Joint Resolution in Senate Would Repeal FCC's New Title II Order

On July 23, Senator Marsha Blackburn introduced S.J.Res. 103, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) joint resolution of disapproval to overturn the FCC's Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet Order. Senators Ted Cruz and John Thune are co-sponsors. S.J.Res. 103 was referred to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. By a 3-2 vote in April of this year, the Commission reclassified broadband Internet access services as "telecommunications services" under Title II of the Communications Act, subjecting advanced broadband networks to public utility regulation.

Earlier this year – as described in a May 28 blog post – Rep. Bob Latta introduced in the 118th Congress H.J.Res. 153, a similar CRA joint resolution of disapproval.

 

Under the CRA, there is a fast-track process for Congress to vote on the repeal of new agency regulations. Helpful background information on the CRA, in the context of broadband regulatory policy, is contained in FSF Board of Academic Advisors Member Daniel Lyons' June 2018 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, "The Congressional Review Act and the Toxic Politics of Net Neutrality."

 

Many Perspectives from FSF Scholars papers have been published critiquing the new Title II order's imposition of public utility restrictions on broadband Internet networks. These include my May 21 Perspectives, "The FCC's New Title II Order Allows Harmful Rate Regulation" and my April 22 Perspectives, "Public Safety Rebrand Won't Save the FCC's Internet Regulation Plan From Unlawfulness." The most serious legal defect in the Commission's new Title II order comes under fire in my April 12 Perspectives, "The FCC's Internet Regulation Plan Fails the Major Questions Doctrine."