A group of Republican Senators have introduced the Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2017 to eliminate “Chevron deference” that reviewing courts give to administrative agency decisions. The bill, if passed, would amend Section 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act to require courts to decide all questions of law and interpret statutory provisions de novo. It has been referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
The Federal Communications Commission has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that suggests ways to strengthen its existing slamming and cramming rules. Among other things, the FCC proposes to codify a rule banning misrepresentations on sales calls, and seeks comment on requiring carriers that rely on third-party verification to record the entirety of sales calls that precede a consumer’s preferred carrier switch.
The Federal Communications Commission has released a new proposal to better address ongoing problems in the completion of long-distance telephone calls to rural areas. In a recently released Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC recommends eliminating its existing data recording and reporting rules, and replacing them with new rules that require covered long-distance carriers to hold their intermediate providers accountable for call failures.
Microsoft has announced an ambitious plan to help bring broadband to the approximately 23.4 million rural Americans that lack service with speeds of 25 Mbps downstream. Through its new “Airband” initiative, Microsoft will partner with rural telecommunications companies by covering certain capital costs of deploying TV White Space networks. Microsoft has set a goal of bringing broadband connectivity to 2 million people in rural America by July 4, 2022.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has directed the Universal Service Administrative Company to institute a number of safeguards intended to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in the universal service Lifeline program. Chairman Pai’s command to clean up Lifeline was triggered in large part by a recent GAO report that discovered extensive fraud within the program. USAC is tasked with addressing problems related to ineligible subscribers, oversubscribed addresses, phantom subscribers, deceased subscribers, exact duplicates, and accountability of sales agents. Chairman Pai has asked USAC to report on its progress in implementing the safeguards by August 8, 2017.
As part of its recent report on various problems with the Lifeline program, the U.S. Government Accountability Office recommended that the money that makes up the universal service fund be moved from a private bank account to the U.S. Treasury. According to the GAO, one “benefit” of the move is that USF money could be used to offset federal debts. Is this a good idea?
The Federal Communications Commission has determined that an exclusive license to provide telecommunications services granted by the state of Hawaii to Sandwich Isles Communications, Inc. violates Section 253(a) of the Communications Act, and as a result, has preempted enforcement of the license.
On June 19, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in Packingham v. North Carolina, striking down a North Carolina law that prohibited registered sex offenders from accessing social networking web sites that are used by minors. The Court invalidated the law because it “impermissibly restricts lawful speech in violation of the First Amendment.” Shortly after release of the opinion, various copyright experts and attorneys suggested the decision implicates the safe harbor provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that requires Internet service providers to terminate Internet access service to repeat copyright infringers.
NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association and US Telecom have filed a joint petition requesting temporary forbearance from the application of universal service fund contribution rules to broadband Internet access transmission services provided by rural local exchange carriers. The two broadband associations are seeking forbearance pending the completion of comprehensive USF contributions reform.
FCC Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Mignon Clyburn have coauthored an article posted on the FCC’s official blog that asks whether means-testing could bring “efficiencies” to the universal service fund’s high-cost support mechanism.
