The House Communications Subcommittee plans a hearing June 11 to address the FCC’s proposed closing of 16 of 24 Enforcement Bureau field offices, Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., told reporters Tuesday. “We’ve heard from a number of affected organizations, from broadcasters to first responders, about the concerns that they have,” he said. “We intend to have the FCC testify. We will also have various other representatives available to testify as well.” The hearing will take place at 10 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn, a committee notice said. The FCC had defended the closing of the field offices as a necessary, cost-saving measure (see 1505060064).
CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter plans to back the Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act (HR-1643) Tuesday during a 10 a.m. hearing of the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee in 2141 Rayburn. The hearing is focused on state taxation of interstate commerce and HR-1643. “State legislators have a strong incentive to impose burdens on nonresidents who cannot vote them out of office,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement. “This hearing will explore concrete solutions to state overreach in order to alleviate the burdens on American workers and businesses engaged in interstate commerce.” Carpenter is testifying on behalf of the Download Fairness Coalition of 29 companies and organizations. The legislation “is built upon basic principles of fairness for consumers and those that serve as the agents of the various states,” Carpenter plans to testify. “Critically, this framework does not mandate any new taxes, and it respects each state’s determination for its citizens on how, or if, to tax a digital product. It is a national framework that only Congress can enact, and it will provide the certainty, stability and safeguards needed to keep the digital marketplace a thriving part of our economy.”
The House Commerce Committee will mark up the FCC Process Reform Act this week but it has lost its one Democratic sponsor. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., had been listed as the authors of the bill when the Communications Subcommittee cleared the measure at a markup earlier this month (see 1505200058). But a Commerce Committee notice about this week’s markup only listed Walden and Kinzinger as authors. A GOP committee aide pointed to the tension during the subcommittee markup between Walden and Eshoo, who wanted certain sunshine rule provisions of the measure to take effect sooner, and confirmed that Eshoo has moved to withdraw her backing. Walden had framed the disagreement with Eshoo as a “breakdown” and argued that what she wanted -- which she had tried to press with an unsuccessful amendment -- was in violation of terms the bill authors had negotiated last Congress. The House has passed the FCC Process Reform Act before but never the Senate. It would compel action from the FCC on comment deadlines and agency transparency. The GOP memo summarizes the provisions. Commerce lawmakers will convene for markup opening statements at 5 p.m. Tuesday and vote at a session beginning 10 a.m. Wednesday, meeting both times in 2123 Rayburn. Commerce posted a version of the measure dated Thursday. An Eshoo spokesman declined comment. The Communications Subcommittee had cleared six other measures, three Democratic FCC process bills by voice vote and three GOP FCC process bills by partisan votes, with Democrats opposed. Those weren't listed on the agenda for this week's markup.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, scheduled a Tuesday hearing on the IRS data theft “which compromised the private information of over 100,000 taxpayers,” a news release said. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 215 Dirksen. Witnesses will include IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and Treasury Department Inspector General-Tax Administration Russell George. “When the federal government fails to protect private and confidential taxpayer information, Congress must act,” Hatch said. “Taxpayers deserve to know what happened at the IRS regarding the data theft, and this hearing will be the first step of many that the committee takes to determine what happened and how the government can prevent such attacks from happening again.” Hatch sent a letter to Koskinen Wednesday asking for answers about the breach by June 5.
The Center for Democracy & Technology is opposed to Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.’s, proposed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Improvements Act of 2015 and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.’s, proposed FISA Reform Act of 2015, CDT wrote in two separate posts Thursday. CDT encouraged the Senate to reject both pieces of legislation, which were introduced after the Senate was three votes shy of voting in favor of considering the USA Freedom Act. CDT wants the Senate to either pass USA Freedom or allow Section 215 of the Patriot Act to sunset. CDT called Burr’s self-described “compromise” draft legislation a “non-starter that makes government surveillance power and secrecy even more broad,” because it “would not end NSA bulk collection, does not address the problem of secret law, would impose a data retention requirement on private companies, and expands government surveillance without a court order,” CDT said. Feinstein’s legislation (S-1469) “would impose a data retention mandate on private companies, and does not address the problem of secret law,” CDT said. Feinstein’s bill also doesn't end bulk collection, as Section 107 of the bill “broadens the crucial definition of ‘specific selection term’ to allow terms that narrow the scope of records sought,” CDT said. The legislation also fails to address secret law because it doesn't “shed light on secret FISA Court opinions with significant implications for Americans’ civil liberties,” CDT said. “Secret law is incompatible with an open and democratic society,” CDT said. The legislation would also enable the FBI director to “obtain a secret court order demanding that service providers subject to surveillance orders retain all call detail records for two years,” CDT said. “In a letter of support for the USA Freedom Act, the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence stated that carriers’ existing metadata retention practices are sufficient for preserving essential security capabilities,” CDT said.
Two senators made another push for the FCC to act on stand-alone broadband USF support. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., wrote a joint opinion article for the Journal by IJReview, published Thursday, on “5 Things Everyone Should Know About Broadband Access in Rural America.” The lawmakers peppered the piece with videos from the social media service Vine, showcasing brief clips of technologies such as the AOL dial-up process. The piece said that universal access to broadband is important and that the infrastructure investment is expensive but crucial. FCC “rules have failed to keep pace with the changing communications landscape and consumer preferences,” Klobuchar and Thune said. “Outdated rules effectively require rural Americans to pay for a traditional landline -- even if they no longer want one -- in order to get broadband services. These rules particularly disadvantage low-income consumers by putting the price of broadband out of reach unless they pay for additional, duplicative landline phone service.” They said developing a stand-alone broadband support mechanism is a “common-sense fix.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has told Congress he’s on track to develop such a fix by year’s end. Thune and Klobuchar led a letter this year with dozens of colleagues backing stand-alone broadband (see 1505120041).
Cisco Government Affairs Director Mary Brown lauded House lawmakers for beginning to convene committee meetings with the Department of Transportation, the FCC and NTIA on the upper 5 GHz band, much of which is reserved for intelligent transportation technology. The first meeting happened last week (see 1505270044). "There are complex technical issues presented by two different systems sharing a band of spectrum, particularly when one of them -- transportation -- provides a safety-of-life technology," Brown told us. "The resolution of those technical issues requires strong collaboration from the agencies as they decide what evidence they will need to evaluate, whether one or more of them needs to do testing, and how to reach consensus on the ultimate question of whether unlicensed [use of the spectrum] can in fact share the band. Ensuring that the agencies are working closely together is part of the oversight function of the committee, and Cisco is grateful for the committee’s attention to these issues." Brown said Wi-Fi is, of all unlicensed technologies out there today, "by far and away the 'workhorse' of the Internet" and "Cisco remains confident that unlicensed sharing with transportation uses can be made to work -- both to make good on improvements in life-saving technology, but also to improve access to Wi-Fi." Cisco has begun working with automotive stakeholders to test the upper 5 GHz band to see if it can be shared for unlicensed use.
Jonathan Blake, a retired broadcast lawyer at Covington & Burling, has reached out to fellow past presidents of the FCBA to kick off a greater dialogue about various FCC process bills that cleared the House Communications Subcommittee last week, some on a partisan basis and some with bipartisan consensus (see 1505200058). Blake had sent a letter to lawmakers days before a subcommittee markup, objecting to GOP process measures, which FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Hill Democrats have opposed. In a separate letter he said, “I am writing you as past presidents of the FCBA because, as I have followed Hill discussions over the past couple of years about possible legislative changes in the FCC's processes, it became increasingly clear to me that we communications lawyers may well have a useful perspective to bring to bear on these issues,” Blake said in a recent note to past presidents. “You may have additional or different comments of your own, particularly since this letter did not address all the proposed legislative initiatives. In any event, I hope you will convey your views to Congress.” Blake pointed out how these past presidents could write directly to Congress or join to send a joint letter to lawmakers ahead of any June House Commerce Committee markup of FCC process legislation.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Senate Judiciary ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., encouraged the Senate in a joint news release Tuesday to pass the House version of the USA Freedom Act when the upper body reconvenes Sunday, hours before the law's Section 215 sunsets (see 1505260038). The USA Freedom Act “remains the only viable legislative option that will bring real reform and ensure no lapse in intelligence authorities,” Goodlatte and Leahy said. “The House-passed bill is the only bill the Senate can pass and send to the President before Sunday night’s deadline.” The Senate Saturday rejected Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's, R-Ky., proposal to reauthorize Section 215 of the Patriot Act for even one day, which Electronic Frontier Foundation Activist Nadia Kayyali called, in an email to EFF supporters Wednesday, a “major victory for civil liberties.” Surveillance defenders "will do anything they can to protect the NSA’s powers,” Kayyali wrote. Though House leadership has said the House would reject short-term reauthorization, McConnell is “attempting to bully the Senate into a last minute extension of the program,” Kayyali said. Kayyali encouraged the members of the American public to contact their senator and ensure the 54 senators who voted against reauthorization don’t change their minds when the Senate reconvenes Sunday. There are four days to ensure that when Section 215 sunsets at midnight, “it’s dead for good,” Kayyali said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is open to Charter’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable. “While seemingly déjà vu, this merger proposal deserves close, constructive consideration -- and support if it serves consumer interests,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “My hope is that this corporate combination will give consumers more choice and lower prices, which they desperately need and deserve. I'm reviewing the details, and hope for early discussions with responsible officials on all the ramifications, including what the merger would mean for Connecticut.” Blumenthal is a member of the Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, which could potentially convene a hearing on the deal, as it did with the failed Comcast/TWC proposal.