Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate said they will consider proposals starting next month to update the law that has regulated telephone, cable and broadcast companies for the past 14 years.
The lawmakers will begin “a process to develop proposals” to revise the 1934 Communications Act, which was last rewritten by Congress in 1996, leaders of two committees said today in an e-mailed statement. Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, chairman of the Commerce Committee, and Representative Henry Waxman of California, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, are starting the process, according to the statement.
A drive to rewrite the law in 2006 died in the Senate after Democrats objected that it lacked rules on net neutrality, which would bar Internet service providers from interfering with subscribers’ Web traffic.
Net neutrality has re-emerged as a policy issue. A U.S. court in April said the Federal Communications Commission lacks authority over Comcast Corp.’s Web practices, sparking debate over the agency’s power to regulate Internet service providers.
“We applaud the congressional leadership call for proposals to update the communications act,” said Walter McCormick Jr., president of US Telecom, in an e-mailed statement. Members of the Washington-based trade group include the largest U.S. telephone companies AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.
The commission declined to comment on the Rockefeller and Waxman statement, Jen Howard,an FCC spokeswoman, said in an e- mail.
FCC Authority
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on May 6 claimed authority under a part of the act written for telephone networks. Republican lawmakers said he improperly sought to expand regulation.
Today, 74 House Democrats told Genachowski in a letter that they have “serious concerns” about his proposed regulatory framework and urged him to await “direction from Congress.” Separately, 37 of the 41 Senate Republican members in a letter today urged Genachowski to “abandon” his proposal.
Genachowski in a blog posting on May 6 said the agency was ready to advise Congress if its “leaders decide to take up legislation” to “clarify the statute and the agency’s authority.”
Efforts in Congress can be “complementary to the efforts of the FCC, not a substitute for them,” said Whitney Smith, a spokeswoman for Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, in an e-mailed statement.
“It is time to engage in a methodical and thoughtful process to update our communications laws,” Smith said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.net
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