9/22. Rep. Kathleen Dahlkemper (D-PA), Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO), Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), and Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) introduced HR 6160 [LOC | WW], the "Rare Earths and Critical Materials Revitalization Act of 2010", on September 22, 2010.

It was referred to the House Science and Technology Committee (HSTC). The HSTC amended and approved this bill on September 23, 2010. See, Rep. Dahlkemper's release.

This bill would establish a research and development program at the Department of Energy (DOE). The bill would also authorize the appropriation of $70 Million over five years. The bill would also authorize the DOE to make loan guarantees to incent private sector activity. The bill would also require the DOE to write a biennial plan. The bill would also amend the National Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development Act of 1980, which is codified at 30 U.S.C. § 1604, et seq.

The DOE's loan guarantee authority, which would expire in eight years, would apply "for the commercial application of new or significantly improved technologies (compared to technologies currently in use in the United States) for the following categories of projects: (1) The separation and recovery of rare earth materials from ores or other sources. (2) The preparation of rare earth materials in oxide, metal, alloy, or other forms needed for national security, economic well-being, or industrial production purposes. (3) The application of rare earth materials in the production of improved -- (A) magnets; (B) batteries; (C) refrigeration systems; (D) optical systems; (E) electronics". (Parentheses in original.)

The DOE, among other things, promotes clean and energy efficient transportation technologies. This includes promoting the use of electric vehicles, which use batteries, which use magnets, which use rare earth materials (REMs). However, REMs also have many other uses, including for making permanent magnets which are used is disk drives, cell phones, and other information technology devices.

Rep. Dahlkemper (at right) wrote in her release that REMs are "necessary components of such advanced technologies as wind turbines, hybrid-vehicle batteries, weapons guidance systems, oil refining catalysts, computer disk drives, televisions and monitors, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and fiberoptic cable".

She added that "China currently controls an estimated 90-97 percent of the world's supply of rare earths, and it is pouring effort and money into a rapid buildup of its own high-technology industries that rely on rare earths".

She stated that "My legislation aims to jump start U.S. research, development, and education efforts throughout the supply chain of technologies related to rare earth materials. We also need to have a plan in place should we have a shortage of these materials. My bill also addresses that issue by resuscitating plans to create a U.S. minerals and materials policy."

Rep. Gordon, the Chairman of the HSTC, stated in this release that "China has begun limiting production and export of rare earths and requiring that products using rare earths be manufactured in China, and largely for Chinese consumption ... This is clearly an untenable position for the U.S. I believe it would be foolish to stake our national defense and economic security on China’s goodwill or a hope that it will choose to compete in a fair and open global marketplace for rare earths".

Rep. Gordon is not running for re-election in November. Rep. Lewis, an original cosponsor of this bill, represents the California Congressional District that is the location of the Mountain Pass facility, which may soon restart extraction of REMs.

The HSTC's Subcommittee on Investigations & Oversight held a hearing on REMs on March 16, 2010. See, opening statement of Rep. Gordon, opening statement of Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC), HSTC hearing charter [PDF], and HSTC release.

Mark Smith, CEO of Molycorp Minerals LLC, the operator of the Mountain Pass facility, wrote in his prepared testimony [PDF] that "Our work at Mountain Pass provides a timely, well-planned, and economically viable means to address the rare earth access challenges on the shortest timeline possible. While Molycorp has been processing existing rare earth stockpiles since 2007, it has invested $20 million to begin the restart of active mining."

See also, prepared testimony [PDF] of Steven Freiman (presenting the findings of the National Research Council), prepared testimony [PDF] of Karl Gschneidner (Ames Laboratory, at Iowa State University, which conducts rare earth research), prepared testimony [PDF] of Steven Duclos (General Electric), and prepared testimony [PDF] of Terence Stewart (trade lawyer).

9/22. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) introduced S 3828 [LOC | WW], a bill to make numerous changes to the "Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act", which this bill renames the "Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010".

The Senate passed the "Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010" as S 3304 [LOC | WW] on August 5, 2010. See, stories titled "Senate Passes Disability Access Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,120, August 6, 2010, and "Senate Commerce Committee Approves Disability Access Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,107, July 19, 2010.

The Senate passed S 3828, by unanimous consent, without any debate, discussion, or a roll call votes. See, Congressional Record, September 22, 2010, at Page S7363. The Senate also held no debate or discussion on passage of S 3304. And, the SCC marked up S 3304 with almost no debate or discussion.

The House is scheduled to take up S 3304 [LOC | WW] this week under suspension of the rules. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for the week of September 27.

The House previously passed its similar bill, HR 3101 [LOC | WW], titled the "Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act", on July 26, 2010.

These bills would greatly expand Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to regulate software, computers, electronic devices, and services that are used for communications.

9/23. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) held a hearing titled "Keeping Us Safe: The Need for a Nationwide Public Safety Network". See, SCC web page with hyperlinks to opening statements of Senators and prepared testimony of witnesses.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the Chairman of the SCC, advocated passage of S 3756 [LOC | WW], the "Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act". It would allocate the 10 megahertz of spectrum, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) previously failed to auction as the D block, to public safety to support a nationwide interoperable wireless broadband network.

This bill would also provide the FCC authority to hold incentive auctions based on the voluntary return of spectrum. See, story titled "Sen. Rockefeller to Introduce Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,109, July 21, 2010.

Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) stated that "I am prepared to support a direct allocation of this particular spectrum to public safety rather than auctioning it for commercial use ... But, I believe several important questions must be answered before we can enact legislation to do that."

Sen. Hutchison (at right) also stated that "I would like to know if this spectrum were auctioned off to a commercial user, rather than allocated to public safety directly, what the challenges are in allowing public safety assured priority access to use the commercial network in an emergency."

James Barnett, Chief of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, wrote in his prepared testimony [PDF] that "public safety should have a dedicated network, owned and controlled by public safety, and the core of this network should be the spectrum that the Congress has already dedicated to public safety".

He added that "the public safety network must be able to expand its capacity to deal with extreme circumstances". He said that public safety should be able "to roam over to commercial networks with priority access to provide as much as 60 additional megahertz of spectrum."

9/22. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) held a hearing on S 3742 [LOC | WW], the "Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2010". See, SCC web page with hyperlinks to opening statements of Senators and prepared testimony of witnesses.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), the Chairman of the SCC, wrote in his opening statement that this bill requires "businesses and organizations to adopt security protocols to reasonably protect their databases from unauthorized access", and "requires breached entities to notify all affected consumers of data breaches in a timely manner -- unless there is no reasonable risk of identity theft or harm to consumers."

He added that the bill "imposes new requirements on information brokers -- the companies that amass, organize, and sell vast amounts of American consumers’ information to third party buyers for a profit." It "gives consumers the right to know what data information brokers are collecting on them; and the right to correct any inaccuracies they may find."

Sen. Rockefeller (at right) also stated that "I fully intend to report this bill out of the Commerce Committee in next week's markup". The SCC has not yet announced this mark up session.

Mark Bregman, CTO of Symantec, testified on behalf of TechAmerica. He urged passage of S 3742.

He wrote in his prepared testimony that any legislation "should impact government and the private sector equally, and should include educational institutions and charitable organizations as well".

(The bill reaches any "commercial entity, and any charitable, educational, or nonprofit organization, that acquires, maintains, or utilizes personal information", but not government sector entities.)

He also argued that any bill "should preempt relevant State and local laws and regulation".

(Section 6 of the bill provides that "This Act supersedes any provision of a statute, regulation, or rule of a State or political subdivision of a State ... requires information security practices and treatment of data containing personal information ... and ... requires notification to individuals of a breach of security resulting in unauthorized access to or acquisition of data in electronic form containing personal information".)

Bregman also stated that the bill's "information broker provisions are not core to an effective data security and breach notice bill, and therefore should be dropped".

9/23. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced S 3830 [LOC | WW], the "Undergraduate Scholarship Awards in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics Act" or "US-STEM Act". It was referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

9/16. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet held a hearing on HR 5828 [LOC | WW], the "Universal Service Reform Act of 2010". See, HCC web page with hyperlinks to opening statements of members and prepared testimony of witnesses. See also, story titled "Rep. Boucher and Rep. Terry Introduce Universal Service Reform Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,110, July 22, 2010.

9/15. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and others introduced S 3789 [LOC | WW], the "Social Security Number Protection Act of 2010", a bill to limit access to social security account numbers (SSANs). It would prohibit the use of SSANs on "any check issued for any payment by the Federal, State, or local agency", and prohibit access to SSANs by federal, state or local prisoners. It was referred to the Senate Finance Committee (SFC).

9/14. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced HRes 1616, a resolution expressing the support of Congress for National Telephone Discount Lifeline Awareness Week. It was referred to the House Commerce Committee.

9/14. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) and others introduced HConRes 316, a resolution expressing the sense of the Congress that Taiwan deserves membership in the United Nations (UN). Taiwan is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), among other things. It was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

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The House will meet at 10:30 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. The schedule for the week includes consideration of HR 6160 [LOC | WW], the "Rare Earths and Critical Materials Revitalization Act of 2010", and S 3304 [LOC | WW], the "Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act", under suspension of the rules. S 3304 would expand existing FCC regulatory regimes regarding hearing aid compatibility and communications relay services. It would require the FCC to reinstate and expand its video description regulations. It would also create a vast new FCC based regulatory regime covering a wide range of software, computers, electronic devices, and services that are used for communications, including equipment and software that can be used for VOIP. It would also give the FCC broad new authority to regulate the design of electronic devices that could be used to receive or play video. The House passed its similar bill, HR 3101 [LOC | WW], also titled the "Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act", on July 26, 2010. See, stories titled "Senate Passes Disability Access Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,120, August 6, 2010, and "Senate Commerce Committee Approves Disability Access Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,107, July 19, 2010. Rep. Hoyer's schedule for the week of September 27 states that "no votes are expected in the House" on September 28. See also, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for September 28.

The Senate will meet at 10:00 AM. It will resume consideration motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed on S 3816 [LOC | WW] , the "Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act".

Day one of a three day conference hosted by the New America Foundation (NAF) titled "The Broadband Act of 2011: Designing a Communications Act for the 21st Century". Location: NAF, 4th floor, 1899 L St., NW.

8:30 AM - 1:00 PM. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 27, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 166, at Page 52769-52770. Location: Carl Hayden Room, 8th floor, U.S. Government Printing Office, 732 North Capitol St., NW.

10:00 AM. The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) will hold an on site and teleconferenced briefing on S 3804 [LOC | WW], the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act". See, story titled "Senators Introduce Bill to Enable DOJ to Shut Down Web Sites Dedicated to Infringement" and related stories in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,132, September 21, 2010. For more information, contact Brock Meeks at brock at cdt dot org or 202-407-8814. Location: CDT, 1634 I St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:00 PM. The American Bar Association (ABA) will host a webcast and teleconferenced event titled "Intellectual Property Audits". Prices vary. CLE credits. See, notice.

6:00 - 8:30 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a presentation titled "Effectively Navigating The E-Discovery Process with a Government Agency". The speakers will be Tracy Greer (Department of Justice, Antitrust Division), Jeffrey Perry (Federal Trade Commission, Mergers IV), Antonia Chion (Securities and Exchange Commission), Patrick Oot (Electronic Discovery Institute). The price to attend ranges from $20 to $40. Reporters are barred from attending most DC Bar events. No CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3463. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) will host an event titled titled "ECPA Reform -- Protecting Privacy and Security in the Digital Age". There will be one panel discussion titled "ECPA's Wild Ride: 1986 to 2010", and another titled "ECPA Reform: What We Need May Depend on Where You Sit". The speakers will include Marc Zwillinger (Zwillinger Genetski), Genie Barton (USTelecom), and John Heitmann (Kelley Drye & Warren). The speakers may also include Congressional staff and Department of Justice (DOJ) personnel. The price to attend ranges from $25 to $150. CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, contact Genie Barton at gbarton at ustelecom dot org or 202-326-7223. The FCBA excludes reporters from many of its events. Location: Dow Lohnes, 1200 New Hampshire Ave., NW.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for the week of September 27.

Day two of a three day conference hosted by the New America Foundation (NAF) titled "The Broadband Act of 2011: Designing a Communications Act for the 21st Century". Location: NAF, 4th floor, 1899 L St., NW.

Day one of a three day event hosted by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) titled "Radio Show". See, web site. Location: Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H St., NW.

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission to consider drafts of material for its 2010 Annual Report to the Congress. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 10, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 153, at Page 48412. Location: Room 233, Hall of States, 444 North Capitol St., NW.

2:00 PM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold a hearing on the nominations of James Graves (to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit), Edward Davila (U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California), Paul Holmes (USDC/WDArk), Anthony Battaglia (USDC/SDCal), and Diana Saldana (USDC/SDTex). See, hearing notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

6:00 - 8:00 PM. The University of Colorado's Silicon Flatirons Center (SFC) will host an event titled "Dale Hatfield Scholars and Research Program Reception". The SFC requests donations of $100 to $250 from attendees. Location: Conference Center, 1400 16th St., NW.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Hoyer's schedule for the week of September 27.

Day three of a three day conference hosted by the New America Foundation (NAF) titled "The Broadband Act of 2011: Designing a Communications Act for the 21st Century". Location: NAF, 4th floor, 1899 L St., NW.

Day two of a three day event hosted by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) titled "Radio Show". See, web site. Location: Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H St., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of Robert Chatigny to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, and S 3804 [LOC | WW], the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act". See, story titled "Senators Introduce Bill to Enable DOJ to Shut Down Web Sites Dedicated to Infringement" and related stories in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,132, September 21, 2010. See also, SJC meeting notice. The SJC will webcast this event. The SJC rarely follows its published agendas. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's (SENRC) Subcommittee on Energy will hold a hearing on S 3521 [LOC | WW], the "Rare Earths Supply Technology and Resources Transformation Act of 2010" or RESTART Act. See, notice. Location: Room 366, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 4:00 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission to consider drafts of material for its 2010 Annual Report to the Congress. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 10, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 153, at Page 48412. Location: Room 233, Hall of States, 444 North Capitol St., NW.

1:00 - 2:30 PM. The House Intelligence Committee's (HIC) Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management will hold a public hearing titled "Update on Security Clearance Reform". See, notice. Location: Room 2118, Rayburn Building.

1:00 - 3:00 PM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) will hold a webcast event regarding methods for combating the use of contraband cell phones in prisons. The deadline to register is September 28, 2010. See, notice. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The DC Bar Association will host a panel discussion titled "What Every Lawyer Needs to Know About Antitrust Law". The speakers will be Michael Brockmeyer (Frommer Lawrence & Haug) and Michael Kelly. The price to attend ranges from $89 to $129. Reporters are barred from attending most DC Bar events. This event qualifies for CLE credits. See, notice. For more information, call 202-626-3488. Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

Final deadline to submit "white papers" to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding the NIST's Technology Innovation Program (TIP). See, notice in the Federal Register, September 4, 2009, Vol. 74, No. 171, at Pages 45823-45825.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice (PN) regarding disability access and wireless communications devices. The FCC released this PN on July 19, 2010. This PN is DA 10-1324 in CG Docket No. 10-145. See also, story titled "FCC Releases Two Public Notices Regarding Disability Access" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,108, July 20, 2010, and notice in the Federal Register, August 5, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 150, at Pages 47304-47305.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry (NPRM) [43 pages in PDF] regarding terrestrial broadband services within spectrum allocated to mobile satellite services (MSS). This NOI is FCC 10-126 in ET Docket No. 10-142. The FCC adopted and released this NOI on July 15, 2010. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 16, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 157, Pages 49871-49879. See also, story titled "FCC Adopts NPRM and NOI Regarding Use of MSS Spectrum for Mobile Broadband" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,105, July 15, 2010.

Rep. Hoyer's schedule for the week of September 27 states that "no votes are expected in the House".

Day three of a three day event hosted by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) titled "Radio Show". See, web site. Location: Grand Hyatt Washington, 1000 H St., NW.

Day one of a three day event hosted by the Future of Music Coalition (FOMC) titled "Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit". See, notice. Location: Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets, NW.

Day two of a three day event hosted by the Future of Music Coalition (FOMC) titled "Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit". See, notice. Location: Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets, NW.

Extended deadline to file amendments with the Federal Communications Commission to pending waiver requests or renewal applications or to file requests for permanent waivers of the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule. See, FCC Order adopted and released on June 29, 2010. It is DA 10-1181 in MB Docket No. 06-121, MB Docket No. 02-277, MM Docket No. 01-235, MM Docket No. 01-317, MM Docket No. 00-244, MB Docket No. 04-228, and MM Docket No. 99-360.

Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to assist it in preparing its annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. The OUSTR seeks comments on, among other things, lack of intellectual property protection, trade restrictions affecting electronic commerce, and investment barriers, and technology transfer requirements. See, notice in the Federal Register, August 6, 2010, Vol. 75, No. 151, at Pages 47675-47676. See also, story titled "OUSTR Seeks Comments on Foreign Trade Barriers" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,120, August 6, 2010.

10:00 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (FedCir) will hear oral argument in Ronald A. Katz Technologies v. American Airlines, App. Ct. No. 2009-1450, a patent case regarding interactive call processing. Location: Courtroom 201.

5:30 - 7:30 PM. The The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) will host a reception that precedes its October 6 event titled "IPI Communications Summit". Location: Room HVC-201, Capitol Building.

Day three of a three day event hosted by the Future of Music Coalition (FOMC) titled "Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit". See, notice. Location: Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets, NW.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Inquiry (NOI) [23 pages in PDF] regarding writing its next Section 706 report to the Congress. See, FCC Public Notice. The FCC adopted and released this NOI on August 6, 2010. It is FCC 10-148 in GN Docket No. 10-159.