Spectrum, FCC Reform, Privacy Top Energy And Commerce Fall Agenda
September 6, 2011
| 5:41 PM
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said Tuesday that Federal Communications Commission reform, spectrum legislation and privacy would be among the panel's top tech and telecom priorities for the fall.
Upton said Energy and Commerce, like other House panels, will be focused on ways to reduce regulation in order to help spur new jobs.
Among the issues that the panel's Communications and Technology Subcommittee, headed by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., will focus on: spectrum legislation and FCC process reform. As part of efforts to reduce what they view as unnecessary regulation on business, Walden and Upton succeeded in recent weeks in pushing the FCC to remove the fairness doctrine, which requires broadcasters to provide equal airtime to opposing views but hasn't been enforced for more than two decades and get rid of other unnecessary media-related rules.
"Broadband and wireless spectrum policy are vital jobs issues and spectrum legislation and FCC process reform will be at the forefront to advance wireless broadband, promote deployment of an interoperable broadband public safety network, create jobs, and reduce the deficit," according to the Energy and Commerce statement.
Walden unveiled a draft spectrum bill in July that was criticized by public safety officials because it did not give them a chunk of spectrum known as the D-block for a national broadband network. Walden's measure would maintain current law, which requires that the D-block be auctioned to commercial bidders.
The wireless industry group CTIA praised the committee's continued focus on spectrum legislation. "We are pleased Chairman Upton recognizes the urgent need to make additional spectrum available for wireless broadband services," Jot Carpenter, the group's vice president of government affairs, said in a statement. "There should be bipartisan support for such an effort, which can help reduce the deficit, enhance the availability of broadband services and spur investment and job creation."
The committee's Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade panel will focus on privacy and data security with special attention on consumer knowledge and control over online data collection, the role data plays in providing free Internet content and how privacy rules in foreign countries impact U.S. firms.
The subcommittee's chairwoman, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., has indicated she plans to hold more privacy hearings. Bono Mack also suggests she wants to move legislation through the full committee that would set national standards on when companies need to notify consumers about a security breach involving their personal information. Bono Mack's subcommittee approved a bill in July but it was panned by the committee's top Democrats for being too weak.
In addition, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will examine ways to improve the nation's cybersecurity. It will also continue its probe into federal assistance to solar panel maker Solyndra, which announced last week it was filing for bankruptcy.
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