United States Congress subcommittee
The U.S. House Energy Subcommittee on Communications and Technology is a subcommittee within the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The subcommittee existed as the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet during the 111th Congress and beyond.[1]
Jurisdiction
The committee has jurisdiction over:[2]
- Interstate and foreign electronic communications, "both Interstate and foreign, including voice, video, audio and data, whether transmitted by wire or wirelessly, and whether transmitted by telecommunications, commercial or private mobile service, broadcast, cable, satellite, microwave, or other mode"
- Technology in general
- The emergency communication system and public safety communications
- "Cybersecurity, privacy, and data security"
- Oversight over:
Subcommittee activities in 115th Congress
The subcommittee typically has two types of meetings:[3]
- Hearings, in which subcommittee members discuss specific issues related to proposed legislation or general topics, listen to testimony from a panel of invited guests, and ask the panel questions
- Markups, in which the subcommittee considers specific bills, offers and votes on amendments, and then votes on whether to continue the bills through the legislative process
The following table shows some of the subcommittee's activities held in 2017, as of early March 2017.
| Date
|
Type
|
Name
|
Purpose
|
Related legislation
|
| 4/5/17
|
Hearing
|
Facilitating the 21st Century Wireless Economy[4]
|
Discuss a number of policy matters related to spectrum[5]
|
S.19, To provide opportunities for broadband investment, and for other purposes.[6][7]
|
| 3/29/17
|
Hearing
|
Realizing Nationwide Next-Generation 911[8]
|
Examine the nation's 9-1-1 networks and discuss any weaknesses that may exist. Examine whether the national 9-1-1 system is “keeping pace with the next-generation innovations of voice, data, and video capabilities.”[9]
|
None[10]
|
| 3/21/17
|
Hearing
|
Broadband: Deploying America's 21st Century Infrastructure[11]
|
"Discuss barriers at the federal level that hinder private sector investment in broadband infrastructure and to examine legislation intended to remove these barriers. Additionally, the Subcommittee will discuss the challenges of collecting, aggregating, and making available accurate data relating to the availability of broadband service across the United States."[12]
|
Broadband Conduit Deployment Act of 2017[12]
|