Adam Bender

The Utility Reform Network urged Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to veto a broadband bill to update the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grant review process. The legislature last month passed AB-2749, which would set a 180-day shot clock for the California Public Utilities Commission to decide CASF applications. TURN Executive Director Mark Toney told us he sent a letter Wednesday seeking Newsom's veto and a coalition of opponents including TURN plans to send a separate veto request later this week. Groups including American Civil Liberties Union, Public Knowledge, Center for Accessible Technology and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance joined an earlier coalition letter asking legislators not to pass the bill. Toney is verifying that they all will join the veto letter but hasn’t heard any group has changed its position, he said. USTelecom earlier urged Newsom to sign AB-2749; previous bill opponents Electronic Frontier Foundation and Rural County Representatives of California became neutral on the bill before it passed (see 2208290020). AB-2749 “is unnecessary, adopts a broken ‘shot clock’ detrimental to underserved communities, and undermines a recent CPUC decision,” Toney wrote in the TURN letter: The shot clock “could lead to either rushed or incomplete reviews of applications.” When the CPUC made program rules, the agency rejected AT&T’s call for a shot clock, Toney told us: Giving the carrier a “second bite at the apple” would be a “real abomination of the process.” Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign, the TURN official said. AT&T didn’t comment.

The broadband industry will shift attention to passing a national privacy law, after dropping a lawsuit against Maine, said telecom and cable associations Tuesday. Plaintiffs USTelecom, NCTA, CTIA and ACA Connects decided not to continue a nearly 2-year-old challenge of the state’s ISP privacy law. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) said the state law’s survival is important for protecting consumers. The case’s end should encourage more states to act, said consumer privacy advocates in interviews.

DENVER -- Give states enough time with maps to plan broadband spending under the federal infrastructure act, said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) at the NATOA conference Wednesday. Weiser also supported removing barriers to muni broadband and accessing the right of way.

DENVER -- Over-the-top streaming is a rising concern for local governments, said NATOA General Counsel Nancy Werner in an interview at the association’s annual conference. Local governments could be losing cable franchise revenue as customers cut the cord for the OTT services that don’t pay local fees, said a panel Wednesday.

DENVER -- Colorado will try to end a state restriction on municipal broadband at the next legislative session, Colorado Broadband Office Executive Director Brandy Reitter said at the NATOA conference Tuesday. In panels on the broadband, equity access and deployment (BEAD) program and other federal infrastructure money, FCC and NTIA officials urged local governments to engage in state and federal broadband efforts.

AT&T is considering appeal options after a federal court dismissed its wireless infrastructure lawsuit against Los Altos, California, an AT&T spokesperson said Friday. The U.S District Court in San Jose dismissed a similar complaint by Verizon in the same decision Monday. The carriers challenged the city rejecting applications to install small-cell wireless facilities under a 2019 local law, but the city issued a new law this year without the challenged provisions, said Judge Edward Davila: That moots AT&T’s and Verizon’s claims that Los Altos’ law is an effective prohibition violating the Telecom Act. The city is unlikely to reenact challenged parts of the old law and is “entitled to a presumption of good faith,” Davila said. Verizon didn’t comment Friday.

California bills to require wireless eligibility for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants and to fund the 988 mental health line passed the legislature Thursday and will go to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for signature. As California legislators head into their final week, several communications bills on broadband, social media and free inmate calls await floor votes (see 2208120039).

California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) author Alastair Mactaggart warned the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to reject industry “disinformation” that it will be voluntary to honor users’ browser opt-out signals. The CPPA held its second day of partially virtual hearings Thursday on draft rules implementing CPRA, the successor law to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Consumer privacy groups urged the CPPA not to delay enforcement from Jan. 1, as business groups requested Wednesday (see 2208240067).

Pennsylvania and California commissioners pondered VoIP jurisdictional issues at livestreamed meetings Thursday. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille dissented as members voted 2-1 for a petition by T-Mobile’s Sprint to discontinue CLEC and interexchange services while continuing VoIP service in the state (docket A-2021-3028993). The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a rulemaking to consider changes to VoIP licensing requirements and other obligations (see 2208190030).

LTD Broadband signaled it will seek FCC reversal of the agency rejecting the company’s long-form application for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support. At a teleconferenced Minnesota Public Utilities Commission prehearing conference Wednesday, LTD outside counsel Andy Carlson of the Taft firm told Administrative Law Judge Jim LaFave the company believes Minnesota's and other pending state reviews “should generally be stayed while the FCC’s decision is appealed by LTD.” Sept. 12 is the deadline for administrative appeal at the FCC, Carlson said. Due to that date, LaFave deferred further scheduling of Minnesota’s proceeding on whether to revoke LTD Broadband’s eligible telecom carrier (ETC) status (see 2207140047) until a Sept. 20 prehearing conference at 2:30 p.m. CDT. LaFave ordered LTD to provide its long-form application, attachments and related FCC correspondence by Friday to the state Commerce Department and attorney general's office, as well as to the Minnesota Telecom Alliance and the Minnesota Rural Electric Association, which petitioned the PUC to revoke LTD’s ETC status. Others may file to intervene in the proceeding by Sept. 16, the ALJ said. Assistant Attorney General Kristin Berkland said the FCC could act in 145 days on an LTD appeal. Carlson said the FCC moves slowly and could take longer than that. LTD CEO Corey Hauer told us earlier this month the company was considering next steps after the FCC’s rejection (see 2208110006).