Net neutrality legislation in the House has begun slowly picking up supporters, for both partisan bills introduced earlier this year. The Democrats’ Open Internet Preservation Act racked up 31 co-sponsors, most recently Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., on Thursday. HR-3982 proposes to restore the FCC net neutrality rules that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated in January. Meanwhile, the Republicans’ Internet Freedom Act is up to 34 co-sponsors, with five Republicans signing on Thursday. HR-4070 would void the FCC net neutrality order the court vacated and prevent the agency from reinstating any such regulations. Neither bill has any support from the opposite party. Given this split, lobbyists have told us not to expect any net neutrality measure to pass into law (CD Feb 3 p1).

The Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization draft earned tentative support from satellite companies and broadcasters after its release late Thursday (CD March 7 p7). House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., released the draft, rumors about the contents of which had worried broadcasters in the days leading up to its release (CD Feb 28 p1). Dish and DirecTV issued a joint statement calling the draft “an important first step” and pointed to how it “addresses one of the most egregious forms of retransmission consent abuse -- joint negotiating agreements among broadcasters.” NAB is “extremely encouraged” and said it’s a draft bill NAB “is pleased to support,” despite hopes for a clean reauthorization bill, said President Gordon Smith. “NAB appreciates lawmakers’ recognition that the FCC should look at broadcaster sharing agreements in the context of a holistic review of media ownership rules before taking any action on the issue.” The draft unexpectedly included language limiting FCC action on sharing agreements until it completed its quadrennial review -- a move that flew in the race of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s intentions also announced Thursday. Democrats had widely praised Wheeler for his announcement. Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said she is glad Wheeler shares her view “that our retransmission consent regime is broken and in need of reform” and praised his proposal. House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., welcomed the FCC decision and “strongly” backs the “proposal to bring broadcast television’s attribution rules for Joint Services Agreements in line with [those for] broadcast radio,” he said in a statement. “I am also pleased with the Chairman’s plan to examine shared services agreements. While there are many instances where broadcasters sharing resources is appropriate, such sharing arrangements should not be used to circumvent the FCC’s ownership rules and undermine localism, competition and diversity over the public airwaves.” Waxman praised the rules as striking “a good balance.” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., favorably praised the FCC announcement for recognizing what he sees as “misuse of joint sales agreements and shared services agreements by broadcasters” and will consider further steps the FCC and Congress can take. Democrats have not yet commented on the STELA draft, despite inquiries.

Use the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process to revamp cable law, wrote Free State Foundation Scholar Seth Cooper in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/1fJXbNr). “STELA reauthorization legislation constitutes one plausible vehicle to clean out outdated basic tier cable regulations,” Cooper said, slamming basic tier and must-buy regulation. “Congress should keep an open mind about using STELA as a route to regulatory reform.” Cooper disputed the pushes from broadcasters and certain members of Congress to keep STELA reauthorization clean: “Prior STELA reauthorization legislation included a variety of provisions touching on video services. For example, the 2010 bill reauthorizing STELA included directives to the Copyright Office regarding filing fees, audits, and reports. It likewise permitted carriage of low-power broadcast TV stations throughout local markets and modified cable statutory licenses to address carriage of multicast broadcast TV streams.” Cooper praised two video bills that Free State has supported: The Next Generation Television Marketplace Act (HR-3720) of Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and the Consumer Choice in Video Devices Act (HR-3196) of Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and points to certain of their provisions as ideal for STELA. The latest STELA draft, in fact, has been seen to incorporate the video priorities of both Latta and Scalise. The subcommittee is believed to have removed, as of Wednesday, a provision that would have allowed cable operators to take broadcast stations off the basic tier, due to Republican member and broadcaster opposition (CD March 6 p1). Congress should keep an “open mind,” Cooper recommended.

The White House’s proposed budget for fiscal-year 2015 would include $375.38 million for the FCC and include provisions changing the USF program, create resources for “mission-critical systems to ensure that they are operational during a Continuity of Operations (COOP) event,” make a Do-Not-Call registry for phone numbers that public safety answering points use, get new equipment for the Enforcement Bureau and back information technology upgrades for the whole FCC, according to a document posted by the FCC (http://fcc.us/1hNuRs2). It would ask for spectrum license user fees, which NAB and CTIA object to. “The Administration proposes to direct that the FCC use either auction or fee authority to repurpose spectrum frequencies between 1675-1680 megahertz for wireless broadband use by 2017, subject to sharing arrangements with Federal weather satellites,” the budget document said. “Currently, the spectrum is being used for radiosondes (weather balloons). A new weather satellite that is scheduled for launch in 2015 will operate in adjacent frequencies. If this proposal is enacted, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would move the radiosondes to another frequency, allowing the spectrum to be repurposed for commercial use with limited protection zones for the remaining weather satellite downlinks.” The spectrum probably wouldn’t be repurposed for commercial use without this proposal, which would raise $230 million over 10 years, the budget said. The budget would include $1 million for upgrading FCC Form 477, to “drive an evolution of the national broadband map to further improve its utility as a key resource of broadband deployment for consumers, policymakers, researchers, economists, and others,” it said. The FCC would get $10.88 million to revamp USF. “More resources are required to continue the Commission’s work to modernize USF, implement reforms, increase its oversight of the newly-reformed programs and provide for critical enforcement of the rules,” the budget said. “This request will support funding for additional staff including, attorneys, economists, IT specialists, program managers, and technologists.” Congress must approve a budget.

A House Democrat praised House passage of a bill that includes a provision she backed on data centers, part of the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2014. Data “must be stored and processed at vast data centers which are highly energy inefficient, wasting money and precious energy resources,” said Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., in a statement Wednesday. She said the legislation “will save the federal government energy and money by requiring the use of energy-efficient and energy-saving technologies, specifically in federal data centers.”

House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., supported HR-2126, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act, on the House floor Tuesday. “Title III of this bill is legislation I authored with [Republican] Congressman Mike Rogers of Michigan to make the federal government’s IT and data centers more energy efficient,” Eshoo said. “By requiring federal agencies to utilize the best technologies and energy management strategies, our legislation will reduce the federal government’s energy use, save taxpayer dollars, and set the standard for the private sector.” The House was expected to vote on the bill late Tuesday, and her office expected the measure to pass. “The legislation also creates an Open Data Initiative to make federal data center energy usage available in a way that empowers further data center innovation, while protecting national security interests,” Eshoo said.

TVFreedom began focusing its advertising on a “clean” satellite reauthorization this week, as groups sent letters to Congress asking for that. The TVFreedom coalition, formed earlier this year, represents various broadcast interests, including NAB. From its inception it advertised in Capitol Hill publications, but it began explicitly calling for a clean reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act in various Capitol Hill publications this week, days after NAB and TVFreedom announced opposition to a rumored STELA draft being developed in the House Communications Subcommittee. Broadcasters are unhappy with the proposals removing broadcast channels from the basic tier, in particular, as well as others that they say amount to a gift to the cable industry. “Tell Congress: We need a clean STELA reauthorization,” said an ad on The Hill’s website. In a Politico newsletter, a TVFreedom ad said, “We need a clean STELA reauthorization, not another vehicle to hike consumers’ cable bills. Pay-TV is trying to gouge consumers by taking the channels they watch most out of their basic package. They are ripping people off to boost record profits.” A spokesman for TVFreedom confirmed the explicit mention of STELA in the advertising is a new move as of this week, saying STELA is an “increased priority for us” after last week’s revelations. STELA is to expire at the end of the year. Other lobbyists have questioned broadcasters’ interpretation and have suggested the rumored STELA draft is actually quite narrow in scope and what should have been expected. The Americans for Prosperity, the American Conservative Union and TVFreedom member the Hispanic Institute sent letters to the subcommittee this week backing what they would consider clean STELA reauthorization. “We urge you to oppose attaching ancillary provisions outside of the original scope and intent of this legislation,” said the letter from the Americans for Prosperity. “Our concern is that changing the way that broadcasters negotiate with cable and satellite television providers would stray from the original intention of the law, as well as favor one private party at the expense of another.” STELA is hardly the “proper legislative vehicle to carry any kind of substantial changes,” the American Conservative Union said in its letter, suggesting instead that the House Republican leaders address such proposals as part of a broader communications law overhaul. The Hispanic Institute is “disappointed to see the interests and profits of pay-TV providers coming before the Hispanic consumer,” it said in its letter to Congress.

Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian will brief the Congressional Privacy Caucus at 10 a.m. Wednesday in 2218 Rayburn, it said in a news release. It said her remarks will focus on designing products to promote digital privacy. Reps. Joe Barton, R-Tex., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., co-chair the caucus, which discussed data security and data breach notifications at its last briefing with FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen, public interest representatives and retail industry officials.

The FTC would receive 1.3 percent less funding under the White House’s FY 2015 budget proposal, released Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1kVbb6b). The budget puts the FTC’s 2014 estimated budget at $298 million, slightly above the 2015 proposed $293 million outlay. But the 2015 proposal is still higher than the actual $279 million 2013 budget, according to the White House proposal. The budget also “proposes to increase the Hart-Scott-Rodino fees and index them for the percentage annual change in the gross national product,” and create a new merger fee category for mergers valued at over $1 billion. The fee changes would take effect in 2016, according to the proposal. The FTC did not comment on the proposed budget.

Public Knowledge said it supports the Transparency in Assertion of Patents Act (S-2049). The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., would extend the FTC’s authority to regulate patent assertion entities’ use of pre-litigation demand letters. Public Knowledge advocated for Senate Commerce Committee action on demand letters at a November hearing, and S-2049 “implements many of the reforms that we advocated in our testimony at the hearing,” said Charles Duan, Public Knowledge’s director-Patent Reform Project, in a statement Friday. The Senate Commerce Committee is to vote on S-2049 during an executive session Wednesday.