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.
The FCC has expanded its role in national security enforcement by imposing a fine on Marlink over its non-U.S. employees' access to its domestic infrastructure and customer data (see 2601080025), Morgan Lewis lawyers blogged last week. They said companies in the U.S. telecommunications and information and communications technology and services sectors that have national security mitigation agreements will need to carefully review their compliance frameworks and make sure they're adhering to those obligations. The FCC's enforcement action "sets a strong precedent" that commitments under the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector "are not optional and will be actively monitored and enforced." It also shows that administrative and timing requirements in mitigation agreements are enforceable conditions, the lawyers added.
Paramount appoints Dennis Cinelli, ex-Scale AI, as CFO, replacing interim CFO Andrew Warren, who continues as a strategic adviser … NARUC names: Emile Thompson, D.C. Public Service Commission, as chair of the Committee on Critical Infrastructure; Staci Rubin, Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, as board member; Sheri Haugen-Hoffart, North Dakota PSC, as vice chair of the Subcommittee on Pipeline Safety; Kristy Nieto, Wisconsin PSC, as co-vice chair of the Committee on Consumers and the Public Interest; and Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, as chair of the Staff Subcommittee for Public Information Officers.
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).
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.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., is continuing to push for some of the public broadcasting funding that Congress rescinded last year to return as part of an FY 2026 appropriations minibus bill currently under negotiation (see 2601080070), but lawmakers and observers see diminishing chances that will succeed. Meanwhile, Congress continued Wednesday night and Thursday to advance separate FY26 appropriations packages that would fund the FCC and NTIA.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., told us that he's aiming to have a final figure for the amount of funding to include in the Next Generation 911 Act (HR-6505) before the full Commerce Committee marks up the measure. As expected (see 2601130072), the subpanel on Thursday advanced HR-6505 and five other communications bills on bipartisan voice votes: the Public Safety Communications Act (HR-1519), Lulu’s Law (HR-2076), the Emergency Reporting Act (HR-5200), Kari’s Law Reporting Act (HR-5201) and the Mystic Alerts Act (HR-7022).
Questions remain about the future of the FCC’s voluntary cyber trust mark program, which commissioners approved 5-0 in March 2024 (see 2403140034), because of concerns that progress has stalled after UL Solutions dropped out as lead administrator. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr earlier raised concerns about UL’s purported ties to China. Last week, the agency asked for applications from companies willing to replace UL Solutions, which are due Jan. 28.
New Jersey senators are proposing to create a rural broadband infrastructure grant program to expand and improve the state's broadband infrastructure and provide service in rural areas. Under a bill (SB-325) introduced Tuesday, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority would oversee the program, and the grant amounts would be capped at $75,000 per project, with the applicant to contribute private capital of at least 25% of the value of the grant. The legislation, whose primary sponsors are Douglas Steinhardt (R) and Troy Singleton (D), would establish the fund using $2.5 million in federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds. It was referred to the Senate Economic Growth Committee.
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).