Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

With the FCC keeping its doors open until at least Oct. 20 (see 2309280084), the communications industry faces less of a challenge if the federal government closed Saturday night, industry experts agree. The FTC also would remain open. NTIA is expected to furlough many employees. For the FCC, there are questions about what would happen after Oct. 20. The last federal shutdown, in 2018-2019, went on for 35 days. A closure in 1995-1996 lasted 21 days and one in 2013 16 days.

The FCC's draft NPRM that would kick off the agency's efforts to reestablish net neutrality rules largely mirrored the commission's 2015 order, according to our analysis of the draft. Commissioners will consider the item during an October open meeting that will include a full commission for the first time under Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel despite a potential government shutdown (see 2309270056). Meanwhile, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington said the FCC’s net neutrality push is not about protecting free speech but about protecting some tech companies.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel defended an anticipated proceeding that will kick off the commission's efforts to reestablish net neutrality rules (see 2309260047). "We've made it a national policy to make sure broadband reaches everyone, everywhere," she said during a Wednesday Axios event: "I think we should make it a national policy to make sure it's open and not just leave this issue to the states." Rosenworcel in an FCC note also previewed the draft item to be released Thursday, saying commissioners will vote next month on a proposal to begin the process of restoring the FCC’s "overwhelmingly popular" rules.

The FCC Wireless Bureau said it will host a workshop Nov. 2 on the environmental compliance and historic preservation review process required for building communications facilities supporting FCC-licensed services. The daylong workshop starts at 10 a.m. at commission headquarters. “FCC and other federal agency subject-matter experts will provide information on a range of topics related to the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and the FCC’s implementing regulations and related agreements,” the bureau said Tuesday: “FCC applicants (including licensees and registrants), those who construct or manage communications facilities for FCC licensees, environmental consultants, State Historic Preservation Office staff, Tribal Historic Preservation Office staff, and federal agencies that fund or permit wireless facilities are encouraged to attend.”

The FCC's abdicating its internet oversight authority in 2017 largely neutered the agency's ability to protect online privacy and to require ISPs to address lengthy outages, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday as she announced the agency was moving to take that authority back. Reclassification of broadband as a service under Title II would end having to often jury-rig legal justifications for actions the agency is taking, she said, saying October's agenda will include a draft NPRM on reinstating the agency's 2015 net neutrality rules. The move met loud criticism, including from inside the FCC, as well as support.

APCO Chief Counsel Jeff Cohen urged the FCC to “proceed as soon as possible” on rules requiring location-based routing for wireless calls to 911 (see 2309110042), in a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Cohen also raised related rules on next-generation 911 communications, said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-479. “The Commission must approach rules for NG9-1-1 in a manner that promotes a common understanding of the public safety community’s goals and expectations for NG9-1-1 and does not conflict with the comprehensive vision and definitions outlined in pending federal NG9-1-1 funding legislation,” APCO said: “The single most important step the Commission can take would be to adopt requirements for achieving interoperability between originating service providers and 9-1-1 service providers, and among 9-1-1 service providers.”

October's FCC open meeting agenda will include a draft NPRM proposing what would largely be a return of the agency's 2015 net neutrality rules under Title II authority, commission officials told the media in a call Tuesday. The NPRM, to be released publicly Thursday, would forebear from rate regulation and network bundling requirements while also preserving the agency's national security authority to block authorizations of companies controlled by an adversarial foreign government, they said. Asked about what market failures necessitate a return of such rules, they said ISPs are already regulated but by a patchwork of state laws, government contracting policies and executive orders. They said what the FCC is putting forward instead would be a uniform national standard, and seeks comment on how to do that. Asked about how such regulation might fare under the current U.S. Supreme Court and its major questions doctrine, they said agency classification of broadband under the Communications Act goes back to the 1990s and has been upheld by federal courts on multiple occasions, so the Title II approach has strong legal grounding. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is scheduled to give an address this afternoon at 2:30 EDT elaborating on the NPRM.

Interest is still high in both the House and Senate in including a temporary restoration of the FCC’s auction authority in a continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations past the end of FY 2023 Sept. 30 (see 2309190001), but some on and off Capitol Hill now believe attaching the narrower 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787) is a more viable option for breaking the mandate logjam. Lobbyists believe the chances S-2787 will appear in a Senate-side CR improved considerably after the chamber passed the measure Thursday via unanimous consent.

The FCC voted Thursday to streamline satellite applications, provide spectrum for commercial space launches, limit robocaller access to phone numbers, and target a robocalling enterprise with a $116 million forfeiture. Commissioner-designate Anna Gomez didn’t attend the agency's open meeting, which is expected to be the last one with FCC’s current 2-2 makeup. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel declined to say what the agency’s path might be once she has a Democratic majority, “We had four members of the agency here today” and there will be “five in the not-too-distant future, so I would recommend you stay tuned,” Rosenworcel said during a news conference. The agency also approved an order updating the 5G Fund for Rural America (see 2309210035).

The 2024 presidential election shouldn’t, and likely won’t, deter FCC Democrats from moving forward on their policy agenda now that they're on the cusp of a 3-2 majority well over two years into President Joe Biden’s term, said lawmakers and former commission officials in interviews. Many expect a flurry of FCC activity once Democrat Anna Gomez, confirmed by the Senate earlier this month, formally signs on as a commissioner 2309070081). Multiple FCC-watchers and former officials pooh-poohed the conventional wisdom that the agency avoids major, controversial actions during election years.