Doyle Eyes NG-911 Add to Short FCC Spectrum Authority Extension at Markup

Top members of the House and Senate Commerce committees are having varying levels of success in moving forward in the coming weeks on spectrum legislation. The House Communications Subcommittee plans to mark up a revised version of the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) Wednesday along with other legislation, subpanel Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said in an interview. Senate Commerce leaders, meanwhile, told us they're still grappling with how to move forward on the Improving Spectrum Coordination Act (S-1472) after an amendment fight prompted them to remove it from a markup last month (see 2205250063).

HR-7783 “is going to be one” of several bills House Communications will mark up Wednesday, Doyle said. The measure would renew the FCC’s remit for 18 months to March 31, 2024. “We’re going to attach” language to HR-7783 aimed at allocating some spectrum auction proceeds to next-generation 911 tech upgrades, Doyle said: The 18-month renewal timeline “is going to give us the pay-for that we need to do” NG-911. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2202220057), New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge are among those pushing for an auction authority renewal to include language setting aside proceeds for NG-911 and other telecom projects.

Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif, told us Thursday she didn’t think work on the NG-911 addition to HR-7783 was final, “but I want it to be” included as part of an amendment process. “I raised it when we had” the May hearing and a March panel on spectrum legislative issues (see 2203160073) since past pushes to allocate funding for NG-911 upgrades have come up short, she said: “We need to get this done once and for all. The needs are front and center.” The House-passed Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (HR-5376) included $490 million for NG-911, but Senate Democratic leaders weren’t able to act on the measure due to an impasse with party centrists (see 2112170036).

Doyle and House Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, indicated they’re optimistic HR-7783 will sail through House Communications given the positive reception the measure got from members during the May hearing. Doyle said there have been staff-level conversations between House and Senate Commerce on HR-7783’s proposed 18-month timeline and there’s awareness that both Rosenworcel and Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., favor a longer-term reauthorization of up to 10 years, the length of the 2012 renewal that expires Sept. 30. But such a long-term reauthorization is “not going to happen” given the current legislative environment, Doyle said.

“I generally think a resolution that gives people certainty” on the FCC’s spectrum auction authority “over a longer period of time is better, so I don’t know if we can get all that figured out” yet, Cantwell told us Thursday. “Hopefully we can turn to that next” once work finishes on marrying elements of the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) into a compromise measure, among other short-term legislative priorities.

“We’ve had further discussions” about HR-7783’s proposal, “but I can’t really speculate” yet on "where we’re going to land,” said Senate Commerce ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss. “But don’t you think it’s likely” there will be some sort of agreement on renewal legislation before the Sept. 30 deadline, he asked.

“All of us want to see” the FCC’s auction authority renewed “and are looking for different ways to achieve it,” said Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. “If the House feels that right now they can secure 18 months, while the wish is to secure this for a longer period of time, then that’s a good step. Then we must build from there.” What “I appreciate about the work I’ve done” in both houses of Congress “is you advance the ball, you make things better and you don’t stop,” he said.

Agenda Fluid

House Commerce aides were still finalizing the markup agenda Friday afternoon, but other measures House Communications examined during a late May hearing (see 2205240057) are likely to be included, telecom lobbyists told us. House Commerce hadn’t noticed the markup at our deadline.

Aides appeared close to an agreement Friday on revisions to the Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act (HR-5486) aimed at ensuring bipartisan support for that measure so it could be included in the House Communications markup, lobbyists said. HR-5486 would require NTIA to develop and implement a standardized framework for facilitating spectrum sharing between federal and nonfederal users. Democrats resisted signing on to the measure because the proposed spectrum sharing system would have involved only auction winners, which they believed would prohibit sharing on an unlicensed basis, lobbyists said. Work on revisions was aimed at making the sharing system “neutral” so it could be used more comprehensively, lobbyists said.

OTI Wireless Future Program Director Michael Calabrese told us he hasn’t seen proposed amendments to HR-7783 yet but is uncertain the measure can fund NG-911 in the way Doyle claims. “The bare 18-month extension would probably not raise much if any money,” so the Congressional Budget Office would be unlikely to give the measure “much of a positive score,” he said: “It would seem to be a small amount of money, if any, on that basis,” in contrast to the larger amount of money generated by a longer-term auction authority extension.

Doyle’s office indicates “they’re going to get some positive score, but I haven’t heard how they’re going to do that,” Calabrese said: “The 2.5 GHz auction is under existing authority, so that’s already in the budget baseline. That doesn’t generate anything, unless part of the amendment is to delay that auction. I’m sure they’re not going to do that since part of the rationale” for seeking a short-term renewal “was so there would be no question about the FCC’s authority to distribute the licenses after Sept. 30.”

Rising 'Momentum'

“The momentum in Congress for extending the FCC’s auction authority is gaining steam,” said Cooley’s Robert McDowell. “Right now the stars appear to be aligning for passage before that authority expires.” Congress “has never let auction authority expire and there is a growing bipartisan consensus to make sure that it continues,” he said: “This won’t be the kind of achievement that makes the nightly news, but Americans should know that Washington sometimes can act in a bipartisan manner to get positive and constructive things done.”

A week or two ago, “it seemed like the conventional wisdom was that the auction authority reauthorization would go through on its own, but it would not surprise me if they set aside some” sales proceeds for NG-911 “just because that has the backing” of Rosenworcel, said Joe Kane, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation director-broadband and spectrum policy: “It will be interesting to see how much is allocated to 911 and whether any of the other causes that have been floated as potential targets for auction proceeds get a slice as well.”

An 18-month extension “has legs to pass before the September deadline,” predicted Digital Progress Institute President Joel Thayer: The NG-911 set-aside “seems to be popular, so I expect that with the limited extension will be enough to get it over the line.”

American Action Forum Technology and Innovation Policy Director Jeffrey Westling also expects Congress to act before FCC auction authority expires but is less sure about the NG-911 allocation. “If Congress wants to fund” NG-911 “with auction proceeds, the best approach is extending the authority with a spectrum pipeline, which will increase the CBO score because the auctions are more certain,” he emailed: “Unfortunately, that seems unlikely and it will be hard to pass a new pipeline bill once the auction authority is extended because any potential auction for the duration of the extension will already be included in the CBO baseline, meaning it can’t be used to offset new spending.”

“There is a high demand for more spectrum for commercial use,” emailed Free State Foundation Director-Policy Studies Seth Cooper. “Along with benefit to consumers from putting more spectrum to work, the U.S. treasury receives considerable revenues from the auctions,” he said: “Making the Commission's spectrum auction authority a certainty will maximize revenues for licenses in the lower 3 GHz band as well as other bands.”

Senate Fischer Fight

There has been limited progress in reaching a deal to allow S-1472 to advance through Senate Commerce since the May markup fracas, Senate Commerce leaders told us. The measure 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. “There have been hopeful conversations” to reach a resolution, but there’s no agreement yet, said Wicker, lead S-1472 sponsor. “I hope we do” reach an agreement that will allow a markup of the measure, said Senate Communications ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., a co-sponsor. It "has to be on Commerce’s agenda “sooner rather than later.”

“I’m certain” Senate Commerce leaders and aides “are visiting with the members who had ideas that they thought were important and needed” in S-1472, said Lujan, a co-sponsor. "We thought that we had a strong package developed, but in the end we have to work together” in a 50-50 Senate. “I hope” the measure “will get through” the committee “during the next markup and I hope one will come up sooner rather than later,” he said: It’s “good news” that Wicker is S-1472's lead sponsor “and he knows how to get things done,” as does Cantwell.

“Talk to” Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., since she’s the person who initiated the disagreement by seeking an amendment that led Wicker to pull S-1472 from the markup, Cantwell said.

Fischer’s amendment would revise language on the parameters of a mandated MOU update that as currently drafted in S-1472 asks the FCC and NTIA to “endeavor to ensure” that “frequencies not required for the present or identifiable future needs of the Federal Government are reallocated to non-Federal Government users wherever possible.” Fischer proposed changing it to “identifiable future needs of the Federal Government are reviewed for reallocation to non-Federal Government users wherever practicable to meet spectrum needs for public and private uses.”

Fischer is believed to be seeking the S-1472 amendment and backs adding similar language to the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act as a means of “sticking up” for DOD’s spectrum policy interests, a Senate official told us. Fischer thinks S-1472 fails to adequately “listen to DOD interests” in the spectrum coordination process, the official said. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, cited the NDAA proposal without mentioning Fischer during Senate Commerce’s Thursday NTIA oversight hearing (see 2206090072). Fischer’s office didn’t comment.