Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act (HR-6929/S-3565) lead House sponsor Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., told us she's cautiously optimistic ahead of the opening of a discharge petition Thursday to force a floor vote on the measure (H.Res. 1119). HR-6929/S-3565 proposes allocating $7 billion for FY 2024 to the ailing FCC connectivity program. Thursday marks the end of a seven-legislative-day waiting period before Clarke can begin collecting signatures on the petition, which would require backing from at least 218 members before becoming effective (see 2404100075). Republican observers, even those who support giving ACP stopgap money, are skeptical the discharge petition bid will succeed.
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Colorado broadband and social media bills passed their originating chambers Tuesday. The House voted 54-7 on Wednesday to pass HB-1336, which transfers authority for awarding grant money from the state’s high-cost support mechanism to the state broadband office from a broadband deployment board in the governor's IT office (see 2404120013). It will go to the Senate. Meanwhile, the Senate voted 30-1 to pass a kids’ social media bill (SB-158) that would require age verification (see 2404160019). Appropriators cleared the measure Tuesday (see 2404160019). It will go to the House.
Votes are again delayed on foster youth and AT&T items at the California Public Utilities Commission. Both were scheduled for Thursday’s meeting, but CPUC staff postponed them until the May 9 meeting, said a hold list Tuesday. The commission originally planned to vote on both items at its Feb. 15 meeting and has now held them multiple times (see 2403200013). The first item would make the CPUC’s pilot foster youth program permanent (docket R.20-02-008). The second would deny AT&T’s corrective action plan explaining how it will correct failures and improve service after failing to meet the state’s out-of-service repair interval standard in 2021 (resolution T-17789).
Comments are due May 16, replies June 17, regarding issues related to geotargeted content origination on FM booster stations, the FCC Media Bureau said Tuesday in docket 20-401. The commissioners unanimously approved a geotargeted radio content order earlier this month (see 2404020078 and the accompanying Further NPRM asks questions regarding a number of processing, licensing and service items.
The satellite industry is divided over an FCC proposal to assess FY 2024 regulatory fees on authorized but not-yet operational satellites and to put a bigger portion of the satellite regulatory fee burden on the shoulders of non-geostationary orbit operators. Comments filed in dockets 24-85 and 24-86 also show pushback regarding regulatory fees specifically for in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) operations. Comments were due Friday on an NPRM adopted in March regarding regulatory fee changes for satellite and earth stations due to the agency reorganization that replaced the International Bureau with the Space Bureau and the Office of International Affairs (see 2403140060).
LAS VEGAS -- The FCC Media Bureau’s Audio Division has been stretched by a spate of recent licensing windows but has added resources and hopes to catch up with delayed filings, said Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner on a panel with other Media Bureau staff at the NAB Show 2024 here Monday. The panel, which included Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer, also discussed proposals to prioritize some broadcaster filings, the recent approval of geotargeted radio, and pirate radio enforcement. “Delay is not our No. 1 goal,” said Shuldiner.
Privacy legislation proposed by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has "no chance of passing," ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us last week. Cantwell said she supports the bill as written and is encouraged to see the House Commerce Committee moving toward a markup on the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA).
Illinois counties could lease or license fiber and other broadband infrastructure for delivery of high-speed internet under a bill the state's Senate approved unanimously Friday. After Senate passage, the bill (SB-3173) arrived in the House. Senators voted 59-0 for an amended bill that would allow counties to lease to public or private entities so long as they do so “on a nondiscriminatory, nonexclusive, and competitively neutral basis” and the county complies with safety codes and all other state and federal laws. The bill's original version would have let counties and municipalities sell local broadband service as a retail provider by obtaining a telecom carrier certificate from the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Some Democrats warned they might join Republicans opposing a California digital equity bill when it reaches the Assembly floor. At a livestreamed hearing Wednesday, the Assembly Communications Committee voted 7-3, with one member not voting, to advance AB-2239 to the Judiciary Committee. The bill would codify in state law the FCC’s definition of digital discrimination (see 2402080068).
Shelby Broadcast must pay a $16,500 forfeiture for operating a translator station outside the parameters of its FCC authorization and not disclosing it, according to an order in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The forfeiture concerns translator W252BE Tarrant, Alabama, which for years after a cable was severed in 2015 Shelby allegedly operated at a different height and power level than authorized, according to the original notice of apparent liability (see 2401170066). Though the penalty represents a significant percentage of the station’s gross income, the Media Bureau declined to reduce the forfeiture amount because the station is slated to be sold for $184,000. “Further, due to Licensee’s history of noncompliance, including unauthorized operations, and the extended duration of the violations, we find no basis to reduce or cancel the proposed forfeiture,” the order said.