Today’s  Regulatory Mix includes: Congressional Committee Leaders Release Statements Regarding T-Mobile Data Breach, Maine Appropriation Bill Clarifies ConnectMe Surcharge, Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Introduce the Information Sharing and Advanced Communications Alerting Act

 

Congressional Committee Leaders Release Statements Regarding T-Mobile Data Breach 

Energy and Commerce Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Republican Leader Bob Latta (R-OH), and Consumer Protection and Commerce Republican Leader Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) released the following statement regarding the data breach and theft of personal information from T-Mobile current and potential customers: 

“The T-Mobile data breach is of serious concern. While we have more to learn to determine how this breach happened and its potential wide-ranging consequences, we urge all companies to do everything they can to safeguard and protect American’s personal information. Last month, the Energy and Commerce Committee advanced bipartisan legislation to promote cybersecurity information sharing and vulnerability disclosures to prevent attacks like this from happening. 

“Now, we need to build on that work to protect Americans’ privacy. This breach is yet another example of why Congress must pass a national privacy and data security law. We need strong national standards that ensure industries can innovate, strengthen cybersecurity and data privacy, and keep up with the evolving ways bad actors steal personal information.” 

 

Maine Appropriation Bill Clarifies ConnectMe Surcharge 

The Governor of Maine signed into law House Paper 156, an emergency measure making government appropriations and allocations for state government operations for 2021-2023 fiscal years. Included in the 268 page chaptered law are changes and clarifications made to the Connect Maine (ConnectME) Broadband surcharge. Statutes associated with the ConnectME broadband surcharge will become effective January 1, 2022. 

Inteserra Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 8/18/21 

 

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Introduce the Information Sharing and Advanced Communications Alerting Act 

The ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.), and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D., Mich.) have introduced the Information Sharing and Advanced Communication (ISAAC) Alerting Act, which would require the FCC to prepare a report on how to implement a national 911 disability alerting system. The bipartisan ISAAC Alerting Act seeks to improve 9-1-1 emergency response for people with disabilities.  

In her statement Rep. Rodgers said, “The idea of this legislation was brought to me by an amazing mom and advocate named Holly from Spokane. She’s an ability advocate in memory of her son Isaac, and she’s made a difference in our community with the ISAAC Alert System, which is currently helping emergency responders in Eastern Washington and Idaho better aid people with disabilities,” said Rodgers. “Far too often, first responders lack critical information and training when responding to people with disabilities. This can put families, first responders, and people with disabilities at risk during emergency situations like the wildfires currently burning across our communities. By requiring the FCC to examine the feasibility of implementing a 9-1-1 disability alerting system, the ISAAC Alerting Act will help identify and address the challenges first responders face in these situations. It will improve the overall quality of care when a first responder enters a home and may need to provide unique assistance to someone with a disability.” 

 

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.