Today:  US Senate Congressional Review Act Resolution On Net Neutrality, US Congress SMARTER Act 

US Senate Congressional Review Act Resolution On Net Neutrality

By a vote of 52-47, the US Senate passed a Congressional Review Act resolution that would overturn the FCC’s Internet Freedom Order reclassifying broadband Internet access as an information service.  However, the resolution must pass the US House of Representatives and be signed by the President before it will have any force or effect.  Neither the House nor the President is likely to go along with the Senate’s resolution.

Reacting to the Senate’s action, FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel said: “Today the United States Senate took a big step to fix the serious mess the FCC made when it rolled back net neutrality late last year. The FCC's net neutrality repeal gave broadband providers extraordinary new powers to block websites, throttle services and play favorites when it comes to online content. This put the FCC on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of the American people. Today’s vote is a sign that the fight for internet freedom is far from over. I’ll keep raising a ruckus to support net neutrality and I hope others will too.” 

Reacting the opposite way, FCC Chairman Pai said, in part: “It’s disappointing that Senate Democrats forced this resolution through by a narrow margin. But ultimately, I'm confident that their effort to reinstate heavy-handed government regulation of the Internet will fail….[O]ur light-touch approach will deliver better, faster, and cheaper Internet access and more broadband competition to the American people—something that millions of consumers desperately want and something that should be a top priority.”  And Commissioner Carr said: “Americans cherish the free and open Internet. They want more choices and greater competition. They want better, faster, and cheaper Internet access.  At the FCC, we are focused on policies that will deliver those results. We are cutting billions of dollars’ worth of red tape that has been slowing broadband deployment. We are freeing up more spectrum for next-gen wireless broadband than any other country in the world. And we are promoting the deployment of broadband infrastructure from big cities to small towns. These policies—not multi-Pinocchio claims about the end of the Internet that are being promoted in service of partisan politics—are the path to delivering more broadband for more Americans. The FCC will continue the serious work we are doing to put these policies in place.”

Also weighing in were House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).  They issued a statement saying: “The future of the internet should not be left to unelected government bureaucrats. It should be driven by what has always worked – innovation, American entrepreneurship, and a light-touch regulatory framework. A vote for the CRA was a vote to subject the internet to 1930s-era regulation, when one copper wire was considered advanced technology. What we saw today demonstrates that Senate Democrats are only interested in scoring political points, not coming to the table for good faith negotiations. Consumers deserve certainty, and that’s why we renew our call for a bipartisan, permanent, legislative solution to solve this important issue once and for all."

US Congress SMARTER Act

Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act, or SMARTER Act.  If it becomes law, the SMARTER Act would require the FCC to issue merger decisions within 180 days of receiving a completed merger application.  It would also prohibit the FCC from designating an application for hearing unless the FCC, by majority vote, determined that a material factual question exists about misrepresentation or lack of candor by the applicant.  If the FCC could not complete its review within the 180-day time frame it would need to seek permission from the US District Court for the District of Columbia.  Under certain specified circumstances, the Court could grant 30-day extensions.  An application would be deemed approved without conditions if the FCC failed to approve or deny it within the 180-day period or apply for an extension.  The law would also require the Federal Trade Commission to meet the same standards as the Department of Justice in order to obtain a preliminary injunction to block a merger and to litigate the merits of contested merger cases in federal court under the Clayton Act rather than before its own administrative tribunals.

Reacting to the new law, FCC Commissioner O’Rielly said, in part: “Among other improvements, the bill includes two key reforms to the FCC’s merger review process that I have longed championed: setting a non-aspirational, 180-day shot clock for agency review of license transfers and addressing the abusive practice of designating an application for hearing to the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), which effectively serves to kill a transaction. Applicants deserve a timely, complete, fact-based, and straightforward answer from the Commission – not one built on interminable delays or shady denials.” 

And Commissioner Carr said “I applaud Senator Lee for working to ensure that good government is the law of the land.  With the SMARTER Act, Senator Lee would put the Federal Communications Commission on a shot clock and thus codify the agency’s commitment to open, transparent, and timely decision making.”

____________________________

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.