Sens Wicker and Thune introduce the NTIA Reauthorization and Reform Act

 Sens Roger Wicker (R-MS) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Reauthorization and Reform Act (S.3288). The NTIA Reauthorization and Reform Act would:

• Reauthorize NTIA for two years at $52,831,000;
• Promote the head of NTIA from Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to Under Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information;
• Clarify NTIA’s role coordinating executive branch views on matters before the Federal Communications Commission;
• Require NTIA to coordinate with other agencies to promote and share information about workforce-development programs tailored to the telecom industry, which will help address its workforce shortage;
• Require NTIA and the FCC to update their memorandum of understanding on spectrum management (S.1472); and
• Improve the process for selecting the United States head of delegation and ambassador to the quadrennial World Radiocommunication Conference of the International Telecommunication Union.