June 2015

The state of Maine is firmly committed to municipal broadband -- it just doesn't want to pay for it. If Gov Paul LePage (R-ME) signs LD1185, the state will create a new fund that would endeavor to provide residents with a wider array of high-speed broadband providers in the coming years. The fund would offer grants to research how municipalities might build open-access gigabit broadband networks, expanding competition in a rural state dominated by Time Warner Cable and Fairpoint Communications. When the bill was introduced, the fund was $12 million, then reduced to $6 million; now the fund is a $500 placeholder that Congress will revisit in 2016.

Originally municipalities would have been eligible to apply for up to $200,000 in funding to research the development of an open-access gigabit network. The old version of the bill required that a minimum of 50 such grants be made available, at least half of which would be granted to low-income areas. If signed, the new fund will exist in spirit, but with no funds to distribute. The organization that would distribute the funds should they become available would be the ConnectME Broadband Authority, the state’s broadband advocacy and engagement arm. Lisa Leahy, associate executive director of ConnectME, said the bill is an excellent idea that has had a lot of support from all directions.

The Federal Communications Commission established accessibility complaint and enforcement procedures within the time frames mandated by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA) to ensure that people with disabilities would have access to advanced communications. CVAA was enacted to help ensure that people with disabilities have full access to the benefits of technological advances in communications. The act required FCC to establish regulations and conduct public outreach and included a provision that GAO review FCC's efforts.

GAO examined (1) the extent to which FCC established complaint and enforcement procedures within CVAA-required time frames and conducted public outreach, (2) the actions FCC has taken to ensure industry compliance with CVAA's recordkeeping provisions and to determine the level of industry compliance with accessibility requirements, and (3) stakeholders' views on the effect of CVAA's recordkeeping obligations on the development and deployment of new communications technologies. GAO reviewed FCC's regulations, orders, and biennial reports to Congress; surveyed a random sample of companies certifying compliance with CVAA requirements; assessed FCC's efforts to conduct public outreach against key practices GAO previously identified through an expert panel; and interviewed FCC officials and representatives from industry associations, consumer advocate groups, and disability research organizations selected based on CVAA-related comments they submitted to FCC. FCC should evaluate its public outreach efforts and ensure those efforts incorporate key practices. FCC concurred with the recommendation and intends to take action to address it.

Public Knowledge, joined by 28 other organizations, sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler calling on him to issue rules to protect the more than 85 million Americans and millions of small business still dependent on traditional landline service from losing access to vital services, and to preserve the stability of the telephone system and reliability of the 911 system for the more than 300 million Americans that depend on it every day.

The FCC previously recognized in two unanimous bipartisan votes in 2014 that what it calls the “Tech Transition” of our national communications network to the digital age must reflect the fundamental values that have governed our communications system for the last hundred years, including guaranteeing reliable, affordable service to all Americans and protecting access to public safety services such as 911. But the purely market-driven process driving the transition to date has resulted in many Americans experiencing degraded phone service and an alarming increase in 911 outages. Harold Feld, Senior Vice President at Public Knowledge, said, "Chairman Wheeler must act quickly to ensure that the transition of the phone system is an upgrade for everyone -- not an upgrade for some and a downgrade for the rest of us."

[The Benton Foundation was a co-signing organization]

The Senate Commerce Committee favorably reported the Dotcom Act out of committee. That is the same bill the House approved overwhelmingly (378 to 25) on June 23. The bill provides for congressional oversight of a US government handoff of oversight of the Internet domain naming function, while not unduly delaying that transition, say its supporters, which are on both sides of the aisle. The handoff of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) from oversight by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration to a multistakeholder model won't be ready by the Sept. 30, 2015 expiration date of the current contract with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a nonprofit created by the U.S. in 1997.

The bill requires that Congress get 30 days to vet any transition plan, and take action to block or modify it if it does not pass muster. Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) proposed an amendment that would have required Congress to sign off on the plan before it could be implemented, rather than allowing it to take affect unless the Congress acted to block or modify it. He said the result could easily be that Congress could not get its act together in 30 days and "the Internet would be handed over." He said his amendment would simply reverse the presumption and require Congress to debate and vote on it.