Today:  US House Commerce Committee Markups, US House FTC Oversight Hearing, FCC Nationwide Number Portability 

US House Commerce Committee Markups

The House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), has scheduled a markup session on July 12, 2018 to consider a variety of bills, including some from telecom-related subcommittees.  In particular, the full committee will consider:

• H.R. 6032, the SMART IoT Act, authored by #SubDCCP Chairman Bob Latta (R-OH) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), that would direct the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a study on the state of the internet-connected devices industry. H.R. 6032 was the subject of a May 2018 legislative hearing and passed #SubDCCP last month by voice vote.
• H.R. 5709, Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement (PIRATE) Act, authored by #SubCommTech Vice Chairman Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY), to increase fines for illegal pirate operations from $10,000 per violation to $100,000 per day per violation, up to a maximum of $2,000,000, and streamline the FCC’s enforcement process and empower state and local law enforcement in combating illegal pirate operations. H.R. 5709 was the subject of a March 2018 legislative hearing and passed #SubCommTech last month by voice vote.
• H.R. 3994, the Advancing Critical Connectivity Expands Service, Small Business Resources, Opportunities, Access, and Data Based on Assessed Need and Demand (ACCESS BROADBAND) Act, authored by Rep. Tonko and Rep. Lance, to establish an Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to coordinate and track federal funding for broadband across all agencies. This is an important step in the NTIA reauthorization process the subcommittee began last year and continued with the recent #SubCommTech legislative hearing on draft NTIA reauthorization legislation. H.R. 3994 was the subject of a January 2018 legislative hearing and passed #SubCommTech last month by voice vote.
• H.R. 4881, Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act of 2018, authored by #SubDCCP Chairman Latta and Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA), to require the FCC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to form a task force to evaluate the best ways to meet the broadband needs of precision agriculture. H.R. 4881 was the subject of a January 2018 legislative hearing and passed #SubCommTech last month by voice vote.

US House FTC Oversight Hearing

The House Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, chaired by Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH), announced it will hold a hearing on July 18, 2018 entitled, “Oversight of the Federal Trade Commission.”  FTC Chairman Joe Simons and the recently confirmed bench of commissioners will testify before #SubDCCP, continuing the subcommittee’s tradition of oversight of the agency. The hearing will focus on consumer data protection and data privacy issues, efforts to combat robocalls and scams, as well as improve transparency and efficiency at the FTC, among other priorities.  “The FTC has long been known as the ‘cop on the beat’ for consumer protection, and in today’s fast-moving internet age, the commission is tackling a new set of challenges when it comes to keeping consumers – and their information – safe. Next week’s hearing builds upon the FTC’s and this subcommittee’s efforts at the forefront of digital privacy and security,” said Chairman Latta. “I look forward to discussing with the commission our common goals to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, and malicious practices both online and off.”

FCC Nationwide Number Portability

At its Open Meeting this morning, the FCC voted to issue a Report and Order setting the stage for nationwide number portability.  The changes adopted today in the Report and Order include the following:

• Elimination of the “dialing parity” rule for competitive providers and for stand-alone services grandfathered in 2015.
• Revision of the “N-1” rule that currently requires the next-to-last carrier in a call – typically the long-distance provider – to query the number portability database. The modification allows other carriers in the chain to query the database. This will open new opportunities for call routing as the industry prepares for nationwide number portability.

Separately, the FCC also asked the North American Numbering Council to continue to provide input on the relative costs, benefits, and technical requirements of two of the possible nationwide number portability mechanisms, as well as the next steps the FCC and industry should take to achieve full nationwide number portability.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s daily 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.