA may try to hide behind the fig leaf of state-level cut-outs, but their repeated rejections of reasonable alternatives betray their agenda,” the letter said. NTIA’s actions are “a direct violation of federal law” and run counter to Administrator Alan Davidson’s promise during a December House Communications Subcommittee hearing (see 2312050076) “that his agency would not require rate regulation” of BEAD participants. House Commerce Republicans renewed their rate regulation concerns to NTIA later that month (see 2312180063). NTIA didn’t immediately comment.
The House Commerce Committee on Thursday unanimously passed legislation (see 2403050051) that could lead to a U.S. ban on the popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok. The legislation is poised for floor action after gaining public support from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Thursday.
House leaders removed the NTIA Reauthorization Act (HR-4510) from floor consideration Tuesday amid other committees’ objections to it, the bill’s sponsors told us Wednesday. Chamber leaders previously scheduled consideration of HR-4510 under suspension of the rules (see 2403010073), along with two other telecom-focused bills. The House voted 339-85 Wednesday to pass H.Res. 1061, which amended vehicle HR-4366 to become the Consolidated Appropriations Act FY24 appropriations minibus package that includes reduced funding for NTIA and other Commerce Department agencies compared with FY 2023 but a slight increase for the DOJ Antitrust Division (see 2403040083).
NAB and backers of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-3413/S-1669) are continuing to push for the bill’s passage, possibly by attaching it to a future omnibus appropriations package. The bill's supporters argue attaching the AM radio legislation to an omnibus appropriations package could help it overcome headwinds that have prevented its legislative approval since early 2023 (see 2401050065). CTA and other opponents of the measure argue it should go through a normal legislative process.
Comprehensive privacy legislation in Minnesota advanced in House and Senate committees Tuesday. In the morning, the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously by voice to approve HF-2309 and send it to the State and Local Government Committee. In the afternoon, also on a voice vote, the Senate Commerce Committee approved SF-2915 after agreeing to harmonize its language with HF-2309. State Rep. Steve Elkins (D) said he based the House bill on a Washington state template that never became law there but that a dozen other states have since adopted. States should try to write similar laws in the absence of a federal law, which is unlikely soon, he said. One difference with other state laws is that Minnesota would include a section on automated decision-making, extending rights from the Fair Credit Reporting Act to other areas like employment and auto insurance, Elkins said. Minnesota’s bill lacks a private right of action and Elkins predicted a hefty fiscal note related to enforcement by the state attorney general. However, Elkins said the state AG office told him it can enforce the measure, if enacted. Elkins doesn’t expect any further substantive changes to the bill this session, he said.
President Joe Biden should urge Congress to pass a comprehensive federal privacy law during his State of the Union address Thursday, the Open Technology Institute said Tuesday. Legislation like the House Commerce Committee’s American Data Privacy and Protection Act (see 2310180051) “remains the most effective way to protect all Americans,” OTI said. The ADPPA would be a good foundational step toward regulating AI, OTI added. The organization urged Biden to work with Congress on legislation that holds tech companies accountable for automated decisions driven by social media algorithms. The Algorithmic Accountability Act (see 2309210048) would help “hold companies accountable for automated decision making by requiring impact assessments and increased transparency,” said OTI.
The House Commerce Committee on Thursday will mark up two national security-related bills targeting TikTok, including one from Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif., voiced varying levels of optimism during a Tuesday Incompas conference (see 2403050052) about the prospects that lawmakers will be able to reach a deal on stopgap funding that will keep the FCC’s affordable connectivity program running past this spring. The FCC said in a Monday update on its wind-down of the program that it will be able to provide only “partial” reimbursements for ACP in May (see 2403040077). Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., highlighted their ongoing interest in enacting legislation to lift or ease permitting processes in a bid to streamline broadband deployments.
Bipartisan support seems possible for a Minnesota bill that includes limits on social media, the House Commerce Committee’s lead Republican Rep. Tim O’Driscoll said during a livestreamed hearing Monday. The committee voted unanimously by voice to move the bill (HF-4400) to the Judiciary Committee. The measure, from Chair Zack Stephenson (D), would require more private settings by default on social media networks and for platforms to prioritize content that users prefer and perceive as high quality over posts that gain high engagement from other users. Also, the bill would set limits on how much users, especially new users, can engage with others on social media. Rep. Harry Niska (R) said he would support the measure, though he worries about the "constitutional thicket that we're stepping into." Minnesota should avoid regulating speech, said Niska, adding it might be good to wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve NetChoice lawsuits against Texas and Florida social media laws. Also, Niska disagreed with the bill's inclusion of a private right of action; he favors leaving enforcement solely to the state attorney general. Stephenson aims to keep HF-4400 away from regulating content to avoid constitutional problems, he replied. Also, Stephenson conceded to having “mixed feelings” about the bill allowing private lawsuits and is open to talking more about that. The Chamber of Progress opposes the bill, which "would produce a worse online experience for residents of Minnesota and almost certainly fail in court,” said Robert Singleton, the tech industry group’s director-policy and public affairs for the western U.S. Among other concerns, imposing daily limits on user activity would restrict speech in violation of the First Amendment, the lobbyist said. The Computer & Communications Industry Association raised First Amendment and other concerns with HF-4400 in written testimony.