Representatives of major carriers will testify before Congress on wireless competition issues. The Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee announced it will hold a hearing on the topic, taking place Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen. Witnesses are Verizon Communications Executive Vice President-Public Policy Randal Milch, Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter, T-Mobile Senior Vice President-Government Relations Thomas Sugrue and C Spire Wireless Senior Vice President-Strategic Relations Eric Graham. Subcommittee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., will preside over the hearing, and she told us recently she planned to hold a subcommittee hearing before month’s end focused on whether carriers should be required to include a kill switch on wireless phones to disable a stolen device. She has introduced legislation to that end, which CTIA has criticized.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., joined the chorus of Republicans lamenting the FCC’s intentions to reinstate net neutrality rules (CD Feb 20 p1). “It is unfortunate that the Commission is again attempting to impose unnecessary net neutrality rules,” Wicker said in a statement Wednesday night. “Further, reserving the option of applying outdated Title II regulations to modern technologies through ‘reclassification’ will only add uncertainty to the marketplace and stifle innovation. I question whether [FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s] proposals are in consumers’ best interests."

The FCC has “no intention of regulating political or other speech of journalists or Broadcasters” through its Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs or otherwise, but the agency may tweak its design to reflect concerns, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told House Republicans (http://1.usa.gov/1jNiYT2). They had written a letter voicing concerns in December, and Wheeler responded according to a letter released Thursday. Wheeler defended the study as fulfilling a Communications Act Section 257 obligation. An FCC official had told us earlier this month, before Wheeler sent the Feb. 14 letter, that Wheeler’s office was developing a new draft of the study (CD Feb 13 p1). “The statutory provision expressly links our obligation to identify market barriers with the responsibility to ‘promote the policies and purposes of this chapter favoring diversity of media voices,'” Wheeler said. “Your letter and the opportunity for public review surfaced a number of issues and modification of the Research Design may be necessary. My staff has engaged in a careful and thorough review of the Research Design with the contractor to ensure that the inquiries closely hew to the mandate of Section 257.” Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., applauded Wheeler for recognizing “the gravity of our concerns” but said it “is imperative that the FCC ensure that any study, with any agents acting on its behalf, stays out of newsrooms” (http://1.usa.gov/1cuV2lU). They don’t want the FCC to revive the Fairness Doctrine, they said. The FCC plans to complete its study design tweaks “in the next few weeks,” Wheeler said. “As the revisions that we may implement likely will require cost reassessments, we will provide you with further details regarding cost and methodology as soon as they are available.”

Two House Democrats pressed the Justice Department on the use of National Security Letters (NSLs), which allow the FBI to access phone records and other information without judicial findings. They questioned DOJ on how NSLs related to Patriot Act Section 215 phone surveillance requests. “Presumably, anything that the government can obtain through an NSL it can also obtain through a Section 215 order from the FISA court,” wrote Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York and David Cicilline of Rhode Island in a letter released Thursday (http://1.usa.gov/1nRc4g2). “Given the overlap with Section 215, why are NSLs necessary?” They want to know how many NSLs have been issued and under what authorities since 2006, among other inquiries. They request answers to several questions by March 7.

Any FCC attempt to fix its own processes doesn’t erase a need to enact legislation to that end, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., in a statement Tuesday. He weighed in on a set of FCC process review recommendations the agency released Friday (CD Feb 18 p7) and touted the FCC Process Reform Act, which cleared the House Commerce Committee in December. “I am pleased that many of the recommendations of the working group are so closely aligned with those contained in HR-3675 and look forward to their implementation,” Walden said (http://1.usa.gov/O9TyVK). “However, without enshrining these reforms in statute, their future will always be at the whim of whomever may be appointed chair. We owe it to the American people to enact laws that work on their behalf, and the FCC Process Reform Act certainly meets that test.” Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., recently introduced the bill in the Senate.

Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., will be a member of the Commerce Committee, Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Friday in a news release (http://1.usa.gov/1kSGamq). Walsh was sworn in as a senator earlier this month and replaces Max Baucus, who was named ambassador to China.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., was glad to see the FCC process review recommendations released Friday by the agency (http://fcc.us/1cW2Jyr), he said in a statement. Heller introduced the FCC Process Reform Act earlier this month, which mirrors legislation that House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., cleared from the House Commerce Committee in December. “For some time, I have argued that more transparency at the agency leads to more predictability in the marketplace, greater investment in infrastructure, and increased innovation, ultimately resulting in more well-paying jobs,” Heller said. “I ... will continue to push to codify the common-sense solutions I introduced in the Senate that, with the leadership of Representative Walden, have won bipartisan support in the House of Representatives.”

The White House touted its broadband stimulus efforts, in a report on the stimulus spending delivered to Congress over the weekend (http://1.usa.gov/Mat4BH). The report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers marks five years since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law. The stimulus money included several billion dollars as part of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. The stimulus money “added or improved more than 110,000 miles of broadband infrastructure, making high-speed connections available to about 20,000 community institutions, facilitating 16 million hours of technology training to more than four million users, and helping to spread the diffusion of broadband throughout the Nation,” the report said. “In part as a result of the Recovery Act and related policies, broadband access has risen substantially in recent years.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wants harsher penalties for cellphone thieves, he said Tuesday. He touted the Mobile Device Theft Deterrence Act that he’s reintroducing. “This legislation will make it a federal crime to tamper with a phone’s identification number, putting teeth into our efforts to build a national stolen cell phone registry, and deter cell phone theft in the future,” Schumer said in a news release (http://1.usa.gov/1eNQXpv). “Bolstering the national stolen phone database that just got up and running at the end of last year with my legislation means we will finally have the tools to hang-up on would-be smart phone thieves who now prey on Westchester County residents.” AT&T Executive Vice President-Federal Relations Tim McKone called the legislation “a critical component in helping law enforcement and wireless carriers address the growing issue of stolen devices.”

The White House wants comments on a House spectrum bill that proposes to incent federal spectrum holders to give up their spectrum. The administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a request for information about the legislation and other spectrum matters, said a Friday filing in the Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1c6ZbfJ). HR-3674 “would expand the allowable usage of auction proceeds shared with agencies who voluntarily relinquish spectrum to include appropriations accounts reduced by sequestration, up to the level of reduction induced by sequestration,” the administration said. “OSTP welcomes comments on the approach proposed in this legislation and any modifications that could improve its efficacy.” Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., one of the bill’s authors, said she was pleased that the administration is seeking additional public comments on incentives for federal spectrum holders. The bipartisan legislation was announced in December and easily cleared the House Commerce Committee in a voice vote. Responses to OSTP are due within 30 days of the notice’s publication. The administration asked several questions that it says are to inform the development of spectrum policy. “With respect to a spectrum fund, what are alternative means to fund agency planning, research, and development?” it asked. “If the funding is to come from subsequent auctions of the spectrum band in question, how would agencies assess the potential risk of not being reimbursed for planning costs given that the plans may not be approved or implemented as expected?” It also seeks information about spectrum property rights and coordination among agencies.