Policy & Legal Committee Accomplishments

2023 Accomplishments:
  • January 4, 2023: NATOA endorses Gigi Sohn nomination to FCC
  • February 10, 2023: NATOA Supports "Protecting Community Television Act" Legislation Reintroduction 
  • Feb. 13 eNATOA: Exploring the FCC Map & Closing the Digital Divide! 
  • March 23, 2023: FCC's Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) roundtable
  • March 29, 2023: FirstNet Authority appoints Mike Lynch as the NATOA representative to the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC) 
  • March-April, 2023: NATOA calls for member communities to submit nominees to FCC for the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC) 
  • April 2023: NATOA alerts members that "Consumers' Research" files petition to end the FCC’s 25-year subsidy (Universal Service Fund) program to rural and low-income telecom users. 
  • April 19, 2023: Local Government Associations Joint Letter for the Record:  On behalf of the nation’s counties, cities, towns and villages, NLC, USCM, NACo) and NATOA signed a joint letter of response to the E&C Communications and Technology Subcommittee protesting (excerpt): “As the level of government closest to the people, we oppose heavy-handed federal overreach into local land use, permitting, and franchise negotiation decisions.” 
  • April 20, 2023: Reply Comments on behalf of NATOA and a "Local Governments" group of cities, counties, JPA's and associations in the proceeding:  "Implementing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Prevention and Elimination of Digital Discrimination", GN Docket No. 22-69. 
  • April 21, 2023: NATOA Endorses the Community Broadband Act of 2023. 
  • May 3, 2023: NATOA Comments on proposed NTIA BEAD State Challenge Guidance.
  • May 8, 2023: NATOA Nominates Member Everett Kaneshige for FirstNet Authority Board.
  • May 15, 2023: NATOA joins The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 165 organizations writing to Congress calling on lawmakers to take decisive action to provide the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) with robust funding. 
  • June 26 eNATOA: Federal Broadband Funding and the States with NTIA, CTC. 
  • July 11, 2023: Oral argument in the Section 6409 appeal, League of Cal Cities et al v. FCC (9th Cir.), in the San Francisco Courtroom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. 
  • July 19, 2023: Local Success Stories and Evolving Potential of the ACP. NATOA participates in a Next Century Cities’ Congressional Briefing. 
  • August 29, 2023: All-In Pricing for Cable and Satellite Television Service (MB Docket No. 23-203) - Reply Comments filed by local governments. 
  • October 12, 2023:  NATOA, NLC, USCM and NACo met with newly-sworn-in Commissioners Gomez and Starks and urged the “Commission to improve the ability of local elected leaders to update the national broadband map and use it to monitor the state of digital discrimination. Local governments, in their role as local cable franchising authorities, have been responsible for implementing equitable deployment of cable infrastructure, which also provides broadband.“