Reps. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., refiled the Next Generation 911 Act Friday in a bid to boost emergency service tech upgrades. The bill, which formed the basis for NG-911 language leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees included in the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act proposal they failed to attach in December to the FY 2023 omnibus appropriations measure (see 2212190069), would allocate $15 billion for the tech upgrades. “Over 85 percent of Americans now own a smartphone, and our 9-1-1 call centers aren’t equipped with the most up-to-date technology to respond to text messages or images from smartphones,” Eshoo said. “Our bill provides much needed funding for states and local communities to bring their 9-1-1 infrastructure into the 21st Century.” NG-911 “will begin saving lives in our communities the moment it is deployed,” Hudson said. The measure “would be a vital step in ensuring that all states and communities have access to the benefits of NG9-1-1, regardless of zip code,” said National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes, saying NENA will "work with all members of Congress to ensure this important legislation is passed and fully funded as soon as possible.” Eshoo’s office also cited support from the Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies and Public Safety Next Generation 9-1-1 Coalition.

Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and 13 other Senate Republicans urged the Commerce Department Wednesday to "reverse" what they view as "superfluous and partisan provisions" in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Feb. 28 notice of funding opportunity for $39 billion in incentives for U.S. semiconductor manufacturers allocated from the 2022 Chips and Science Act (see 2207280060). The NOFO called for “applications for projects for the construction, expansion, or modernization of commercial facilities for the front- and back-end fabrication of leading-edge, current-generation, and mature-node semiconductors.” Many of the NOFO’s “grant criteria … will have the opposite effect of Congress’s intent” and “instead make domestic chip production more expensive, less competitive, and reliant on taxpayer subsidies over private investment,” said Cruz and the others in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The NOFO also includes “extraneous environmental-social-governance (ESG) requirements that seek to enact progressive policies that had been previously rejected by Congress. These policies include liberal wish list items, many of which were removed” from the Inflation Reduction Act budget reconciliation package enacted last year “because they did not have the votes to pass at even a simple majority in the Senate. To claim that these provisions are integral to the ‘national security mission’ of the CHIPS Act and will ‘[result] in lower costs’ defies reason.” The Republican senators sought the removal of provisions mandating on-site child care at covered facilities and encouraging grant recipients to use project labor agreements. They also faulted NOFO provisions they say embellish the definitions of what should satisfy some Chips and Science Act requirements aimed at hiring “economically disadvantaged individuals,” increasing community investment and prohibiting grantees from using award funding for dividend payments or stock buybacks. NIST didn’t comment.

Big Tech is “knowingly and willfully fueling a youth mental health crisis,” and Congress should pass legislation to strengthen protections for children, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said Wednesday, a day before TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before the House Commerce Committee (see 2301300028). Markey said he plans to reintroduce the Children and Teen’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) with Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., (see 2105110052).

The House Communications Subcommittee will host a hearing on “Big Tech censorship” March 28, House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and House Communications Subcommittee Chair Bob Latta, R-Ohio, announced Tuesday. They cited in a joint statement the Biden administration's “colluding” with platforms to control online speech. The hearing will include testimony from “several people who’ve been silenced by Big Tech,” they said.

Senate Privacy Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., urged the FCC Tuesday to “adopt strong rules” as part of its implementation of the Safe Connections Act “to protect the privacy of domestic violence survivors and to ensure their access to critical phone and broadband services.” Comments are due April 12, replies May 12, in docket 22-238 on FCC implementation of the statute to improve access to communications services for survivors of domestic violence (see 2303130007). The FCC should “ensure the process is made easy for survivors of domestic violence to access the privacy, safety, and financial protection provided in the bill,” Blumenthal said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “I agree with survivor advocacy and direct service organizations that the Commission should adopt rules that lower barriers to access Lifeline and the Affordable Connectivity Program. Setting the standard of survivor identification to be self-attestation, rather than requiring a third-party to ‘vouch’ abuse and financial difficulties, can enhance survivor agency and access to low-cost phone service programs.” Blumenthal also supports “strengthening the FCC’s privacy rules to protect domestic violence survivors that are accessing support resources, such as shelters and assistance hotlines.”

President Joe Biden formally sent his nomination of Fara Damelin to be FCC inspector general to the Senate Tuesday, the White House said. Biden announced his pick of Damelin, currently Housing and Urban Development Department Office of Inspector General chief of staff, Monday (see 2303200077). The Senate hasn’t approved a permanent IG nominee since Congress made it a confirmable position as part of the 2018 Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act. Acting IG Sharon Diskin took over that role in January after the death of the incumbent, David Hunt (see 2301260026).

President Joe Biden intends to nominate current Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General Chief of Staff Fara Damelin to be FCC inspector general, the White House said Monday. Acting IG Sharon Diskin took over that role in January after the death of the incumbent, David Hunt (see 2301260026). The Senate hasn’t approved a permanent IG nominee since Congress made it a confirmable position as part of the 2018 Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act. Biden withdrew the most recent previous nominee, now-Anduril Industries Senior Legal Director Chase Johnson, when he took office in early 2021 (see 2102050064). Damelin as HHS OIG chief of staff “leads a cross functional team in executing” the IG’s “priorities and strategic initiatives, developing OIG-wide oversight products, and implementing diversity, employee engagement, and professional development programs,” the White House said. She was previously AmeriCorps deputy IG and worked as an investigative attorney for the National Science Foundation OIG.

House Innovation Subcommittee ranking member Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., applauded the FTC Thursday for launching an inquiry into the proliferation of deceptive advertising on eight social media platforms (see 2303160038). She welcomed the investigation of “platforms who have profited from ads for scams like counterfeit goods, crypto fraud, and fake healthcare products.” NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo accused the agency of “tunnel vision,” calling the investigation “another fishing expedition by an out-of-control agency.” After “efforts by the FTC to get the names of reporters that spoke ill of the Biden administration, all Americans should worry about these types of unchecked, investigative powers,” he said. The companies targeted with FTC orders -- TikTok, Twitter, Meta, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Snap and Pinterest -- didn’t comment Friday.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency should reevaluate security risks of Chinese-built drones operating in support of U.S. law enforcement, wrote Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., in a bipartisan letter Thursday with Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and 14 other senators. The letter cites threats from drones built by Shenzhen DJI Innovation Technology, a company they said has “deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party.” Shenzhen provided drones to “operators of critical infrastructure and state and local law enforcement” in the U.S., they said: “The use of its drones in such sensitive contexts may present an unacceptable security vulnerability.” They recommended CISA examine the issue and publish findings in its National Cyber Awareness System. CISA didn't comment.

NTCA and 15 other groups urged heads of the House and Senate Agriculture committees Tuesday to include language in the 2023 farm bill that codifies “a minimum service level commitment of 100 Mbps symmetrical broadband service” for recipients of ReConnect program money, “the level specified” in the program’s “oversubscribed third round.” The “overwhelming demand for ReConnect funding even as applicants have been expected to perform at high levels proves that setting a high standard for network and service capabilities does not deter applicants whatsoever, but rather demonstrates a surplus of interest by providers willing and able to deliver better broadband in rural America that will rival what is available to urban users,” NTCA and the other groups said in a letter to Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., House Agriculture Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and their ranking members. Using “a lesser standard would represent an inefficient step backwards, flying in the face of the substantial demand demonstrated in the most recent round of ReConnect and failing the rural communities that need broadband capable of keeping pace with user demand for decades to come. Policies that encourage sustainable networks that meet the needs of consumers now and into the future will be most efficient in responding to consumer demand over the lives of those networks, particularly when compared to short-term solutions that are likely to be quickly outpaced by technological evolution and consumer demands and require substantial re-investment relatively soon thereafter.”