[Scan-DC] Plans Announced to Update the Communications Act of 1934

[Paul - W4ATN]

Though I should share this e-mail from the ARRL. We should encourage REACT
and CERT leadership as well as the industry to monitor this and protect
GMRS, FRS, MURS and the Citizens Band Radio. These are radio services that
REACT Teams and CERT use frequently. Given the propensity of congress to act
in the interest of those who have the best lobbyist we need to be proactive
to see that we don't lose spectrum and or various radio services. 

Paul - W4ATN

 

The US House Communications and Technology Subcommittee has announced plans
for a multi-year effort to examine and update the Communications Act of
1934, the overarching law under which the FCC functions. The subcommittee,
part of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee, is chaired by Oregon
Republican Greg Walden, W7EQI. Walden and Energy and Commerce Committee
Chair Fred Upton of Michigan made the announcement December 3.

"Today we are launching a multi-year effort to examine our nation's
communications laws and update them for the Internet era," Upton said in a
news release. "The United States has been the global leader in innovation
and growth of the Internet, but unfortunately, our communications laws have
failed to keep pace."

ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, noted that the most recent significant update
of the Communications Act was in 1996. "Under the leadership of Greg Walden,
the subcommittee and its staff are well equipped to take up the challenge,"
Sumner said. "The ARRL will be monitoring the work closely as it goes
forward next year and beyond."

The plan was made public via Google Hangout, where the committee leaders
were joined by former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, who said he was
"delighted" to learn of the update plans. Upton explained that the process,
to start in 2014, will involve a series of white papers and hearings
focusing on what might be done "to improve the laws surrounding the
communications marketplace as well as a robust conversation utilizing all
platforms of digital media."

He suggested a bill would be ready by 2015.

Walden said, "A lot has happened since the last update" and that the
Communications Act is "now painfully out of date." He pointed out that the
Act, drafted during the Great Depression, was last updated "when 56 kilobits
per second via dial-up modem was state of the art."

Upton said, "We must ensure that our laws make sense for today but are also
ready for the innovations of tomorrow."

Walden said he wants to open the discussion to input from everyone.

Interested parties may follow the plan's progress via Twitter (I don't know
the Twitter Feed - PB). "It's important for people to have an opportunity to
weigh in," he said.

"This is really a public process to get better public policy."