The spectrum legislation that Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., reintroduced would create a Federal Spectrum Reallocation Commission composed of nine members, appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. The membership would include not more than one Commerce Department employee, not more than one Defense Department employee, not fewer than one carrier representative and not fewer than one representative of a standard-setting body. The bill text of the Maximizing Spectrum Efficiency and Value Act of 2014 runs 50 pages (http://1.usa.gov/1ghddcz). S-2155 was reintroduced last week. The full text was not then available at that time. The commission would be charged with making recommendations on reallocating spectrum. This proposal mirrors past legislative efforts, specifically that of HR-4044, introduced by Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., which failed in 2012. Kirk had joined him in introducing a Senate companion then. The new legislation has no co-sponsors and was referred to the Commerce Committee, where Kirk is not a member.

NARUC backs a push from Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., to make the FCC create an easily accessible online database of consumer complaints, it said in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/1hiXluu). Nelson and Udall had sent FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler a letter last week pressing the issue. Wheeler, in a budget subcommittee hearing before Udall Thursday (CD March 28 p2), agreed it’s a great idea but lamented the terrible IT state of the agency, asking for more money.

NAB CEO Gordon Smith and NCTA CEO Michael Powell will both testify on the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization Tuesday. They are witnesses at a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee, starting at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell. Also testifying are Bill Lake, chief of the FCC Media Bureau, DirecTV Executive Vice President Michael Palkovic, TiVo CEO Tom Rogers and Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood.

A bipartisan group of leaders from the House Judiciary Committee said President Barack Obama’s “many good ideas” on surveillance revamp “need to be implemented through legislation that protects our privacy.” Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., Crime Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and subcommittee ranking member Bobby Scott, D-Va., issued a joint statement Friday responding to the White House’s Thursday proposal, which would involve phone companies holding onto metadata rather than the government (CD March 28 p10). Judiciary members will “strengthen” Obama’s ideas, they said, emphasizing that Judiciary has primary jurisdiction over these issues. “It’s imperative that we reform our nation’s intelligence-gathering programs so that we better protect our civil liberties and regain the trust of the American people.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee is to again consider the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720) at an executive business meeting Thursday. The committee delayed consideration of the bill at its meeting last week because negotiations had not yet resulted in a deal on a manager’s amendment that would serve as a compromise version of the bill (CD March 28 p12). The meeting is to begin at 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said Friday he won’t seek re-election to Congress. Rogers is chairman of the Intelligence Committee and a member of the Communications Subcommittee. “The genius of our institutions is they are not dependent on the individual temporary occupants privileged to serve,” he said in a statement, citing his long intentions for a career after politics. Rogers is excited to stay a voice for “American exceptionalism and support a strong national security policy agenda,” he said. He introduced legislation last week with Intelligence ranking member Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., that would nix the government’s role in bulk collection of phone metadata for surveillance. He has strongly defended government surveillance over the last several months of controversy and debate. Rogers’ next move will be into talk radio with Cumulus Media.

Comcast Senior Vice President David Cohen will testify at the April 9 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the proposed Comcast acquisition of Time Warner Cable, he said. “I will be the Comcast witness at that hearing,” Cohen said during an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators, which was to be telecast Saturday. “We've been to this rodeo a few times before. We thoroughly respect the role that Congress has and its oversight role of the Justice Department and the FCC.” Comcast sees it as an opportunity “to make our case” for why the deal should be approved, Cohen added. The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen, and witnesses haven’t been announced by the committee.

A Congressional Research Service report dug into the constitutional questions and other issues raised by the possible creation of what it calls a “public advocate” for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees government phone surveillance. Lawmakers and President Barack Obama have suggested variations on such an advocate position for several months now. “First and foremost is the question of what is the legal nature of the office of a public advocate,” CRS said in the 55-page report, dated March 21. “Some may argue that the advocate is functioning as a non-governmental entity, much like a public defender in an ordinary criminal prosecution, in serving as an adversary to the government’s position. On the other hand, a public advocate, unlike a public defender, would not be representing the views of any particular individual, but rather the general interests of society in ensuring that the government’s foreign surveillance efforts adequately protect the public’s privacy rights.” One big question is whether certain clauses of the Constitution on executive hires would apply to any advocate, it said. Several of its questions concern where such an advocate would be housed, such as whether it would constitutionally possible to keep it within the judiciary branch. “While there are no clear answers that exist to the novel questions raised by the establishment of an office for a FISA public advocate, generally the more modest and confined the role of the advocate in a given proposal is, the more likely that proposal, if made into law, would raise fewer constitutional issues,” CRS said.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., worries about the FCC Wireline Bureau’s plans to hike its rate floor in July. “The rate floor, which is currently set at $14 will rise to over $20 on July 1, 2014,” Pryor said in a Wednesday letter (http://1.usa.gov/P1Fo93) to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “Telecommunications providers offering service at rates below this rate floor could risk losing vital universal service support if they do not take action to immediately raise the telephone rates of their customers.” Wheeler acknowledged the concern during a separate Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Thursday, which Pryor did not participate in. The FCC instituted a series of rate floor hikes as part of its November 2011 USF order to prevent what the agency would consider improper USF subsidies. The agency plans to phase in the increase and delay implementation beyond July, Wheeler said. The rate floor is part of the agency’s attempts to phase out excessive subsidies for basic phone service.

The House Homeland Security Emergency Preparedness Subcommittee cleared the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Modernization Act, HR-3283, on Thursday during a markup of three bills (http://1.usa.gov/1jaud9x). The bill “seeks to ensure that the system works reliably, effectively and efficiently to ensure the appropriate use of taxpayer funds,” said subcommittee Chairman Susan Brooks, R-Ind., in her opening statement. “It provides the IPAWS program with needed direction.” CTIA “appreciate[s] the Subcommittee’s effort to modernize IPAWS while respecting and protecting the work that wireless carriers have put in to deliver Wireless Emergency Alerts,” said CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter. “Since WEA debuted two years ago, the system has been used more than 9000 times to protect the public. We are pleased that the Subcommittee recognizes the value of the WEA program and applied the old maxim ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ in crafting the legislation it approved today.”