House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, in a speech to the Telecommunications Industry Association board Tuesday, “focused on the FCC’s overreach and Commissioner [Tom] Wheeler’s misguided net neutrality approach,” his spokeswoman told us, citing legislation that Latta had introduced to limit the agency’s use of Communications Act Title II. “This proposal was also included as a provision in the bill that [Hill Republicans] introduced last month.” TIA didn’t comment on Latta’s speech but tweeted a photo of Latta speaking. Latta introduced a new piece of legislation (HR-655) Monday “to reform the Federal Communications Commission by requiring an analysis of benefits and costs during the rule making process and creating certain presumptions regarding regulatory forbearance and biennial regulatory review determinations,” its longer title said. The bill text wasn't available Tuesday. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., is the bill’s one co-sponsor. It was referred to Commerce. One concern Republicans have raised about the FCC’s net neutrality proceeding has been the agency’s lack of cost-benefit analysis.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler shot down congressional Republicans’ request that he release the net neutrality order Thursday, the day he plans to circulate it. “What you have suggested in terms of releasing the preliminary discussion draft of the Order runs contrary to Commission procedure followed over the years by both Democratic and Republican Chairs,” Wheeler said in a Monday letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. “If decades of precedent are to be changed, then there must be an opportunity for thoughtful review in the lead up to any change.” He rebuffed their accusations that the agency has not been transparent, pointing to roundtables, comments and ex parte filings recounting meetings. “The Commission's Open Internet proceeding has been one of the most transparent and inclusive proceedings in recent memory,” Wheeler said. “We have received more than four million comments -- a record for any Commission proceeding -- on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released last spring.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., favors Communications Act Title II-based net neutrality rules, he said Tuesday during a leadership news conference in response to a press question. He didn't elaborate on the support but has outlined desire for strong net neutrality protections in the past. Hill Republicans have strongly opposed the use of Title II and proposed legislation to avoid what they see as its disastrous effects for industry.
The Americans for Tax Reform pressed Congress to overhaul the Communications Act, criticizing what it sees as outdated elements of the Telecom Act. “The 1996 Act mentioned pay phones more than it mentioned the Internet!” said Americans for Tax Reform Digital Liberty Executive Director Katie McAuliffe in a statement Tuesday. She pointed to the upcoming 19th anniversary of the act and said the science fiction film Back to the Future II predicted the year 2015 better than the act did. “As 2015 is the setting of the prophetic film Back the Future II, we are bringing a DeLorean to the Hill on February 5!” McAuliffe said, citing an iconic car featured in that film.
The House Communications Subcommittee will mark up the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act discussion draft at 10 a.m. Wednesday in 2123 Rayburn. “This bill is another important step in our efforts to cut red tape and modernize the FCC as we bring our laws firmly into the 21st century,” Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said in a statement. “A more efficient FCC will encourage further innovation, investment, and job creation, things that we can all get behind.” The 11-page discussion draft includes a section emphasizing that the bill will have no effect on FCC authority. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., introduced a companion bill (S-253) last week, which still has no co-sponsors and has a 16-page bill text. The House passed the legislation in the last Congress but it never advanced in the Senate. “By eliminating outdated studies and consolidating the ones that remain into a biennial release, the Commission will be more efficient and can provide more useful information,” a GOP House majority staff memo said of the discussion draft. “The draft also proposes a “State of the Industry” report, focused on the challenges and opportunities in the marketplace, as well as the chairperson’s plan of action.” Spokespeople for House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., didn’t comment.
To further establish an open and transparent government, Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and House Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., on Monday introduced legislation to strengthen U.S. Freedom of Information Act laws. The 2015 FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act would make frequently released information and information that is of interest to the public available online, strengthen oversight and review of FOIA compliance, and place the burden on agencies to explain why information should not be made publicly available instead of requiring the public to justify the release. “There should be a presumption of openness in this country, and agencies should have to justify their actions when they want to withhold information from the American people,” Cummings said in a joint news release with Issa. To ease the FOIA process for the public, the bill also would create a single website where the public can submit a request for records. “Requests through the Freedom of Information Act remain the best tool for the American people to hold their government accountable,” Issa said. “In this information technology driven era, it should be easier, not harder for citizens to have simpler and broader access to government information.”
Legislation to let companies publicly estimate the number of surveillance orders they receive from agencies under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and national security letters was introduced by Reps. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. Known as the Surveillance Order Reporting Act, the legislation introduced Tuesday may “shed light on the breadth of overreaching government surveillance programs,” Lofgren and Chaffetz said in a joint news release. Companies' inability to disclose basic information about the requests they receive “impedes informed public debate, undermines user trust in Internet services, and has led to strained relationships between U.S. companies and international business partners,” the release said. Internet and telecom companies would be able to report an estimated number of surveillance orders received, orders complied with and, rounded to the nearest 100, the number of users and accounts information requested or provided on.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, now backs the Community Broadband Act (S-240) that Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., introduced last month. King is the third co-sponsor, following Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Ed Markey, D-Mass. This legislation would allow Congress to pre-empt state laws that restrict municipal broadband networks, which Republicans generally oppose. “From my experiences as mayor of Newark, I have seen firsthand that cities and localities are often in the best position to determine how to spend their taxpayer dollars to solve problems, provide services and innovate,” Booker said in an op-ed on NorthJersey.com last weekend. Booker also issued a statement Monday praising the FCC’s circulation of an item to pre-empt the state laws. “I’m pleased the FCC is standing up for the rights of municipalities over special interests that may not find it profitable to invest in low-income and rural areas,” Booker said. “This FCC action is an important step forward as American seeks to leverage its strengths in the digital age.”
Legislation that would modernize the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act by requiring government agencies to show probable cause and obtain a search warrant before obtaining or intercepting electronic communications or geolocation data was introduced Monday. Co-sponsors were Reps. Ted Poe, R-Texas, Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. Known as the Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act, the legislation would create clear standards for law enforcement on when and how they can legally access location information and ensure that constitutionally guaranteed rights such as those under the Fourth Amendment are protected for wire and electronic communications as well as geolocation data. Currently, law enforcement can obtain electronic communications and geolocation information if it’s more than 180 days old by “merely” obtaining a subpoena, the lawmakers said in a joint news release. The 1986 law has “failed to keep pace with rapidly evolving technology,” they said, “leading to weak and convoluted privacy protections from government access to user data. As consumers and businesses increasingly use cloud computing and location-based services, the law’s standards no longer reflect the way these services are used today, nor adequately protect Americans’ right to privacy.” When "current law affords more protections for a letter in a filing cabinet than an email on a server, it’s clear our policies are outdated,” DelBene said. “This bill will update privacy protections for consumers while resolving competing interests between innovation, international competitiveness and public safety.” Technology "may change, but the Constitution does not,” Poe said. “Whether an individual’s property is physical or digital, it must be protected from snooping government eyes, as required under the Fourth Amendment.”
All 12 Senate Commerce Committee Republicans will be on the Communications Subcommittee, said Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., who also will sit on the subcommittee ex officio as its 13th GOP member. Seven of the Commerce Republicans will sit on the Consumer Protection and Data Security Subcommittee, not counting Thune: Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas, Steve Daines of Montana, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Dean Heller of Nevada and Jerry Moran of Kansas, its chairman. Democrats haven't released rosters for subcommittee memberships.