Legislative Activity House Approves Joint Resolution to Repeal the FCC’s Broadband Privacy Rules, Sending the Measure to the President On March 28, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution (S.J. Res. 34) passed by the Senate last week to repeal the broadband privacy rules adopted by the Federal Communications … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Approves Joint Resolution to Repeal the FCC’s Broadband Privacy Rules On March 23, the U.S. Senate passed S.J. Res. 34, a joint resolution to repeal the broadband privacy rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in October 2016. Introduced by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), the joint resolution, which states that “Congress … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Cybersecurity Legislation Introduced in the House and Senate On March 2, legislators in both the House of Representatives (House) and the Senate introduced several bills relating to cybersecurity reforms. As of this writing, the text of the bills below has not been publicly released. The following bills were introduced in the House: H.R.1340, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Approves FY 2017 Appropriations Bill Decreasing FCC’s Budget On July 7, the U.S. House of Representatives (House) passed H.R.5485, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill, 2017 containing appropriations for fiscal year (FY) 2017. The $21.7 billion funding measure contains appropriations for various federal agencies for the fiscal year ending September … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Lawmakers Discuss Movement on Telecom Bills Before Recess and Election During a Federal Communications Bar Association lunch held June 8, House Energy & Commerce Committee (House Commerce Committee) counsel discussed pending communications legislation and the likelihood of seeing movement in the coming months. Majority counsel David Redl expressed interest in advancing H.R.4889, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Lawmakers Question FCC Approach on Broadband Privacy On June 1, Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI), Greg Walden (R-OR), and Michael Burgess (R-TX) wrote a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler requesting that the FCC reconsider its approach, outlined in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), to protecting the privacy of … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senators Press FCC for Extension of Broadband Privacy Comment Period On May 19, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) wrote a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler requesting that the FCC extend the comment period for the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on a proposed framework … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Subcommittee Holds Hearing on FCC’s Proposed Broadband Privacy Rules On May 11, the Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing titled “Examining the Proposed FCC Privacy Rules.” The hearing examined the substance and implications of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Notice of … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity 60 Members of Congress Address FCC’s Set-Top Box Proposal On May 5, 60 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle wrote a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler expressing concern about the FCC’s recent proposal to change the FCC’s set-top box rules (previously discussed here). The letter stated … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Subcommittee to Examine Seven Communications Bills The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology (Communications Subcommittee) of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce (House Commerce Committee) will hold a legislative hearing on April 13 during which it will review seven communications-related bills. The following legislation will be considered during the hearing: H.R.2031, the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Sen. Thune Introduces FCC Reauthorization Act On March 7, Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee (Senate Commerce Committee) introduced S.2644, the FCC Reauthorization Act of 2016. The bill would reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has not been reauthorized since 1990, and would authorize appropriations … Continue Reading
