A California proposal to require 72-hour backup power at many cellsites would help in wildfires and public safety power shutoffs, local government officials told us this week. The California Public Utilities Commission may vote July 16 on a proposed decision giving wireless providers 12 months to deploy generators in tier 2 and 3 high-fire-threat districts (see 2006110071). Generators that last days are better than batteries that last hours, and localities don't mind giving some leeway to industry in places where deploying is difficult, the local officials said.
Telecom, media and technology companies eager to respond to the Black Lives Matter protests should do more than release statements, experts told us this and last week: Companies should reflect on their own cultures to ensure hiring, retention and promotion practices align with values they espouse.
It appears there are enough votes for the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance bipartisan, Section 230 legislation for combating child exploitation, Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told us Wednesday (see 2003110070). If Earn It Act (see 2003050066) co-sponsor Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is in favor, Graham will move to a vote: “I think we’ve got the votes, and I’m going to sit down with Sen. Blumenthal right after we do the policing [legislation] stuff, and if he’s ready to go, I’m ready to go.”
Former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and current Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel are considered among front-runners to take the FCC chair if Joe Biden is elected president in November. Industry officials cautioned in interviews this and last week that when the White House changes hands, the selection is usually a surprise and someone with ties to the new president. Biden also knows a lot of people after decades in Washington.
President Donald Trump’s administration and the all-Democratic House Rural Broadband Task Force are teeing up proposals that include connectivity money, Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists told us. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and some lawmakers, meanwhile, used a Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on the commission’s spectrum auctions program (see 2006160030) to highlight the need for additional telecom funding as part of COVID-19 aid legislation, including for broadband.
Louisiana legislators are trying again on a bill to spur rural broadband by electric cooperatives, after Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) vetoed a bill last week that he argued would restrict broadband access in violation of the 1996 Telecom Act. Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley advised against SB-406’s restrictions in a Zoom videoconference a few weeks ago with the Louisiana governor’s broadband commission and state Sen. Beth Mizell (R), the NARUC president told us Tuesday.
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly got relatively little attention from Senate Commerce Committee members during a Tuesday hearing on his renomination. What attention he did receive was largely positive, with Democrats training their fire on other nominees. President Donald Trump renominated O’Rielly in March to a term ending June 30, 2024. O’Rielly’s current term ended last June, and he can remain until the beginning of 2021. O’Rielly has a good chance of confirmation (see 2004030072).
Facebook’s handling of President Donald Trump’s recent post about looting (see 2006100027) is dividing the Senate along party lines, leading Republicans to examine amendments to Section 230, as expected (see 2005290058). Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said in interviews they are exploring proposals for altering the tech industry’s liability shield.
A Tuesday Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on the FCC’s spectrum auctions program was a venue for subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., to again dig into his longstanding concerns about the plan for 3.7-4.2 GHz C band, as expected (see 2005270034). Kennedy and other subpanel members discussed the issue throughout three rounds of questions for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Kennedy forecasted another hearing soon. Pai and some subcommittee members highlighted the need for additional telecom funding as part of COVID-19 aid (see 2006160049).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will speak about 5G at a Wells Fargo investors conference Thursday. Pai generally has shied away from Wall Street meetings for most of his chairmanship, though other commissioners do analyst meetings more frequently. The Pai remarks are closed to the news media but expected to be webcast the next day by the FCC, Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche said.