HR 1335 Introduced – Communications Cybersecurity

Last week Rep. Clarke (D,NY) introduced HR 1335, the Cybersecurity Responsibility Act of 2017. The bill would require the FCC to issue rules providing cybersecurity requirements for communications networks.

Communications Security

Section 2 of the bill would require the FCC to “issue rules to secure communications networks through managing, assessing, and prioritizing cyber risks and actions to reduce such risks” {§2(a)}. It also requires that those rules would establish that communications networks would be considered critical infrastructure and that information submitted to the FCC and DHS about such networks would be protected as Critical Infrastructure Information.

The key term in this bill is ‘communication network’. The bill provides a broadly inclusive definition: “a network for the provision of wireline or mobile telephone service, Internet access service, radio or television broad casting, cable service, direct broadcast satellite service, or any other communications service” {§2(c)}.

Moving Forward

Clarke is a fairly senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to which the bill was assigned for consideration. This means that she may have the influence necessary to have the bill be considered in Committee.

Since the bill, however, provides relatively broad regulatory powers to the FCC there will be a great deal of push back from industry. This means that there would be substantial Republican opposition to this bill. It is unlikely that there would be much support for moving this bill forward.

Commentary

The ‘any other communications service’ provisions of the communication network definition could provide FCC authority to regulate the communications networks associated with physically distributed control systems like SCADA networks. Initially, it would be unlikely that the FCC would exercise that sort of authority; developing regulations for more traditional communications networks would take up a great deal of time for the FCC.

Bills Introduced – 03-02-17

With both the House and Senate preparing to leave for a long weekend there were 120 bills introduced yesterday. Of those six may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 1301 Making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes. Rep. Frelinghuysen, Rodney P. [R-NJ-11]

HR 1309 To streamline the office and term of the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, and for other purposes. Rep. Katko, John [R-NY-24]

HR 1324 To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for the establishment of cybersecurity standards for certain radio frequency equipment. Rep. McNerney, Jerry [D-CA-9]

HR 1335 To direct the Federal Communications Commission to issue rules to secure communications networks against cyber risks, and for other purposes. Rep. Clarke, Yvette D. [D-NY-9]

HR 1344 To provide grants to assist States in developing and implementing plans to address cybersecurity threats or vulnerabilities, and for other purposes. Rep. Kilmer, Derek [D-WA-6]

S 516 A bill to provide grants to assist States in developing and implementing plans to address cybersecurity threats or vulnerabilities, and for other purposes. Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA]

Readers may remember that late last session Congress passed HR 2028 that provided temporary spending authority for FY 2017 until April 28^th. It looks like HR 1301 may be the first in a series of bills extending that spending authority until the end of this fiscal year. I had kind of expected an omnibus spending bill and we still may see one for a number of the agencies with only a limited number of department specific bills such as this one.

I will only be covering HR 1309 if it contains specific provisions related to the surface transportation of hazardous chemicals.

It is interesting to see two bills addressing cybersecurity in communications. It is unclear how much of an overlap there will be with HR 1324 and HR 1335.

I would suspect that HR 1344 and S 516 are companion bills; identical bills that provide for parallel processing in both houses of congress to speed up the deliberative process. I suspect that these bills will extend grant eligibility but not expand the amount of grant moneys available.