The House Commerce Committee plans to mark up a trio of public safety bills Wednesday: Lulu’s Law (HR-2076), the Emergency Reporting Act (HR-5200) and Kari’s Law Reporting Act (HR-5201). The Communications Subcommittee cleared them Thursday on quick voice votes (see 2601150048). The House Commerce meeting will begin at 10:15 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn, the panel said Friday.

Alpine Group’s Greg Walden, a former House Commerce Committee GOP leader whose clients include NextNav, told us Thursday that he's meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill advocating in favor of the company’s petition for the FCC to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band to enable a “terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (see 2404160043). The Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies and other public safety groups have raised interference concerns about the NextNav proposal (see 2511210022).

States meeting their four-year deadline for BEAD construction and service delivery will need strong coordination between government and ISPs, wrote Sophia Bock and Kathryn de Wit of Pew's Broadband Access Initiative on Wednesday. They said federal lawmakers need to be familiar with their state broadband offices’ final BEAD proposals, including any changes made during NTIA's review and approval.

Best Best localities lawyer Gerry Lederer pushed back Wednesday night against comments from Wireless Infrastructure Association CEO Patrick Halley that the American Broadband Deployment Act (HR-2289) represents a “partnership between industry and local government” aimed at easing connectivity permitting processes (see 2601090064). The House Commerce Committee in December advanced HR-2289, which combined language from 22 GOP-led connectivity permitting bills, by a closer-than-expected 26-24 party-line vote (see 2512030031). It would, in part, set a 150-day shot clock for states and localities to approve new deployments and a 90-day window for modifications to existing infrastructure.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on Wednesday refiled the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act to revamp the FCC’s licensing processes. The bill would set a one-year deadline for the FCC to fully evaluate a satellite license application. It would also direct the FCC to issue performance requirements for satellite licensees to meet on space safety and orbital debris, as well as cap the length of foreign satellite systems’ U.S. licenses at 15 years. The House failed to pass a previous version of the measure during the last Congress amid a jurisdictional fight between the House Commerce and Science committees (see 2307260037).

The House Communications Subcommittee set a Thursday markup session on advancing the Next Generation 911 Act (HR-6505) and five other public safety communications bills. HR-6505 would set up federal grants to pay for NG911 technology upgrades but doesn’t include a defined amount of proposed funding. A previous iteration of the measure in the last Congress allocated $15 billion for the tech upgrades (see 2303240067). Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and other Republicans have since filed the Supporting U.S. Critical Connectivity and Economic Strategy and Security for BEAD Act (HR-6920/S-3565) to allow states to repurpose non-deployment BEAD funding for NG911 and other purposes. The House Communications meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday.

Center for American Rights President Daniel Suhr wouldn’t confirm or deny Monday night whether he will be among the witnesses at a yet-to-be-scheduled Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the FCC’s 39% national TV station audience reach cap (see 2601120064). Earlier, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy confirmed he will be testifying in opposition to proposals for the FCC to eliminate or ease the cap (see 2512150046). Senate Commerce is looking at late January for its hearing, but lobbyists said the panel may delay it until February.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture Tuesday on a motion to proceed on the House-passed minibus FY26 package (HR-6938), which would increase NTIA’s annual funding to $50 million (see 2601080070). Thune's cloture filing set up further Senate votes on the measure for later this week. The upper chamber voted 80-13 Monday night to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed.

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy confirmed to us Monday that he will be among the witnesses at an expected Senate Commerce Committee hearing later this month examining the FCC’s national TV station audience reach cap. Ruddy has vocally opposed proposals for the FCC to eliminate or ease the 39% cap (see 2512150046).

Leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees released a compromise FY 2026 minibus spending package (HR-7006) on Sunday night that would mirror President Donald Trump’s request to increase the FCC’s annual funding but decrease the FTC’s allocation (see 2506020056). Meanwhile, the Senate planned to vote Monday night on the motion to invoke cloture on the House-passed minibus FY26 package (HR-6938), which would increase NTIA’s annual funding to $50 million (see 2601080070).