Sununu Hints Solutions Possible for FCC Nominees, E-911
Sen. Sununu (R-N.H.) put a hold on the candidacies of FCC nominees Michael Copps and Deborah Tate to press Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) to resolve a fight over the VoIP E-911 bill, said Senate Democratic and Republican sources. The fight centers on language involving waivers for companies that can’t comply with a requirement to provide all the 911 coverage required in the bill, which cleared the committee in early Nov. (CD Nov. 3 p11). Some public safety groups want the waiver language removed -- or at least eased -- but efforts at compromise faltered at the committee level, sources said.
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Stevens was irked by the hold on the nominations. Asked after attending Republican policy lunches Tues. if he saw the hold as Sununu’s way of seeking action on the E-911 bill, Stevens responded: “There are a series of holds… Isn’t that too bad? We have nominees who have been cleared unanimously by our committee. They ought to be allowed to be voted on.”
Passage of the E-911 bill “should have been easy,” a lobbyist said. The measure moved through Congress with little problem until about a month ago, when APCO and the Fraternal Order of Police (FoP) began opposing it, a lobbyist said. The public service community opposition caused Sen. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) to place a hold on the bill. That resulted in the seemingly unrelated hold on FCC nominees, which Hill insiders say is a common political ploy to focus attention on reaching compromise over a bill’s contested provisions. Putting a hold on FCC commissioners “makes everyone want to work to move the bill forward” and remove the FCC hold, they said.
Sununu strongly backs the E-911 bill. “I don’t view this as a complication or a showdown,” he said after the policy lunches. “It’s just a case where there are multiple issues on the table that the committee staff is working on.” He added: “They've been very cooperative in working through whatever details remain. I think we can absolutely complete work on a number of outstanding issues and I would hope the nominees would be a part of that.”
S-1063 would require the FCC to waive 911 and E-911 requirements for “a provider of IP-enabled voice service [who] demonstrates that it is not technically or operationally feasible” to comply -- for example due to difficulties with the provider’s “portable or nomadic” service. A waiver would last no longer than 12 months at a time and could be limited by geographic area, the bill said. The FCC would have to act within 45 days of receiving a request.
In the FCC confirmation hearing (CD Dec 14 p1), Sununu voiced outrage at “punitive” Commission actions in forbidding VoIP providers from marketing their services if they can’t comply with E-911. That’s discriminatory, he said, since wireline and wireless companies that can’t provide E-911 aren’t excluded from the market.
“None of this is surprising,” said a lobbyist familiar with the nomination process. “In the end-game, holds on nominations are all part of it. But they'll get done. It’s part of the Senate political game.”