Maine and Vermont legislators will reintroduce comprehensive privacy bills next session, lead sponsors told us in interviews. Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of Vermont’s privacy bill hasn’t discouraged supporters from seeking a private right of action (PRA) that Scott and industry opposed, Rep. Monique Priestley (D), the comprehensive measure’s sponsor, said. Meanwhile, in Maine, a veto threat from Gov. Janet Mills (D) means neither party will pursue a PRA in the upcoming session, Sen. Lisa Keim (R) told us. Mills' opposition to a PRA made it a nonstarter this session.
The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday it expects the FCC would need $4 million to implement the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (HR-820) in fiscal years 2024-2029. HR-820 would require the agency to publish a list of communications companies holding FCC licenses or other authorizations in which China and other foreign adversaries’ governments possess 10% or more ownership. The House Commerce Committee advanced the measure in March (see 2403200076). The FCC “would need five employees, at an annual cost of $200,000 per employee, for the first two years, to review existing grants of authority, and two employees after 2026 to review new applications and changes in ownership,” CBO said. “However, because the FCC is authorized to collect fees each year sufficient to offset the appropriated costs of its regulatory activities, CBO estimates that the net cost to the FCC would be negligible, assuming appropriation actions consistent with that authority.”
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency should narrow the scope of its proposed cyber incident reporting rules to ease the regulatory burden on industries already facing a multitude of state and federal mandates, USTelecom, NTCA and Microsoft said in comments that were due Wednesday in docket CISA-2022-0010 (see 2403270070).
FTC Chair Lina Khan and all four commissioners will testify July 9 during a budget hearing before the House Innovation Subcommittee, the House Commerce Committee announced Tuesday. The FTC’s “mission is to ensure that it enhances consumer welfare without imposing undue burdens on business,” House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said in a statement with House Innovation Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla. “We have been very clear over the last few years via hearings, letters, and legislation when we have seen a departure from that mission.”
The House Communications Subcommittee rescheduled a postponed hearing on the FCC's FY 2025 budget request for Tuesday, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The subpanel previously planned the hearing for early May (see 2405030068). “The U.S. maintains some of the most preeminent broadband networks in the world,” said House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R- Wash., and Communications Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio. “This has resulted in lower costs and faster, more reliable services to Americans that have helped cement American innovation and leadership in next-generation technologies. Our networks have benefitted from a light-touch regulatory approach, which has allowed them to adapt and thrive. Unfortunately, recent actions by the FCC, including burdensome new regulations, threaten that light-touch system and people’s access to these critical services.” The House Appropriations Committee's FY 2025 funding bill for the FCC, which it advanced last month (see 2406140054), proposes increasing the commission's budget to $416 million but would bar the agency from using funds to enforce its net neutrality and digital discrimination orders.
The House Appropriations Committee plans to mark up the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee's FY 2025 funding bill Tuesday and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee's FY25 measure July 10. CJS advanced its funding bill last week with allocation decreases for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and DOJ's Antitrust Division (see 2406260057). LHHS moved its FY25 measure without advance FY 2027 funding for CPB (see 2406270059). House Appropriations said Tuesday its July 9 CJS markup will begin at 9 a.m. in 2359 Rayburn. The LHHS markup will occur at the same time and location July 10.
Former FCC Chairmen Ajit Pai and Tom Wheeler on Sunday repeated their call that lawmakers consider repurposing “appropriated but unspent COVID-19-era funding” and future spectrum auction revenue as alternative ways of paying for next-generation 911 technology upgrades. “A one-time infusion of Federal funding is desperately needed to accelerate nationwide NG9-1-1 implementation,” the two wrote in a Seattle Times opinion piece. “Without it, lives will be lost, especially in lower-income and rural communities that may lag in the NG9-1-1 transition.” Congress “must make NG9-1-1 a top priority and pass legislation that empowers all levels of government to make ubiquitous NG9-1-1 a reality,” the ex-FCC chairs said. Pai and Wheeler were among nine ex-FCC chairs who wrote congressional leaders in February in favor of using either future spectrum proceeds or COVID-19 funding to pay for NG-911 (see 2402210073). Leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees have repeatedly proposed using spectrum revenue to fund as much as $15 billion in NG-911 upgrades, including a $2 billion allocation in the stalled Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) (see 2406180067). The Public Safety Next Generation 911 Coalition complained in April that S-4207’s $2 billion NG-911 appropriation is insufficient (see 2404300052).
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority surprised no one Friday, issuing a decision decided on ideological lines that overrules the Chevron doctrine. Chevron gave agencies like the FCC and FTC deference in interpreting laws that Congress approved. On the penultimate day of its term, the court released a decision that wraps together Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Commerce. Both cases concern fishing regulations but were used as a vehicle for overturning Chevron.
The House Commerce Committee on Thursday canceled its scheduled privacy bill markup amid tensions with Republican leadership over the viability of a bipartisan bill from Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J.
House lawmakers dealt a pair of potentially temporary setbacks Thursday to CPB and commercial broadcasting legislative interests. The House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) Subcommittee advanced its FY25 bill without advance FY 2027 funding for CPB, as expected (see 2406250056). Meanwhile, the House Commerce Committee abruptly canceled a planned Thursday markup of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-8449). The American Privacy Rights Act (HR-8818) and Kids Online Safety Act (HR-7891) were expected to draw contentious debate during the markup (see 2406260062).