House bill introduced to extend FCC spectrum-auction authority to May

A bill that would provide another short-term extension to the FCC’s authority to auction spectrum until May was introduced in the House this week, providing public-safety representatives with hope that the extra time could facilitate related legislation dedicating $10 billion or more in federal funds for deployment of IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) technologies.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.)—chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee—introduced H.R. 1108, which would extend expiration date of the FCC’s auction authority from March 9 to May 19. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)—ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is listed as a co-sponsor for the bill.

Text of the bill was not available at www.congress.gov as of the posting of this article, but most Beltway sources believe the language will be similar to the multiple short-term extensions of the FCC’s auction authority that have been approved since last September.

FCC auctions of radio spectrum has generated hundreds of billions of dollars for the U.S. government during the past three decades, so industry sources do not believe Congress will allow the agency’s auction authority to expire. However, the lack of any identified airwaves to auction at the moment reduces the urgency for lawmakers to approve a long-term FCC auction-authorization period, according to sources.

With the March 9 expiration date for the FCC’s auction authority, Congress will need to act quickly to get the proposed extension approved, but sources believe it will happen.

Such an extension would bolster the prospects of legislation that would use future auction proceeds to fund NG911 deployments and the FCC’s “rip and replace” program, which is designed to pay operators to replace network equipment from China-based vendors like Huawei and ZTE that are deemed to be a national-security threat.

Last summer, the House passed the Spectrum Innovation Act—H.R. 7624—which would have extended the FCC spectrum-auction authority for 18 months and called for the FCC to auction at least 200 MHz of airwaves in the 3.1-3.45 GHz band. Proceeds from that auction would first provide $3.4 billion for the “rip and replace” program, with up to $10 billion from the auction proceeds—if available—being used to pay for the NG911 transition nationwide.

But this bill was not considered in the Senate. Instead, considerable work was done to revamp the language in the House bill and include it as an amendment in the omnibus budget bill. However, the NG911 language was not included in the omnibus package that Congress approved in December.

Now, a new Congress—with a Republican majority in the House and a Democratic majority in the Senate—is in place and any NG911 legislation must be reintroduced to be considered. That has not happened to date, but the proposed extension of the FCC’s auction authority would give lawmakers more time to craft legislation and take action, multiple sources noted.