TracFone Wireless lobbying of Capitol Hill stayed steady in 2014. It spent $285,000 in Q2, according to lobbying disclosure forms posted this week. TracFone spent the same amount in Q1 and slightly less, $233,859, in Q4. It didn’t report overall lobbying expenditures in the quarters immediately before that. TracFone has frequently lobbied on the Lifeline program, facing attacks from some lawmakers on that front (CD Nov 8 p6). Its Q2 report this week lists the Lifeline program and wireless taxation issues as priorities. Q2 lobbying disclosure reports are due Monday, and several have begun trickling in already, especially from lobbying firms. The Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance spent more on lobbying in Q2 of this year than last year, reports show -- $35,000 now compared to $19,000 over the same time last year. It has lobbied on both cybersecurity and video market issues related to retransmission consent, said its latest form. RIAA’s 2014 U.S. lobbying spending totaled $1.25 million in Q2, a slight uptick from its $1,054,551 in Q1, according to lobbying disclosure forms. In 2013, RIAA spent $1,089,957 in Q4; $972,936 in Q3; $1,256,703 in Q2; and $1,271,804 in Q1. RIAA lobbied the House and Senate on bills like the Songwriter Equity Act (HR-4079) and the Respecting Senior Performers as Essential Cultural Treasures Act (HR-4772) (CD June 19 p11), among others. ICANN U.S. lobbying spending totaled $145,000 in Q2, the same as Q1, showed lobbying disclosure forms posted this week. ICANN paid Mehlman Castagnetti ($80,000) and Kountoupes Denham ($60,000) for their lobbying efforts in Q2, the same amounts the firms received in Q1, said a spokesman. ICANN spent $145,000 on lobbying in both Q3 and Q4 of 2013; it spent $140,000 in both Q1 and Q2 the same year. ICANN lobbied Capitol Hill and several federal agencies, including NTIA and the State Department on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority contract (CD July 17 p15) with the Commerce Department and the new generic top-level domain program, among other issues.

The Telecommunications Industry Association is confident stakeholders can resolve any concerns about spectrum interference in the upper 5 GHz band, it said, praising bicameral, bipartisan legislation that would compel FCC testing in that band. A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a companion to the Senate version of the legislation (S-2505) Wednesday. The bill, HR-5125, is called the Wi-Fi Innovation Act. Any interference “can be successfully resolved in a manner that enables increased use of the band for technologies such as Wi-Fi while not compromising the efficacy or safety of potential intelligent transportation systems (ITS) uses of the band,” TIA President Grant Seiffert said in a written statement Thursday. “By encouraging the FCC to move swiftly in conducting testing, the legislation introduced today holds the promise of creating a win-win scenario that allows this valuable spectrum resource to be used more efficiently.”

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler urged Congress to adequately fund the agency’s IT systems, prompting a defense from the GOP lawmaker responsible for a lean House version of the agency’s budget. Wheeler authored the blog post Wednesday, coinciding with both a House vote for an FY 2015 FCC budget more than $50 million below what the FCC requested (CD July 17 p3 ) and the agency’s inability to handle the volume of net neutrality comments hitting. “It is particularly distasteful that the FCC -- the agency entrusted with promoting a world-class broadband infrastructure for the nation -- could ever be incapable of dealing with Americans expressing themselves via that broadband capability,” Wheeler said (http://fcc.us/1t8Mbwn). “I am hopeful that leaders in Congress, recognizing the importance of these systems to the public’s ability to communicate their views to the FCC without complication or delay, will ultimately reach agreement on funding levels that ensure we have the resources to modernize and upgrade our IT systems.” But a House Republican thinks the FCC should make do with less: “Given today’s technological and competitive landscape, I believe the FCC needs to do a better job at being a leaner, more efficient, and more transparent agency,” House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., told us in a statement. “My committee’s Fiscal Year 2015 allocation demands that the Commission review its organizational structure to reform and reorganize. Doing so will more appropriately reflect the Commission’s current role and enable it to keep up with the pace of the technology industries they regulate.” Crenshaw said the FCC “is funded by fees, [but] these are fees directly passed on to consumers.” The White House specifically objected to Crenshaw’s budget on the basis of its FCC funding. The Senate has not yet advanced a budget for the FCC past the committee level, but the Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee budget draft is at the level the agency requested.

The National Governors Association is “disappointed” in House passage of the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA) (HR-3086), NGA said in a statement (http://bit.ly/1rgRBI3) Tuesday. PITFA, which bans any taxation on Internet access, passed the House by a voice vote Tuesday (CD July 16 p12). No changes were made to the bill before or during its consideration, said a House Judiciary Committee spokeswoman. NGA said “this federal prohibition on state taxing authority is contrary to federalism and the sovereign authority of states to structure and manage their own fiscal systems.” Congress should instead “address the disparity between Main Street retailers and online sellers regarding the collection of state and local sales taxes,” it said. House passage of PITFA “protects millions of Americans across the country who use the Internet daily to look for employment, participate in online courses or access government services from state and local taxes on Internet access,” said Internet Tax Freedom Act Coalition Executive Director Annabelle Canning in a statement (http://bit.ly/1naI8jB) Tuesday. The coalition encouraged the Senate to pass its version of PITFA (S-1431) before Nov. 1. The coalition’s members (http://bit.ly/1tRqQMh) include Amazon, AT&T and Verizon, and those two telcos also backed passage in separate statements. S-1431 has 51 co-sponsors.

The Senate approved cellphone unlocking legislation by unanimous consent Tuesday. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., had introduced a bipartisan compromise version of his Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act (S-517) earlier this summer and easily cleared it from committee. The compromise mirrored a cellphone unlocking bill that passed the House earlier this year. “With the Senate’s swift action last night, just days after the Judiciary Committee approved the measure, I hope the House will soon take up and pass our bill so that consumers will be able to use their existing cell phones on the wireless carrier of their choice,” Leahy said in a statement Wednesday.

The confirmation of Robert Holleyman as deputy U.S. Trade Representative will provide USTR digital experience as that area of the trade agenda continues to grow in importance, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in an opening statement at Wednesday’s hearing on Holleyman’s nomination. Holleyman was president of BSA/The Software Alliance for more than 20 years before stepping down in 2013. “Digital trade has rapidly emerged as a major source of economic growth and innovation, and it is fundamentally reorganizing how goods and services are made and traded across borders,” said Wyden (http://1.usa.gov/1mMYfmqf). “As significant trade agreements are taking shape, it is essential that USTR provide global leadership in the development of rules that make sense for a 21st century digital economy.” President Barack Obama sent Holleyman’s nomination to the Senate in February, to replace outgoing deputy USTR Miriam Sapiro. Public Citizen recently chided Holleyman for supporting the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act, which some critics say infringe on online liberties.

USTelecom Vice President-Law and Policy Kevin Rupy testified before Congress Wednesday about the association’s efforts to tackle phone scams. “Our industry has ramped up a concerted, broad-based, public-private effort focused exclusively on the issue of telephony abuse,” he said in written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1zJDj4Z) before the Senate Special Committee on Aging. “Our member companies continue to work with government and industry stakeholders to develop more secure forms of caller identification authentication to more effectively address a practice that facilitates fraud, caller-ID spoofing.” The telcos are working to offer services to cut the number of fraudulent calls, he said. Rupy also raised the challenges of robocalls. USTelecom members “will initiate legal actions against robocallers when they can be found,” he said.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced the Wi-Fi Innovation Act Wednesday. It’s a companion bill to one that Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., introduced earlier this summer. Its backers in the House are Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio; subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.; and Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif. “The Wi-Fi Innovation Act paves a pathway to maximize the use of spectrum and examine ways to expand the deployment of wireless networks and services across the country, so all can benefit from this next-generation technology,” Latta said in a statement. The legislation “directs the FCC to determine the extent to which unlicensed spectrum can be shared and utilized in increasingly innovative ways to benefit consumers and our economy,” Eshoo said. The bill says the FCC should run tests on possible interference in the 5 GHz band, and prompts a study on different barriers to Wi-Fi deployment in low-income areas.

The House’s planned Communications Act overhaul is far from any legislative drafts, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said Wednesday at a Capitol Hill briefing hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (See separate report above in this issue.) “We're a long way from circulating a draft because we're collecting the information,” Walden said. “The concept here is actually absorb that information, value it.” He and colleagues have released four white papers to collect information about relevant topics, such as competition policy or the latest Tuesday white paper on interconnection. “I'd say we've averaged about 85 responses per white paper,” Walden said, saying more are to come later this year on media and public safety issues. Of the stakeholder comments, “you can see industry’s protecting status quo in some places and wanting status quo in others,” Walden said, saying any overhaul would shift “massive parts of the economy” and require caution so as not to “upend” it. Other factors affecting the legislative direction of the overhaul will include the makeup of the committee next year and the political leadership of the Senate following the 2014 midterm elections, he said. Walden also wants to make sure committee members understand the issues, he said. “The members better understand what they're engaging in here.”

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., lauded the FCC saying it’s creating a USF strike force to target fraud and abuse (CD July 15 p10). “Identifying and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse to protect taxpayer dollars has been a top priority for House Republicans,” Walden said in a news release Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1qcXdDF). “As the USF has continued to grow, it has become an increasing cost on consumers’ monthly phone bill. The FCC has a responsibility to ensure any dollars being spent are being spent wisely and efficiently.”