WASHINGTON — A bill intended to reform satellite spectrum licensing regulations didn’t pass the House July 25 after some members objected to provisions they claimed gave the Federal Communications Commission authority to control space safety.
The House debated H.R. 1338, the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act, under suspension of the principles, a procedure that limits debates and amendments but requires a two-thirds majority for passage. The bill, though, fell in need of that threshold, with 250 votes in favor versus 163 votes against. One member voted present.
The bill was intended to enhance the licensing process for satellite systems on the FCC, a modernization that the bill’s advocates said was long overdue and obligatory to make sure American competitiveness within the satellite communications market. It could have set deadlines on the FCC’s review of satellite licenses and enabled expedited reviews of minor license modifications. The House Energy and Commerce Committee favorably reported the bill on a unanimous vote in March.
Nonetheless, the leadership of House Science Committee opposed the bill due to provisions regarding regulation of space debris and space traffic management. They pointed to language within the bill that directed the FCC to determine “specific, measurable, and technology-neutral performance objectives for space safety and orbital debris.”
In a “Dear Colleague” letter circulated to House members ahead of the vote, the bipartisan leadership of the complete committee and its space subcommittee argued that the FCC could be overstepping its authority by attempting to control space safety.
“Congress has never explicitly granted FCC authority to control in these areas, and doing so now could be a major policy decision,” the letter stated, adding that the FCC also lacked expertise to accomplish that. “Assigning FCC responsibility to each create these rules and assess an applicant’s compliance would divert resources from FCC’s primary mission of assessing the applicant’s spectrum use.”
Backers of H.R. 1338 argued during debate concerning the bill that language added to it will prevent the FCC from becoming an area safety regulator. They noted the bill now included “rules of construction” that stated the bill didn’t give the FCC authority to supply space situational awareness data or to “establish requirements for or regulate space safety and orbital debris.”
“The Energy and Commerce Committee desires to be sure that the FCC doesn’t turn out to be an area traffic cop,” said Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), chair of that committee’s communications and technology subcommittee, citing the principles of construction added to the bill.
“It doesn’t expand the FCC’s jurisdiction over the space industry. As a substitute, it sets recent rules of the road with respect to the licensing of electromagnetic spectrum,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), rating member of the House and Energy and Commerce Committee, saying later that he didn’t imagine the bill impinged on the jurisdiction of the House Science Committee.
The one member to talk against the bill in the ground debate was Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), a former chair of the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee. He noted that the bill would give the FCC the power to “do its own thing” in regulating space safety at the same time as efforts proceed elsewhere in government focused on the Commerce Department. “For something as necessary as space safety and orbital debris, it is a troubling thought.”
The present leadership of the House Science Committee didn’t get a possibility to talk concerning the bill during that debate, even though it appeared that Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), chair of the committee, was attempting to be recognized at times. In a press release after the ground debate, but before the roll call vote, he said that he supported most elements of the bill aside from the space safety provisions.
“We absolutely should support the growing business space sector by looking for ways to streamline and quicken licensing processes for business space operations,” he stated. “Nonetheless, this bill goes beyond that and likewise includes a major and unprecedented grant of authority to the FCC” on space safety.
The science committee also released a letter from three advocacy groups — the Space Frontier Foundation, Beyond Earth Institute and National Space Society — who were against the space safety language within the bill. “We don’t imagine that the FCC has (or must have) authority to control space commerce generally, nor does it have the expertise to accomplish that,” the letter, to the leadership of the energy and commerce committee, stated.
The House did pass a second space-related spectrum bill July 25. H.R. 682, the Launch Communications Act, would direct the FCC to establish regulations that might give access to several spectrum bands for launch vehicles communications. It could replace existing practices where launch providers seek temporary authorization for launch communications in those bands.
The bill passed on a voice vote with none opposition in the course of the temporary floor debate. “No space launch needs to be threatened because approval for spectrum access is caught up in a bureaucratic delay,” Latta said.