A South Dakota tribe alleged Chairman Ajit Pai has a conflict of interest, as it sued the FCC on behalf of itself and about 565 other federally recognized tribes in a challenge of a March 22 3-2 wireless infrastructure order. The FCC said small-cells deployment isn't a “federal undertaking” within the National Historic Preservation Act or a “major federal action” under the National Environmental Policy Act, and applicants “have no legal obligation to pay upfront fees” when seeking tribal review (see 1803220027). In a Monday complaint at U.S. District Court in Aberdeen, South Dakota, the Crow Creek Sioux tribe said FCC actions “negatively affected and damaged the Plaintiff Tribe's culturally significant sites.” It said the “arbitrary and capricious” order in docket 17-79 violated the Constitution's Fifth and 14th amendments, the Telecom Act, federal environmental and historic preservation laws, contract law and “rules prohibiting conflict of interest laws by a federal employee, specifically Chairman Pai.” Pai was associate general counsel of Verizon, which benefits from the order and had comments cited 53 times in the order, Crow Creek said. “The Federal Defendant's mission statement does not indicate the [FCC] will cater and serve the needs of the wireless industry, nor fleece the staff of the FCC with industry shills,” the tribe said. “Pai has a clear conflict of interest and is working for the wireless industry, instead of leading an impartial agency.” Commissioners’ “belief that their numerous meetings with the tribes throughout the United States relieve them of their trust responsibility to federally recognized Indian tribes is misplaced as absolutely none of the concerns” were included in the order, Crow Creek said. The FCC inappropriately changed policy when it decided tribes can’t review small-cell deployment nor charge upfront fees, Crow Creek said. The fees, ranging from $200 to $1,500, pay for “archeological surveys, site documentation, maps and NEPA review documents,” it said. Companies lack necessary cultural knowledge, and inflated cost estimates of the review process, the tribe said: "No true cost-benefit analysis has been completed by an independent party." The FCC lacks authority to redefine an undertaking that would trigger the Section 106 process, the tribe said. Crow Creek noted that many of the wireless sites where additional facilities will be deployed are "twilight towers" not reviewed and erected from 1992 to 2005 against federal law. The agency declined comment Tuesday.
Don’t cite state law to justify New York diversion of 911 fees for things not directly related to 911, an aide to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Monday. O’Rielly and Rep. Chris Collins (R) condemned New York diversion Friday while visiting the Niagara County Emergency Management Office public safety answering point in Buffalo. A New York department said it uses fee revenue for first responder communications and state tax law prevents the state from using the money differently. But Niagara County Sheriff James Voutour said the policy keeps 911 funding from counties responsible for handling many emergency calls.
Colorado state senators plan to weigh a House-passed net neutrality bill Monday at a State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee hearing, said the panel’s agenda. The House passed HB-1312 Tuesday but sponsor Rep. Chris Hansen (D) predicted it will die in the GOP-controlled Senate (see 1804170057). While not perfect, the bill “is a strong symbolic measure to continue the push Colorado is making with reintroducing local accountability,” emailed Colin Garfield, campaign lead for the Fort Collins Citizens Broadband Committee, which fought ISPs and won exemption from the state’s municipal broadband ban in Fort Collins, Colorado (see 1712110020). “Combined with the 120 opt-outs” of communities from the ban, “this state is becoming one that is quite literally running away from the telecom industry,” he said. The bill’s narrow scope -- restricting state USF support to companies that adhere to net neutrality principles -- may not cover all types of ISPs, Garfield said. “Funding acquired from these sources is generally used for rural projects, which means only certain ISPs will ever be held to these standards. Usually the small ones, but CenturyLink has been known to acquire these funds. Communities in urban corridors will not have the watchdog on duty since urban-ISPs like Comcast aren’t using these funds inside cities.” Comcast is the state’s largest ISP and yet the least likely to apply for the funds, he said.
Congress should pass legislation for countering bad unmanned aerial vehicles, DOJ and Homeland Security Department officials said Thursday on an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation panel. Public safety agencies' ability to fight criminal or terrorist use of drones is “hamstrung” by outdated laws and legal uncertainty, said Brendan Groves, counsel to the deputy attorney general. To integrate drones safely into airspace, government must assure the public it has tools to deal with malicious or errant uses, said DHS Program Executive Officer-Unmanned Aerial Systems Anh Duong. Hogan Lovells attorney Lisa Ellman, co-chair of Global Unmanned Aircraft Systems, supported legislation but said “the devil is in the details.”
The FCC played down the policy influence of Elizabeth Pierce -- the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee ex-chair arrested by the FBI last week for alleged wire fraud involving an Alaska fiber project (see 1804130055) -- after a government watchdog urged the commission to review the Quintillion ex-CEO’s BDAC work from April 2017 to September. Pierce’s alleged crimes accentuate local concerns about corporate control of the BDAC, said former member San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who in January resigned in protest of imbalance between corporate and local members. One BDAC member defended the group.
California and Colorado lawmakers advanced net neutrality state legislation. The Colorado House voted 35-28 on party lines to pass HB-1312 to restrict state broadband support to companies that adhere to net neutrality principles. The bill will die in the Republican Senate, predicted its House sponsor. In California, a Senate panel had enough Democratic votes to clear an amended SB-822 by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D), but the vote wasn't yet final. Also Tuesday, a House subcommittee held a paid prioritization hearing (see 1804170037).
Former Obama adviser Phil Weiser pledged to take on the Republican FCC and support local broadband if elected Colorado attorney general in November. Weiser supports state legislation to provide open-internet protections for Coloradans and would join other Democratic state AGs’ net neutrality lawsuit against the FCC, he said in an interview. Also, Weiser supports eliminating Colorado’s ban on municipal broadband to increase internet access across the mountainous state. “I’m the partner for every county commission and local community.” Weiser, in his first bid for office, was deputy assistant attorney general and senior adviser for technology and innovation for President Barack Obama.
Maine senators are expected to vote again soon on ISP privacy rules after last week splitting with the House on a measure to counter congressional repeal of the FCC’s 2015 broadband privacy rules. Unlike many other legislatures, Maine’s House and Senate consider a single bill at the same time. The Senate voted 19-16 Thursday against LD-1610, but Friday the House voted 82-63 for the bill, forcing another vote in the Senate. Republican senators all voted no, but the measure had some GOP support in the House, said American Civil Liberties Union Advocacy Director Oami Amarasingham in a Friday interview. The vote may happen as soon as Tuesday, so ACLU and others were encouraging constituents to call legislators over the weekend, she said. Industry is “extremely opposed” and lobbying hard against the bill, she said. More Maine Republicans used to support privacy, but many flipped on the ISP issue, she said.
Net neutrality rules supporters and opponents disagreed how a state-by-state approach might affect competition. State-by-state net neutrality rules in the long term may advantage the largest incumbents -- the very companies that have put up the biggest resistance -- by making it harder for less financially resourced competitors to enter the market, Montana Public Service Commissioner Travis Kavulla told us. But supporters of state rules countered that smaller companies should have no difficulty complying with open-internet regulations.
FBI agents arrested the ex-chair of the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee for an alleged multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme, DOJ announced. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman alleged former Quintillion CEO Elizabeth Pierce engaged in wire fraud, allegedly using forged guaranteed revenue contracts to fraudulently induce investors to invest more than $250 million in an Alaskan fiber cable network. Pierce surrendered Thursday in New York City, DOJ said that day. Pierce was BDAC chair from April 2017 to September.