Thune Sees Broadband Infrastructure as Top Senate Commerce Telecom Priority for Rest of 2017

Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told us he and his staff are drafting a broadband bill “that will hopefully speed up” deployments. It aims to get “rid of some of the roadblocks and impediments” to broadband projects, most notably via the “siting and permitting process,” he said. It would also aim to give states guidance on drafting similar legislation, a Thune aide said. Work on the bill follows the September release of a Thune-requested GAO report that found permitting processes are among the factors limiting broadband deployment and competition, particularly in less-populated areas where carrier investment returns are lower (see 1709190057).

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us he thinks the full committee's telecom priorities will depend “on how productive the FCC decides to be” for the remainder of the year. “The clock is ticking” on a number of issues, he said. Wicker declined to cite specific issues pending before the FCC that he would like Senate Commerce to explore for further action. The commission is to vote next month on media ownership reconsideration, ATSC 3.0 and setting aside high-frequency spectrum for 5G (see 1710260049). The FCC's December meeting may be dominated by action to rescind the commission's 2015 net neutrality rules and related reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service (see 1710250049). Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, listed a raft of issues he'd like Senate Commerce to tackle, including USF revamps, 5G deployment siting and IoT.

Broadband Infrastructure

It's “pretty important, I think, that we start clearing the way as we move forward toward 5G to get more of the infrastructure put in place,” Thune said. The draft bill “might be available” by the time of Senate Commerce's next markup, he said. Several lobbyists tipped a possible Nov. 8 date for the next markup, which would jibe with an already-planned Tuesday confirmations hearing. NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield told us she's awaiting the details of Thune's bill because he “knows there's going to be resources required to actually ensure we really do the job that I think Congress and the Trump administration seem to want to do on broadband.”

Some of the broad contours of Thune's draft bill appear to “overlap” with the provisions included in the Streamlining Permitting to Enable Efficient Deployment of Broadband Infrastructure Act (S-1988), which Wicker and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., filed earlier this month (see 1710200047), a telecom lobbyist said. “I'm not sure how that complicates things,” though S-1988 also streamlines some wireless and small-cell deployment projects in public rights-of-way, the lobbyist said. A Senate Commerce spokesman clarified that Thune's bill would be “separate” from S-1988.

Thune cited the White House's planned infrastructure spending package as “one vehicle” for moving his broadband deployments bill forward, though he cautioned that's an opportunity that “probably doesn't get teed up until next year.” Trump administration officials said in recent meetings with Thune that “they're of a mind that broadband qualifies under their definition” of infrastructure to be targeted in a legislative proposal, Thune said. He previously said he hoped the Senate can “set up a debate” about infrastructure this year before release of the White House proposal (see 1710170052).

The White House appears to be still actively interested in including a broadband title in any infrastructure legislation it backs, though there's still “nothing in specifics that lawmakers can use” to begin developing their own bills, a communications sector lobbyist said. The White House's National Economic Council plans a briefing Wednesday with stakeholders on rural infrastructure issues that it called in an invitation “one in a series of conversations.” Several communications sector officials and lobbyists noted receiving invitations to the briefing, which will include Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn. The event, to be at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, doesn't appear to be an “unveiling” of the White House's proposal but instead a discussion “about what they want to achieve,” one telecom lobbyist said.

Other Priorities

Thune told us he's interested in bringing up SESTA (S-1693) for a Senate Commerce markup as soon as the committee can get "something negotiated that will have broad bipartisan support.” He said he's also continuing to push the House to take up the Senate-passed Mobile Now Act (S-19) spectrum bill. Several lobbyists questioned whether a committee markup of S-1693 is likely in the near future despite expectations that it could easily pass the Senate with at least some bipartisan support. “I think it's highly unlikely” S-1693 comes up at the Nov. 8 markup, in part because Thune, like other Senate chairmen, “wants things tied up in a neat little bow” on bills before a markup, one GOP telecom lobbyist said.

Negotiations on S-1693 “are not settled” to that degree, though “if you went to the Senate floor now” with the bill “it would probably pass with 85 votes minimum,” the GOP telecom lobbyist said. There are still “certainly some concerns” being raised by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and others that Thune wants to work through so there are no snags in full Senate consideration, the lobbyist said. Recent Senate Commerce and House Judiciary Crime Subcommittee hearings on S-1693 and the House companion Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (HR-1865) have been contentious (see 1709190065 and 1710030042).

Senate Commerce's prioritization of S-1693 likely reflects in part a recent temporary shift away from traditional telecom policy issues, said a Republican wireless lobbyist. “There's nothing that's a must-pass bill in this space right now” and the end of Sen. Ted Cruz's, R-Texas, hold on David Redl's confirmation as NTIA administrator (see 1710230026 and 1710230062) means no more White House telecom-related nominations are pending, the lobbyist said. Senate Commerce has been reluctant to delve into media ownership issues despite pressure from Democrats, and Congress generally hasn't been able to move forward on negotiations for compromise net neutrality legislation, another telecom lobbyist said.

NTCA's Bloomfield said she agrees there probably “isn't enough oxygen in the room” for Senate Commerce to really look at net neutrality this year given how contentious debate on the issue has become amid the FCC's reconsideration of the issue. But Thune does seem to still be interested in pursuing a version of his earlier Local Choice broadcast a la carte proposal, she said. “I really hope” a push to fully clear the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act (HR-460/S-96), which the House and Senate both passed earlier this year (see 1701230071 and 1708030060), is still “on the agenda for the rest of the year.”

Senate Commerce potentially could feel pressure to start consideration of FCC reauthorization legislation at the end of this year if the House manages to pass its version, though it's unclear that Thune will want to act before the start of 2018, several lobbyists said. House Commerce is aiming to soon mark up the draft bill from House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who recently said she saw substantial momentum toward House passage (see 1710240065). “I don't believe [House passage of Blackburn's bill] would change the calculus at all” for Senate Commerce to act, a broadband-focused lobbyist said. “If anything, that might make them slow down.” Thune and other Senate Commerce leaders “want a very clean FCC reauthorization bill” and may be resistant to Blackburn's legislation because it contains language from a number of other unrelated telecom bills, the lobbyist said.