House Judiciary IP Subcommittee ranking member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said Monday that they were filing the Fair Play Fair Pay Act, as expected (see 1504100044). The bill would require most terrestrial radio stations to begin paying performance royalties and would require digital broadcasters to begin paying royalties for pre-1972 sound recordings. The bill would also require satellite broadcasters to pay royalties at market rates. “The current system is antiquated and broken,” Nadler said during a news conference in New York to announce the bill. “It pits technologies against each other and allows certain services to get away with paying little or even nothing to artists.” The bill contains carve-outs for college radio stations and radio stations that report revenue of less than $1 million per year. Stations with less than $1 million annual revenue would pay a maximum of $500 per year in royalties, while college radio stations would pay a maximum of $100. The carve-outs are meant to prevent major broadcasting companies from using small radio stations as a reason for members of Congress to vote against the bill. MusicFIRST Executive Director Ted Kalo praised the bill’s introduction, saying in a statement that “fair market value for music will encourage creativity by music creators.” The bill will also “promote innovation among music services,” he said. The NAB and the Digital Media Association said Friday that they would oppose the bill.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wants to be the GOP nominee for president in the 2016 election, he announced Monday. He told ABC News Monday he would be able to lead the U.S. as president and is the most qualified candidate for president. He was scheduled to deliver a speech in Miami Monday night, widely believed to be a formal announcement that he's running. Rubio is a member of the Commerce Committee and repeatedly has expressed intentions to deal with wireless issues through legislation, such as reallocation of government spectrum and the inquiry into sharing in the upper 5 GHz band. He has also slammed the FCC’s net neutrality order, as have other GOP candidates. Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state, senator from New York and first lady, will seek the Democratic nomination, she said Sunday.
The House Judiciary Committee plans a hearing for 2 p.m. Tuesday on the Innovation Act (HR-9), the patent reform bill by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. “This legislation, which passed the House last year by a wide margin, is designed to eliminate the abuses of our patent system, discourage frivolous patent litigation and keep U.S. patent laws up to date,” Goodlatte said. “I am hopeful we can move quickly here in the House and get this important legislation through the Senate and to the President’s desk.” Witnesses include Patent and Trademark Office Director Michelle Lee on the first panel. Witnesses on the second panel include Yahoo Deputy General Counsel-Intellectual Property Kevin Kramer, former Eli Lilly General Counsel Robert Armitage, Salesforce.com Senior Vice President-Intellectual Property David Simon and Biotechnology Industry Organization Deputy General Counsel-Intellectual Property Hans Sauer.
Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday he will introduce a resolution of disapproval of the FCC’s new net neutrality rules as soon as Congress returns to Washington April 13. That development was expected by Collins, a vocal opponent of the rules (see 1504070057). Collins said he plans to file "the strongest possible measure at the earliest possible moment,” which will “override another government takeover of an important economic sector." The Congressional Review Act allows the start of proceedings once the rules are published in the Federal Register, he said. "My resolution would be the most direct way to rein in an agency that refused these rules, which would stifle innovation and growth, before it finally surrendered to White House political pressure," Collins said in a news release. "We have enough problems with poor broadband in my district, just like in other rural districts," he said. "Under the FCC plan, money that could go to infrastructure deployment will go to lawyers, taxes and fees instead."
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., promised to end government surveillance of U.S. citizens’ phone records if he is elected president. He made the remark in his Tuesday speech announcing a run for the White House in 2016. “Warrantless searches of Americans’ phones and computer records are un-American and a threat to our civil liberties,” Paul said in his speech in Louisville. “I say that your phone records are yours. I say the phone records of law-abiding citizens are none of their [government's] damn business. ... The president created this vast dragnet by executive order. And as president, on day one I will immediately end this unconstitutional surveillance.” Paul has previously criticized FCC net neutrality rules. “Despite wrongheaded attempts by governments to micromanage markets through disastrous industrial policy, technology has progressed because it has been driven by a free and open Internet,” Paul said as part of a petition on Protect Internet Freedom’s website ahead of the FCC net neutrality vote in February. “The FCC’s plan for regulating the web threatens to interrupt that positive innovation.” Other likely GOP contenders for the White House -- Jeb Bush, a former Florida governor, and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida -- slammed the net neutrality in connection with the same petition.
Ev Ehrlich, who consults for telecom clients, attempted to pressure Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, both Michigan Democrats, to negotiate on the GOP draft net neutrality bill from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. “But whether you like [net neutrality] or not, a new law is a better way to set policy than regulatory decrees that risk disappearing in mid-air,” said Ehrlich, a Progressive Policy Institute fellow and former undersecretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton, in an op-ed for The Detroit News Friday. “Democrats are in their strongest position to influence legislation. The Republicans are willing to concede the principle of net neutrality to avoid the regulatory mess.” He praised Thune’s draft bill, calling it the product of “a bipartisan group of senators,” including Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Nelson has repeatedly said he has talked with Thune on the topic but never backed the draft, nor have any Democrats. The draft would codify net neutrality rules while curtailing FCC authority.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., may hold a hearing on video policy issues in May or June, industry officials told us this week. The officials suggested much may be still up in the air on the specifics, but one lobbyist has heard the session may involve video delivery and the hearing might involve issues on broadcasting and over-the-top service. A Commerce spokesman didn’t confirm a hearing is in the works. Thune has said he intends to revisit a controversial broadcast a la carte proposal known as Local Choice sometime this Congress.
Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., asked the leadership of the Rules Committee to update technology policies. “We recommend simplifying and streamlining the process for new technology product vendors to become approved for use by Senate offices,” they said in a letter sent Wednesday. “Instead of adapting rules for email that were originally written for mail newsletters, we recommend writing entirely new guidelines to fit the unique uses of email as a communications tool.” The Senate should allow lawmakers to track social media analytics, said Booker and McCaskill, both members of the Commerce Committee and both active on social media. The Senate should also “continue with progress on new standards to publish more Senate data in bulk” and create “a Senate equivalent to Docs.House.gov, which keeps a running snapshot of the legislative action on the House floor and in Committees,” they said. Written testimony and transcripts should be available in XML instead of a PDF format, they said. XML would be a “standardized, machine-readable bulk” format, “an important step for making information on our work in the Senate accessible to the public,” they said. Contract vendors should operate under simplified rules, they advised. “Senate offices could save thousands of taxpayer dollars every year and keep constituent data secure and private by utilizing cloud-based virtual servers,” they also said.
American Commitment has helped orchestrate more than 1.6 million letters to Capitol Hill from upward of 540,000 people slamming the FCC’s net neutrality order, the group said, not giving details on who sent the missives. The conservative group focuses on free-market issues. "It's clear that Americans are outraged that the free-market Internet they know and love is on the brink of being reduced to a public utility, and they are watching Congress very closely,” President Phil Kerpen said in a statement. “They are joining us in demanding legislative action to stop [President Barack] Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet." The letters organized by American Commitment request either “bipartisan compromise” legislation on net neutrality or defunding through the appropriations process. American Commitment also cited recent remarks from Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, who told Politics 365 he wants a legislative response to net neutrality. The American Commitment website hosts the form letter guiding people on writing to Congress.
A draft legislative text proposed by the Department of Transportation included several provisions designed to accelerate broadband deployment. Department officials sent a copy of the Generating Renewal, Opportunity, and Work with Accelerated Mobility, Efficiency, and Rebuilding of Infrastructure and Communities throughout America Act -- a six-year funding proposal known as the Grow America Act -- to Congress Monday. “It is in the national interest for the Department of Transportation and State departments of transportation to expand the use of rights-of-way on Federal-aid highways to accommodate broadband infrastructure; to ensure the safe and efficient accommodation of broadband infrastructure in the public right-of-way; to identify areas where additional broadband infrastructure is most needed; to include broadband stakeholders in the transportation planning process; to coordinate highway construction plans with other statewide telecommunications and broadband plans; and to improve broadband connectivity to rural communities and improve broadband services in urban areas,” said the bill text in a section on broadband infrastructure deployment. The bill text calls for broadband coordination and best practices that would compel state departments of transportation to include a broadband utility coordinator and to “provide for online registration of broadband infrastructure entities that seek to be included in such broadband infrastructure coordination efforts within the State.” It also would call for coordination involving the FirstNet public safety network. The department also would offer grants, and applicants would be assessed in part on best practices involving “integration of transportation planning and investment decisions with other land-use and economic development decisions, including water infrastructure and broadband deployment,” it said. Another section of the draft proposal on rail policy would dictate that no later than 120 days after enactment, the Department of Transportation and the FCC would have to “coordinate to assess spectrum needs and availability for implementing positive train control systems,” which “may include conversations with external stakeholders,” the text said. “During these next two months, though, all of us who work in Washington need to be relentless in trying to get to ‘yes’ on a bill that is truly transformative and that brings the country together,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.