House Democrats to Focus on Broadband Money at Hearing; GOP Floats Agenda

A House Communications Subcommittee hearing Wednesday appears likely to focus on promoting $7.6 billion in E-rate funding included in Commerce Committee-advanced language to be added to a coming COVID-19 budget reconciliation package (see 2102120066), plus other measures to improve broadband access during the pandemic. House Commerce Republicans unveiled an alternative broadband policy agenda Tuesday, which largely draws on bills they first filed last summer (see 2102120066).

House Commerce Republicans echoed some of their earlier opposition to Democrats’ E-rate proposal, in statements announcing their own broadband proposal. The pandemic “prevented millions from accessing vital” resources, and “unreliable internet and limited broadband access has also set countless children back in school because of connectivity issues while far too many schools remain closed,” said Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and Communications ranking member Bob Latta of Ohio. “It’s unacceptable.”

McMorris Rodgers and Latta later urged NTIA to prioritize funding from the December package allocated to a pilot to fund “covered partnerships” for broadband projects “to areas with the greatest number of unserved households.” The agency should also “incorporate a challenge process into” the pilot program “to ensure that any broadband deployment funding is properly targeted to truly unserved areas,” the lawmakers said in a letter to acting Administrator Evelyn Remaley.

Five of the 28 bills that House Commerce Republicans cited Tuesday are new this Congress. The Reducing Antiquated Permitting for Infrastructure Deployment Act from Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana would clarify that small-cell deployments aren’t subject to National Environmental Policy Act or National Historic Preservation Act reviews. The Connecting and Building Lines for Expedited Expansion Act from Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona would streamline the permitting process for cable operators that apply to a franchise authority to deploy new or collocated facilities for cable service. It would establish a “responsibility to respond” for local franchising authorities and place some new limits such reviews.

The Broadband Competition and Efficient Deployment Act from Rep. John Joyce of Pennsylvania would declare that wireless facility collocations used to provide telecom service or a bundled service aren't subject to NEPA or NHPA reviews. The Broadband Resiliency and Flexible Investment Act from Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas would codify the FCC 60-day shot clock for state and local reviews. It would amend language in the 2012 spectrum law streamlining state and local reviews of existing site modification requests to include “insubstantial modifications” to wireline and wireless facilities. The Standard Fees to Expedite Evaluation and Streamlining Act from Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama would establish a common fee schedule for processing applications to deploy telecom facilities on federal property.

FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington hailed the Republicans’ legislation. They're “a smart set of infrastructure reforms that would advance a bold and effective connectivity agenda,” Carr said. “Their thoughtful reforms would help close the digital divide and further extend America’s leadership in 5G.” The measures “would create the environment necessary to speedily expand access to broadband for the Americans who need it most,” Simington said. The Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, NATE and Wireless ISP Association praised the proposals.

The refiled bills folded into the GOP agenda include the Communities Overregulating Networks Need Economic Competition Today Act to limit “government-run” broadband networks. Commerce Republicans floated an amendment to insert the language into the COVID-19 proposal but didn’t seek a vote. Other amendments Republicans didn’t seek votes on included two on net neutrality (see here and here) to ban blocking, throttling and paid prioritization. They would exempt actions “taken under any obligation or authorization the provider may have to address the needs of emergency communications or law enforcement" and “reasonable efforts by the provider to address copyright infringement or other unlawful activity.”

Resiliency

Some refiled Republican bills deal with network resiliency. McMorris Rodgers’ Wildfire Wireless Resiliency Act would accelerate post-fire telecom projects. The Connecting Communities Post Disasters Act from Rep. Neal Dunn of Florida would accelerate replacing and improving communications facilities in presidentially declared disaster areas.

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., told us he’s working with House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., to refile the Reinforcing and Evaluating Service Integrity, Local Infrastructure and Emergency Notification for Today’s (Resilient) Networks Act. It would require FCC rules to “provide for coordination among providers of advanced communications service during times of emergency.” It would mandate FCC rulemakings to improve coordination between providers and public safety answering points and create a master point-of-contact directory (see 2002070044).

The Dec. 25 bombing in Nashville, which partially destroyed an AT&T central office (see 2012280048), is likely to increase lawmakers’ interest in passing measures like the Resilient Networks Act, McNerney said, along with concerns about wildfires in Western states. The Resilient Networks Act failed to advance last year amid GOP opposition (see 2007130054).

“We’re going to see as many or more” disasters in the future, McNerney said: “We need to make sure these networks are highly resilient” and will be incorporating “lessons learned” since last year to strengthen the Resilient Networks Act. He and Pallone want “to get something out there that makes sense, that protects people in emergencies.”

Hearing

House Commerce Democrats highlighted the E-rate funding proposal and broadband language included in the FY 2021 appropriations and pandemic aid package (see 2012210055) in a pre-hearing memo. “States and districts” used “limited federal funding,” ISPs’ discounted broadband services and other resources to address connectivity issues at the pandemic’s start, it said. “These efforts helped,” but “students in families with devices but without internet service often find themselves sitting in parking lots in an attempt to pick up Wi-Fi from a nearby node.”

Communications Workers of America President Christopher Shelton, Topeka, Kansas, Public School District Superintendent Tiffany Anderson and Free Press Vice President-Policy Matt Wood praised the E-rate proposal and connectivity funding enacted in December. They suggest in written testimony that more money is needed. The Wireless Infrastructure Association wants to “implement equitable solutions to the address the homework gap,” says CEO Jonathan Adelstein.

Adelstein seeks "support for 5G and broadband training in any future infrastructure package." Immediate needs are "best served by utilizing existing, successful programs and evidence-based or proven models for apprenticeship workforce development and other training and support programs," he says. "The immediate need is best served by utilizing existing, successful programs and evidence-based or proven models for apprenticeship workforce development and other training and support programs."

“I’m sure the majority of this Committee agrees that more must be done,” Shelton says. He urged “bold action” on infrastructure funding and Congress to allocate the $100 billion that House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., is expected to seek this year (see 2102100061). Shelton backs strengthening the Lifeline program and opposed legislative proposals to make USF funding part of the congressional appropriations process.

Wood urges Congress “explore more progressive ways to fund broadband support mechanisms,” including “a mix of direct appropriations, spectrum auction revenues, or possible tax-credits to reduce the prices that working families and others pay for broadband.” Legislation to reinstate FCC 2015 reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service and remove barriers to municipal broadband projects would help, he says. Wood wants Congress to mandate “FCC collection of data on the actual prices people pay for broadband” and potentially legislate “to allow for broadband wholesaling and resale competition from providers that do not own their own networks.”

Anderson focused on the need for more E-rate funding during the pandemic, saying “families simply cannot access services without it and currently the marginalized suffer the greatest, which is widening the economic and academic gaps rapidly,” she says. “It is the shared responsibility of all Americans to ensure that we provide equitable educational resources,” including by “closing the digital divide.”