Congressional GOP leaders demanded Thursday that the FCC and other independent agencies adhere strictly to its narrowed leeway of interpreting federal laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision and other recent rulings that rein in federal agencies (see 2407080039). House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky pressed the FCC, FTC and Commerce Department to understand the “limitations” Loper “set on your authority” given it overruled the Chevron doctrine. Meanwhile, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr pooh-poohed critics of Loper who argue it hamstrings regulatory agencies. Communications-focused lawyers at an Incompas event eyed a range of legal challenges to recent FCC actions that could face improved prospects because of Loper.
Small wireless carrier Smith Bagley urged the FCC to approve a waiver that Carolina West Wireless sought allowing it to receive supplemental high-cost USF support. Carolina West highlights a problem that many small carriers face, Smith Bagley said. “In many sparsely populated areas, new cell towers deliver high-quality voice and data services, both fixed and mobile, to citizens who are among the last in the nation to receive them,” a filing posted this week in docket 09-51 said: “Small wireless carriers like Carolina West are carrying out the task that the FCC, by way of Congress, seeks to complete -- providing rural citizens with advanced voice and data services that are reasonably comparable to those available in urban areas.”
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated for a commissioner vote a long-awaited order (see 2404180050) finalizing rules for cellular vehicle-to-everything use of the 5.9 GHz band, the agency said Wednesday. The order wasn’t circulated in anticipation of a vote during the commissioners' Aug. 7 open meeting. Accordingly, the FCC did not release the order's text. The order codifies “C-V2X technical parameters in the Commission’s rules, including power and emission limits and message prioritization,” a news release said. The rules provide flexibility for the auto industry “to use three 10-megahertz channels either separately, in combination as a 20 megahertz channel or as a single … channel” and would “establish prioritization of safety-of-life communications,” the release said. Licensees operating under C-V2X waivers wouldn’t need to change already deployed systems. The order also provides a two-year timeline for sunsetting existing dedicated short range communications technology, the FCC said. Under the rules, geofencing could be used to allow higher equivalent isotopically radiated power limits for on-board C-V2X units, as NTIA proposed. The proposal received broad support in comments just filed at the FCC (see 2407080024). “The evolution of the 5.9 GHz band advances new car safety technologies in an efficient and effective way while also growing our wireless economy,” Rosenworcel said: “This is sound spectrum management at work.” The order was circulated Tuesday, the FCC said. Rules for the band were changed late in 2020, allocating 45 MHz for Wi-Fi and 30 MHz for C-V2X technology (see 2011180043). “This is a very positive development -- and something we’ve been urging the FCC to greenlight for nearly four years,” emailed Hilary Cain, senior vice president-policy at the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. “C-V2X is an exciting safety technology and a perfect example of the sort of spectrum-enabled innovation that’s possible when the FCC and [the] auto industry work together,” she said.
Comments are due Aug. 19, replies Sept. 3, on a Further NPRM on the voluntary cyber-trust mark program FCC commissioners approved in March (see 2403180046), a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register said. Topics raised in the FNPRM include the format of cybersecurity label administrator (CLA) and lead administrator applications, filing fees for CLA applications, the criteria for selecting CLAs and the lead administrator and CLA sharing of lead administrator expenses. Comments should be filed in docket 23-239.
Comments are due Aug. 30 on the FCC’s tentative findings for its biennial report to Congress required by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, a public notice (docket 10-213) listed in Wednesday’s Daily Digest said. The agency tentatively found that “accessibility of telecommunications and advanced communications services and equipment continues to improve; however, some accessibility gaps remain.” In addition, the agency found companies must improve how they provide information for those with disabilities about using their products, though a wide variety of customizable accessibility apps are increasingly available. Moreover, entities "have continued to include people with disabilities in product and service design and development,” it said. The FCC also said that "accessibility barriers persist with respect to new communications technologies, although the Commission and other groups are actively working towards addressing those barriers.” The barriers include an “inconsistent landscape of accessibility functionality” among videoconferencing platforms and voice-activated user interfaces that don’t recognize commands from those with speech disabilities, the PN said. The agency must submit final findings to Congress by Oct. 8.
The FCC should shift to a fair-notice enforcement policy or risk having the courts reverse enforcement actions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s SEC v. Jarkesy (see 2406270063) and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (see 2406280043) decisions, former FCC General Counsel and Harris Wiltshire partner Chris Wright wrote in a post on the firm's website Wednesday. Recent FCC enforcement actions –such as an April forfeiture order against major wireless carriers over personal data (see 2404290044) -- have evaded statutory limits on fines by treating single incidents as multiple acts of rule-breaking and penalized companies for actions that weren’t explicitly prohibited under the agency’s rules, Wright wrote. “Now that Chevron has been overruled," Wright anticipates "courts will review interpretations such as that without deference.” As such, “Courts will determine what the best reading of the statute is, and the Commission’s creative interpretations of the statute to generate higher penalty amounts will flunk that test.” To avoid that, FCC should propose forfeitures only when a company has violated a clear FCC rule and limit forfeiture amounts to conform to statutory requirements, Wright argued. This would also ensure the agency “has a sound basis for any forfeiture orders that it ultimately has to defend before a jury,” as it might be required to do in the wake of the Jarkesy decision. Wright was FCC general counsel in 1999 when the Enforcement Bureau was created, and is “disappointed that the Commission’s enforcement efforts have gone so far off-track.” The FCC “should correct itself sooner rather than later to avoid protracted legal challenges and judicially crafted remedies."
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
ISPs should ensure customers have up-to-date equipment and can receive faster speeds as they upgrade their networks, Ookla Vice President-Government Affairs Bryan Darr said during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday. Darr also emphasized the need to invest in the final yards of last-mile infrastructure, noting that it's "going to impact if [a consumer] bought a good level of service" regardless of a provider’s advertised speeds.
Stop Project 2025 Task Force founder Rep. Jared Huffman of California and 15 additional House Democrats asked FCC Inspector General Fara Damelin and other federal watchdogs Wednesday to investigate “potential ethics violations” by Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr related to his writing the telecom chapter of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 manifesto. Carr, seen as the front-runner to lead the FCC if former President Donald Trump wins a second term (see 2407120002), urged in the Project 2025 chapter to roll back Communications Decency Act Section 230 protections for tech companies, deregulate broadband infrastructure and restrict Chinese companies. Trump has disavowed Project 2025 and its proposals.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overruled the Chevron doctrine (see 2406280043), and in SEC v. Jarkesy (see 2406270063) were “a good thing,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Wednesday during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council webinar. Other former FCC officials disagreed sharply with the rulings that appear to expand judges' power while reining in regulatory agencies like the FCC.