The FCC should “educate eligible consumers" about Lifeline and national verifier program requirements to align “with key practices for consumer education planning,” GAO reported Thursday. It said the FCC “coordinated with state and federal stakeholders" on the NV, but “many eligible consumers are not aware” of Lifeline. Eight House Commerce Committee Democrats sought the probe in 2018, and the auditor agreed last year (see 2006100041). “Consumers may lack” awareness “because FCC’s consumer education planning did not always align with key practices, such as developing consistent, clear messages and researching target audiences,” GAO said. “While FCC originally envisioned tribal governments and organizations assisting residents of tribal lands with the Verifier, it has not provided them with quality information.” The report recommended the FCC “provide tribal organizations with targeted information and tools.” The FCC should “identify and use performance measures to track the Verifier’s progress in delivering value to consumers” and “ensure that it has quality information on consumers’ experience with the Verifier’s manual review process,” the audit recommended. “Ensure that the Verifier’s online application and support website align with characteristics for leading federal website design, including that they are accurate, clear, understandable, easy to use, and contain a mechanism for users to provide feedback.” GAO suggested the FCC “convert the Verifier’s online application, checklifeline.org, to a ‘.gov’ domain.” The current website includes the FCC’s logo, but “we found that it may not be easily recognizable by an average user, and we found no other indicator that USAC is working on behalf of the U.S. government." The FCC responded that Universal Service Administrative Co. is acting, including developing a “more comprehensive communications plan” in Q1. USAC plans improved tribal outreach this year, including a “Tribal-specific Lifeline webinar each quarter,” the FCC said: The General Services Administration agreed to convert the Lifeline application to a .gov domain “if we simply make the National Verifier a subdomain” of fcc.gov, “which is the path we intend to take.”

Stakeholders praised acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworce's release of drafts three weeks before FCC members vote on them at their monthly now-virtual meeting (see 2101270060), a practice started by former Chairman Ajit Pai in 2017. Nathan Leamer, Pai's former policy adviser, is excited Rosenworcel will "continue this comment to agency openness." The decision was "encouraging" and a "key reform from the Pai-era" that "should be standard practice for the FCC," Charles Koch Institute's Jesse Blumenthal tweeted, which Pai retweeted. Robert Weller, NAB vice president-spectrum policy, suggested the practice be codified. It's encouraging to see this practice continue, said NTCA Senior Vice President-industry Affairs Michael Romano in an emailed statement. "Particularly when it comes to highly technical or complex matters, the opportunity to review the text in advance is helpful, even just to catch where things might need to be stated somewhat differently or more precisely to ensure that the intent of an order is fulfilled." The acting chairwoman is "deeply committed to transparency and plans to continue this practice," emailed an FCC spokesperson.

Telecom equipment from Huawei and other “untrusted" vendors is “a threat to the security of the U.S. and our allies,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told a news conference Wednesday. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday, commerce secretary nominee Gina Raimondo demurred from agreeing to maintain export restrictions against Huawei and other Chinese companies imposed during President Donald Trump’s administration (see 2101260063). Senate Commerce set a Feb. 3 vote on Raimondo (see 2101270062 and our calendar). Psaki likewise stopped short of committing to keep restrictions on Huawei and other Chinese vendors. “We will ensure that the American telecommunications networks do not use equipment from untrusted vendors, and we will work with allies to secure their telecommunications networks and make investments to expand production of telecommunications equipment by trusted U.S. and allied companies,” she said.

The FCC will consider two NPRMs on defining what constitutes 911 fee diversion and modifying rules for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks reimbursement program during the Feb. 17 commissioners' meeting, a news release said Wednesday. Commissioners will also hear presentations on the emergency broadband benefit and COVID-19 telehealth programs (see 2101260053), plus efforts to improve broadband mapping data. The agency would seek comment on a proposal to raise the cap on eligibility to participate in its Secure and Trusted Communications Networks reimbursement program for providers of advanced communications service with 10 million or fewer customers. In December, commissioners voted 5-0 to put in place a system to replace insecure equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in U.S. networks (see 2012100054). The action is the FCC’s first on network security under the Biden administration, expanding the longtime focus under former Chairman Ajit Pai. The draft NPRM seeks comment on a proposal to change the acceptable use of reimbursement funds to include “the removal, replacement, and disposal of equipment and services subject to the" Huawei and ZTE designation orders and on modifying rules “to use reimbursement funds to remove, replace, or dispose of equipment or services that were purchased, rented, leased, or otherwise obtained on or before June 30.” It asks whether to replace rules with prioritization categories in the combined FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus law (see 2012220061).

The FCC should “closely scrutinize” Rural Digital Opportunity Fund long-form applications to ensure winning bidders have “technical, financial, managerial, operational skills, capabilities, and resources to deliver the services they have pledged for every American they plan to serve regardless of the technology they use,” said a NARUC draft resolution released Tuesday. Sponsored by Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley and Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissioner Sarah Freeman, the proposed resolution would also ask the FCC to seek input as it reviews RDOF long forms. It’s the only telecom resolution scheduled for NARUC’s Feb. 4-5 and 8-11 meeting.

The FCC will focus on establishing the emergency broadband benefit and expanded support for telehealth, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told staff via a live video Monday. The agency also will continue the work-from-home procedures enacted by former Chairman Ajit Pai. “My predecessor did an exemplary job of keeping the agency staff informed and safe,” Rosenworcel said. “I want to assure you that the existing remote work policies will not be disturbed by this transition.” She said the Congress-pushed emergency broadband and telehealth matters will take up time in the next weeks (see 2101260053) but only scratched the surface of the tasks awaiting the commission. “We need to advance communications policies that keep the public safe and cybersecure,” said Rosenworcel. “We have work to do to build bridges and find common ground with our state, local, and Tribal partners.” The agency must ensure its “functional equivalency policies live up to our responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act” and work to “keep media policies current, while also honoring our longstanding values of competition, localism, and diversity.” She also referenced the digital divide and the homework gap. Rosenworcel said the FCC is “well-served” by her fellow commissioners and she “can’t wait to get started.”

Acting FTC Chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter named several acting agency leadership officials Monday. Reilly Dolan will be acting general counsel after having been principal deputy general counsel. Daniel Kaufman will be acting director of the Consumer Protection Bureau, where he has been a deputy director since 2012. Maribeth Petrizzi will be acting director of the Competition Bureau, where she’s been assistant director in the Compliance Division since August 2019. Michael Vita will continue as Economics Bureau acting director. Sarah Mackey will be acting director of the Office of Policy and Planning, where she was a deputy director.

President Joe Biden “restored balance and stability” by revoking a series of executive orders affecting federal employees that “had done nothing but disrupt the workplace and disrespect career civil servants,” said the National Treasury Employees Union Friday. NTEU represents FCC employees. The executive orders in question involved union restrictions, how federal employees are classified, and their civil service protections (see 2010300048). “By revoking the orders, the Biden administration upholds the 138-year-old standard that rejects patronage and makes sure the people who carry out the day-to-day business of government are nonpartisan, nonpolitical and highly qualified for the task,” said National President Tony Reardon. NTEU had challenged the orders in court.

Nothing is pending at the Supreme Court this term that will likely lead to dramatic changes in the Chevron doctrine, but some narrowing could be inevitable, experts told a Free State Foundation webinar Friday. Courts “regard telecom as something that’s highly technocratic and that generalist judges aren’t in a very good position to answer,” said Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania Law School professor. The most likely next step for SCOTUS is a reinterpretation of when Chevron should apply, he said. Any new look at the doctrine reflects growing skepticism of expert agencies, Yoo said. “We’ve seen a discrediting of expertise,” he said: “We’ve started to see agencies as captured.” The trend is for justices to be “ideologically sorted and polarized,” which is clear in appointments to the court under then-President Donald Trump, said Cato Institute's Ilya Shapiro. Since becoming a justice in 2017, Neil Gorsuch “has continued his campaign against the awesome power of the administrative state, both regarding judicial over-deference to agencies and congressional over-delegation of legislative power to the agencies,” Shapiro said. “Where Gorsuch wants to pare back the scope of judicial deference, [Justice Brett] Kavanaugh has focused on the occasions where deference is applied in the first place.” Justice Amy Coney Barrett is likely to support narrowing deference, he said. Shapiro said the court could parse the difference between deference to administration agencies and independent agencies like the FCC. As the newest justice, Barrett is "a bit of a wild card,” said TechFreedom Internet Policy Counsel Corbin Barthold. Kavanaugh might want to narrow Chevron, not overturn it, Barthold said. There aren’t the votes to overturn Chevron, “but it’s still open that it might get narrowed,” he said. The court doesn’t have any cases on its current docket “that squarely raise the Chevron doctrine, but of course any case involving a government agency statutory interpretation could raise it,” said Jeffrey Lubbers, American University professor of practice in administrative law. The court heard the FCC's appeal of Prometheus IV Tuesday involving media ownership rules (see 2101190070).

FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, in one of her earliest actions at the helm, pulled all items off the circulation list, the agency confirmed Friday. The webpage listing items now says, “Information is currently unavailable. Please try again later.” It’s “typical for a new chair to pull down and review all the items on circulation drafted by the prior administration,” a spokesperson emailed.