11/26. The House Republican leadership announced that the House will again vote on HR 6429 [LOC | WW | PDF], the "STEM Jobs Act of 2012". See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

The House Rules Committee (HRC) will meet on Wednesday, November 28 at 3:00 PM to adopt a rule for consideration of this bill. See, notice. The House may then consider this bill on Thursday or Friday.

The House rejected a very similar version of the bill on September 20, 2012. See, story titled "House Rejects STEM Visas Bill in Suspension Vote" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,452, September 20, 2012.

The vote was 237-180. Republicans voted 227-5. Democrats voted 30-153. See, Roll Call No. 590. The House considered that bill under suspension of the rules, which meant that a two thirds majority was required for passage. That bill won a simple majority, but not a two thirds majority, and hence, failed to pass.

The just announced vote will be subject to a rule that requires only a simple majority.

This bill, a modified version of the bill rejected on September 20, would create a new program that would provide up to 55,000 visas per year to aliens with Ph.D.s, and then Masters degrees, in math, science, engineering or technology (STEM) fields.

It would also eliminate a comparably sized diversity lottery visa program which is supported by many Democrats.

See also, stories titled "House to Consider STEM Visa Bill" and "Rep. Lofgren Introduces Alternative STEM Visa Bill" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,448, September 14, 2012, and "STEM Visa Bills Update" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,451, September 19, 2012.

11/26. David Kappos, head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), announced in an email to USPTO employees that he will leave the USPTO in January.

President Obama has not yet nominated or announced the next USPTO head. Teresa Rae is the Deputy Director.

Kappos (at left) presided at the USPTO when the House, Senate and Obama administration completed negotiations over the language of patent reform legislation. HR 1249 [LOC | WW], the "Leahy-Smith America Invents Act", was signed into law in September of 2011. He then presided over implementation of the Act, including numerous rule making proceedings required by the Act.

Before his appointment to the USPTO in 2009, Kappos worked at IBM for 25 years.

Rea (at right) joined the USPTO in 2011. Before that, she practiced law at the firm of Crowell & Moring. Her background is in biotech and pharmaceuticals.

Kappos is a rarity among senior government officials. He will leave office without any major outstanding allegations of exceeding statutory authority, disregarding statutory mandates, wasting taxpayers' money, mismanagement, or partisan favoritism.

11/26. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in a release that Mary Schapiro, Chairman of the SEC since 2009, will "step down" on December 14, 2012.

The White House news office announced in a release that President Obama "intends to designate" Elisse Walter, who is currently another SEC Commissioner, as Chairman when Schapiro departs.

Walter (at right) is a lawyer and career regulator.

Former President Bush appointed her to the five member SEC in 2008 for one of the Democratic positions. Before that, she worked for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, aka FINRA, and its predecessor, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Before that, starting in 1994, she worked at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). And before that, starting in 1977, she worked at the SEC.

Walter was briefly Chairman of the SEC during the transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration.

11/27. President Obama nominated Nitza Alejandro to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court (EDPenn). See, White House news office release. She has been a state court judge since 1991.

11/27. President Obama nominated Luis Restrepo to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court (EDPenn). See, White House news office release. He has been as U.S. Magistrate Judge since 2006.

11/27. President Obama nominated Jeffrey Schmehl to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court (EDPenn). See, White House news office release. He has been a state court judge since 2008.

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The House will meet at 2:00 PM. It will consider several non-technology related items under suspension of the rules. Votes will be postponed until 6:30  PM.

The Senate will meet at 10:00 AM.

11:30 AM. Outgoing Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX) and outgoing Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) will hold a news conference on immigration policy. Location: Senate Radio TV Gallery.

12:30 PM. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee will hold a closed meeting. Location: Room S-207, Capitol Building.

12:30 PM. The Senate Republican Policy Committee will hold a closed meeting. Location: Room S-211, Capitol Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed hearing. See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for legislative business. The schedule for the week again includes consideration of HR 6429 [LOC | WW | PDF], the "STEM Jobs Act of 2012". See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

11:30 AM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Music Licensing Part One: Legislation in the 112th Congress". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON to 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 216, November 7, 2012, at Page 66873. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1235, Arlington, VA.

3:00 PM. The House Rules Committee (HRC) will meet to adopt a rule for consideration of HR 6429 [LOC | WW | PDF], the "STEM Jobs Act of 2012". See, notice. Location: Room H-313, Capitol Building.

3:30 - 5:00 PM. Reed Hundt (REH Advisors, and Intel Director) and David Goldberg will speak regarding the challenge brought by Verizon and others to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) rules that regulate the practices of broadband internet access service (BIAS) providers pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir). See, Goldberg's amicus curiae brief, and notice of event. This is App. Ct. Nos. 11-1355, 11-1356, 11-1403 and 11-1404. Location: Room HVC-215, Capitol Visitor Center.

6:00 PM. The New America Foundation (NAF) will host a dinner titled "Who Should Govern the Internet?". The speaker will be Jonathan Koppell (Arizona State University). Location: Smith & Wollensky, 1112 19th St., NW.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) Engineering and Technical Committee and Young Lawyers Committee will host an event titled "Covering the Spectrum: An Essential Primer for Lawyers". CLE credits. Prices vary. See, notice. Location: undisclosed.

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour, and at 12:00 NOON for legislative business. The schedule for the week again includes consideration of HR 6429 [LOC | WW | PDF], the "STEM Jobs Act of 2012". See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

8:30 AM - 2:30 PM. Day two of a two day meeting of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Advisory Committee for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 216, November 7, 2012, at Page 66873. Location: NSF, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1235, Arlington, VA.

9:00 AM - 12:00 NOON. The New America Foundation (NAF) will host an event titled "Who Should Govern the Internet?". The speakers will be Jonathan Koppell (Arizona State University), Andrew McLaughlin (betaworks), Ellery Biddle (Center for Democracy and Technology), Milton Mueller (Syracuse University School of Information Studies), Sascha Meinrath (NAF), Sunil Abraham (Centre for Internet and Society), Jim Cicconi (AT&T), David Post (Temple University law school), Derrick Cogburn (American University law school), Rebecca MacKinnon (NAF), and Christine Rosen (NAF). See, notice. Location: Smith & Wollensky, 1112 19th St., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing titled "The Role of Receivers in a Spectrum Scarce World". The witnesses will be Brian Markwalter (Consumer Electronics Association), Ron Repasi (FCC), and Pierre de Vries. See, notice. Location: Room 2322, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (HOGRC) will hold a hearing titled "Identity Theft and Tax Fraud: Growing Problems for the Internal Revenue Service". See, notice. Location: Room 2247, Rayburn Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda includes consideration of HR 2471 [LOC | WW], an untitled bill to amend the "Video Privacy Protection Act" or VPPA. The House passed this bill on December 6, 2011. See, story titled "Senate Judiciary Committee to Take Up Tech Bills and Baer Nomination" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,445, September 11, 2012. The agenda also includes consideration of the nominations of Katherine Failla (USDC/SDNY), Troy Nunley (USDC/EDCal), Sheri Chappell (USDC/MDFl), Pamela Ki Mai Chen (USDC/EDNY), and Mark Barnett (U.S. Court of International Trade). See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

2:00 PM. The House Foreign Affairs Committee (HRAC) will meet to mark up HR 1798 [LOC | WW] the "Judgment Evading Foreign States Accountability Act of 2011". See, notice. Location: Room 2172, Rayburn Building.

2:00 PM. The House Financial Services Committee's (HFSC) Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Technology will hold a hearing titled "The Future of Money: Dollars and Sense". See, notice. Location: Room 2220, Rayburn Building.

2:30 PM. The Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) will hold a closed hearing. See, notice. Location: Room 219, Hart Building.

Deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Public Notice (PN) [MS Word] regarding access technology and enhanced database operations for video relay service (VRS). The FCC released this PN on October 15, 2012. It is DA 12-1644 in CG Docket Nos. 03-123 and 10-51. See also, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 209, October 29, 2012, at Pages 65526-65530.

The House may meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business. See, Rep. Cantor's schedule for the week.

TIME? The Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will hold another in a series of meetings regarding consumer data privacy in the context of mobile applications. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 149, Thursday, August 2, 2012, Pages 46067-46068. See also, NTIA web page titled "Privacy Multistakeholder Process: Mobile Application Transparency". Location?

10:30 AM. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an event titled "open meeting". The only item on the agenda is adoption of a Fifth Order on Reconsideration and Sixth Report and Order regarding approval of pending FM translator radio applications and implementation of the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA). Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room, Room TW-C305, 445 12th St., NW.

12:30 - 1:30 PM. The Heritage Foundation (HF) will host a panel discussion titled "Filibuster Reform or Power Grab: A Discussion of the Senate's Rules". See, notice. Location: HF, 214 Massachusetts Ave., NE.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft SP 800-88 Rev. 1 [57 pages in PDF] titled "Guidelines to Media Sanitization".

Extended deadline to submit reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [59 pages in PDF] regarding the 4940-4990 MHz (4.9 GHz) public safety band. The FCC adopted and released this FNPRM on June 13, 2012. It is FCC 12-61 in WP Docket No. 07-100, PS Docket No. 06-229, WT Docket No. 06-150. See, original notice in the Federal Register (FR), Vol. 77, No. 148, August 1, 2012, at Pages 45558-45571, and August 3 Public Notice (DA 12-1268). See also, extension notice in the FR, Vol. 77, No. 199, October 15, 2012, at Pages 62480-62481.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [146 pages in PDF] regarding its program access rules. The FCC adopted and released this item on October 5, 2012. It is FCC 12-123 in MB Docket No. 12-68. See, notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 211, October 31, 2012, at Pages 66052-66065, and stories titled "FCC Lets Expire Its Per Se Ban on Exclusive Program Distribution Contracts", "FCC Adopts Report and Order on Program Access Rules", "FCC Adopts NPRM on Case by Case Analysis of Exclusive Contracts", and "Reaction to FCC's Program Access Order" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 2,460, October 6, 2012.

Deadline to submit to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) oppositions to the petitions for reconsideration of its First Report and Order [67 pages in PDF] regarding spectrum for the operation of Medical Body Area Networks (MBAN). This R&O is FCC 12-54 in ET Docket No. 08-59. See, petition and petition. See also, FCC Public Notice, and notice in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 222, November 16, 2012, at Pages 68721-68722.

12:00 NOON - 1:15 PM. The George Mason University's (GMU) School of Public Policy will host book presentation. Robert Atkinson (Information Technology and Innovation Foundation) will discuss his recently published book [Amazon] titled "Innovation Economics: the Race for Global Advantage". Location: GMU, Room 475, Founders Hall, 3351 Fairfax Drive, Fairfax, VA.

6:00 - 8:15 PM. The Federal Communications Bar Association's (FCBA) International Committee and Wireless Telecommunications Committee will host an event titled "Holiday Program and Networking Reception". No CLE credits. Prices vary. See, notice. Location: House of Sweden, 2900 K St., NW.