Senate Commerce Committee members reached agreement Thursday on a bill that would speed satellite licensing by the Federal Communications Commission, advancing by voice vote legislation with additional checks to address Democratic concerns about potential automatic approvals. The committee approved the bill with a substitute amendment jointly attributed to Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., after a previous iteration of the markup fell apart over language regarding time limits on consideration of satellite applications. The markup had been rescheduled more than once — but it ultimately only lasted around two minutes as the Commerce panel voted to move the satellite bill en bloc with seven others. The substitute amendment responds to concerns from Cantwell last week that the bill’s “deemed granted” language would allow automatic approval, after a year and a half, of even very large satellite applications. The substitute would require the FCC to make rules, within two years, on which applications would be eligible to be deemed granted. It would exclude from eligibility for being deemed granted parts of applications dealing with spectrum reserved for federal use, and would require the FCC to work with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to determine which spectrum bands shared between federal and nonfederal use should also be excluded. Under the amendment, FCC commissioners could request a vote on the rules or any application for a new license or grant of market access. Cantwell applauded the compromise. "I'm glad we were able to come to an agreement that improves satellite approval processes so the U.S. can compete aggressively. But no language that allows the FCC to ignore objections and plow ahead with automatic approvals is in the bill," she said in a statement. "The FCC must tell the numerous partners who care about interference — in aviation, weather and defense — what they are doing." The amended bill would also ask the FCC to consider setting a constellation size threshold, below which applications would be eligible to be deemed granted. That change came after Cantwell pointed last week to an application from Elon Musk’s Starlink for a constellation of up to 1 million “orbital data centers.” The amendment would allow for extensions of the application review period due to extraordinary circumstances involving safety or harmful interference. It would also create a “cure period” of 15 business days and allow for deemed-granted decisions to be challenged in court. Additionally, it would remove a definition of “national security” that excluded threats other than foreign aggression. It would also remove a provision in the original bill to prohibit state and local governments from regulating the rates charged by a satellite applicant, grantee or licensee. When the markup began last week, Cantwell offered an amendment to remove all the deemed granted language from the bill. She said this would have put the text more in line with a House bill from the previous Congress that fell short on the floor and used the language for certain earth stations and for modifications to licenses. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has made it clear that speeding satellite applications is a priority for the commission. In prepared remarks last year for a speech on the U.S. "space economy" in El Segundo, Calif., he said a “licensing assembly line” would replace the FCC licensing process. “One way to think of this is that we will replace a ‘Default to No’ process with a ‘Default to Yes’ framework,” Carr said. “Straightforward licensing requests would be presumed to be in the public interest and expedited. We would also simplify our applications, establish clear timelines so companies know what to expect, and increase flexibility for licensed operations.”
