Texas and Indiana legislators advanced sweeping privacy bills. The Texas House voted 146-0 Wednesday for HB-4, a priority bill for House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) that got industry praise for being compatible with Virginia and Connecticut laws (see 2303130045). After a similarly unanimous vote to pass the bill on second reading Tuesday, Phelan tweeted that the bill by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R) “will crack down on companies profiting from personal info & grant Texans new data privacy rights.” On Wednesday, the Indiana House Judiciary Committee voted 12-0 to advance to the floor SB-5 with an amendment requiring the attorney general office to post best practices on its website. The committee revised the amendment to remove “at least annually” from a line requiring data protection impact assessments by controllers. Majority Floor Leader Matt Lehman (R), the bill’s House sponsor, said he wants to establish a commission that can recommend legislative changes after the bill becomes law. It’s not currently in the bill, but Lehman said a letter on that subject will be circulated to the leadership. The Senate passed SB-5 in February but would have to vote again to concur with House changes. Indiana’s opt-out privacy bill is based on Virginia’s law (see 2301260044). Florida, Oregon and Tennessee privacy bills also moved forward this week (see 2304040042).
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
Alaska officials are making arrangements for the state USF’s expected demise June 30. “There is still a lot of preparation and research to be completed,” said Alaska Universal Service Administrative Co. (AUSAC) Agent Keegan Bernier at a Regulatory Commission of Alaska meeting livestreamed Wednesday. The RCA seeks written comments by May 5 on proposed regulatory revisions related to AUSF, said Chair Keith Kurber.
Businesses said privacy protections are too limited in a comprehensive Florida bill approved by a Senate panel Tuesday. The Senate Commerce Committee voted 9-0 for SB-262, a third attempt in three years by Sen. Jennifer Bradley (R) to pass a privacy bill. "We'll continue to work on it,” the state senator said at the webcast hearing.
T-Mobile appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a district court refused to stop California from switching to a connections-based method for state USF contribution. The carrier notified the U.S. District Court for Northern California about the appeal Monday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler late Friday denied the motion of T-Mobile and its subsidiaries for a preliminary injunction that sought to block the California Public Utilities Commission's change to a $1.11 monthly per-line fee from the previous revenue-based mechanism. "The new rule is different from the FCC rule, but the plaintiffs did not establish that it is inconsistent and preempted,” said Beeler's order in case 3:23-cv-00483. The CPUC order took effect Saturday." The CPUC didn’t comment on T-Mobile’s appeal. The carrier didn’t comment on the court decision.
New Jersey prorating rules are allowed under the federal Cable Act, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Monday. No justices opposed the opinion by Justice Douglas Fasciale to reinstate the state Board of Public Utilities’ 2019 cease-and-desist order against Altice for failing to prorate canceled bills. "The regulation does not set the ‘rate’ that companies can charge,” wrote Fasciale. “It simply protects cable users from paying for service they no longer want.” Also, the court found that Altice never sought or received a BPU waiver from the prorating requirement. The court remanded the case to the appellate court to resolve Altice's argument the board failed to follow proper procedures in its enforcement action. The BPU and Division of Rate Counsel had appealed a 2021 state Appellate Division decision that the federal Cable Act preempts the state prorating rule. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Justices Anne Patterson, Fabiana Pierre-Louis and Rachel Wainer Apter joined Fasciale’s opinion. Justice Lee Solomon and temporarily assigned Judge Jack Sabatino recused themselves from the case. "This is a win for New Jersey's ratepayers who will no longer be forced to pay for cable service they do not want or need," said Rate Counsel Director Brian Lipman. Altice and the BPU didn’t comment.
Iowa will be the sixth state with a comprehensive privacy law. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed SF-262 Tuesday. Privacy lawyers said it’s one of the most business-friendly statutes yet. Consumer Reports policy analyst Matt Schwartz “wouldn’t say it’s necessarily great news for consumers,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission softened a staff-recommended proposal to require carriers to notify other telecom companies about outages, after receiving AT&T opposition. At a livestreamed meeting Tuesday, OCC members voted 3-0 to approve a package of changes to state telecom rules in docket 2023-000005. Commissioners also agreed in the same matter to adjust directory rules and ban door-to-door Lifeline enrollment. The OCC also voted 3-0 for changes to state USF process rules (docket 2023-000005). All three commissioners opposed an alternative option to automatically approve staff-recommended changes to the contribution factor if the commission doesn’t issue an order within 31 days. AT&T Director-External Affairs Jason Constable said the outage reporting proposal was "extremely onerous and burdensome" and "technically infeasible." The commission instead should require carriers to provide, upon request, 24-hour contact information for discussing possible service outages, he said. Commissioners supported the contact-information approach with a plan to return to the item later. Contact information isn’t enough, said Bill Bullard, attorney for Consolidated Communications and other rural LECs. Bullard supported OCC staff’s original plan. "This is an ongoing problem that has gotten worse over the years." AT&T’s proposed requirement is already a standard part of the carrier’s contracts with CLECs, said Bullard. Commissioners also agreed with AT&T’s suggested change to a proposed rule requiring white pages directories only to areas where at least one person has requested a directory. Chairman Todd Hiett and Commissioner Bob Anthony supported Constable’s suggestion to increase that threshold to at least 10 requests, and to require publication every 18 months. CTIA warned last month that USF changes recommended by OCC staff to streamline the process could exacerbate the fund’s uncontrolled growth (see 2302270054).
Another state bill to require age verification and parental consent for social media advanced Tuesday. The Arkansas Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee unanimously voted by voice for SB-396 at a livestreamed hearing. Utah enacted a similar law last week (see 2303240035) and other states are advancing similar measures. The Arkansas proposal, which would apply only to new accounts and require kids under 18 to get parental consent to set up profiles on platforms that have at least $100 million in annual revenue, is “a reasonable solution to a serious problem,” said sponsor Sen. Tyler Dees (R). Some state senators asked about the proposal’s logistics, including how to prevent kids from faking their age and how to confirm the adult giving consent is a parent with that authority. NetChoice lobbyist Dustin Brighton urged the committee to reject the measure. "This isn't a parents' rights bill" but rather a "government knows better bill,” he said. Parents can handle this without government intervention, he said. NetChoice has concerns with the bill including a private right of action, Brighton added. Committee Vice Chair Reginald Murdock (D) and Sen. Mark Johnson (R) noted not all parents may be capable of regulating their kids’ social media usage, even though they should be. Sen. Justin Boyd (R) said in certain cases, as with smoking and movie ratings, “maybe the government does know better.”
"We have not ruled out any options” to respond to two Utah social media bills signed Thursday by Gov. Spencer Cox (R), said Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) State Director Khara Boender Friday. Cox signed SB-152 which starting March 1 will require a social media company to verify age and require parental consent for any Utah resident under 18 seeking to open an account. He also signed HB-311, which will require parental consent for users under 18 and prohibit social media platforms “from using a design or feature that the company knows causes a minor to have an addiction to a social media platform.” Starting March 1, the state could penalize social platforms $250,000 for “for each practice, design, or feature shown to have caused addiction,” and up to $2,500 per minor exposed to the addictive feature. Parents could sue companies directly for financial, physical or emotional harms in certain circumstances. Utah created a website on the social media rules and Cox tweeted, “We’re no longer willing to let social media companies continue to harm the mental health of our youth.” Tech groups CCIA and NetChoice sued other states for social media laws. "CCIA is concerned whenever lawmakers enact measures that would result in additional privacy issues or a loss of beneficial information and services,” Boender said. “It is unfortunate that bills intended to restrict access for younger users may impact those who rely on creative outlets and support communities online, but not available in their physical location.” NetChoice said the bills are unconstitutional and will require businesses to collect more sensitive personal data to verify age. Also Thursday, Cox signed a public safety bill (SB-212), including a provision allowing agencies to create a public safety answering point to provide 911 service to noncontiguous areas (see 2302160026).
A Senate panel advanced a bill to end a 2005 state ban on municipal broadband. The Senate Local Government Committee voted 5-0 Thursday to send SB-183 to the floor, at a webcast hearing. Colorado’s broadband office and local governments supported the measure. SB-183 would repeal many parts of the state ban known as SB-152, which could inhibit the state from spending federal money if they remained, said sponsor Sen. Kevin Priola (R). The bill will help Colorado achieve 99% broadband access by 2027, he said. Even those who supported the 2015 law support SB-183, said another sponsor, Sen. Mark Baisley (R). Local ballot votes to opt out of SB-152 are often successful but costly, said Colorado Municipal League legislative advocate Jaclyn Terwey, supporting the bill. Fears that local governments would compete with ISPs haven’t come to pass, said attorney Ken Fellman, representing the Colorado Communications & Utility Alliance. Local governments want to help the private sector with broadband costs through partnerships, he said. Unless passed, counties and municipalities that haven't opted out could be ineligible for federal funding, said Colorado Broadband Office Executive Director Brandy Reitter. The bill includes some protections to avoid unfair competition, said Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association Executive Director Jeff Weist. He said the industry group is officially neutral on the bill.