Stopgap funding bill would grant temporary FCC auction authority

Stopgap funding legislation designed to prevent a federal-government shutdown includes language extending the Federal Communication Commission's spectrum-auction authority into December, although the impact on potential funding for next-generation 911 (NG911) deployments remains unclear. Currently, the FCC’s authority to conduct auctions of the radio spectrum—bidding events that have provided airwaves to wireless communications and generated hundreds of billions of dollars for the US Treasury—is set to expire on Friday, Sept. 30. Under the continuing-resolution (CR) legislation that received a critical affirmative vote in the Senate, the FCC’s auction authority would be extended through Dec. 16.  Extending the FCC’s auction authority for a few months means the Senate theoretically still could consider the Spectrum Innovation Act (H.R. 7624)  that House members approved in July with bipartisan support.