The FCC should reign in its Enforcement Bureau to avoid conflicts with recent and expected U.S. Supreme Court decisions, though the current bureau doesn’t “overreach” as frequently as it did under former Chairman Tom Wheeler, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Thursday during a Wiley panel discussion called “Opportunities to Reform FCC Enforcement." Carr told us, “The jury is still out” on whether the EB under FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel needs reform, he said in an interview after the panel discussion: “We’re not off the rails the way the agency was during the Wheeler tenure."
Providers see no need to continue a Massachusetts probe into incarcerated people’s calling services (IPCS), they said in reply comments Tuesday at the Department of Telecommunications and Cable (docket 11-16). The state made IPCS calls free last year (see 2308090063), “resolving any rate-related issues that Petitioners originally claimed justified initiation of the investigation,” said Securus. “Petitioners’ unverified equipment availability concerns and related complaints seek to raise new issues that do not warrant continuation of this proceeding.” ViaPath agreed that the free calls law means the proceeding should end. However, in March 27 comments, petitioners -- who identified themselves as recipients of collect calls from prisoners -- flagged continuing problems with prison communications after the 2023 law. “Concerns remain that the infrastructure provided by [IPCS] providers must be sufficient to account for increased calling volume with free calls." For example, the group hasn’t verified that calling-enabled tablets are available everywhere, petitioners said. Also, some have complained about the quality of Wi-Fi and headphones provided with Securus tablets, it said.
House Commerce Committee GOP leaders said Wednesday they’ve opened an investigation into recent claims of pro-Democratic Party bias at NPR. Several congressional Republicans filed or are eyeing legislation aimed at ending NPR’s federal funding in response to the bias reports, including the Defund NPR Act (HR-8083) (see 2404190060). Past attempts at halting NPR's portion of CPB federal funding have failed, including a bid during the FY 2024 cycle by Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas (see 2311030069). The House Commerce Oversight Subcommittee summoned NPR CEO Katherine Maher to testify at a May 8 hearing. Panel leaders want her to respond by May 14 to a range of questions about the political viewpoint balance within the broadcasting network. House Commerce “has concerns about the direction in which NPR may be headed under past and present leadership,” said panel Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and Oversight Chairman Morgan Griffith (Va.). in a Tuesday letter to Maher. “As a taxpayer funded, public radio organization, NPR should focus on fair and objective news reporting that both considers and reflects the views of the larger U.S. population and not just a niche audience.” Committee Republicans also “find it disconcerting that NPR’s coverage of major news in recent years has been so polarized as to preclude any need to uncover the truth,” the lawmakers said: “These have included news stories on matters of national security and importance,” including “the COVID-19 origins investigation” and scrutiny into the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop. “On each of these issues, NPR has been accused of approaching its news reporting with an extreme left-leaning lens,” the Republicans said. NPR didn’t comment.
The White House didn’t pressure social media platform executives to censor COVID-19-related content, former Biden officials told House Judiciary Committee members Wednesday. Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Republicans said the officials' pressure violated the First Amendment. The lawmakers cited numerous examples of tech company employees describing “pressure” from the administration.
TechFreedom urged the FCC not to use an “obscure provision” on digital discrimination, buried deep in the “enormous” Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to “smuggle onerous common-carrier regulations” onto the internet. TechFreedom’s position was detailed as part of an amicus brief Tuesday (docket 24-1179) in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said Wednesday she's talking to a range of lawmakers seeking potential changes to an amended version of her draft Spectrum and National Security Act after the panel pulled Cantwell’s bill and 12 others from a planned Wednesday markup session Tuesday night (see 2404300072). The potential for the spectrum bill to make it into the bipartisan 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act “got precluded weeks ago,” Cantwell told reporters. The Senate voted 89-10 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the FAA bill as a substitute for Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act (HR-3935). Lawmakers are still eyeing other vehicles for allocating stopgap money to keep the FCC’s ailing affordable connectivity program running through the remainder of the year. Those proposals include a bid from Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, that would attach an amendment to the FAA package appropriating ACP $7 billion (see 2405010055).
China-based Hikvision USA answered FCC questions on its proposed plan for compliance with agency rules (see 2308070047) and requested confidential treatment on information filed. The filing notes that Hikvision equipment is sold in the U.S. through distributors and original equipment manufacturers and provides data on its marketing. The data was redacted from the filing, posted Tuesday in docket 21-352.
Rather than the FCC requiring reviews for each mission undertaken on an in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing mission, numerous ISAM interests are pushing the agency to consider a blanket license approach. In docket 22-271 comments this week, numerous parties also questioned the FCC's authority over ISAM and whether it's drifting far from its spectrum oversight role. Commissioners, on a 5-0 vote, approved an ISAM licensing NPRM in February (see 2402150053).
The Senate Communications Subcommittee has plans for following up the Commerce Committee’s Wednesday markup of the draft Spectrum and National Security Act (see 2404250061) with a Thursday hearing eyeing the future of federal affordable broadband programs. Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., released a revised version of her draft spectrum bill Friday night as a substitute amendment that increases funding it would loan the FCC to keep the affordable broadband program running through the end of FY 2024. The new bill offers $7 billion, up $2 billion from the original proposal. That puts Cantwell’s legislation in line with the ACP Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565), which also proposes $7 billion in stopgap funding. Cantwell’s revised spectrum bill also includes language from the Improving Minority Participation and Careers in Telecommunications Act to create an NTIA program to distribute money to historically Black, tribal and minority-serving colleges and universities to develop telecom sector job training (see 2108020061). Cantwell's bill proposes loaning NTIA $200 million for the program. Senate Communications’ Thursday hearing will include testimony from New Street’s Blair Levin and Kathryn de Wit, director-Pew Charitable Trusts broadband access initiative. Also set to testify: Economic Policy Innovation Center CEO Paul Winfree and New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion’s Jennifer Case Nevarez. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.
Industry groups largely questioned the wisdom of using the voluntary cyber mark program for IoT devices, approved in March, to further clamp down on international security threats. But the proposals also received some support from the Internet Protocol Video Market (IPVM) and Whirlpool. FCC commissioners approved 5-0 a Further NPRM, along with the implementing order, asking about software and hardware from countries of national security concern and whether data from U.S. citizens will be stored abroad (see 2403140034). Comments were posted Thursday in docket 23-239.