Competitive Carriers Association Senior Vice President-Legislative Affairs Tim Donovan is among those set to testify at a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on the Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-5378), Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act (HR-2489) and 10 other telecom-centric bills (see 2109290071), the House Commerce Committee said Monday. Also testifying: PocketiNet CEO Todd Brandenburg; Loveland, Colorado, City Council Member John Fogle (R); and United Church of Christ Office of Communications Policy Adviser Cheryl Leanza.

House members introduced legislation Friday that would direct the federal government to establish cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure owners and operators. Introduced by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.; ranking member John Katko, R-N.Y.; Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chair Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y.; and ranking member Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act would direct the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to establish requirements. Entities would report to a new cyber incident review office established by CISA. It would allow for a reporting window of at least 72 hours and provide liability protections. The bill was included as a bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2022, which passed the House in September. Senate members are negotiating various pieces of mandatory cyber reporting legislation (see 2109230065).

The Senate voted 50-48 along party lines Thursday to confirm FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (see 2109250003). Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., didn't vote. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaker in a 51-50 vote to end debate on the nomination earlier.

House Commerce Committee leaders sought GAO review Thursday of federal agencies’ progress in implementing the 2018 Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act’s requirement to develop and execute recommendations for streamlining broadband siting permit application review processes. NTIA released its recommendations last year on its progress via the American Broadband Initiative. “Closing the digital divide remains a shared, bipartisan goal,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and their Republican counterparts in a letter to U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. The lawmakers want GAO to examine what progress federal agencies have made since NTIA made its 2020 recommendations, how NTIA is “overseeing” those efforts and what challenges federal agencies face in implementing the proposals. They asked whether broadband providers face additional “federal permitting or siting costs in areas where federal permitting processes have not been streamlined, and what is the extent of those costs?” GAO didn’t immediately comment.

AASA|The School Superintendents Association and 16 other groups affiliated with the Education & Libraries Networks Coalition (EdLiNC) urged President Joe Biden Wednesday to renominate acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and name her the permanent chief. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and 23 other Democratic caucus members similarly pressed Biden last week (see 2109230064). EdLiNC members “are indebted” to Rosenworcel for backing E-rate and protecting it “against those who sought to reduce it and helped modernize it by supporting major program changes that grew the program and ensured equitable distribution of funds,” the education groups wrote Biden. The White House didn't comment.

The House Communications Subcommittee plans an Oct. 6 hearing on the newly filed Spectrum Innovation Act (HR-5378), Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act (HR-2489) and 10 other telecom-centric bills aimed at “strengthening” U.S. networks, the House Commerce Committee said Wednesday. Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., filed HR-5378 Wednesday as a vehicle for enacting language to authorize an FCC auction of at least 200 MHz on the 3.1-3.45 GHz band separately from the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation. Commerce advanced its portion of reconciliation earlier this month with the spectrum language, plus $10 billion for next-generation 911 and $4 billion for the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund (see 2109140063). Doyle’s office touted support from the Competitive Carriers Association, NCTA, New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge. The other bills on Communications’ hearing docket: the Protecting Critical Infrastructure Act (HR-1042), Federal Broadband Deployment in Unserved Area Act (HR-1046), Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act (HR-1049), Wireless Resiliency and Flexible Investment Act (HR-1058), Data Mapping to Save Moms’ Lives Act (HR-1218), Spectrum Coordination Act (HR-2501), Communications Act Section 331 Obligation Clarification Act (HR-4208), Information Sharing and Advanced Communication Alerting Act (HR-5028), Broadband Incentives for Communities Act (HR-5058) and Preventing Disruptions to Universal Service Funds Act (HR-5400). The partly virtual hearing begins at noon EDT in 2123 Rayburn.

New global “policy regimes” embracing cybersecurity incident reporting are a “potentially appropriate tool to provide greater visibility” into cyberattacks -- if “carefully crafted,” said the Information Technology Industry Council Monday. It urged policymakers to heed new recommendations “on limiting incident reporting to confirmed or verified incidents.” ITI asked security authorities to craft policies that “allow for at least a 72-hour reporting window after an entity has verified an incident” and to limit incident reporting “to confirmed or verified incidents.” Effective reporting regimes also need to “establish or maintain appropriate liability protections and ensure information provided is exempt from public disclosure,” said ITI. It seeks measures that “ensure confidentiality and appropriate protections around sensitive information shared with or by competent authorities within the government, including against regulatory use.” Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., hopes soon to introduce bipartisan legislation that would require critical infrastructure owners and operators to report “significant” cyberattacks (see 2109230065).

Congress “may not” be able to pass before the end of the week the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (HR-3684), Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package and a continuing resolution to fund the FCC and other federal agencies past Thursday (HR-5305), President Joe Biden told reporters Monday. The House began debate Monday on HR-3684, which includes $65 billion for broadband but won’t vote on it until Thursday. The House Budget Committee voted 20-17 Saturday to advance the Build Back Better Act, which includes $10 billion for next-generation 911, $4 billion for the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund and language to authorize an FCC auction of at least 200 MHz of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band (see 2109140063). The Senate was to have voted Monday night on invoking cloture on the House-passed HR-5305; Republicans were expected to have voted against the CR because it includes language to suspend the debt ceiling until Dec. 16, 2022. HR-5305 would allocate $77.6 million for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration to implement tech upgrades to 988 suicide prevention hotline call centers (see 2109240070).

Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., urged the FCC to “take action to strengthen our anti-robocall laws, require carriers to block illegal marketing, and bring enforcement actions against the culprits and enablers.” He cited “the drastic increase in unsolicited text messages” in July, totaling 7.1 billion, and the estimated 5.74 billion robocalls consumers received then. “I encourage the FCC to move forward to require more telephone carriers” to implement anti-robocall actions mandated in the 2019 Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act, including the secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) protocol, Blumenthal said Friday in a letter to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “While I appreciate that some smaller carriers may require additional help to upgrade their networks, the FCC’s current timetable means that consumers may not see full relief from robocalls until June 2023.” Rosenworcel “shares [Blumenthal’s] desire to put an end to the consumer plague of unwanted robocalls and texts,” a spokesperson emailed. “We are reviewing the letter and its recommendations.”

The Senate Commerce Committee plans a privacy hearing Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced. The focus is consumer privacy rights, FTC resources, the potential for a new privacy bureau and federal privacy legislation. Witnesses are ex-FTC Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen, now at Baker Botts; ex-FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director David Vladeck, now at Georgetown Law; ex-FTC Chief Technologist Ashkan Soltani, now an independent researcher; and ACT|The App Association President Morgan Reed. The Consumer Protection Subcommittee set a hearing Thursday at 10:30 a.m. on Facebook, Instagram and kids’ mental health. Facebook Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis will testify.