Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced a bill Thursday to quadruple the duty-free de minimis level for U.S. imports to $800, from $200. The de minimis is the threshold on which goods are able to enter the U.S. duty-free. Both lawmakers tried but failed to advance the Low Value Shipment Regulatory Modernization Act last Congress. The measure would be a particular boost to small businesses and the digital trade world, both lawmakers said in statements. “Current import policies on low-value shipments are outdated and need to be modernized for the benefit of American consumers and for small businesses, which increasingly use the Internet to access global markets,” Thune said. “Goods shipped to American consumers should be treated the same way as goods carried on a plane to the United States by American travelers.” In recent years, Congress raised the de minimis to $800 for most circumstances where U.S. citizens are returning from abroad. The increased level would take effect in 2016. The bill also calls on the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to try to raise de minimis levels in trade negotiations. Many lawmakers on Capitol Hill support that goal, as do industry representatives.

Eight tech associations, including CEA, sent a letter to congressional leaders Thursday, calling for passage of Trade Promotion Authority. Others signing the letter were BSA/The Software Alliance, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Internet Association, the Semiconductor Industry Association, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and TechNet. “We need a gold standard framework for global trade that is reflective of today’s digital economy and the growing importance of the technology and Internet sectors,” the said. That requires TPA’s passage, it said. The Internet Association has pushed for copyright limitations and exceptions within TPA, which some believe could be a nonstarter for Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah (see 1501290054 and 1501300038). In their letter, the eight tech groups said that "when it comes to writing the rules for the future, we cannot be idle." The global economy "is quickly and inevitably moving forward, so we cannot let our trade priorities and our economy remain in the 20th century," they said. Any gold standard framework for global trade needs to be "reflective of today’s digital economy and the growing importance of the technology and Internet sectors," they said. "The first step for accomplishing this is to pass an updated TPA bill that recognizes the realities of the 21st century economy and provides guidance to negotiators on achieving this modern trade framework. The second step is to evaluate each trade deal on its individual merits and whether it reflects America's trade priorities. We urge Congress to swiftly pass updated TPA legislation to support the almost 40 million American jobs supported by trade and ensure that our trade policy is ready for the 21st century."

ITS America warned Congress against the Wi-Fi Innovation Act, introduced Tuesday and compelling the FCC to investigate unlicensed spectrum use in the upper 5 GHz band (see 1502100041). “Experts from the automotive, Wi-Fi and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) industries are working together to explore whether a spectrum sharing technology can be developed to allow Wi-Fi devices to operate in the same 5.9 GHz band set aside by the FCC for ITS safety systems without delaying time-critical communications needed to prevent crashes,” interim President Thomas Kern said in a statement. “This collaborative process should continue without Congressionally-imposed deadlines, restrictive parameters or political pressure that creates regulatory uncertainty and could delay bringing these life-saving crash prevention technologies to consumers." Kern and other auto industry stakeholders, including AAA and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, sent Hill Commerce Committee leaders a letter slamming the legislation’s “arbitrary deadlines and restrictive parameters.” The groups asked committee leadership to oppose the bill.

Legislation directing the FTC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to establish a federal standard for vehicles that have “fully adopted wireless technologies,” to “secure our cars and protect drivers’ privacy,” was introduced Wednesday by Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Internet of Things (see 1502110035). Introduction of the legislation came days after Markey released a report (see 1502090026) outlining privacy and security issues for vehicle-to-vehicle communication. The legislation also would require new cars to be evaluated and rated based on how well the drivers’ privacy and security were protected. The information would be displayed in a manner similar to how fuel economy is currently displayed. “We need the electronic equivalent of seat belts and airbags to keep drivers and their information safe in the 21st century,” Markey said. “There are currently no rules of the road for how to protect driver and passenger data, and most customers don’t even know that their information is being collected and sent to third parties.” Connected cars "represent tremendous social and economic promise, but in the rush to roll out the next big thing automakers have left the doors unlocked to would-be cybercriminals,” Blumenthal said. The FTC and NHTSA didn't comment.

House Republicans received a record number of responses to their sixth Communications Act overhaul white paper -- 220. The white paper that received the next highest number of responses was the very first one a year ago, with 116. The 220 stakeholders weighed in on several video policy overhaul questions in the latest white paper (see 1501230062, 1501260045, 1501270041 and 1502040038). The House Communications Subcommittee had set a January deadline for responses and posted them all Wednesday. They included many community TV stations plus bigger stakeholders such as the American Cable Association, the American Television Alliance, Cox Enterprises, Dish Network, Public Knowledge, TVFreedom and Verizon. The American Television Alliance, which includes many pay-TV industry stakeholders, used its response to press for enactment of Local Choice, a broadcast a la carte proposal: “No price regulation, no blackouts, no threats, and most importantly, no drama for consumers,” the group said. Congress shouldn't have to wait for a comprehensive telecom rewrite to engage in retransmission overhaul, it said. Aereo, which has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, urged Congress to consider several changes. “Even though Aereo itself has permanently ceased all business operations and will no longer exist, we believe that the lessons we learned have helped further the conversation around video reform,” leading to a robust future market, Senior Vice President Virginia Lam wrote. Aereo backed “a regulatory framework that is technology-neutral and allows linear online video providers to compete in parity with incumbent providers.” The multichannel video programming distributor definition doesn’t need to apply to online video services offering “an on-demand or nonlinear channel format,” Aereo said.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in both chambers on Tuesday reintroduced the Wi-Fi Innovation Act (S-424), which would direct the FCC to investigate the possibilities of the upper 5 GHz band for unlicensed use. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., posted the 12-page bill text online. He introduced the bill with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., although Rubio told us late last week he didn't expect to introduce this or any of his wireless legislation until March and is also hopeful for Commerce Committee hearings on such wireless issues (see 1502050025). “By requiring the FCC to conduct testing that would provide more spectrum to the public, we are ultimately putting the resource to better use and recognizing the future needs and important work being done in intelligent transportation,” Rubio said in a statement. The bill’s backers in the House are Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.; Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio; and Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif. It earned statements of approval from CEA, CTIA, PCIA, Public Knowledge and the Wi-Fi Alliance. These lawmakers introduced the bill last year but it never advanced.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., intends to reintroduce one, or all, of his three pieces of wireless-focused legislation, likely in early March, with wireless hearings possible, he told us at the Capitol Thursday. He began working with the current Commerce Committee leadership on them as far back as September (see 1409220044). Rubio introduced two of the three bills last year: the Wi-Fi Innovation Act (S-2505) with Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., pressing for FCC examination of the upper 5 GHz band, and the Wireless Innovation Act (S-2473), focused on reallocating of at least 200 MHz of government-held spectrum for private use, without any co-sponsors. Rubio prepared to issue a third bill -- on removing regulatory siting barriers for carriers -- in December with Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., but he told us then a procedural detail stalled that introduction (see 1412110036). That stall involved a question of “the committee they wanted to send it to, that’s one of the other issues, but I think we might have that resolved,” Rubio said Thursday. “I think they could all be done simultaneously, but I’m not sure yet. … Our goal is to make them bipartisan. That’s one of the things that’s holding us up still. But we’ll get there.” Rubio is working with Commerce to see if they could be introduced with “a time frame to get some hearings on the general issue but we haven’t worked that out yet,” he said. He pointed to congressional recess in February when predicting the legislative release will “probably have to be in early March.”

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., introduced the Innovation Act Thursday, alongside several House members. HR-9 “contains commonsense reforms and makes the patent litigation process more transparent,” said Goodlatte in a statement. It said the bill is identical to HR-3309, which the House passed in 2013. It would require “plaintiffs to disclose who the owner of a patent is before litigation” and to “explain why they are suing a company in their court pleadings,” it said. CEA, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation, NAB, NCTA, Public Knowledge, TechNet, Software & Information Industry Association and Verizon released statements in support of the bill. The bill would weaken and devalue "the patents of all inventors working throughout America’s innovation economy,” said Adam Mossoff, senior scholar of the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property at George Mason University, in a statement. “It broadly revises the entire American patent system by creating unprecedented hurdles for all owners of patented innovation who seek redress in court against infringers of their property rights.”

With the end of the AWS-3 auction, the upcoming incentive auction will be costlier, panelists at a spectrum conference sponsored by PwC said Thursday. It’s unclear how that will affect broadcasters on the reverse side of the upcoming incentive auction, said Eric Wolf, vice president of technology strategy and management at the Public Broadcasting Service. “There will be a lot more demand for spectrum,” said John Hane, a Pillsbury communications lawyer. “Another view is the AWS-3 auction is fundamentally different from the 600 MHz auction. AWS was a fairly straightforward auction -- people knew what they were bidding on. The 600 auction is very complex, even on the forward side of the auction.” The industry has “essentially forced consumers to stitch together the services that they want,” Wolf said. It can disaggregate and break up service from infrastructure, Hane said. He said he’s optimistic that ATSC 3.0 will be adopted. The “3.0 will make it a lot easier,” said John Lawson, principal of Convergence Services. “It seems like it’s happening, but there’s no structure to make these devices interoperable. We’re still in this scenario with silos.” Wolf said, “Don’t think about it as how many dollars per hertz or bits you can extract. Think about it as how can you help the consumer?” The FCC should be thinking of the consumer, too, and beyond the dollars, he said. “By 2025, I see the FCC trying to auction the T-band,” said Mike Gravino, director of the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition. “I see a constant struggle between the wireless industry and broadcast industry, even though we want to be the same, a struggle over this bandwidth.”

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., will reintroduce the Innovation Act at a news conference Thursday at 10 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn, said a committee news release Wednesday. The bill, which passed the House in 2013, is designed to reform the “ever increasing problem of abusive patent litigation,” it said. Goodlatte will be joined by House Judiciary IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. A spokesman for House Judiciary Committee member Tom Marino, R-Pa., told us last week the bill is expected to be "virtually the same" as the 2013 version (HR-3309) (see 1501300052).