House Commerce Advances Spectrum Innovation Act Package With FCC Authority Extension

The House Commerce Committee unanimously advanced the Spectrum Innovation Act legislative package (HR-7624) and three other telecom bills Wednesday, as expected (see 2207120079). The House was expected to begin votes Wednesday night on amendments to the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-7900). The House Rules Committee agreed 9-4 Tuesday to allow floor votes on more than three dozen telecom and tech amendments to HR-7900 (see 2207070064).

House Commerce voted 52-0 to advance HR-7694 amid glowing bipartisan praise for the measure during the markup session. The underlying measure authorizes a 3.1-3.45 GHz auction and allocates some sales proceeds to pay for next-generation 911 tech upgrades and additional funding for the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to repay U.S. carriers for removing from their networks’ equipment (see 2206150067). “These two programs will help keep all Americans safer and more secure,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., called HR-7694’s proposal to allocate $10 billion in spectrum proceeds for NG-911 “more than a hell of a start” toward the estimated $15 billion in total funding needed to fully upgrade the infrastructure.

House Commerce unanimously approved an HR-7694 amendment from House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, to attach language from the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) and Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act (HR-5486). The HR-7783 text would extend the FCC’s spectrum auction authority for 18 months to March 31, 2024. The current mandate expires Sept. 30. The amendment’s language from HR-5486 would direct NTIA to create an "incumbent informing capability" to allow for licensed and unlicensed spectrum sharing between federal and nonfederal users (see 2206140077).

Pallone, Doyle and others hailed the amendment’s proposed FCC authority renewal, which Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., opposes (see 2206280070). The proposal is a “bipartisan path” to giving certainty to the FCC amid the impending 2.5 GHz auction, Doyle said. “This legislation is critical to allowing the FCC to continue its work” and “is currently the only proposal in Congress to extend” the auction mandate, said House Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.

Rodgers, Latta and others highlighted language in the amendment that allocates $16 billion in proceeds from the 3.1-3.45 GHz auction and $1.7 billion from the 2.5 GHz auction to go toward “deficit reduction.” There are “some budget discussions still occurring” on HR-7624 “and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to ensure this legislation is budget neutral when it comes to the floor,” Rodgers said. “We will continue to make any necessary changes to this legislation” to maintain its budget neutrality, Latta said.

The Competitive Carriers Association hailed House Commerce for advancing HR-7694. “This significant legislation could now fully fund the Program, which is critical for affected carriers,” said President Steven Berry. “I also applaud efforts to ensure that spectrum auction authority will not lapse. Consumers, especially those in rural areas, will benefit greatly.”

House Commerce also unanimously advanced the Ensuring Phone and Internet Access Through Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Program Act (HR-4275), Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-4990) and Safe Connections Act (HR-7132). HR-4275, previously known as the Ensuring Phone and Internet Access for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Recipients Act, would require the FCC to do a report on the number of SNAP participants enrolled in the Lifeline and affordable connectivity programs. HR-4990 would provide statutory authority for ITS’ role in managing NTIA’s telecom and spectrum technology programs. HR-7132 and Senate-passed companion S-120 would let domestic abuse survivors separate a mobile phone line from a 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).

The Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote Pallone, Rodgers and House leaders before the markup to support HR-7132. “Congress should not delay passing this common-sense legislation,” though “we would prefer a bill that did not require survivors to provide paperwork to “prove” their abuse,” EFF said: “The bill also requires the FCC to create new regulations to protect the privacy of people seeking help to leave abusive situations, though still needs stronger safeguards and remedies to ensure these protections are effective.”

NDAA

House Rules’ slate of HR-7900 amendments to get floor votes included one from House Transportation Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Rick Larsen, D-Wash., House Armed Services Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chairman Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., to require DOD to provide an “unclassified version” of its spectrum strategy implementation plan (see 2010290061) in all future updates to the plan and “strengthen governance reforms to ensure necessary senior operational leadership.”

Reps. Michael Guest, R-Miss., and Sam Graves, R-Mo., will get floor consideration of their proposal to remove barriers preventing rural communities from using Commerce Department Economic Development Authority grants to pay for broadband projects. Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., again seeks to attach her 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act (HR-2351), which would change classification of public safety call-takers and dispatchers to "protective service. The House previously included HR-2351’s language in its version of the FY 2022 NDAA (see 2109220069).

House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., wants the State Department to give Congress a report analyzing the effects of government-ordered internet or telecom network shutdowns on human rights and global security. House Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee Chairwoman Val Demings, D-Fla., and Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., want to allocate $5 million to OTF annually through FY 2027 to make grants aimed at maintaining support for internet freedom technologies to counter censorship in closed countries.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., seeks to attach his CISA Leadership Act (HR-5186), which would set the agency director’s term at five years and give the Senate power to confirm future nominees. Malinowski and Garbarino propose requiring CISA maintain a publicly available clearinghouse of resources concerning the cybersecurity of commercial satellite system. Langevin wants the federal government to designate certain critical infrastructure entities as “systemically important” to the continuity of national critical functions and establishes unique benefits and requirements for such entities.

House Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo., failed to get a floor vote on his amendment “requiring the removal” of TikTok from government devices, with exceptions for “law enforcement activities, national security interests and activities, and security researchers.” Buck previously sought the TikTok ban in the FY 2021 and FY22 NDAA cycles (see 2007210060).