House Commerce Plans 2-day Markup of FTC Process, Tech, Telecom Bills
Legislation aimed at changing FTC procedures and processes, prohibiting companies from gagging negative online customer reviews, preventing the use of illegal software by ticket brokers and protecting the rights of amateur radio operators will be the focus of a two-day…
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markup by the House Commerce Committee. It will convene Wednesday at 5 p.m. for opening statements and reconvene Thursday at 10 a.m., in 2123 Rayburn. The committee will consider four bills, which were advanced June 9 by the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee. They include the FTC Process and Transparency Reform Act (HR-5510), which would make numerous changes to FTC enforcement actions, reviews and other procedures. Democratic members have slammed some changes, which they describe as deregulatory (see 1605240042 and 1606080052). The subcommittee also approved two bipartisan bills that will be considered by the full committee: the Consumer Review Fairness Act (HR-5111), which would bar companies' from including clauses in their terms of service that would prevent consumers from publishing critical online reviews, and the Better On-line Ticket Sales Act (HR-5104), which would bar use of software that buys up large amounts of event tickets and resells them at higher prices. The full committee will also consider the bipartisan Amateur Radio Parity Act (HR-1301), which was approved by the House Communications Subcommittee in February (see 1602110050). The bill would require the FCC to adopt new rules to ensure that amateur radio operators could use their equipment in deed-restricted communities.