Lawmakers Hope NTIA Nom Clears Spectrum-Law Hurdles

Backers of two bills aimed at mandating improvements to spectrum policy coordination between the FCC and other federal agencies are hopeful President Joe Biden’s recent FCC and NTIA nominations (see 2110260076) will mean a clearer path to those measures’ enactment. The House Communications Subcommittee unanimously advanced one of the measures, the Spectrum Coordination Act (HR-2501), during a Wednesday markup. The subpanel also unanimously cleared the Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (HR-1218).

HR-2501’s passage is something “we’re going to get done,” given support from House Communications Republicans, said lead bill sponsor and subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., in a post-markup interview. HR-2501 would require the FCC and NTIA to update by the end of 2022 their memorandum of understanding for handling spectrum allocations. Doyle told us he hopes to soon be able to advance his Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-5378), which would authorize an FCC auction of at least 200 MHz on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2109290071).

Doyle didn’t directly connect the timeline for advancing the measure to progress in confirming NTIA administrator nominee Alan Davidson. "We certainly are anxious to see” the Senate swiftly confirm Davidson, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Democratic commission nominee Gigi Sohn, Doyle said: "We hope the confirmation process doesn’t get bogged down."

“I hope” Davidson’s nomination and potential confirmation will smooth the way for Senate Commerce consideration of the Improving Spectrum Coordination Act (S-1472), co-sponsor and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., told us. Committee Democrats blocked a May bid to attach S-1472 to the Endless Frontier Act, now known as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) because they believed a permanent administrator needs to be in place before lawmakers consider major changes to spectrum policymaking (see 2105120065).

Interagency coordination remains a “huge issue” because “we’ve got enormous amounts of demand for commercially available spectrum and lots of conflicts about how to get access to it,” Thune said. “We need to have a coordinated strategy which helps figure out how to better free up and share a lot of spectrum that’s currently being sat on by government agencies.” That’s “a big issue for DOD and one we’re sensitive to, but it’s something we’ve got to figure out,” he said. S-1472 isn’t a direct companion to HR-2501, requiring the MOU update within 60 days of enactment and mandating periodic revamps. The two measures have differing requirements for the updated pact.

“It will help to have somebody” permanent at NTIA's helm who lawmakers can consult on S-1472, but there’s no commitment yet that Senate Commerce will advance the measure, committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us. This is a “subject a lot of people care about” and that will require further attention. Lobbyists expect the interagency relationship to come up whenever Senate Commerce holds a confirmation hearing on Davidson and believe it will be particularly salient if the committee decides to place him on a possible Nov. 17 panel with Rosenworcel and Sohn (see 2111020051).

House Markup

House Communications amended HR-2501 Wednesday to require the updated MOU to “establish reasonable timelines for the exchange of information between” the FCC and NTIA on airwaves issues. The measure already required the pact to “improve upon the process for resolving frequency allocation disputes” to “ensure that such disputes are definitively resolved in an efficient and timely manner” and “ensure that spectrum is used efficiently.”

HR-2501’s proposed MOU update “will strengthen” the agencies’ relationship and is a “step forward in ensuring” federal entities with spectrum management duties “remain on track with their responsibilities,” Doyle said during markup. “We do not want to repeat the mistakes we saw” during the Trump administration that led to public interagency infighting on spectrum issues. The measure is “a step in the right direction, especially once the Senate confirms” Davidson, Rosenworcel and Sohn, Doyle said.

Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., pointed to FAA’s new air safety alert on 5G in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band (see 2111030046) as a reason why HR-2501 is needed. “Ongoing disputes between federal agencies are again causing uncertainty for federal and nonfederal users” of the C band, she said. Matsui noted she urged the Biden administration in January to adopt a “unified approach to spectrum policy” (see 2101080047).

House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., also cited concerns about FAA’s alert. “This is an issue that the industry, the FCC and the FAA were working out with expert engineers through an interagency process before the FAA went public,” she said. “I hope the NTIA is the agency that makes decisions on spectrum,” Doyle said. “Holding press conferences” to raise concerns, as FAA did, “isn’t the way to get this done.”

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., touted an amended version of HR-1218 as important to “address the maternal mortality crisis” in the U.S. and “target connectivity resources where telehealth may be able to assist medical professionals remotely monitor the health of pregnant women.” The measure and Senate Commerce-cleared companion S-198 would require the FCC to include data on certain maternal health outcomes in its broadband health mapping tool (see 2104280083).

McMorris Rodgers and other Republicans backed HR-1218 and HR-2501. McMorris Rodgers said both measures follow in the committee’s “rich history of bipartisanship.” She noted her disappointment that Communications wasn’t also considering her Information Sharing and Advanced Communication Alerting Act (HR-5028) and other measures the subcommittee examined during an October hearing (see 2110060073). HR-5028 would require the FCC Technological Advisory Council to report on feasibility of establishing a 911 disability alerting system. Such a system, based on one developed in Spokane, would “improve how first responders help people with disabilities … across the country,” McMorris Rodgers said.

McMorris Rodgers hopes to “resolve any differences on the bills that are not included on this markup,” including HR-5028. Doyle and McMorris Rodgers noted a disability rights group raised objections to HR-5028 last week. “There’s a lot of bipartisan support” for the bill and “many disability advocate groups that do support” it, she said. “I will be talking” with the group that opposes it. “We tried to get [HR-5028] ready for today, but it just wasn’t ready,” Doyle said. “We still have some work to do.”