Congress shouldn’t put the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) (CD June 23 p9) in the “hands” of the Obama administration, said Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., at a Heritage Foundation-sponsored congressional briefing Tuesday. “We need to keep our oversight,” and Congress should review the transition proposal “before any final decision is made,” he said. “Can you imagine turning over the stewardship of the Internet” to Russia, China and other “bad actors?” Kelly asked. The IANA transition isn’t as “problematic” as some “have suggested,” said Eli Dourado, research fellow at the Technology Policy Program at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. The timing of the announcement by NTIA and its failure to brief members of Congress beforehand was a “boneheaded mistake,” but the announcement itself wasn’t “out of left field,” he said. The transition is a “long-run alternative to giving oversight” of IANA to the ITU, and a “continuation of the trajectory of the Internet” from a “military experiment to a private civilian enterprise,” he said. Dourado said he was “inclined” to give the transition the “benefit of the doubt,” but “Congress should take a look” at the transition proposal.

Municipal advocates lashed out Tuesday against perceived national legislative threats. The National League of Cities, National Association of Counties and NATOA wrote House members (http://bit.ly/1reyNZV) urging them to oppose “any amendment to HR 5016 that would hamstring the [FCC] from taking any action on -- indeed, even discussing -- the issue of state laws that prohibit or restrict public and public/private broadband projects,” referring to the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act the House was considering Monday and Tuesday. The Institute for Local Self-Reliance included the letter in a blog post Tuesday. “The amendment most damaging to local telecommunications authority is expected to come from Rep. Marsha Blackburn,” R-Tenn., wrote Lisa Gonzalez, a research associate with the institute (http://bit.ly/1wrNF52). “The amendment’s purpose is to remove authority from the FCC to preempt state laws preventing local broadband infrastructure investment. By restricting the FCC’s use of its funding, the legislation will choke the agency’s ability to explore its plan to influence anti-muni state barriers so local communities can decide their own fates.” A Blackburn spokesman did not comment. Tuesday morning, Gonzalez told us the advocates expected the amendment language to be introduced Tuesday afternoon or possibly Wednesday. No such amendments appeared to have been introduced by our deadline, and House Republican aides were largely unfamiliar with this suggested action. Gonzalez had said Monday in a different blog post that House Republicans would advance on Title II reclassification legislation that Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, had introduced, which his office denied (CD July 15 p11). Latta Chief of Staff Ryan Walker told us Tuesday that the groups’ allusions to the Latta bill were a “scare tactic” and reiterated that no Title II amendments to the appropriations bill had yet been offered. Electric Power Board in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is considering filing a petition with the FCC to pre-empt a state law that prohibits existing municipal networks to serve adjacent areas upon their request, but hasn’t made any final decisions, an EPB spokeswoman told us Tuesday.

AT&T plans to paint the video marketplace as intensely competitive, one in which the acquisition of DirecTV will only help the combined company offer more competitive bundles, according to written testimony for AT&T Chief Strategy Officer John Stankey. He will testify Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Committee at its 2:30 p.m. hearing on the future of video in 216 Hart. “Companies that provide bundles of broadband and video will foster, rather than impede, the emergence of over-the-top programmers,” Stankey’s prepared testimony says. “Only by embracing the reality that over-the-top services are complements of their own services, just as traditional video can be a complement, will broadband providers retain and grow their relationship with their customers.” AT&T’s acquiring DirecTV would be “good for consumers,” he plans to say. Dish plans to counter, however, with Deputy General Counsel Jeff Blum outlining “competitive concerns” about that deal: “Among other things, AT&T and DIRECTV will also be able to combine their market power to leverage programming content, to the potential detriment of consumers,” says Blum’s testimony. He also plans to slam Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable as “too much power in the hands of too few.” But “consolidation may be necessary for the traditional” multichannel video programming distributors “to compete with the Googles, Netflixes, Amazons, and Apples of the world,” University of Nebraska College of Law professor Gus Hurwitz, another witness, told us, describing his testimony. “Probably the biggest thing that Congress could do on this front is modernize the broadcasting-related portions of the Copyright and Communications acts, to bring them into the Internet era. In their current form, they create uncertainty and barriers both for new entrants and innovation by existing firms,” Hurwitz said. Other witnesses, as expected (CD July 14 p13), are Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen, Public Knowledge CEO Gene Kimmelman and Writers Guild of America, West member Shawn Ryan.

The witnesses at Tuesday’s House Judiciary IP Subcommittee hearing on moral rights, copyright terms and resale royalties are Associate Register of Copyrights Karyn Claggett; Rick Carnes, Songwriters Guild of America president; Casey Rae, Future of Music Coalition vice president-policy and education; Michael Carroll, law professor at American University; and Tom Sydnor, American Enterprise Institute’s Center for Internet, Communication and Technology Policy visiting fellow (http://1.usa.gov/1zulM0E). “We should join the 70 other countries who provide a resale royalty right in an effort to fairly compensate visual artists,” said House Judiciary IP Subcommittee ranking member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., in a Monday news release on the hearing. “This would ensure that, in addition to resale royalties for works resold in this country, American artists also benefit when their works are sold overseas,” he said. The American Royalties Too Act (HR-4103) (S-2045), introduced by Nadler and Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., (CD Feb 27 p12) “attempts to correct an existing injustice and would help American artists wherever their works are sold,” he said. HR-4103 “expands copyright owners’ exclusive rights, in the case of a work of visual art, to include the right to collect or authorize the collection of a royalty if the work is sold by a person other than the author for at least $5,000 in an auction,” (http://1.usa.gov/1jIYO1e). The Copyright Office is “pleased” HR-4103 “adopted a number of the Office’s recommendations, including a relatively low price threshold, a royalty rate that is consistent with international practice, a cap on the royalties available from each sale, collective management by private organizations with government oversight, and a request for further study by the Copyright Office,” said Claggett in advance testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1wmXKA6). Discussing the right to reclaim copyrights previously sold, Rae said in advance testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1yiFIlC), “Termination rights allow creators to have another bite at the apple, even if they end up re-granting their rights to a label, publisher or another entity.” “Artists may have more leverage than they did at the time that they first signed, and using that leverage, they can negotiate more favorable deals or recapture ownership for the purpose of licensing directly,” he said. The hearing is at 1 p.m. in 2141 Rayburn.

A Free State Foundation visiting fellow praised Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for his recent focus on spectrum. His spectrum package, “with some bipartisan support, would serve as a swift kick in the government’s behind to make good on the Administration’s claimed policy goal” of freeing up government spectrum, Greg Vogt wrote in a Monday blog post (http://bit.ly/1rlQ9Bv). Rubio introduced two spectrum bills, one focused on freeing up government spectrum (S-2473) and another focused on spectrum sharing (S-2505). Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., co-sponsored the second bill. Vogt is a former FCC official who now represents telcos and advises on telecom, wireless and video issues before the FCC, state regulators and in court.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., urged Democrats to oppose the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, HR-5016, according to a message his office circulated Monday. The full House took up that bill Monday and was expected to continue consideration of it Tuesday. Hoyer specifically named the FCC among the agencies the bill would fund and lamented the overall decrease in funding and “controversial policy riders” in the overall bill. The bill would give the FCC $323 million, which is $53 million less than requested, and the FTC $293 million, fitting with that agency’s request. The White House lashed out and outlined strong opposition to the appropriations bill, the Office of Management and Budget said in a message Monday. “The Administration strongly objects to the reduction in funding in the bill for the FCC,” which “would undermine efforts at the FCC to modernize information technology systems, better map and analyze spectrum usage to free up more bandwidth for commercial use, and continue needed reforms to the Universal Service Fund,” OMB said.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance sounded the alarm on House legislation that would prevent the FCC from reclassifying broadband as a Title II Communications Act service. It attacked HR-4752, which House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, introduced earlier this year, much to industry satisfaction. The legislation “will be brought up for a House vote some time within the next few days,” said the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s Lisa Gonzalez in a blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/1sV1J6U). “There is also some indication that the House will consider an amendment on municipal broadband; constituents need to stop the bill and the amendment from moving forward.” Latta Chief of Staff Ryan Walker denied any movement on the bill is imminent. “That is not the case,” Walker told us when asked about the blog post. “Our bill is not scheduled for floor consideration at this time.” Gonzalez called the legislation “a significant setback” for the municipal network movement and asked people to call their lawmakers to voice opposition.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is leading a letter to the FCC pushing for Title II Communications Act reclassification of broadband, a spokesman for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., confirmed to us Monday, saying Sanders signed the letter. Markey will join Sanders plus Sens. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at a news conference at the Capitol Tuesday at 10 a.m. “on net neutrality and the need to protect the openness of the Internet for future generations,” said a Markey media advisory Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1jIVR0A). A Markey spokeswoman would not confirm that Markey is leading a letter or say whether the news conference is pegged to it. Also present will be Free Press President Craig Aaron, Etsy Policy Director Althea Erickson and Public Knowledge President Gene Kimmelman. Schumer has signed the letter, he wrote Friday in a Facebook update expressing his backing for Title II reclassification (CD July 14 p14). Franken signed the letter, a Senate Democratic aide confirmed to us. Tuesday is the initial comment deadline for the FCC net neutrality rulemaking. (See separate report above in this issue.) Some net neutrality advocates have argued that reclassification, which much of industry and many Republicans oppose, would allow stronger net neutrality rules.

USTelecom and CTIA hailed the House’s Friday passage of HR-4718, that would make permanent bonus depreciation. The bonus depreciation provisions had expired in December. “Extending 50% expensing will provide certainty, predictability, and an immediate incentive for businesses to make and plan for additional capital investments well into the future,” USTelecom President Walter McCormick said in a statement. “This Administration’s Treasury Department, as well as prior Administrations, have consistently found that bonus depreciation reduces the cost of capital, encourages businesses to expand, and thereby increases investment, jobs, and wages.” CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter hailed the bill as “forward-looking tax policy that promotes the investment and innovation necessary for the United States to maintain its world leadership in the deployment of wireless broadband.” The White House said last week it opposes the bill and that senior officials would recommend a presidential veto (CD July 11 p17).

The House Judiciary IP Subcommittee plans a hearing on “Moral Rights, Termination Rights, Resale Royalty, and Copyright Term” Tuesday at 1 p.m. in 2141 Rayburn, said a committee release (http://1.usa.gov/1zulM0E) Friday.