The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act (S-253) during a markup session Thursday. “This bill is the product of bipartisan negotiations,” said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., saying he hopes the legislation passes the full Senate soon. The House passed a companion version 411-0 earlier this week. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced the bill, which “both sides have been working on for a number of years,” Heller said, noting he anticipates and expects “good results on the floor.” Heller offered substitute text for the bill. Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is now a co-sponsor of the bill. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., successfully introduced an amendment to require the FCC “to draw comparisons between the extent of broadband service capability in communities abroad to the extent of broadband service capability in communities in the United States,” its text said. Schatz’s goal in co-sponsoring the bill “is to support the FCC and to make sure they are dedicating their limited resources to their core mission; protecting consumers and promoting competition,” he said in a statement. “Consolidating these reports will ensure that we are maintaining transparency which helps us protect consumers and gauge the competitive telecom landscape.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday unanimously approved Michelle Lee to lead the Patent and Trademark Office. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he was pleased that the committee unanimously approved Lee’s appointment, but said he was “disappointed” she was not “more forthcoming during the confirmation process” when asked about patent troll legislation: “This is a critical problem that demands an effective legislative solution, and the USPTO Director must be actively involved in that process.” Hatch encouraged Lee to be more forthcoming if any other Senator asked her a question before her appointment to lead the PTO is put to a full Senate vote. Information Technology Industry Council CEO Dean Garfield urged the full Senate to quickly approve Lee’s nomination, saying the office “plays a critical role in advancing innovation because intellectual property is the foundation for the new products and cutting-edge technologies that are growing our economy and transforming our world.”
Legislation prompting the FTC to establish a regulatory framework and amend the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to improve the provisions related to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information of children was introduced by Rep. Albio Sires, D-N.J., Tuesday. HR-1053 was referred to the House Commerce Committee.
The House approved the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act (HR-734) in a 411-0 vote Tuesday. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., had requested a counting of the votes rather than advancing it under suspension of the rules. The bill “actually reduces the workload at the FCC and streamlines the reporting process that for years and years has been outdated,” said Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., in a statement. “This is an important, bipartisan reform that shows that Congress can work together to get the kinds of things done that actually make things simpler in the real world and make an agency like the FCC operate more efficiently and in a manner consistent with the innovative era in which we live.” The Senate Commerce Committee is marking up companion legislation Thursday at a 10 a.m. executive session.
The reintroduced Local Radio Freedom Act (H. Con. Res. 17) has 94 House co-sponsors, NAB said in a news release Wednesday. Senate (S. Con. Res. 4) and House versions of the resolution were introduced Tuesday (see 1502240067). The resolutions would oppose terrestrial radio stations from paying any new taxes or royalties. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., are the principal sponsors of S. Con. Res. 4; Reps. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, and Gene Green, D-Texas, headed up the resolution’s introduction in the House. “NAB applauds lawmakers for standing with hometown broadcasters in opposing a job-killing performance royalty that would damage the No. 1 platform for exposing new music," CEO Gordon Smith said in the release. House Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., members Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and House Commerce Committee Vice Chair Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sent a letter to lawmakers Tuesday asking that they not support LRFA. They called terrestrial broadcasters' exemption from public performance royalties an "unjust business model." The musicFIRST Coalition, which advocates for terrestrial broadcasters to pay public performance royalties, in a blog post Tuesday criticized NAB’s claim that such broadcasters can’t afford to pay new royalties. MFC cited a GAO study that said a public performance royalty would cost major broadcasters 2 percent of their revenue. Despite efforts to thwart the resolutions, NAB expects the number of co-sponsors to grow “considerably” in the coming months, said a spokesman.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sees changes in how his department handles broadband this year, he testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee Tuesday. “In FY 2015 USDA will reopen the farm bill broadband program with new rules that align with the changes the Congress included in the 2014 Farm Bill and make approximately $50 million in loans available to help ensure every corner of this country has reliable, high-speed Internet access,” Vilsack said. Since 2009, USDA “extended new or improved broadband service for 1.4 million Americans,” Vilsack noted at one point.
The House Communications Subcommittee scheduled an FCC reauthorization hearing for March 4, as expected (see 1502230069). Witnesses weren’t announced, nor was a time. “Our work is overdue to say the least. Joe Montana was king of the football world and Tom Brady was barely a teen the last time Congress authorized the FCC,” Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said in a statement. “Is the FCC best positioned to handle the challenges of the innovation era? Americans’ demand for state-of-the-art communications and technology platforms for interacting and conducting business continues to grow. This hearing is a part of our ongoing effort to modernize the federal government and ensure that the FCC has the tools to transparently and efficiently carry out its mission on behalf of the American people.” The agency has not been formally reauthorized since 1990.
Henry Waxman, the former top Democrat on the House Commerce Committee, is now chairman of Waxman Strategies, a public affairs firm in Washington, D.C. Waxman, who represented parts of Los Angeles, retired when the last Congress adjourned after four decades in the chamber. “He advises clients on public policy and continues to focus on the issues he championed while in Congress, including health care, environment, energy, technology and telecommunications,” according to his profile on the firm’s website now. He's the foremost name on the firm’s website. Also at the firm is Michael Waxman, his son.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., reintroduced the Local Radio Freedom Act (S. Con. Res. 4) Tuesday, a Senate aide said. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., is also a lead sponsor of the resolution, she said. Reps. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, and Gene Green, D-Texas, were also expected to take the lead in reintroducing the House version of the resolution Tuesday, a radio industry official said. The resolutions would prohibit terrestrial radio stations from paying any new taxes or royalties, a House aide said. The number of the resolutions’ co-sponsors was expected to be around 75, the radio official said. Prohibiting terrestrial broadcasters from paying new royalties contradicts one suggestion in the Copyright Office’s recent music licensing study, which called for terrestrial stations to pay public performance royalties (see 1502050055).
The FCC provided a partial response Tuesday to the staff of Senate Homeland Security Committee, addressing a document request from Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a GOP Senate staffer told us. Johnson launched an investigation, as did other Capitol Hill Republicans (see 1502230064), this month into whether the White House unduly influenced the FCC net neutrality proceeding and demanded a record of the communications between the administration and the agency on that front, setting a deadline of Monday. The FCC didn't answer any of Johnson’s questions in the response, the Senate staffer said, saying Johnson staffers are now analyzing what they received. The FCC didn't immediately comment.