With the re-election of President Obama, a net one seat pick-up for Senate Democrats, and with Republicans maintaining control of the House, we can expect to see some of the same IT issues emerge during the lame duck and the 2013 legislative session that we saw in the last Congress.
First, the issue of cybersecurity reform emerged as a post election lame duck issue. There is a distinct possibility that the White House may issue an Executive Order on Cybersecurity that would mandate owners and operators of critical infrastructures to share their information about cyber threats and attacks with the Department of Homeland Security. If such an order is issued it is not clear that would entirely circumvent a legislative approach. In fact, in the Senate, Majority Leader Reid’s office stated the day after the election that he would renew efforts to push for cybersecurity reform with perhaps the reintroduction of the Senator Lieberman cybersecurity bill. In the event that it were to be brought up for consideration, the Democrats do not appear to have the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster, and so it seems unlikely that cyber legislation will pass during the lame duck session.
Second, earlier this year the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which serves as the President’s advisor on IT public policy issues, initiated a series of meetings focused on developing a set of enforceable mobile privacy rules of conduct for the mobile app industry. (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/other-publication/2012/privacy-multistakeholder-process-mobile-application-transparency). These efforts will continue into 2013 with the goal of launching a new regime for mobile privacy rules of conduct.
Third, during the month of July, 2012, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) issued a report on “Realizing the Full Potential of Government-Held Spectrum to Spur Economic Growth.”
The report cited the burgeoning demand for additional spectrum and the need for streamlining regulations for freeing it up. Consequently, we should expect the Federal Communications Commission to move more aggressively toward expanding the availability of unlicensed spectrum and efforts to explore new models for sharing federal spectrum.
Finally, in the House of Representatives, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade in the 112th Congress, Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), lost her reelection bid. Similarly, Congressman Dan Lungren (R-CA) who has been very active on cybersecurity matters, has not yet conceded in his re-election bid. It appears likely that Congressman Goodlatte (R-VA) will become the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman Goodlatte is a tech savvy legislator and this could have impact on issues like privacy. In addition, Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Subcommittee Chairman of the Oversight and Investigations lost his reelection bid. Therefore, there will be some shuffling around on the leadership of the various Energy and Commerce Subcommittees.
In the Senate, it is expected that Senator James DeMint (R-SC) will become Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Senator DeMint has a “free-market” de-regulatory perspective to technology policy which is likely to provoke interesting debates as the Committee proceeds with its work under the continued leadership of Chairman Rockefeller (D-WV).
The 2013 legislative session should not yield any seismic policy shifts in IT as compared to the 2012 legislative sessions, but the influx of new faces on committees of relevance could spur a great deal of activity in these defined areas of debate. The traditional partisan divides will continue to be evident on these issues.
