Mobile Now Easily Advances to Senate Floor With 12 Amendments

The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved 12 of 27 amendments Thursday, including proposals on a national unlicensed spectrum strategy and stronger dig-once language, to the bipartisan spectrum bill Mobile Now, before approving S-2555 itself. No roll call votes were necessary. Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters after the markup he plans to proceed, as expected (see 1602250049), to hotline Mobile Now to the Senate floor.

“We’d like to be able to try and hotline it and see what response and feedback we get back,” Thune told reporters. “We’ll see.” A successful hotline attempt requires the unanimous consent of all senators.

Thune circulated drafts of Mobile Now in November. The version he introduced in February had the backing of ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and was vetted in negotiations with the Obama administration. This is the first big-ticket bipartisan telecom package that Thune and Nelson cleared from committee. They failed to reach consensus last year on net neutrality legislation and on Thune’s FCC reauthorization proposal. Mobile Now “ought not to be the end of the story for 5G legislation,” Thune said in his markup opening statement, citing “more that Congress can do to boost next generation wireless in this country.” He anticipates “additional proposals.” Mobile Now has lost what were considered potent earlier proposals to force reallocation of spectrum and financially incent federal agencies to give up spectrum.

Senate Commerce posted all approved amendments, approved in one package and voice vote, in the news release after the markup, which lasted under an hour. The included bipartisan dig-once amendment from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., differed from S-2163, which she offered last fall. The amendment would make a congressional finding that the Department of Transportation and state transportation departments should have policies to adjust rights of way policies for federal-aid highways to accommodate broadband infrastructure and calls for requisite coordination. The original bipartisan text mandated the transportation secretary “require States to install one or more broadband conduits in accordance with this section as part of any covered highway construction project.” The original Mobile Now text simply backed the idea of dig once policies.

“We’ve made some breakthroughs to try to find a compromise with the Environmental Committee,” Klobuchar said during the markup, referring to coordination with the leaders of the Environment and Public Works Committee, where her original S-2163 was referred. That negotiation continues, she said. That committee has interest “in addressing the concerns raised by a bipartisan group of Senators on the Commerce Committee and will be helpful as the MOBILE NOW Act moves through Committee and goes to the Floor,” emailed a GOP Environment and Public Works spokeswoman. Klobuchar’s Rural Spectrum Accessibility Act proposal was also included. “It provides incentives for efficient use of spectrum,” Klobuchar said.

Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, also succeeded in hitching his unlicensed spectrum proposal, which seeks a national unlicensed plan and would tweak the Spectrum Relocation Fund, to the bill. He had the backing of Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan. Schatz said he appreciated the hard negotiation among committee leaders for acknowledging that Wi-Fi is a part of the future. The language differed from his earlier legislation that provoked concerns from CTIA.

Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., got one of his two amendments included. The included amendment would require that 100 megahertz be available on an unlicensed basis and 100 megahertz be made available on an exclusive, licensed basis. Gardner said he wants to continue to work on the subject of his other amendment, which would have required analysis of the economic opportunity cost of federal spectrum. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., included his amendment seeking a GAO assessment of unlicensed spectrum and Wi-Fi use in low-income neighborhoods. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., also included his amendment to require more consideration of wireless broadband services in rural areas. Moran included his Wireless Telecom Tax and Fee Collection Fairness amendment, and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., included his proposal to give incentives for state and local governments to provide information to the National Broadband Facilities Asset Database. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., included his proposal to create a prize regarding spectrum efficiency technology. Thune also attached his substitute amendment, making technical changes to Mobile Now language.

“Most important to me is the shot clock of 270 days,” Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said of the inclusion of his amendment to impose shot clock for executive agency consideration of certain easements and rights-of-way applications. That provision is a “huge win” for rural parts of the country, he said. “I’m a big fan of shot clocks, keep the action moving,” Thune said. Heller also got OK for an amendment on streamlining the processes for broadband facility location applications on federal property but didn’t end up attaching his FCC Process Reform Act amendment.

Some Commerce Committee members mentioned their other excluded amendments (see 1603010070), which they didn't press for a vote. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., offered her latest IoT legislation (S-2607) but withdrew the amendment, saying Thune had pledged a markup of that bill in April. “Yeah, we’ll try and do that,” Thune told reporters later. “We made a commitment to Senator Fischer to try to get that done.” Moran proposed and withdrew, as expected, his amendment to up the funding and timing flexibility for broadcaster repacking after this spring’s broadcast TV incentive auction. “I am the first to admit that this legislation is not necessary now,” Moran said. House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., wrote draft legislation this year pointing to similar repacking concerns and lauded this amendment. “I appreciate the Senate Commerce Committee’s commitment to working on this issue, and I look forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle and across the Hill to pass this bill,” Pallone said in a statement of his Viewer Protection Act draft.

Industry stakeholders were pleased. “By pushing to bring more licensed and unlicensed spectrum to market, unlocking millimeter wave spectrum and streamlining the process for deploying wireless infrastructure, the bill reported today draws on good ideas from both sides of the political spectrum,” CTIA President Meredith Baker said. The bill “will help ensure the future of wireless connectivity by securing large swaths of additional spectrum for commercial use by 2020,” CTA Gary Shapiro said. AT&T, Incompas, NCTA, NTCA, PCIA and Sprint commended the passage in statements.

Public Knowledge government affairs counsel Phillip Berenbroick, who told us in February that Mobile Now fell short on unlicensed spectrum provisions, lauded the legislation Thursday. “We are pleased that the bill, as amended, includes significant spectrum for both licensed and unlicensed use, and directs the FCC and NTIA to develop a national plan to ensure there is sufficient spectrum available for innovative unlicensed operations,” Berenbroick said. “Today’s vote is a key moment illustrating the overwhelming consensus that unlicensed spectrum has become a critical driver of innovation and economic growth in the United States, and democratizes access to the public airwaves.”

No precise House companion for Mobile Now exists. “I think once we get a bill out of here, it’ll help provide some momentum in the House, too,” Thune told reporters. “In the end, we want to see something become law. They may have a different idea about how to do this, and if they do, I guess we can work out the differences in the conference committee. But I hope we get something up here and get to work on it.” Thune said he hopes lobbying pressure may spur on action in the other chamber: “Hopefully the stakeholders, the people who care about this -- which I think is a fairly big universe of people -- will now, if we can get this through the Senate -- knock on wood that we can -- that they’ll try and get some movement in the House,” he said. “And when that happens is up to the House, I guess. I know that they’re focused on the incentive auction.” Thune wants House lawmakers “at first opportunity” to “move something that would enable us to get a bill on the president’s desk.”