The FCC’s draft order that would create an additional alert code for missing and endangered adults will gain unanimous approval during Wednesday’s open meeting, agency officials told us. The item received widespread support from alerting officials, industry trade associations and indigenous groups. The final order is expected to have changed little from the draft version, an FCC official said. While the new alert code will be used for any missing person older than 17 with special needs and circumstances or who is endangered, abducted or kidnapped, it's aimed at addressing the rising problem of missing and murdered indigenous people, the FCC has said. Speaking at an indigenous women’s event Wednesday, Rosenworcel said the item will gain approval and credited Native groups for the proposal. “The action the FCC is taking next week is in direct response to a call sent out by Native communities after enduring a crisis of the missing for far too long,” she said. The code will be “a really powerful tool," said Loris Taylor, president of Native Public Media (NPM) and an advocate of the new code.

A coalition of 31 consumer and public interest advocacy groups urged the FCC to move forward with its NPRM under circulation regarding bulk broadband billing in multi-tenant environments. The groups, which included Public Knowledge, Consumer Reports, Consumer Action, National Consumer Law Center and New America's Open Technology Institute, told the FCC in a letter that bulk billing arrangements "sacrifice consumer choice to preserve in-building monopolies at the expense of tenants." The letter was posted Thursday in docket 17-142.

The Senate Appropriations Committee cleared a pair of FY 2025 funding bills Thursday that maintain advance CPB money for FY 2027 and increase annual allocations to the FCC and FTC in excess of their FY 2024 budget. The House Appropriations Committee approved its versions of the FY25 bills covering those agencies, but Republican chamber leaders have delayed floor consideration of both measures amid shifting legislative priorities (see 2407230038).

North East Offshore is dropping its request for an FCC waiver of the freeze on nonfederal applications for new or expanded Part 90 operations in the lower 3 GHz band. The renewable energy company notified the agency that it’s modifying its application to “specify frequencies outside the 3.1-3.3 GHz band, which will eliminate the need” for the FCC to consider a waiver. The request ran into opposition from the wireless and cable industries, which filed comments posted Thursday in docket 24-212. The comments underscore the perceived importance of lower 3 GHz spectrum for 5G and beyond.

The AI Safety Institute (AISI) plans testing frontier AI models prior to deployment, Director Elizabeth Kelly said in an interview at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Wednesday (see 2402070069). “We’re in a good position to begin that testing in the months ahead because of the commitments we’ve gotten from the leading companies," Kelly told the CSIS Wadhwani Center for AI and Advanced Technologies. When it comes to developing safety standards for AI, the institute will rely on companies showing “what’s under the hood” in their next-generation work, she said. However, because it's not a regulatory body, the institute can only encourage that companies make such information available. Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Adobe, IBM, Nvidia and several other companies have agreed to voluntary testing (see 2407260027). AI safety regulation is under the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security and reporting rules “have not been finalized," so questions remain, Kelly said. The Commerce Department’s website said BIS “will invoke the Defense Production Act to institute measures to enhance safety as next-generation frontier AI models are developed, including measures requiring developers to report the steps they are taking to test their models and protect them from theft." Kelly also spoke about the importance of international collaboration for developing safety standards for frontier AI through the International Network of AI Safety Institutes. International AI safety groups and other stakeholders plan on meeting in November in the San Francisco area, she said.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday signaled they want Donald Trump to rescind President Joe Biden’s AI executive order if the former president wins the November election.

The FCC shouldn’t apply online public information file (OPIF) requirements to low-power television stations, LPTV groups, NAB, the National Religious Broadcasters, Gray Television and numerous individual broadcasters say in comments filed in docket 24-147 posted by Wednesday.

Consumer advocates and industry officials disagreed Wednesday about the need for addressing junk fees in the broadband and communications marketplace. After noting that increased competition results in consumers getting faster speeds and better service, ACA Connects Chief Regulatory Counsel Brian Hurley said, "In this competitive marketplace, our members and providers have every incentive to avoid bill shock and other negative experiences that could compel their customers to take their business elsewhere." Addressing a Broadband Breakfast webinar, Hurley added there's "no finding that junk fees are prevalent" in the marketplace.

The Senate Commerce Committee’s surprise adoption Wednesday of an amendment to the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) that would allocate $7 billion in stopgap funding for the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program likely imperils chamber passage of that measure, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Debate over the pro-ACP amendment and a proposal that attached $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program also signaled continued friction among panel members over the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207).

Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.