FCC Reporting Act Passes Out Of Subcommittee, Again

The House Communications Subcommittee unanimously approved a discussion draft of a bill that would consolidate eight separate Federal Communications Commission reports to Congress, including the FCC's Section 706 report, into a single report on the state of the communications marketplace.

The Consolidated Reporting Act was clearly bipartisan, with not a discouraging word uttered and the manager's amendment proposed by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA) passing unanimously. The bill reinforces that Sec 706 is an explicit grant of broadband authority as signaled by a DC federal appeals court in the Verizon case. House Majority Whip Scalise, who co-authored a managers amendment to that effect, said that this Sec 706 condition was not because he agreed with that decision, but because he wanted to separate the bill from the net neutrality-related debate over that authority.