WASHINGTON, December 19, 2023 – House Republicans are accusing the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of regulating broadband pricing as part of its $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program. 

Their concerns, outlined in a letter to NTIA head Alan Davidson Friday, center on rules requiring states — the entities ultimately awarding grants under the program — to ensure providers set up affordable plans for low-income households to get connected on BEAD-funded infrastructure. States are afforded flexibility in how they do this, but the NTIA has expressed a preference for setting a specific price point or a formula that will be used to calculate the low-cost plan.

Republican lawmakers said in the letter that approving state BEAD plans with required pricing amounts to rate regulation by the NTIA, something the agency is forbidden from doing by the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act, which spawned the BEAD program.

“As we have said before, NTIA’s approval of state plans that include rate regulation is NTIA regulating rates in violation of the IIJA,” the letter reads.

All 16 Republican members of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee signed the letter, including Communications Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington. The two signed another letter on Friday to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel saying her claims about the effectiveness of the Affordable Connectivity Program, a monthly broadband subsidy for low-income households, were overstated.

The issue of alleged rate regulation came up during Davidson’s testimony to the subcommittee at an oversight hearing on December 5. Asked repeatedly if the NTIA would regulate rates to ensure affordability requirements are met, Davidson emphasized the agency would not be handing down price requirements.

“We are not setting a price at the NTIA. We are not setting a national price for broadband,” he said at the hearing.

Davidson did not forestall the agency approving state plans to mandate rates or set price caps, which was not enough for House Republicans.

“If we’re going to spend billions of dollars of federal money, and people are going to take that money,” Davidson said, “it’s not unreasonable to ask them to be careful about affordability when they’re doing so.”

The NTIA has only officially approved one proposal for selecting BEAD grant recipients so far: Louisiana’s. That document sets the state’s low-cost option at $30 – set to match the subsidy provided by the ACP – but gives applicants room to raise that up to $65 if necessary for the financial sustainability of a project.

Virginia’s plan requiring providers to submit their own low-cost plans as part of the application process drew some pushback from the agency. The NTIA asked the state to set up more concrete requirements around the low-cost provision, citing a need to know how consumers would be affected before approving the plan.

The state, citing the same concerns as Republican lawmakers, is asking NTIA to approve its plan as is.

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2023 – The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed three bills to the House floor Thursday that will reauthorize the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, direct the agency to conduct a feasibility assessment of a trans-Atlantic fiber optic cable, and conduct a study on accountability measures for artificial intelligence.  

The NTIA Reauthorization Act of 2023 is a bipartisan effort to reauthorize the NTIA and modernize the mission of the agency to meet the needs of modern America. It would eliminate what it calls unnecessary reporting requirements and consolidate current reporting requirements into an annual report. 

It would also require the NTIA to develop common models, methodologies, and inputs to inform federal spectrum management decisions and establish an informing capability to support the agency’s mission to manage federal spectrum use. It would require the NITA to convene a working group to “establish voluntary receiver criteria, rating, or other measures in bands where federal entities are primary or co-primary users.” 

Spectrum refers to the airways used to transmit wireless signals and service Wi-Fi and mobile networks across the nation. Federal agencies currently have licenses for large portions of the bands, and industry leaders are calling for more spectrum to be allocated for commercial use. 

The law would put the NTIA under obligation to conduct cybersecurity efforts, including by submitting a report examining the cybersecurity of mobile service networks and connecting outreach and technical assistance to small communications network providers. 

Representative Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., applauded the bill for addressing critical cybersecurity concerns, claiming that not addressing these concerns would cause problems in supply chain and infrastructure across the nation.  

Mark Johnson, R-Ohio, and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., added support to the bill in its ability to provide the NTIA tools to better achieve its goals and improve its spectrum coordination with the Federal Communications Commission. The representatives agreed that spectrum is critical to American infrastructure. The motion was passed with a minor amendment on a 48-0 vote. 

The Artificial Intelligence Accountability Act also passed the committee with an amendment to define terms such as “trustworthy.” It would direct the NTIA to study accountability measures for artificial intelligence systems used by communications networks and hold public meetings to solicit feedback on the information that should be available to consumers who interact with AI systems.  

Committee members also passed a bipartisan bill, called the Diaspora Link Act, that would direct the NTIA to submit a report to Congress outlining the value, cost, and feasibility of building a trans-Atlantic fiber optic cable that would connect the continental United States with Ghana and Nigeria by way of the U.S. Virgin Islands in order to “enhance the national security of the United States.” 

Clean energy bills

Also addressed were three laws that address clean energy provisions. The Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act would amend the Clean Air Act to include a requirement that the Environmental Protection Agency evaluates a state’s waiver for vehicle emissions standards to ensure it does not “directly or indirectly limit the sale or use of new motor vehicles with an internal combustion engine.” 

This bill addresses recent California legislation that seeks to require all new cars sold in 2035 and beyond are zero-emission vehicles, which includes electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid EVs.  

“We need to be honest with the American people about how forcing them to switch to electric vehicles plays right into China’s scheme to control our automotive future. China already controls access to critical minerals necessary for EVs,” said Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. China controls 76 percent of global battery cell production capacity for EVs and recently outpaced Japan in the largest exporter of new motor vehicles in the world, she said.  

Democrats strongly opposed the motion, claiming that “while Democrats are fighting [climate change] with investments to reduce pollution and grow our economy, Republicans are fighting to take away those investments and reverse our progress,” said Ranking Member Frank Pallone, D-N.J.  

Amendments to remove the section of the bill that would affect existing waivers and delay the effective date until certification that the bill would not cause disproportionate harm to American communities were not agreed to, with votes split on party lines, 27-20. The bill was passed on a 26-22 vote. 

Also considered was the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales Act that would amend previous law to prevent any regulations that mandate the use of any specific technology or resulting in the limited availability of new motor vehicles based on that vehicle’s engine type.  

The No Fuels Credits for Batteries Act would clarify that the EPA “is not authorized to use credits for electricity generated from renewable fuel for purposes of the Renewable Fuel Standard.” Both bills were passed along party lines. 

WASHINGTON, November 17, 2021 – The House Committee on Energy and Commerce passed several bills Wednesday, including two on telecom policy and one meant to address consumer safety when using online retailers.

H.R. 1218, the “Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act,” H.R. 2501, the “Spectrum Coordination Act,” and H.R. 5502, the “Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act” were all passed unopposed and without amendments.

H.R. 1218 is a bill intended to target broadband resources to areas where “telehealth may be useful in the monitoring and care of pregnant women,” bill co-sponsor Rep. G. K. Butterfield, D-North Carolina, said during the hearing, adding “it is a moral imperative to address the maternal mortality crisis in the United States.” The bill’s other sponsors are Reps. Lisa Rochester, D-Delaware, and Gus Bilirakis, R-Florida.

“To effectively deploy 21st Century resources to address the shocking rates of maternal mortality, the nation must first identify which communities lack adequate Internet access and have high maternal mortality rates. That is exactly what this bill seeks to do,” said Rochester.

H.R. 2501, which is sponsored by Bilirakis, requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration – an agency of the Commerce Department – and the Federal Communications Commission to update the memorandum of understanding on spectrum coordination, to ensure that spectrum is shared efficiently, and that a process is created to better resolve frequency allocation disputes.

H.R. 5502, co-sponsored by Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D- Illinois, takes aim at online retailers that do not take responsibility for the products that third-party groups sell on their marketplace. Legislators supporting this legislation asserted that this has allowed bad actors to sell unsafe, counterfeit, or otherwise fraudulent goods on common marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy.

“What we’re saying now is very simply that online marketplaces will have to verify that the identity of their higher volume sellers, so they have to take some responsibility,” said Schakowsky. “It’s not just about counterfeiters, it’s not just about defrauding – we are talking about danger every year around this time.”

“This legislation is really going to help the consumers and legitimate businesses that are selling products and becoming victims themselves.”

Amazon has been on the wrong end of state court rulings recently that have made it liable for defective products. Experts on a Information Technology and Innovation Foundation event in May remarked that this could open the floodgates for these types of lawsuits, a contrast to when Section 230 liability protections for platforms have historically been used as strong defenses for these platforms.

Now that these bills have passed their committee, they will be sent to the House to be considered. Should they successfully be passed in the House, they will be sent to the Senate and undergo a similar procedure; if the bills are successfully passed in both the House and Senate, they will then be sent to President Joe Biden’s desk, where he can decide whether to sign them into law.