JUDICIARY SEEN BACKING OFF HR-1542 TO GET DATABASE JURISDICTION

Negotiations over data deregulation and database protection in House are being tied together to resolve jurisdictional disputes between Commerce and Judiciary Committees, industry sources said Thurs. Two industry sources said Judiciary Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) had taken lead in crafting database protection bill in exchange for relinquishing opposition to high-speed Internet bill (HR- 1542) by Commerce Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.). Sources said that might shed light on why Sensenbrenner, who for months had attempted to negotiate compromise version of Tauzin-Dingell, suddenly backed off from insisting that HR-1542 include provisions to expand Dept. of Justice oversight (CD Dec 10 p1) of Bell company applications for long distance authority.

Despite trade-off, of which spokesmen of both committees said they were unaware, Republican leaders slammed brakes on what appeared to be imminent vote on Tauzin-Dingell. Tauzin cancelled his Practising Law Institute keynote Thurs. to meet with House Speaker Hastert (R-Wis.) on development of rules for floor debate on HR-1542. However, results of that meeting turned out differently from what supporters had anticipated, congressional leadership source said. Although Rules Committee set 2 p.m. Thurs. deadline for members to submit amendments, leading to what some predicted would be House debate on Tauzin-Dingell as early as today (Fri.), House leaders determined that Rules panel had laid down too many hurdles to make possible thorough consideration of bill, source said.

Republican conference, chaired by Rep. Watts (R-Okla.), after a closed meeting Thurs., said vote would be delayed until some time in March, rather than Fri., as some had hoped. Hill and industry sources said delay stemmed from combination of factors, including: (1) Fact that some members wanted to go home for weekend and not get bogged down in controversial bill. (2) Vocal opposition to provisions in bill. (3) Insufficient time to prepare amendments because of sudden announcement and hasty deadline set by Rules Chmn. Dreier (R-Cal.). Additional opposition to placing Tauzin- Dingell on calendar this week came from group of 70 members known as Conservative Action Team, which recently distributed letter to House leaders expressing opposition to consideration of bill before recess, industry sources said. Hill staffer confirmed that group distributed letter, but said conservative members’ action wasn’t in tandem with decision-making process of House leadership.

Tauzin spokesman Ken Johnson acknowledged some members simply wanted to go home for Christmas, but emphasized that March vote would be “a delay, not a defeat. We have a firm commitment to move it to the House floor.” As for reports that Tauzin seized control of HR-1542 and relinquished fight over development of database protection legislation, which has yet to be introduced this year, Johnson said he was “totally unaware of such discussions.” He said Tauzin and Sensenbrenner had worked well together, despite differences on various legislative matters.

Purported deal between Sensenbrenner and Tauzin “appears to be speculation,” and committees have -- and will continue -- to work on both issues, Judiciary spokesman said. Sensenbrenner is not alone in his opposition to Tauzin- Dingell, pointing out that some members of Republican Conference who delayed vote on bill also shared concerns about HR-1542. He said Sensenbrenner and Tauzin recently completed negotiations on database protection, but hadn’t established legislative language for future bill. He couldn’t confirm whether negotiations included discussion of tangential database issues such as defining Internet service provider and what constituted genealogical research on the Web.

Despite delay, Tauzin-Dingell will pass House “by an overwhelming margin,” USTA Pres. Walter McCormick said. “In fact, recent history has shown, the longer we wait, the more support HR-1542 has in Congress. When this vote is held early next year, we expect an even bigger vote for Tauzin- Dingell.” ALTS Pres. John Windhausen acknowledged that delay didn’t mean defeat, but that Assn. would continue efforts “to demonstrate that competition, not monopolization, will best serve the American economy and the American consumers.” AT&T spokesman credited opposition to bill from numerous state regulators for raising congressional consciousness against measure: “It’s obviously a huge defeat for the Bell companies. They lost the debate on public policy merits. They have no clear rationale for the bill.” - - Steve Peacock