THE LEDE: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Ajit Pai will make their case for the agency’s fiscal 2015 funding request in a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday.
The hearing, which will be the pair’s second in Congress this week, comes just days before the next open FCC meeting, scheduled for next Monday. At the session, the FCC will consider a contentious proposal to limit broadcast stations from taking part in financial advertising agreements that critics say allow them to bypass media ownership rules.
{mosads}Any broadcaster that sells more than 15 percent of another’s advertising time in the same market under the Joint Service Agreements (JSA) will be considered to own the station, under the proposal from Wheeler. FCC rules prohibit a company from owning more than one of the top four stations in a market.
Pai, a Republican, has been a vocal critic of the proposed JSA restriction, which he has said would constrain the market and squeeze out some stations, especially those that serve minority populations. He and Wheeler sparred over the issue during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, and the issue is likely to boil to the surface during Thursday’s panel as well.
In the House hearing, lawmakers also criticized an FCC plan to ask journalists about how they ran their newsrooms, a contentious study that critics said threatened the freedom of the press. Wheeler abandoned the effort amid an uproar of criticism.
For fiscal 2015, the FCC has asked for a budget boost of about $35 million, or about 10 percent, which would go towards updating its information technology and expanding the Universal Service Fund, among other purposes. The commission is funded through fees it charges, so extra room in its budget would not add to the federal deficit.
Senate Judiciary to begin consideration of patent bill: The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to begin considering Chairman Patrick Leahy’s (D-Vt.) patent reform bill on Thursday, but due to committee rules, the bill is more likely to be marked up late next week.
According to a committee aide, Leahy is continuing to work with committee members — including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) — to reach a bipartisan agreement on which provisions to include in the bill. As originally introduced, Leahy’s bill would include basic steps to curb “patent trolls,” or the companies that bring and threaten to bring frivolous patent infringement lawsuits.
Other members of the committee, including Cornyn and Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), are hoping to attach their more contentious provisions, which include additional scrutiny for software patents and requiring the losing party of a frivolous infringement lawsuit to pay the winner’s legal fees.
In a statement on Wednesday, Leahy responded to recent reports that Cornyn would be willing to hold out for his provision — even if it means waiting on patent reform — in the hopes that Republicans could control the Senate next year.
“The idea that Republicans are playing politics with this important priority for American businesses is a major disappointment. We have been working with businesses and innovators for months to craft meaningful legislation to address the problem of patent trolls,” he said.
He added that he has “personally committed” to including provisions like Cornyn’s and hopes that “politics will not rule the day, and we can work together to pass this bill to help American businesses.”
House panel to hold bitcoin hearing: The House Small Business Committee will hold a hearing on the potentials and perils of bitcoin next Wednesday. The session is likely to give lawmakers an introduction to the virtual currency and talk about ways that it might be useful for small businesses. Jerry Brito, with George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, and Adam White, head of business development and sales at the bitcoin firm Coinbase, as slated to testify.
“Technology is changing fast and that can bring about both risks and benefits for small businesses,” said committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said in a statement sent to The Hill. “Bitcoin is a rapidly growing alternative payment method that can be attractive to small firms, but they need to know all the factors involved.”
Pryor protests FCC plan: The FCC could be jacking up basic phone service for rural Americans with its new “rate floor,” warned Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.). The Democrat, who is facing a tough reelection fight, wrote FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Wednesday to call for a delay to the proposed increase. The current rate floor, which mandates that telecommunications providers charge a certain amount for service or else risk losing access to government support under the Universal Service Fund, is set at $14. Under the FCC’s proposal, released earlier this month, that would rise to $20.46 in July.
“It is unfair to rural consumers and telecommunications providers that phone bills could be raised by forty percent or more with such short notice,” he wrote. “Consumers deserve better than drastic price hikes for their basic telephone service.”
House lawmakers weigh in on spectrum: Reps. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) want the FCC to make as much revenue as possible in an upcoming spectrum auction. Making room for commercial usage of the AWS-3 spectrum has been a “cornerstone” of their work, the lawmakers wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Wheeler.
“As the FCC finalizes its band plan and rules for an auction of the long-sought AWS-3 spectrum, we write to stress the importance of creating strong incentives for wireless carriers to compete in the auction,” they wrote. “We urge the Commission to put forth a band plan that allows for robust competition, maximizing revenue through vigorous auction participation.”
The commission will outline the process of the sale at its upcoming meeting on March 31.
Senate urged to go big on patent bill: Comprehensive patent reform legislation is necessary to fix the broken process and “protect the future of American consumers,” consumer interest and technology groups said on Wednesday. In a letter to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Public Knowledge, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Application Developers Alliance and the tech policy group Engine called for a crackdown on “patent trolls” that plague companies with lawsuits and legal complaints.
“Strong and comprehensive laws will enhance the patent system and protect consumers,” they wrote. “No single provision will eradicate abusive patent assertion or deceptive litigation practices. We need comprehensive legislation that will attack the problems in our patent system at all angles, to foster invention, protect consumers, and create a system that discourages abuse.”
Issa calls for FOIA reform: The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) needs to be updated, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wrote in an op-ed in The Hill. He pointed to the FOIA Oversight and Implementation Act, which passed the House unanimously earlier this year but has yet to move in the Senate.
“The goal is to peel away at the red tape that makes the FOIA process cumbersome, frustrating, and ineffective,” he wrote. “The new law will level the playing field, and keep government agencies from denying information to those who seek it out.”
ON TAP
The Information Technology Industry Council is holding an “innovation symposium” at the Newseum starting at 8:30 a.m. Reps. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) are scheduled to speak.
At 10:00 a.m., the Senate Appropriations Committee considers the FCC’s budget for fiscal 2015.
The chief policy officer at the Patent and Trademark Office is speaking at a panel discussion on copyright issues in the afternoon.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is getting behind a House plan to end government collection of people’s phone records.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on Wednesday introduced legislation to ban most forms of online gambling, ratcheting up a lobbying battle that pits casinos and lotteries against conservative donor Sheldon Adelson.
A group of Democratic governors is opposing the Republican bill that would prohibit online gambling.
Former President Jimmy Carter (D) would consider pardoning National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden, were he to be tried and convicted, he said.
Social networking app Snapchat turned down an invitation to testify at the Senate Commerce Committee’s hearing on data breaches.
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