The House Commerce Health Subcommittee plans a hearing May 1 on telehealth, said a committee announcement (http://1.usa.gov/1f8gzoo). “Advances in technology present tremendous opportunities to improve the access to and quality of health care in areas all across the country,” said Chairman Joe Pitts, R-Pa. The hearing will examine “How can technology help patients, particularly in rural communities, gain access to doctors or specialists?” Pitts said. Witnesses haven’t been announced. The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wants “to take the opportunity to clear up some continued misperceptions” on the canceled Critical Information Needs (CIN) study, he told every Senate Republican in a letter released Friday (http://bit.ly/1rrLewY). Republicans in both the Senate and House had slammed the study, which was canceled after their criticism that it violated U.S. free speech principles by interfering with newsrooms (CD March 3 p1). Wheeler doesn’t intend to reestablish the fairness doctrine or interfere with the First Amendment in any way, he said. Wheeler said he had his own concerns when he heard details of the proposed CIN study. The final spending on the study is still being determined, but there was never more than $500,000 allocated for the first phase, he added. The FCC still plans to fulfill its Communications Act Section 257 obligations but in the “proper manner,” with public input welcomed, Wheeler said.

Lawmakers in both parties object to what they are hearing about the FCC’s proposal for net neutrality rules that would allow for so-called Internet fast lanes, following initial outrage Thursday (CD April 25 p7). Democrats, who typically back net neutrality rules, have torn into the proposal as too weak and possibly endangering the open Internet. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., slammed the proposed rules, saying they “raise serious concerns that the Internet might soon lose the core of what it is -- an open space for innovation, entrepreneurship, connection and communication.” Pelosi urged people to contact the FCC to demand strong net neutrality rules. “We must not allow broadband providers to relegate competing ideas, products, and services to slow, congested speeds,” Pelosi said. House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., talked with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Thursday “and he assured me that he is committed to ensuring an open internet and banning any arrangements that hinder innovation and competition or impinge on consumer choice,” said Waxman, often a strong net neutrality proponent, in a statement. “These are the right goals, and I want to work with him to make sure they are achieved in the final rule.” Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., pointed to “serious concerns” he has about the FCC proposals and said the FCC has a responsibility “to adopt strong regulations to protect the open Internet.” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., tweeted on the issue: “Monopolist interests cannot be allowed to pick winners & losers on what must be a level playing field.” Republicans have typically objected to any reinstated net neutrality rules and slammed this proposal accordingly. House Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sent a letter to the FCC Thursday (http://1.usa.gov/1ilcyaA). “Before the Administration takes any reckless steps that could jeopardize the explosive growth and innovation of the Internet, it is important the FCC is able to explain the potential costs and its impact on jobs to the American people,” Blackburn said. “That is why I am calling on Chairman Wheeler to follow Executive Order 13563 initiated by President Obama and conduct a cost benefit analysis before any rule goes into effect."

The Consumer Electronics Association will financially back the Log Cabin Republicans, it said in a news release Monday. “Our visible announcement proves that trade associations want lawmakers and policies that recognize the economic value of hiring the best and brightest minds, regardless of sexual orientation,” CEO Gary Shapiro said in a statement (http://bit.ly/RFXzDn), calling the support “groundbreaking.” CEA said it’s the first tech group to financially support the Log Cabin Republicans, which counts as members “gay conservatives and allies who support fairness, freedom, and equality for all Americans."

Spending on Capitol Hill lobbying is on the rise, based on Q1 disclosure forms submitted Monday. The deadline for Q1 filings was Monday, and several companies and trade associations had not filed by our deadline. AT&T did spend less, however: $3.67 million in Q1, down from the $4.26 million it spent in 2013’s Q1. Sprint noted spending of $784,707, a jump from the $666,558 it spent in the same time period last year. Cox Enterprises spent far more this Q1 compared with last year’s -- $910,000 compared with $790,000, lobbying heavily on media issues such as retransmission consent, media ownership and unlicensed spectrum. Clear Channel Communications spent $1.21 million, slightly up from the $1.17 million it spent during the same period last year. It lobbied on patent overhaul as well as FCC structure and oversight issues and video concerns like broadcast indecency enforcement. Harris Corp. spent $786,436, also up slightly from the $768,570 it spent during that quarter in 2013. Harris focused on the IP transition and the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers spent $289,639 in Q1, up from last year’s $255,763, and lobbied against changes to retransmission consent rules. Writers Guild of America-West spent $120,000, up by $20,000 from what it spent this time last year. It focused on satellite reauthorization, net neutrality, the FCC’s spectrum auction, retransmission consent and the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger. Qualcomm paid Covington & Burling $690,000 for Q1 lobbying on patent overhaul and communications issues generally, although its own filing -- which in the past involves quarterly spending upwards of a million -- was not submitted by our deadline. In 2013’s Q1, Qualcomm paid Covington & Burling $300,000.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., backs MGW Network’s application for $4.6 million in funding from the FCC’s rural broadband experiments initiative pegged to the Connect America Fund. He sent FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler a letter dated March 12, released Friday (http://bit.ly/1kJystp), saying that and calling MGW a “third-generation, family-owned telecommunications company” that hopes to provide broadband service to some Virginia residents for the first time. He wrote a separate letter (http://bit.ly/1lf8bWt) backing the BARC Electric Cooperative, serving Bath, Alleghany and Rockbridge counties in Virginia, and its plan to deploy fiber-to-the-premises.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., that he plans to end quantile regression analysis in determining high-cost USF support, as he’s previously told Congress. “I directed the Wireline Competition Bureau to prepare an Order for the Commission’s consideration that would eliminate the WRA,” Wheeler said in an April 11 letter, released Friday (http://bit.ly/1mkg5v2). “That Order, which will also address SNA [safety net additive] support, is now on circulation for my colleagues’ consideration at our April 2014 open agenda meeting.” Landrieu worried that the November 2011 USF order, which instituted quantile regression analysis, contained rules that “may hamper investment” in Louisiana, as she wrote in a Feb. 25 letter to Wheeler.

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., is worried about smartphone theft. Franken, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Privacy Subcommittee, wrote FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler about his concerns in a Jan. 21 letter, which Wheeler answered April 11, released Friday (http://bit.ly/QtDEX5). Franken said there’s no “silver bullet” fix to the problem, suggesting strengthening a stolen-phones database. Franken has contacted CTIA about the use of kill-switch technology and the Justice Department about enforcement actions, he said. Wheeler agreed with Franken that the issue is “a global concern” and laid out the agency’s recent steps to address the problem and the state of the stolen-phones database.

Congress has a role in deciding whether to ban in-flight cellphone conversations, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told several lawmakers in an April 8 letter, released Friday (http://bit.ly/1i2V96m). He responded to a letter from several House members in December protesting the FCC’s announcement that it would examine whether in-flight cellphone conversation should be banned, looking at the issue from a technical perspective. Wheeler cited the legislation in the House and Senate that would ban such conversation. “The Commission is ready to offer technical assistance on these bills or any similar legislation,” Wheeler said. The FCC welcomes comment from all engaged stakeholders on this issue, Wheeler stressed.

Another flurry of Capitol Hill lobbying disclosure forms hit Friday ahead of the Monday filing deadline for the 2014 Q1 period. CenturyLink spent $1.01 million in this latest quarter, up from $920,000 in the same quarter last year. The telco lobbied regarding everything from FirstNet implementation to retransmission consent to telecom federal procurement rules. Charter Communications also spent more -- $720,000 in this Q1 compared with $650,000 in 2013’s Q1. The MPAA spent $330,000, drastically down from the $730,000 it spent lobbying over the same time last year. Motorola Solutions spent $540,000 lobbying, its priorities including FirstNet oversight meetings and patent litigation revamp. That spending is down from the $640,000 Motorola Solutions dropped in the same quarter last year. Sinclair spent $55,000 in this Q1. Bloomberg lobbied Congress on the enforcement of the merger conditions between Comcast and NBCUniversal and spent $100,000, down from the $140,000 it spent in 2013’s first quarter. Consumers Union lobbying spending went up from last year, $70,000 in this Q1 compared with $60,000 in last year’s. It lobbied on several telecom and media issues, from cramming to robocalls to in-flight cellphone use. Consumers Union also lobbied on the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger, which it opposes. Virtually all media stakeholders cited Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization among their lobbying priorities. The lion’s share of filings cites measures involving any overhaul of the FCC and the Communications Act.