Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., said Thursday night he has secured commitments from chamber leaders to move forward on allocating $6 billion in stopgap funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program amid last-minute talks to pass an FAA reauthorization package. The Senate was still voting Thursday night on passing an amended version of the FAA Reauthorization Act (HR-3935) that doesn’t include the ACP/rip-and-replace language Lujan and others sought, as expected.

“There’s a commitment to move in such a way that there will be votes” to allocate more money to ACP, which is set to see its funding run out at the end of May, Lujan told reporters Thursday night. He had been talking with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other leaders on the floor minutes earlier. Lujan said he had refiled as a standalone measure the ACP/rip-and-replace amendment he previously sought to attach to the FAA package. He denied he was holding up consideration of a House-passed one-week extension of the FAA’s mandate (HR-8289) to secure commitments on his proposal.

Lujan expects the ACP/rip-and-replace measure to come up during a Senate Commerce Committee markup next week, either as a standalone bill or as an amendment to the revised draft Spectrum and National Security Act, which itself proposed funding both FCC programs. The Lujan proposal includes language to modify ACP rules, including subsidy eligibility thresholds. “I’m hoping that they’ll receive bipartisan support and that there’s a solution there,” Lujan said.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and four other senators joined forces Tuesday night to file an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill that would allocate $6 billion to the FCC’s affordable connectivity program for FY 2024 and $3.08 billion to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. Senate leaders were still in talks Tuesday night on what amendments to the FAA package they would allow floor votes on in hopes of securing a time agreement to speed consideration of the measure.

The amendment’s ACP language strikes a compromise with an earlier proposal from Vance and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., that would have allocated $7 billion in stopgap ACP funding for FY24. Welch is cosponsoring the Lujan-led proposal. The amendment appears to mirror several ACP-related elements of a coming congressional Universal Service Fund working group proposal, including an end of the affordability initiative’s $100 device subsidy. It would also alter ACP eligibility rules, including tightening language that confers subsidy eligibility on households with children who attend schools with an Agriculture Department Community Eligibility Provision designation to provide free breakfasts and lunches for all enrolled students.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., signed on as a cosponsor of the amendment, which includes language from his Supporting National Security with Spectrum Act (S-4049) that would offset the additional rip and replace funding by authorizing a reauction of the 197 AWS-3 licenses that Dish and affiliated designated entities returned to the commission last year. Daines previously filed an amendment to the FAA package containing S-4049's text. Former Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) are also cosponsors. Incompas swiftly backed the proposal.

The Senate Commerce Committee is postponing markups of an amended version of the draft Spectrum and National Security Act and other bills that were set for consideration during a Wednesday executive session, the panel announced Tuesday night. Senate Commerce still planned to vote Wednesday on a slate of nominations and will consider the postponed bills at an unspecified later date. A panel spokesperson said the postponement was due to time constraints, including ones related to floor consideration of the FAA Reauthorization Act.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., confirmed to us before Senate Commerce announced the postponement that he planned to vote against the Spectrum and National Security Act, as expected. Panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., was seeking Republican members’ votes in favor of the spectrum bill ahead of the markup session but was already assured of having unanimous support from all 14 Democratic members.

The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing a May 1 vote on the to-be-filed Spectrum and National Security Act from panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., lobbyists told us. A general notice on the Senate Commerce markup session was online Wednesday night but the committee hadn’t formally announced its agenda. It wasn’t certain Wednesday night whether the Spectrum and National Security Act would actually be part of the meeting. The executive session will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. There are five other telecom and tech-focused bills on the docket: the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-275), Network Equipment Transparency Act (S-690), Protecting Kids on Social Media Act (S-1291), Create AI Act (S-2714) and Future of AI Innovation Act (S-4178).

A draft summary of the Spectrum and National Security Act indicates the bill would mirror some elements of a Cantwell proposal for a five-year renewal, through Sept. 30, 2029, of the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority that she got the Congressional Budget Office to evaluate earlier this year. The measure mandates the FCC auction off portions of the upper 12 GHz band in three years, the draft summary said.

The draft legislation wouldn’t authorize sales of other specific bands but directs NTIA and “co-leading agencies” to conduct feasibility assessments of some frequencies. The legislation would mandate the federal government study the 7 and 8 GHz bands “to determine whether more Federal spectrum can be made available for non-Federal use, for shared or exclusive use,” the draft summary said. An assessment of the 37 GHz band would eye it for federal and non-federal use. The measure would require NTIA to establish “national testbeds for dynamic spectrum sharing” and implement a framework for “public-private sector spectrum coordination,” the summary said. It would mandate the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy develop a national spectrum research and development plan.

The Spectrum and National Security Act would allocate “short-term funding” for the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program and $3.08 billion to fully pay back Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program participants, the draft summary said. The legislation would also include money for next-generation 911 tech upgrades and “provides funding for tech hubs, R&D for spectrum technologies, and a grant program to prepare minority students to participate in the telecommunications and spectrum workforce.”

The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act FY 2024 minibus spending bill released early Thursday morning doesn't include stopgap funding for the FCC's affordable connectivity program or the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, as expected. The measure allocates almost $390.2 million to the FCC for FY24 and $425.7 million to the FTC. It also includes $535 million for CPB in FY 2026, turning back House Appropriations Committee Republicans' attempt to end that entity's advance funding.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans a March 21 spectrum policy hearing that will focus at least in part on a potential clean FCC auction mandate renewal in the face of stalled talks on a more comprehensive package, panel Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday. Senate Commerce hadn’t yet formally noticed the hearing Thursday afternoon. Cantwell has been eyeing a five-to-seven-year FCC reauthorization and has received a score on the proposal from the Congressional Budget Office, communications policy lobbyists told us.

A clean FCC reauthorization would be in line with Cantwell’s pursuit of a slimmed-down measure to succeed the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565), which has encountered Senate resistance and hasn’t advanced to the floor since the House Commerce Committee passed it in May. The hearing is likely to also include discussion about the 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act (S-3909), an alternative proposal led by Senate Commerce ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, lobbyists told us.

NTIA has released the implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy. Under the plan, released today, studies for the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands -- top priorities of wireless carriers -- are due to start this month and be completed in October 2026. They would be the last of the bands to see completed studies. A final report on 37.0-37.6 GHz will be due this November and should be the first to be completed.

“The Implementation Plan, which is intended to be a living document, outlines the beginning and expected completion dates of the specific outcomes for each strategic objective in the Strategy,” said an NTIA news release. The work on the band studies “will begin this year, with the technical aspects of studies expected to be completed by the end of next year.”

The Senate reconfirmed Democratic FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and approved Republican commission nominees Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak Thursday night on voice votes, setting the body up to soon return to a 3-2 Democratic majority. The commission hasn't had any Republican members since former Commissioner Christine Wilson departed in March 2023. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., lifted his hold on Ferguson earlier Thursday after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted for Hawley’s Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act (S-3853). Ferguson, Virginia's solicitor general, is a former McConnell aide. The chamber also unanimously confirmed FCC inspector general nominee Fara Damelin, setting up the watchdog office to have its first permanent leader since Congress made it independent of the agency in 2018.

The FCC approved, 3-2, an order reinstating the collection of broadcaster workforce demographic data, with both Republican commissioners dissenting and issuing multipage statements. "We must get our arms around this issue,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who has long pushed for the policy. “As always with good government, we start with data. And data is most effective when it is available to everyone.” By requiring that the data is publicly posted in broadcaster online files, the order will create “a race and gender scorecard for each and every TV and radio broadcast station in the country,” and violate the Constitution, said Commissioner Brendan Carr in his dissent. The order isn't "a radical break outside of this agency’s authority," said Starks. “Reinstatement of the Form 395-B data collection in a publicly available manner is wholly consistent with the equal protection guarantee contained in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” said the order. Collection of data in a publicly available format “remains the best approach” for accurately analyzing workforce trends in broadcasting, the order said. “We will summarily dismiss any petition filed by a third party based on Form 395-B employment data” and “will not use this data as a basis for conducting audits or inquiries,” the order said. Both Carr and Commissioner Nathan Simington said they wouldn’t have opposed an order that kept the data anonymized. If the data collection is purely to inform policy, why does the FCC need to publicly disclose it? Simington asked. “Because the public disclosure of attributable demographic employment data this Order implements predictably serves to increase pressure on broadcast licensees to engage in racially conscious hiring,” he said. Prior to the order's release, NAB President Curtis LeGeyt told us broadcasters “are committed to ensuring our newsrooms reflect the diversity of the communities we serve." Broadcasters "encourage the Commission to partner with us on this important work to truly move the ball forward, rather than to assume that reporting alone somehow meets the moment," LeGeyt said.

A California appeals court reversed a lower court’s decision to delay a state agency’s enforcement of California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) regulations Friday.

California’s 3rd District Court of Appeal vacated the June decision of the California Superior Court in Sacramento, which had granted a California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) petition and stayed any California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) rules for 12 months after they become final. The lower court must “enter a new order denying such relief and otherwise considering any non-moot issue concerning the propriety of compelling more prompt development of regulations,” ruled the appeals court in case C099130. “Assuming no such issue remains, the superior court shall otherwise enter judgment in favor of the Agency and against the Chamber.”

The privacy agency could have started enforcing CPRA rules July 1, but the lower court’s decision meant rules adopted March 29, wouldn’t take effect for one year. “Because there is no ‘explicit and forceful language’ mandating that the Agency is prohibited from enforcing the Act until (at least) one year after the Agency approves final regulations, the trial court erred in concluding otherwise,” wrote 3rd District Justice Elena Duarte.

“We are pleased with the decision,” said CPPA Executive Director Ashkan Soltani. “This ruling ensures all aspects of the regulations adopted by the California Privacy Protection Agency last year are again enforceable, just as the voters intended when they enacted Proposition 24.” CPPA Enforcement Deputy Director Michael Macko added, “The California voters didn’t intend for businesses to pick and choose which privacy rights to honor.” Agency enforcers stand “ready to take it from here,” he said. CalChamber didn't comment by our deadline.

The FCC has made “significant progress” in its handling of the affordable connectivity program during 2022, but “improvements were needed” in measuring and providing public transparency on grant recipients’ spending of program money, the Office of Inspector General said in a Jan. 22 memo to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners that publicly circulated Tuesday. Some congressional Republican leaders have raised concerns about the FCC’s handling of ACP amid a push to provide the program stopgap funding to keep it running through the end of this year. The Wireline Bureau said earlier this month it would freeze new enrollments Feb. 8 as part of the program's wind-down process.

A final report on the OIG audit, which circulated with the FCC commissioners’ memo, said the FCC “established program goals and performance measures” for ACP, but “the performance results were not assessed with specific performance indicators and quarterly milestones for the period under audit. The FCC would benefit from a formally documented performance plan with objective(s) and measurable and quantifiable goals for the ACP program.” Kearney & Co., which conducted the audit on OIG’s behalf, “did not identify errors with the FCC or [the Universal Service Administrative Company] controls established to determine participating providers’ eligibility,” the report said: “However, we found that USAC did not have effective controls in place to ensure that manual reviews of subscriber eligibility documents resulted in correct subscriber eligibility decisions. Kearney also found that the FCC and USAC don't have an effective process for determining if providers are maintaining proper documentation that supports reimbursement claims.”

The FCC “established a process for consumers to file the ACP-related complaints for the FCC to investigate complaints and for participating providers to inform subscribers of how to file a complaint; however, the FCC did not publish any consumer complaint reports,” OIG said. “Additionally, the FCC did not create a policy or procedure related to the ACP complaints process.” The commission conducted outreach to promote ACP, but “the methods of outreach, other than grants, were not designed to gather information used to determine effectiveness and were employed prior to FCC establishing monitoring baselines for” the program, OIG said: “Also, not all of the other outreach methods used targeted low income or under- and un-served consumers.”

The FCC “partially” concurred with the OIG’s findings but raised concerns about “some audit statements” and some of the methodology Kearney used to determine that 10 out of the 406 sample ACP reimbursement claims from participating ISPs “could not substantiate” claims. Two of the providers Kearney found “did not respond to requests … stated that they were not contacted by the auditors, and thus not given a chance to provide responses to the auditors in accordance with the auditing standards,” said FCC Managing Director Mark Stephens in a memo attached to the OIG report. “The Commission relayed these facts to the auditor and sought a response. We remain concerned the auditors finalized the Audit Report without allowing time to ensure with confidence the two providers were aware of their response obligations to address the auditor’s concerns.” The FCC “has taken steps to ensure compliance” with both providers, he said.

The finding about the FCC’s outreach program “ignores the underlying challenges, including strict statutory mandates and other requirements, that the Commission overcame in setting up a grant program, and the resulting success of enrolling over 22 million subscribers in the program by the end of 2023,” Stephens said. The FCC “has also implemented a dedicated ACP consumer complaint process and released ACP consumer complaint data to the public in accordance with requirements.”

The FCC is adopting, 3-2 along party lines today, an NPRM on circulation seeking comment on a requirement MVPDs refund subscribers affected by programming blackouts due to retransmission consent negotiations, a 10th-floor official tells us. Commissioners in December adopted, 4-0, a companion NPRM requiring MVPDs to notify the agency of blackouts due to failed retrans talks. Commissioner Nathan Simington expressed skepticism at the legal basis cited for the reporting requirement.