NARUC Leaders Criticize Lack of ETC Designation in Yanked Broadband Bill
The Senate Commerce Committee jettisoned the Rural Connectivity Advancement Program Act from its agenda for a Wednesday markup session (see 2009100031). NARUC leaders still warned committee leaders against what they called a “crucial omission." S-4015 would set aside 10% of…
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net proceeds from FCC spectrum auctions through Sept. 30, 2022, for broadband buildout (see 2006180062). Senate Commerce didn’t comment on why the bill was pulled. S-4015 “laudably seeks to encourage programs to cover the gaps that remain in broadband internet access coverage in high-cost rural areas,” said NARUC President Brandon Presley and Telecom Committee Chair Karen Charles Peterson in a letter to Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. “But unfortunately” the measure omits the eligible telecom carrier designation procedure, which provides “critical oversight of these subsidies which acts to block fraud and abuse.” That’s “a significant departure from the existing statutory scheme,” the NARUC leaders said. “There is no question that this inadvertent omission of” the ETC designation procedure “encourages abuse" of the Rural Connectivity Fund created by the legislation.