Congress Passes Amendment To Communications Act Update, Tacks On FCC Reform Bills

Amended Bill Passes

Congress has unanimously amended a Communications Act update that previously passed the Senate and has tacked on eight other bills, including two FCC reform bills. Among the tacked-on bills to S. 253 are the FCC Process Reform Act (H.R. 2583), the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act (H.R. 734), the Amateur Radio Parity Act (H.R. 1301), the Small Business Broadband Deployment Act (H.R. 4596), Kari’s Law Act of 2015 (H.R. 4167), the Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act (H.R. 3998), the Anti-Spoofing Act of 2016 (H.R. 2669), and the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability act (H.R. 2566).

House Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman GREG WALDEN (R-OR) said, “This bill encompasses nearly two years of legislative activity. This legislation is further evidence of our dedication to advancing thoughtful solutions that empower consumers and small businesses, make the FCC more transparent, and enhance our public safety communications networks. The Communication Act Update of 2016 lays an important foundation as we work to update our laws for the innovation era."

“These eight bills are further testament that the Energy and Commerce Committee is a legislative workhorse. Another hallmark of the committee is that we try to take advantage of every opportunity to advance our legislative priorities,” added House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman FRED UPTON (R-MI). “Greater government transparency, improving rural phone call quality, protecting consumers – these are all wildly popular and have achieved near unanimous support in the House. Hopefully, this effort helps clear the logjam and we will start to see real progress. Folks in Southwest MICHIGAN and across the country are counting on us to get these bills across the finish line to modernize our communications laws for the 21st century.”

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