FCC September Open Meeting

The FCC announced the final agenda for its September 26, 2019 Open Meeting. The following items are on the agenda:

• The Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and Connect USVI Fund – A  Report and Order that would allocate $950 million in fixed and mobile high-cost universal service support for Stage 2 of the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and the Connect USVI Fund to expand, improve, and harden communications networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The FCC will also consider an Order on Reconsideration that would dispose of two petitions related to Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and Connect USVI Fund advance support and Stage 1 support.
• Access Arbitrage – A Report and Order and Modification of Section 214 Authorizations that would adopt reforms to eliminate wasteful access arbitrage schemes and promote the efficient use of the nation’s communications networks.
• 3.5 GHz Auction Procedures –A Public Notice that would seek comment on procedures to be used for Auction 105, the auction of Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in the 3550-3650 MHz band.
• Public Notice of the Filing of Broadcast Applications Rules – A Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would propose to modernize and simplify the written and on-air public notices broadcasters must provide upon the filing of certain applications.
• Updating and Streamlining Rules for the Direct Broadcast Satellite Service – A Report and Order that would align the Direct Broadcast Satellite licensing procedures with those of the geostationary orbit fixed-satellite service satellites.

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The Regulatory Mix Today: FCC September Open Meeting Agenda, FCC's O'Rielly on Nevada 9-1-1 Diversion

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FCC’s O’Rielly on Nevada 9-1-1 Fee Diversion

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly released the text of a letter he sent to the Governor of Nevada concerning their diversion of 911 fees in his state.  In particular, O’Reilly notes that the state authorized individual county commissions to increase 9-1-1 fees by up to four times to recoup the costs procuring body cameras for uniformed law enforcement personnel.  O’Rielly said, in part: “At first glance, body cameras may seem to be tangentially related to 9-1 -1, but, in fact, this expenditure amounts to a diversion of 9-1-1 funds and is inappropriate and unacceptable — both for practical reasons and under the law. Simply put, 9-1-1 fees should go solely to support 9-1-1 networks and directly related purposes i.e., the costs associated with emergency call centers and call takers. Otherwise, one could seemingly justify using these funds for an endless number of potentially popular public safety expenditures…If allowed to stand, there would be no practical limit on a state or territorial government’s use of critical 9-1-1 fees, which would turn such accounts into giant slush funds. In the case of Nevada, the state effectively imposed a clandestine, backdoor tax on its consumers by using the 9-1-1 consumer-paid fees to pay for body cameras.”

O’Rielly noted that diversion of 9-1-I fees also implicates federal law and policies that restrict 9-1-1 fees to their intended purpose and that, because of its diversion of 9-1-1 fees, Nevada was ineligible for any of the $109 million recently awarded by the Departments of Transportation and Commerce for 9-1-I services.  Thus, it is “is missing out on valuable resources needed to upgrade to Next Generation 9-1-1 systems.”  He urged the governor to rectify the situation by letting it be known that he opposes the diversion of inflated 9-I-1 fees to unrelated purposes and demanding that the urging the legislature to find other sources of funding to reimburse local counties for the cost of body cameras.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.

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