Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., will reintroduce the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act (HR-4065) in this Congress, his spokeswoman told us. The bill would require smartphone manufacturers to include a kill switch on the device, and has become a source of debate at the state and federal levels over the past year. Serrano is still deciding when to reintroduce the legislation, the spokeswoman said. Serrano’s bill in the 113th Congress had 17 co-sponsors, all Democrats. It was referred to the Communications Subcommittee in February, but it never advanced.
The House passed the Regulatory Accountability Act (HR-185) along party lines Tuesday, with 242 Republicans and eight Democrats voting for it, and 175 Democrats against it, despite a White House veto threat earlier this week. The bill “would impose unprecedented and unnecessary procedural requirements on agencies that would prevent them from efficiently performing their statutory responsibilities,” the Office of Management and Budget said. “It would also create needless regulatory and legal uncertainty and further impede the implementation protections for the American public. This bill would make the regulatory process more expensive, less flexible, and more burdensome -- dramatically increasing the cost of regulation for the American taxpayer and working class families.” The bill’s backers defended it. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., blasted the “real” problematic effects of excessive government regulation. “This legislation gives Americans a better check against their own government by requiring advance notice of proposed major regulations to increase public input,” co-sponsor Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said in a statement. “It also requires agencies to find lower-cost alternative rules when possible, and to clearly demonstrate the additional benefits for any additional cost to the taxpayer.”
CEA hails introduction of revived Senate legislation to reform immigration for the high-skilled, President Gary Shapiro said in a statement Tuesday. The Immigration Innovation (I-Squared) Act of 2015, introduced Tuesday by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.; and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., “is a long overdue step toward addressing our nation’s shortage of high-skilled workers,” Shapiro said. “Not only does it increase the number of H-1B Visas, it also allows for an increase depending on the demands of the marketplace. The legislation also makes important upgrades to the student visa program and allows for the recapture of unused green cards.” Immigrants account for a quarter of technology startups and jobs created in the U.S., Shapiro said. “It is imperative that we encourage the best and brightest from around the world to stay here, instead of pushing them to the back of the line and incentivizing them to innovate and create jobs abroad.” There’s a real shot in the new Congress at enacting immigration reform for the high-skilled because President Barack Obama and Republicans and Democrats “agree on the parameters," Shapiro told us the morning after the Republicans’ sweep in the midterm elections (see [Ref:1411050022). "Everyone agrees we need highly skilled immigration reform," when 70 percent of those earning post-graduate engineering and math degrees are from foreign countries, "and we’re kicking them out," he said then. "It’s not the wisest policy."
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is planning to introduce the Data Security and Breach Notification Act, said a committee news release Tuesday. The bill’s draft version parallels many of the data breach proposals set out by President Barack Obama in his speech at the FTC Monday (see 1501120043), including a 30-day consumer notification requirement for companies hit by such a breach, the release said. "How many more consumers will be affected before something is done?” Nelson asked in the release. “Now is the time Congress must act,” he said. “The bill would authorize both the FTC and state attorneys general to enforce the data security and breach notification provisions of the Act,” the release said. The bill is in the final stages of drafting, it said.
The Congressional Caucus on the Internet of Things (IoT) was launched by House Judiciary IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and House Judiciary Committee member Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., a joint news release said Tuesday. Issa and DelBene will be caucus co-chairs, it said. The caucus’ primary function will be to educate lawmakers on IoT issues, including examining the FTC’s forthcoming report on IoT, the release said. “It’s critical that lawmakers remain educated about the fast paced evolution of the Internet of Things, and have informed policy discussions about the government’s role in access and use of these devices,” Issa said in the release. “Policymakers will need to be engaged and educated on how we can best protect consumers while also enabling these new technologies to thrive,” DelBene said.
Fight for the Future had amassed by our deadline Monday nearly 42,000 signatures from people opposing potential “Title X” net neutrality legislation. The group, formed in 2011 as a digital advocacy nonprofit, attacked the bill, which has not been in any way officially released or announced. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., is helping put together the bill, which he has framed as an alternative to Communications Act Title II reclassification (see 1501070049). Thune worked with committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., on this bill but indicated that he and Democrats differ on when to advance it -- Thune wants to move before the FCC votes on net neutrality Feb. 26. Nelson first hinted at such legislation to us in mid-November (see 1411130049). “Congress leaders are planning on starting 2015 with a bill called ‘Title X’ that would compromise the World Wide Web by taking away the FCC’s ability to protect the open Internet and giving cable companies the power to charge for less access,” the Fight for the Future petition said. “This bill would be a huge betrayal to the millions of Internet users that demanded that Congress support real net neutrality.” The petition warned against Congress' acting before the FCC, saying that “if Congress introduces ‘Title X’ first, it could hijack the entire process and reverse any progress for net neutrality.” It has a goal of 50,000 signatures. Free Press also criticized the Title X idea, in a blog post Monday. "Congressional attempts to undermine these long-established principles with bad legislation -- or to strip away the FCC’s ability to enforce them -- wouldn’t just gut Net Neutrality," Government Relations Manager Sandra Fulton said. "They would endanger our basic rights to communicate and express ourselves freely -- values that are a cornerstone to our democracy and a free society." No new laws are required on this front, she said.
Americans for Tax Reform sent a letter to lawmakers Thursday asking them to reaffirm their support for the Email Privacy Act (HR-1852). The bill “outlines a simple procedure to ensure that email and cloud documents receive the same protections as paper documents stored in a local file cabinet,” ATR said. “Giving email and cloud documents the same protection as paper documents stored in a local file cabinet, does not impede law enforcement,” it said. The bill had 272 House co-sponsors in the 113th Congress. The bill’s Senate equivalent (S-607) had six Senate co-sponsors.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., reintroduced his Secure Data Act (S-135) Thursday. It has no co-sponsors and was referred to the Commerce Committee. The legislation is intended to end what Wyden considers searches into government-mandated “back doors” in devices. He introduced the bill in the 113th Congress last month. “This bill sends a message to leaders of those [intelligence] agencies to stop recklessly pushing for new ways to vacuum up Americans’ private information, and instead put that effort into rebuilding public trust,” Wyden said in his news release last month.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., is officially the chairman of the Commerce Committee, ratified by the Senate, he said in a news release Thursday. Thune was ranking member in the last Congress and was widely expected to take over as chairman. He said there will be six subcommittees, including the Communications and Consumer Protection subcommittees. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., as expected, will lead the Communications Subcommittee. "My chief focus will continue to be the deployment and adoption of broadband in rural America, particularly in Mississippi," Wicker said in a statement Friday. "Broadband has become a true economic engine, and we need to ensure that all Americans reap the benefits of it. To that end, we should focus on fostering innovation and investment in the broadband marketplace, by promoting wireless spectrum availability and reexamining laws on the books to ensure that the dynamic growth Americans have enjoyed continues unimpeded." Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., is a new member of Commerce and will chair the Consumer Protection and Data Security Subcommittee. Subcommittee members weren't announced. Also, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was officially voted Judiciary Committee chairman, as expected, Grassley said in a release.
Reps. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., Randy Forbes, R-Va., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Mimi Walters, R-Calif., are to be the new Republican members on the House Judiciary IP Subcommittee, said a House Judiciary Committee news release Thursday. The new committee assignments will be confirmed when the full committee has its first organizational meeting in the 114th Congress, said the release. Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., announced last month that all copyright matters will be heard at the full committee level (see 1412050057). Reps. Tom Marino, R-Pa., and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, will remain members of the IP subcommittee, but Marino will be the new chairman of the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee. Farenthold will remain vice chairman of that subcommittee. Reps. Mike Bishop, R-Mich., John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, Dave Trott, R-Mich., and Walters will be the new Republican members of the antitrust subcommittee.