A bicameral group of legislators will lead the Congressional Semiconductor Caucus, launched Tuesday at an event on Capitol Hill, said a news release from the office of Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho. Risch, along with Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., will co-chair the caucus. Representatives from the Semiconductor Industry Association attended the launch event, and in a Wednesday news release, SIA praised the formation of the caucus. It "will provide a venue for members of Congress and industry professionals to share ideas and work collaboratively to advance policies that preserve and strengthen the semiconductor industry," said SIA CEO John Neuffer.

The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade will mark up three bills, including the E-Warranty Act of 2015, which would allow manufacturers to provide warranty information electronically instead of in paper form, July 23 at 1 p.m. in 2123 Rayburn, a committee news release said.

House lawmakers introduced their own legislation focused on exporting telecom service and equipment to Cuba, similar to a Senate bill already introduced. HR-3055 would “authorize the exportation of consumer communication devices to Cuba and the provision of telecommunications services to Cuba,” as its title said. Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., introduced the bill, also backed by Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. It was referred to the Commerce and Foreign Affairs committees.

Any reinterpretation of multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) to encompass some parts of the over-the-top video world shouldn't come with the FCC directly playing a role in licensing of programming rights for online video distribution, and shouldn't apply to programmers distributing content through applications or services they come up with in house, a group of media companies said in a filing posted Monday in docket 14-261. "New rules seeking to promote innovation and competition in video distribution should not apply to content providers who simply want to continue developing new ways in which consumers can access and enjoy their content," CBS said. Regarding whether the FCC should play a regulatory role in the market for programing rights for online distribution, CBS said that step "would be a troubling and unnecessary influence into private licensing negotiations" and better handled by through existing copyright law than FCC regulation. The ex parte filing followed a meeting last week among executives from CBS, Disney, Time Warner, 21st Century Fox and Viacom and representatives from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's office. Verizon, in a separate ex parte filing on 14-261 posted Monday, said that while it broadly supports including OTT providers of multiple streams of prescheduled, linear video programming in the MVPD definition, those OTT providers shouldn't face "ill-fitted legacy cable regulations, such as franchising, must-carry and technology mandates," as such rules "would discourage the provision of new online video services, undermining the Commission’s goal in this proceeding of generating additional competitive options for consumers." OTT video providers should be subject to such 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act requirements as closed captioning and video description, and the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act's loudness mitigation obligations, Verizon said. The Verizon meeting participants included Leora Hochstein, executive director-federal regulatory affairs, and staff from the Media Bureau and the Office of Strategic Planning.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., signed as the seventh co-sponsor of the Cuba Digital and Telecommunications Advancement Act (S-1389) this week. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., introduced the bill in May. Co-sponsors now include five Democrats and two Republicans. The legislation would authorize U.S. export of telecom equipment and provision of telecom service to Cuba.

Seventeen trade associations and organizations, including several representing the tech industry, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Ia., and ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Thursday asking the Senate leaders to support the passage of the Judicial Redress Act (S-1600), a Computer & Communications Industry Association news release said. The legislation was introduced last week by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and would extend redress rights granted under the U.S. Privacy Act to citizens of designated nations, particularly European Union member states, the release said. The legislation also would allow citizens of designated nations the ability to request that inaccuracies in data held by the U.S. government be corrected, it said. “The last two years have seen a significant erosion of global public trust in both the U.S. government and the U.S. technology sector,” leading to adverse economic consequences, the letter said. “In a globally connected world, protecting certain individuals’ privacy under the Privacy Act should not be limited to people who are in the U.S.,” said Information Technology Industry Council Global Privacy Policy Vice President Yael Weinman in an ITI news release. Reps. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and John Conyers, D-Mich., introduced a House companion bill in March, HR-1428, which was endorsed by the Obama administration and federal law enforcement agencies, the release said.

Two House members accused the FCC Downloadable Security Technical Advisory Committee (DSTAC) of deviating from the statute in the satellite TV law that created it. Reps. Gene Green, D-Texas, and Bob Latta, R-Ohio, outlined concerns to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a letter Thursday. “Some group participants and directives issued by your staff, unfortunately, are ignoring the qualifying statutory language regarding downloadable security in order to resurrect a previously discredited proposal referred to as AllVid,” the lawmakers wrote. “These proposals and staff directives go well beyond security issues, and in fact, seek to force providers to dismantle their video services and content for others’ commercial exploitation, harming the video marketplace and interfering with contracts and copyright law in the process.” The lawmakers dismissed this development as “an enormous distraction” and beyond statute. If the FCC allows such deviation from statute, that “would raise questions about your willingness to follow Congressional mandates,” they said. Green and Latta are the lawmakers responsible for the stand-alone legislation that ended the set-top box integration ban, eventually passed into law as part of Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization and considered a key lobbying priority for the cable industry. The commission declined to comment, as did Cheryl Tritt, who chairs the FCC committee. “The limited scope of DSTAC and it’s [sic] purpose is clear, and the language that defines it has been agreed upon in both the House and the Senate unanimously," Latta said in a statement.

The House Judiciary Committee cleared the Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act (HR-1643) Wednesday on a voice vote. The bill would prevent multiple taxation of digital goods by setting sourcing rules for digital goods and services purchases, thereby implementing the Internet Tax Freedom Act’s ban on multiple taxes on e-commerce sales. HR-1643 would also bar discriminatory taxes on digital goods and services. “A bipartisan group of Judiciary Committee members have come together to level the playing field for the taxpayers,” said House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., in a news release. “In today's growing digital economy it is critical that there be clear rules of the road to protect consumers from multiple taxation.”

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, released the text of the Remote Transactions Parity Act (HR-2775) Monday, encountering opposition from several opponents of the Marketplace Fairness Act (S-698) but also support from several major online retailers. HR-2775, which would give states additional limited freedom to charge sales taxes on out-of-state customers’ online purchases, mirrors some elements of S-698 but would exempt remote sellers with sales of less than $10 million during the first year after the law takes effect, with lower exemption thresholds in the second and third years. The bill also contains additional protections for remote sellers and certified software providers. HR-2775 would “modernize current law and strike the appropriate balance between sales tax parity and a state’s right to manage tax policy within its borders,” Chaffetz said in a news release that touted support from 15 other lawmakers, including House Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich. Chaffetz’s introduction of HR-2775 was less than a week after the House passed the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA) (HR-235) on a voice vote. Some supporters of that bill, which would permanently extend the existing ITFA, remain concerned that consideration of its Senate equivalent (S-431) could become entangled with S-698 (see 1506090058). A pro-ITFA lobbyist told us HR-2775 could encounter trouble in the House Judiciary Committee since committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., has already indicated concerns with the bill. Chaffetz touted support from major online retailers Amazon and Overstock, along with traditional retailer interests like the National Association of Retailers. Other e-commerce interests criticized HR-2775, with eBay saying HR-2775 is “bad legislation” and “would impose burdensome remote sales tax collection and remittance requirements on Internet-enabled small businesses.” NetChoice compared HR-2775 unfavorably with S-698, saying it’s “even worse than the original. A bill that claims to focus on collecting more online sales taxes with less burden on small businesses actually accomplishes none of its goals.” Americans for Tax Reform and other anti-tax advocates also strongly opposed HR-2775 Tuesday, with ATR saying in a blog post it opposes the bill because it “does not maintain the physical nexus standard and sets a precedent of taxation without representation.”

CEA commends the Senate for its “bipartisan vote to begin debate” on Trade Promotion Authority legislation, President Gary Shapiro said Thursday in a statement. Access to global trade markets “is critical to our country’s economic future and highly important to the technology industry,” and so CEA will score the pending TPA vote as a "key vote" on its technology legislative scorecard, Shapiro said. The scorecard is CEA's numerical assessment of how much every member of Congress supports innovation, the association has said. “We now urge the Senate to proceed to a vote and pass TPA as quickly as possible.” Shapiro thinks the “odds are high” that TPA legislation will pass the Senate, he emailed us earlier this month (see 1505040040).