House Communications Members Voice Support for 18-Month FCC Auction Renewal

House Communications Subcommittee members voiced strong support during a Tuesday hearing for the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) and two NTIA-focused spectrum bills, echoing expected backing from Wiley’s Anna Gomez and CommScope Business Development and Spectrum Policy Director Mark Gibson (see 2205230061). Lawmakers broadly supported elements of the Safe Connections Act (HR-7132), but opinions on the Ensuring Phone and Internet Access for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Recipients Act (HR-4275) divided along party lines.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J, and other lawmakers cited the limited time before the FCC’s current spectrum auction authority lapses Sept. 30 as the chief reason for swift passage of HR-7783, in part because of the July start of the FCC’s 2.5 GHz auction. The measure would renew the commission’s remit for 18 months to March 31, 2024 (see 2205170081). Some Senate Commerce Committee leaders are wary of the proposal and other stakeholders have sought up to a 10-year reauthorization (see 2205190068). Passage of HR-7783 would mean the FCC “will be able to hold” the planned auction “in July without disruption and also fully close out auctions that have already occurred,” Pallone said.

“There is bipartisan agreement that we cannot let the FCC’s auction authority lapse under any circumstances” and “the stakes are even higher” given the 2.5 GHz auction, said House Communications Vice Chair Doris Matsui, D-Calif. Congress “has never let it lapse. I’m committed to keeping that unbroken record intact.” Even a “brief” interruption “could jeopardize licenses from being awarded and delay the carriers’ ability to supercharge their networks with this 5G-ready spectrum,” Matsui said. “That cannot happen.”

House Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., likewise backed HR-7783 as a way to provide “certainty to bidders in” the 2.5 GHz auction “that the FCC will be able to issue their licenses if they bid.” She later asked Gomez about the “benefits” of an 18-month renewal, noting “some people think that the FCC’s authority should be extended for a longer term.” House Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, seeks passage to “avoid any disruption to the FCC’s planned auction activities.”

“A lengthy extension can be very beneficial,” but “the 18-month extension is the most practical path at this point in time,” Gomez said. “We only have a short time left” before the Sept. 30 expiry, “we don’t have any current spectrum identified” for future sales and the Biden administration hasn’t yet released a national spectrum strategy (see 2111010061). “It’s probably best” that Congress move on the short-term renewal and provide “oversight” of the FCC and NTIA as they “develop their national spectrum strategy,” she said.

NTIA Focus

Gomez, Gibson and lawmakers endorsed the other spectrum bills: the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-4990) and Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act (HR-5486). HR-4990 would provide statutory authority for ITS’ role in managing NTIA’s telecom and spectrum technology programs. HR-5486 would require NTIA to develop and implement a standardized framework for facilitating spectrum sharing between federal and nonfederal users.

Matsui is “interested in pursuing some clarifying edits” to HR-5486 with lead sponsor Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., but “I’m confident that it can be done on a bipartisan basis and set the path for a smooth” House Commerce markup of the measure. Guthrie touted HR-5486 as a way to “ensure that every spectrum user is efficient as possible, including the federal government.” Both Gomez and Gibson cited NTIA’s proposal to create an incumbent informing capability portal to allow federal spectrum users to notify about their operation on a shared band with at least a few minutes’ notice as a reason to pass HR-5486.

It’s “getting harder to fully clear bands and sharing has some benefits,” Gomez said. “The IIC will provide needed transparency and certainty during sharing scenarios” and would “replace some of the current dynamic sharing methods that are proving to be technically challenging.” The IIC could be used “across all spectrum domains where there’ll be federal-commercial sharing” of frequencies, Gibson said: It could also “be extendable to federal-federal sharing.”

Gomez later urged Congress to elevate the NTIA administrator’s other role as assistant secretary of commerce for communications and technology “to an undersecretary” level. That “would greatly help with his position” in “negotiations with high-level representatives from other agencies” on spectrum coordination issues, she told Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga. “It’s amazing how protocol sometimes falls into play in these types of negotiations” between federal agencies, much as “having an ambassador status helps in the international negotiation process.” The White House “needs to strongly support NTIA and to reinforce is role as the federal spectrum manager” and Congress should “bolster” NTIA’s “statutory role,” Gomez said.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans a Wednesday executive session to mark up the Improving Spectrum Coordination Act (S-1472) and other measures. S-1472 would require the FCC and NTIA to update their spectrum memorandum of understanding, including to add language on a process for addressing interagency policy differences and instituting a resolution process. Committee Republicans have sought the measure’s passage via other bills, including an unsuccessful attempt last year (see 2105120065) to include it in the Senate-passed Endless Frontier Act (S-1260). The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.

New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge opposed HR-5486 and HR-7783 ahead of the House Communications hearing. “We understand” HR-7783 “may represent a compromise to ensure the FCC’s auction authority does not lapse,” but the bill “misses real opportunities to advance the public interest needs of the telecommunications sector,” the groups said in a letter to House Commerce leaders. They cited the lack of language “setting aside proceeds to fund” next-generation 911 tech upgrades, “digital equity, or securing our network equipment.”

HR-5486 “would prevent commercial ISPs, schools, individual enterprises and other entities that do not need or cannot afford an auctioned license from accessing shared spectrum opportunities,” PK and OTI said. “This would, in turn, harm consumers by limiting their choices in the wireless market and increasing the costs of certain services.” The groups backed HR-4990 given it “acknowledges that the ITS is the government's premier research lab for advancing spectrum sharing and interference research.” The measure also “acknowledges the importance of spectrum sharing with commercial entities,” the groups said.

Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry backed HR-7783 in a separate letter to House Commerce leaders. “This bipartisan bill will immediately ensure that the FCC can successfully complete the 2.5 GHz spectrum auction and other pending auction activities,” Berry said. “Absent extension of auction authority, activities in fiscal year 2023 could be called into question.” Missing “this opportunity eliminates an important chance for carriers to have access to spectrum needed to expand and strengthen their networks,” he said.

Other Bills

Latta voiced opposition to advancing HR-4275, while Democrats strongly backed the measure. HR-4275 would require the FCC to conduct an annual report on the Lifeline program’s enrollment of individuals who participate in SNAP and the effectiveness of Lifeline advertising on annual enrollments. “There’s currently an ongoing discussion required by” the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “as to what the future of” USF “should look like in light of” the measure’s $65 billion for broadband (see 2205060046), “so I’m not really sure right now if this legislation is necessary at this time,” Latta said.

“It’s important that we continue to reduce barriers to and expand the awareness of the Lifeline program” via HR-4275, Matsui said. The measure “will help the FCC better coordinate with” the Agriculture Department on Lifeline matters and “can be extended” to include similar programs at other agencies, said Alisa Valentin, National Urban League senior director-technology and telecom policy. “It’s important for us to know … where the gaps in participation are” and “really important to help us understand what effective advertising efforts there are out there” for encouraging Lifeline use. The FCC already has access to “some data” on SNAP recipients’ participation in Lifeline, but “this will just better help us pinpoint” that information, she said.

Rodgers and Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., were among many who backed at least HR-7182's intent during the hearing. The measure and Senate-passed companion S-120 would let domestic abuse survivors separate a mobile phone line from any shared plan involving their abusers without penalties or other requirements and require the FCC to establish rules that ensure calls and texts to domestic abuse hotlines don’t appear on call logs (see 2203180070).

“Republicans have several changes we would like to see made to” HR-7182 “if it advances, but we stand ready to work with our colleagues to find a solution,” Rodgers said. “Survivors of domestic violence should have the freedom to a start fresh to feel safe and secure and should be able to separate from their abuser quickly.” O’Halleran hopes the measure will “move through the House quickly.”