Key Accomplishments of the
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet

Year 2007 - 110th Congress 1st Session

Legislation that Originated in the Subcommittee and Passed the House of Representatives:

• H.R. 3403, the 911 Modernization and Public Safety Act of 2007.  This bill would promote and enhance public safety by ensuring that consumers using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service can access enhanced 911 (E-911) emergency services and by extending existing liability protections to VoIP service. The measure would also require the development of a national plan to move to an IP-enabled emergency network and provide for grants to fund such networks.

• H.R. 3919, the Broadband Census of America Act of 2007.  This legislation would improve the quality and quantity of data that the Government collects concerning broadband deployment and adoption, develop a national map displaying broadband availability, and facilitate State and local efforts to promote broadband deployment and adoption.

• H.R. 251, The Truth in Caller ID Act.  This legislation would prohibit the manipulation of caller identification information with the intent to defraud or cause harm.

Pending Legislation:

• H.R. 3914, the Proper Forbearance Procedures Act of 2007.  Chairmen Dingell and Markey introduced legislation that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from granting regulatory forbearance by default to promote fairness and consistency in FCC forbearance decisions.

• H.R. 936, the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act. Chairmen Dingell and Markey introduced legislation that would make it unlawful to obtain a customer’s phone records through false pretenses and would expand the responsibilities of telecommunications carriers with respect to the confidentiality of their subscribers’ calling records. 

Oversight Work:

• The Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is working with the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on an investigation into regulatory processes and management practices at the FCC.

• The Subcommittee is also working with the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on an investigation of the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping activities, specifically to determine the extent of involvement of telecommunications companies and whether they should be granted immunity for providing certain information about their customers to the government.

• The Subcommittee has conducted vigorous oversight of the roles of the FCC and NTIA in facilitating the digital television (DTV) transition.

Other Important Actions:

• Raised Awareness about the DTV transition.   The Subcommittee held three hearings on the status of the digital television transition, with witness testimony from FCC, NTIA, and GAO officials, as well as key stakeholders.

• Future of Telecommunications.  The Subcommittee conducted a thorough examination of the future of the telecommunications industry with a six-part series of hearings on Internet, radio, wireless, international, video and telecom competition.

• Interoperability.  The Subcommittee examined how to coordinate the Nation’s emergency responder systems, many of which are currently incompatible.