The Senate Commerce Committee may have a public safety hearing Sept. 23, an APCO spokeswoman said. It’s expected that the hearing would discuss a bill (S-3756) by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., that would give the 700 MHz D-block to public safety. The committee didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday. A spokeswoman earlier had said the committee was considering a public safety hearing in the fall (CD Aug 25 p2).
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
Three Democratic co-sponsors of a proposed House resolution calling on Congress to decide the FCC’s regulatory authority over broadband hadn’t before publicly expressed reservations about reclassification. HRes-311 has been signed by 64 members. But 254 House members, including 81 Democrats, have publicly opposed commission reclassification of broadband services under Title II of the Communications Act. Resolution co-sponsors John Boccieri, D-Ohio, John Garamendi, D-Calif., and Ralph Hall, D-Texas, didn’t sign previous letters to the FCC about reclassification. Forty-three senators, including five Democrats, have publicly urged a congressional solution.
September is expected to be busy for public safety issues in Washington, but time and funding concerns are working against passing any legislation this year, said public safety and telecom industry officials. Legislation to set up a $70 million NTIA grant competition for public safety communications devices (CD July 30 p5) may have a better shot than bills involving the D-block, they said. The House and Senate have introduced nearly identical bills, HR-5907 and S-3731, sponsored by Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and neither has generated opposition.
Largely dismissing an April plea from the U.S. Copyright Office to cast the Performance Rights Act (HR-848) in a more favorable light, GAO maintained that the bill would raise costs for broadcasters and boost revenue for the recording industry. A GAO report dated August 2010 and released Friday reached the same conclusion as a February preliminary report made public in June. That earlier version had prompted an April rebuke from the Copyright Office (CD June 8 p11).
"A well-grounded but flexible governance structure is critical to the future of public safety communications if it is to be national in scope, interoperable, and cost-effective,” said the Congressional Research Service in a report dated Wednesday. But such a governance structure “does not exist,” the Service said. Congress gave the FCC and Department of Homeland Security authority to act on behalf of public safety, but it “would appear that neither agency has the needed depth of experience or resources to develop and deploy a leading-edge broadband network in a timely, cost-efficient manner.” Public safety bills introduced so far would increase the FCC’s powers and responsibilities, placing Homeland Security in an advisory role, the Congressional Research Service said. “Governance of the public safety network at a national level would be dependant almost entirely on the FCC and its willingness to write and enforce regulations.” After 9/11, Congress passed several laws empowering Homeland Security, the service noted. “By choosing to focus on interim solutions, the Department seems to have passed on the opportunity to provide the needed leadership and planning to move public safety toward a next-generation communications network.” An FCC spokesman said the report “missed important aspects that would shed light on the considerable expertise that the FCC brings to this issue.” The report’s author didn’t talk to senior agency officials, he said. However, the paper “affirms much of what the FCC has been calling for over the last six months: a well-grounded, flexible governance system which does not currently exist.” The DHS didn’t comment.
Net neutrality would trade a supporter for an opponent if former HP CEO Carly Fiorina takes the seat of Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in this November’s election. Political analysts consider Boxer’s seat to be at risk, and the telecom industry is watching the race closely (CD Aug 20 p5). “Carly opposes net neutrality and thinks government intervention and more regulation will not be helpful where the Internet is concerned,” a Fiorina campaign spokeswoman told us this week. In a speech last week to the Technology Policy Institute, Fiorina said it would be “bad public policy” for the FCC to reclassify broadband transport under Title II of the Communications Act. Meanwhile, a Boxer spokeswoman told us the Senate Commerce Committee member “strongly supports net neutrality and she believes the FCC has a role to play in ensuring an open Internet.” Boxer hasn’t commented specifically on reclassification. Boxer doesn’t plan to comment on that or any other proposal related to the FCC’s broadband authority until they are finalized for FCC rulemaking, a Senate staffer told us. In the 109th and 110th Congresses, Boxer was an original cosponsor of bills by Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, that would have given the FCC enforcement authority over net neutrality principles.
The Commerce Department plans a meeting Wednesday on public safety broadband, an NTIA spokeswoman confirmed. The event, which isn’t a public forum, is “part of an ongoing outreach effort by the Administration to discuss with stakeholders what’s needed in order to develop a nationwide, interoperable wireless broadband network for public safety,” she said. “This meeting in particular will be to learn more about some of the technical requirements necessary for such a network as well as some of the applications today that are being utilized to serve public safety.” The meeting isn’t about the D-block, a source said. Attendees may include the White House Chief Technology Officer, the Commerce and Justice Departments, and senior executives from network operators and broadband vendors, said wireless industry analyst Andrew Seybold in a blog post dated Aug. 23. It doesn’t appear that any public safety officials have been invited, he said.
The U.S. must preserve network neutrality, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said at a broadband summit Tuesday at the University of Minnesota. Genachowski said he still feels “very strongly” about enforcing open Internet principles. He also urged Congress to speedily fund a nationwide, interoperable wireless broadband network for public safety.
Cellphone tax law, public safety, cybersecurity and universal service are among issues expected to get Congressional attention when members return from recess next month, Hill and industry officials said. But with elections in early November, Congress is quickly running out of time to finish pending legislation on those and other matters. “On telecom, the final few weeks will mostly be about laying the groundwork for a busy 2010-11 in areas like spectrum, privacy and broadband regulation,” said Concept Capital analyst Paul Gallant.
Congress shouldn’t require mobile devices to include FM-radio chips, six manufacturers and wireless service providers said in a letter Monday to House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders of both parties. CTIA, CEA, TechAmerica, the Telecommunications Industry Association, Rural Cellular Association and Information Technology Industry Council questioned the NAB’s and MusicFirst’s right to make the proposal in the groups’ performance royalty talks. The CEA and CTIA had objected to any legislation sought by radio broadcasters and music labels requiring chips in cellphones (CD Aug 16 p5).