Broadband Infrastructure, Spectrum Auction Legislation Top House Commerce Priorities, Walden Says

Many of the broadband bills to be examined Tuesday deal “with getting the government's processes out of the analog age into the digital age,” Walden said. Much of the focus is on “streamlining how you can move forward and getting the government to move at the pace of innovation in the high-tech sector.” He cited the Streamlining Permitting to Enable Efficient Deployment (Speed) of Broadband Infrastructure Act (HR-4842), which aims to accelerate broadband deployments by exempting some projects in public rights-of-way from environmental and historic reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

“It's things like [NEPA and NHPA] that stand in the way” of encouraging broadband deployments “we all want,” Walden said. “It's not that you want to want to void the environmental requirements, it's that you want to be able to expedite the process.” Other legislation will focus on improving data collection for the National Broadband Map and prioritizing federal broadband funding for unserved areas, he said. There's “general agreement among the federal government, private industry, and public stakeholders that the framework of federal permitting, siting, and permissions to access rights-of-way present a barrier to investment and are slowing broadband deployment,” a committee Republican staff memo said.

HR-4109, the auctions deposits bill, is “high on our list” of priorities given FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's calls for Congress to “change the law” on where spectrum auction deposits are placed because technicalities in the existing deposits process have been preventing the agency from holding additional auctions, Walden said. HR-4109 would require bidders' deposits in future spectrum auctions to be placed with the Treasury Department (see 1710250026). House Commerce is “working its way through the process” of deciding how best to supplement the existing $1.75 billion included in the Broadcaster Relocation Fund in collaboration with committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., Walden said: “We're shoulder to shoulder on that.”

Walden decried Democratic lawmakers' focus on a planned Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval aimed at reversing the FCC's December vote to rescind its 2015 net neutrality rules. The CRA effort is “dead on arrival” because Trump won't sign the legislation even if both houses of Congress pass it, Walden said. All 49 Democratic senators and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have declared their support for the CRA, as have more than 100 House members. Walden recommitted to holding a Commerce hearing on paid prioritization, an idea he first floated in December (see 1712120037). “That gets into how the internet works today,” he said. He added 911 calls “should be prioritized over watching some crazy cat video on YouTube. Voice packets over data packets. There are things that happen today in the management of the internet that make sense, and I don't think they're fully understood by the public, or my colleagues or even myself.”

House Commerce's planned February FCC oversight hearing will include a major focus on the false alert earlier this month about a ballistic missile headed for Hawaii (see 1801160054 and 1801170050), Walden said. “I think this needs evaluation,” he said. “It's a matter of great seriousness. There could have been loss of life as a result of this.” All parties need “to be cognizant that safeguards are in place, especially in these treacherous times, dangerous times,” Walden said. The federal government needs to examine “what went wrong and ensure it doesn't happen again.”