House Judiciary chairman announces GOP subcommittee assignments

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) on Wednesday announced the GOP members assigned to head up the committee's five subpanels this Congress.

Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) will chair the influential subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, which has weighed hot-button copyright and patent issues. The subpanel, which was formerly chaired by Goodlatte, will be a key one to watch as the battle over modifying royalty rules for Internet radio stations continues this year. Coble's vice chairman on the IP subcommittee will be Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.).

Goodlatte told reporters this week that the committee plans to hold multiple hearings on the music royalty issue in 2013. Pandora is currently pushing for a bill by Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) that would put Internet radio services on the same royalty-setting standard as cable and satellite radio stations, which it believes could lower the royalty fees it pays to stream songs on its service. Representatives for the recording industry claim the bill is a money grab by Pandora and will undercut the royalties paid to recording artists and musicians. 

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) will chair the subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, which is expected to be in the spotlight in the coming months after President Obama made clear his plans to make a strong push for passing comprehensive immigration reform this year. A part of that push will likely include a measure aimed at boosting the number of visas available to foreign-born engineers and recent graduates from U.S. universities with advanced degrees in math, science and engineering. The issue is a key policy agenda item for major tech companies, such as Microsoft and Intel.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) will serve as the vice chairman on the Immigration subpanel.

In addition, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) will chair the Antitrust subpanel, which has examined previous telecom mergers like the failed AT&T/T-Mobile wireless deal, while former Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) will head up the Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations subcommittee. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) will chair the Constitution and Civil Justice subpanel.

"I look forward to working with these members to make America more competitive and free and to exercise aggressive oversight over the executive branch,” Goodlatte said in a statement.

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