LOUISVILLE -- Just as states are pursuing a few approaches to shore up their own USFs, state regulators have a similar array of ideas about how the federal government can put its funds for broadband and other telecom services on sounder financial footing. In interviews on the sidelines of NARUC's gathering and in phone interviews for those who didn't travel here for the Sunday-Wednesday event, commissioners generally agreed the path the federal USF is on isn't sustainable because the percentage fee on some telecom services that consumers are levied on their monthly bills has gone up in recent years.
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LOUISVILLE -- As state commissions make diversity a focus, regulators from both political parties noted during NARUC's gathering this week their ability to set mandates is limited by authority constraints that include less purview over telecom companies than over electric and other utilities. The public utility commissioners said they and their agencies focus on having a diverse staff and on encouraging companies to pay attention to workforce and supplier diversity. In interviews here, the officials also cited the association's continuing focus on broadening the ranks of regulators and their staffers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters Friday she plans to press forward with plans to hold floor votes that day on the Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) and a rule setting up consideration of the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (HR-5376) despite opposition from Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders. House Democratic leaders set up the votes as a compromise aimed at advancing HR-3684 while appeasing Communications Subcommittee member Kurt Schrader of Oregon and five other party centrists who are withholding support for HR-5376 until the Congressional Budget Office releases a score on that measure, a process that may take weeks. HR-5376 would fail if all six centrists voted against it since all House Republicans are expected to oppose the measure. “As we’ve consistently said, there are dozens of our members who want to vote both bills … out of the House together,” said CPC Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., in a statement. “If our six colleagues still want to wait for a CBO score, we would agree to give them that time -- after which point we can vote on both bills together.” Pelosi later told reporters she believes "there are a large number of" CPC members "who will vote for" HR-3684 without simultaneous consideration of HR-5376. "I have" a "secret whip count" and "a pretty good feel" for where the Democratic caucus stands, she said. President Joe Biden urged House members earlier Friday to pass HR-3684 and HR-5376, saying that would “say clearly to the American people ‘we hear your voices. We’re going to invest in your hopes.’” Both measures include billions of dollars for broadband, though the amount in a Thursday revised draft of HR-5376 is significantly lower than Democrats originally sought (see 2110280074). Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., praised lawmakers for including her Local Journalism Sustainability Act (HR-3940/S-2434) in HR-5376. “Local journalism is essential to our democracy, we cannot let local & regional newsrooms continue to die in this challenging information age,” she tweeted. HR-3940/S-2434 would provide up to $5,000 in tax credits for local businesses that buy radio, TV and newspaper ads, and up to $25,000 for local news organizations to hire journalists.
Funding for next-generation 911 is the “biggest challenge and would make the biggest difference,” said Public Safety Bureau Deputy Chief David Furth during an FCBA CLE webinar. “It’s not something the FCC can make happen.” Others agreed about the importance of funding. Congress is considering NG-911 money via the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (HR-5376), but the measure's prospects remain unclear.
The FCC can’t force AT&T to delay the planned Feb. 22 shutdown of its 3G network (see 2109150041), Free State Foundation Director-Policy Studies Seth Cooper blogged Tuesday. “The FCC lacks legal authority to mandate 3G network delivery of private mobile IoT services,” he said: “Those service offerings are individually negotiated with alarm companies, and they are not subject to common carriage rules.” Any attempt to force AT&T to keep the network open “effectively would rewrite existing contracts between AT&T and alarm companies,” he said. The Alarm Industry Communications Committee, meanwhile, fired back at AT&T’s latest filing on the shutdown (see 2110290058). AT&T “fails once again to refute several key points by AICC regarding the detrimental impact on the public regarding their 3G shut down,” a spokesperson emailed: “AICC does not agree that, in the name of competition, the FCC should allow millions of vulnerable customers, including the elderly and disabled, to lose lifesaving monitoring services. AICC is simply requesting a temporary delay due to the pandemic so that we have the time AT&T originally offered us to upgrade our existing 3G customers.”
Exempt calls blocked through a Do Not Originate list from the notification requirements, Somos asked FCC Governmental Affairs Bureau staff in an ex parte posted Tuesday in docket 17-59. Somos said its primary concern about USTelecom's petition for reconsideration of call blocking notifications was "how the notification requirements would operate when blocking calls" from a DNO list (see 2105200074). The notifications "could alert the party spoofing that the number they have spoofed will be blocked, leading them to try spoofing a different number," it said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California told reporters Tuesday she believed negotiations within the Democratic caucus on a deal to advance the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (HR-5376) “could be resolved by the end of the day.” A final deal on the package could open up the possibility of floor votes this week on that measure and the Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684), which stalled in the House amid a refusal by Congressional Progressive Caucus members to vote for that bill until negotiations on the reconciliation legislation conclude. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced a deal on some aspects of the reconciliation package Tuesday afternoon, but no deal was final then. Both measures include billions of dollars for broadband, though the amount in a Thursday revised draft of HR-5376 is significantly lower than Democrats originally sought (see 2110280074).
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., urged House Democratic leaders Monday to hold a vote this week (see 2110290066) on the Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684). He criticized lawmakers in the party’s liberal wing during a news conference for holding the measure “hostage” until there’s a deal on the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package (HR-5376). Both measures include billions of dollars for broadband, though the amount in a Thursday revised draft of HR-5376 is significantly lower than Democrats originally sought (see 2110280074). Continuing to delay a House vote on HR-3684 “is not going to work in getting my support” for HR-5376, Manchin told reporters. “The political games have to stop.” Congressional Progressive Caucus members intend to vote for both HR-3684 and HR-5376 this week, Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said during a CNN appearance after Manchin’s comments. “We’ve got to trust” that President Joe Biden will handle Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, the two Senate Democrats who have remained holdouts on supporting the reconciliation plan, Jayapal said. “We remain confident that the plan” for HR-5376 will get Manchin’s support, said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
House leaders delayed a floor vote on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684) Thursday until at least some time this week amid perceptions that liberal Democratic caucus members were continuing to resist passing the measure until a deal is final on the related Build Back Better Act (HR-5376). Both measures include billions of dollars for broadband, though the amount in a Thursday revised draft of HR-5376 is significantly lower than Democrats originally sought (see 2110280074). The House instead voted 358-59 for the Further Surface Transportation Extension Act (HR-5763), which would set a new Dec. 3 expiration date for U.S. transportation funding, to buy more time for lawmakers to enact the Senate-passed HR-3684.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline "needs considerably more resources" at its crisis centers to respond to text and chat volume now, and will need more staffing and training when the ability to text to 988 is fully implemented nationwide, Lifeline administrator Vibrant Emotional Health emailed us Thursday. The FCC will vote Nov. 18 on setting a July 16 deadline for carriers to support texting to 988 (see 2110270049). The draft order was released Thursday.