Senate Committee Marks up S. 3304 on July 15, Headed to Floor Vote?

On Thursday July 15, 2010, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation held an 'executive session' where they adopted "The Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act," S. 3304, part of a package of bills and amendments considered. And, by a unanimous voice vote said it would move these next to the full Senate floor. Senator John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology & The Internet, spoke the most about the COAT bill which was a substitute measure and referred to as a "Committee Amendment."  This new version of S. 3304 incorporated some amendments made by Senators Cantwell (D-WA), Pryor (D-AR) and Ensign (R-NM). 

Senator Kerry remarked on the importance of the bill this year of the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), stating "we must not leave people with disabilities behind in the digital age" adding that "the goals of S. 3304 are consistent with the ADA."  He also summarized the statements made by two COAT witnesses at the May 26 Senate hearing, i.e., by Russell Harvard, a deaf actor, and Sgt. Major Jesse Acosta, on the need for the legislation, citing to Internet captioning and accessibility of cell phones. He also stated that "the market won't do these things of its own volition, so that's why we have this."  He commented that USTelecom, CTIA, and Verizon had provided some letters of support and that he would put these into the record.(Verizon and US Telecom statements attached below).

Senator John Ensign, the Ranking Member of the subcommittee said that "S.3304 goes a long way to ensuring accessibility," and told Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman of the committe, how much he appreciated the changes he asked for were now included. He also said he "would like to generate more bi-partisan consensus on S.3304 so they can send it to the floor and to the President this year." Read Sen. John Ensign's Press Statement (also attached below).

Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR), who introduced S. 3304 commented. He said that the ADA and what was in the '96 Telecom Act "were huge but they didn't allow access for people with disabilities the way they should."

Advocates were pleased to hear Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), Ranking Member of the full committe move that "all bills on the table today are adopted," as this included S. 3304, albeit with some unwelcome modifications. The Senators present then voted unanimously by voice vote. Senators present and voting were: (Democrats) Rockefeller (WV), Kerry (MA), Dorgan (ND), Boxer (CA), Nelson (FL), Cantwell (WA), Pryor (AR), Warner (VA); (Republicans) Hutchison (TX), Snowe (ME), Ensign (NV), Thune (SD), LeMieux (FL), Wicker (MS), Vitter (LA).

The Senate hearing room, Russell 253, was jam-packed as the Committee also voted on two other bills (a Maritime Administration Act and a NASA reauthorization act) that Senators spent some time talking about. Representatives from COAT affiliates AADB, AAPD, AFB, and NAD attended. Also present were representatives from AT&T, IBM, Panasonic, Verizon, and some trade associations. FCC staff from CGB, DRO and MB were also in attendance. The event included sign language interpreters and the live Internet streaming was captioned and archived on the Committee website.

Senator Ensign's amendment deleted a compliance requirement in an earlier version of S. 3304 to look at accessibililty in light of the overall resources of the company.  Copy of Senator Ensign's statement is attached below. Note that the statement includes a quote from Kyle Sparrow, CEO of NCTA, a trade association who represents cable TV operators serving more than 90 percent of the nation’s cable television households, more than 200 cable program networks, in addition to digital telephone service to millions of American consumers.