A state court rejected a Texas Public Utility Commission appeal of a trial court’s temporary injunction against the PUC for not fully funding Texas USF (TUSF). The 3rd Texas District Court of Appeals in Austin ruled Wednesday in favor of appellee AMA TechTel, a CLEC, for similar reasons that the court gave in a June 30 decision supporting Texas Telephone Association (TTA) and other RLECs in a similar case (see 2207010045). Earlier in the AMA case, the state appeals court required the PUC to pay the CLEC the full amount of state USF support it was owed since Dec. 1. "While the present case appears before us in a different procedural posture from that in TTA, the application of legal principles to the pleaded and undisputed facts is substantively the same and our analysis and holdings are largely dictated by that opinion,” Justice Thomas Baker wrote Wednesday. As in the June 30 opinion, state law and PUC regulations preclude the state commission from underfunding TUSF, said Baker: The PUC must pay monthly support amounts. Like the RLEC group, AMA sufficiently pleaded a Texas Administrative Procedure Act claim, he said. The court overruled the PUC's contention that AMA failed to exhaust administrative remedies before bringing the APA challenge. AMA sufficiently pleaded a viable regulatory takings claim and the trial court didn't abuse its discretion when it granted temporary injunctive relief to AMA, he said. "It was the PUC Parties’ decision to amend the Solix contract and refuse to fund the TUSF that altered the parties’ relationship,” so “the status quo is the relationship of the parties prior to the PUC Parties’ challenged actions,” wrote Baker. “We reject the premise implicit in the PUC Parties’ contention that a party may act unlawfully and then claim that the impacts of that unlawful behavior cannot be remedied or mitigated pending a trial on the merits.” Justices Melissa Goodwin and Gisela Triana, the judge who wrote the TTA decision, joined Baker in Wednesday’s opinion. Following the earlier court actions, Texas commissioners Aug. 1 raised the revenue-based TUSF surcharge to 24% from 3.3% (see 2207140060). The Texas PUC and AMA didn’t comment.
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’s U.S. senators sounded the alarm over federal maps that will be used for determining funding under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. The Republicans’ remarks Tuesday at a livestreamed Alaska Broadband Summit followed state officials raising concerns about holes in the FCC’s broadband serviceable location fabric to be used in upcoming maps (see 2208080056). State, local, tribal and federal officials stressed the need for engagement and collaboration to ensure funding goes where it’s needed.
Wireline ISPs urged California Senate appropriators to support a bill to revise the California Public Utilities Commission’s review process for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grant applications, at a hearing Monday. AB-2749 would streamline the CASF program with federal funding coming, said USTelecom lobbyist Yolanda Benson at the livestreamed Senate Appropriations hearing. The Electronic Frontier Foundation opposes AB-2749 (see 2205240048). The committee agreed to move the bill to its “suspense file," a category reserved for bills deemed to be costly and that will be taken up before a Friday fiscal-committee deadline. The committee also sent to suspense AB-32 to keep temporary telehealth changes made on an emergency basis during the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2105170030); AB-1262, which seeks to restrict use of recordings or transcriptions of what users say to or in the presence of smart speakers; and AB-2750 to require the CPUC to develop a state digital equity plan by Jan. 1, 2024. California appropriators sent many other communications bills to suspense last week (see 2208030056 and 2208010060).
Alaska found holes in the broadband serviceable location fabric the FCC is using for upcoming maps for determining Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funding, Alaska officials told us. Also, some states initially had problems accessing the fabric created by the FCC’s contractor CostQuest. GCI Communications initially raised the potential for gaps, telling the FCC the "potential consequences for Alaska are serious.”
Revised draft rule changes on emergency service network reliability will be due Sept. 7, Colorado Administrative Law Judge Conor Farley said at a partially virtual hearing Friday. State 911 Program Manager Daryl Branson said workshops involving industry and other stakeholders are nearly complete. The group has been seeking consensus on changes meant to improve basic emergency service (BES) network reliability and set a tariff-based mechanism for funding network improvements (see 2206090050). Two more workshops are scheduled for Aug. 9 and 16, Branson said. Farley, Branson and parties agreed to deadlines of Sept. 19 for comments and Sept. 30 for replies on the upcoming revised draft rules. The PUC would then have a public comment hearing 11:30 a.m. Oct. 13, the ALJ said.
The California Public Utilities Commission should consider affordability metrics in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and other communications proceedings, California Public Utilities Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen said Thursday. The CPUC voted 5-0 at a livestreamed meeting to apply an affordability framework across its regulated utilities (docket R.18-07-006). Communications companies resisted adopting metrics for their sector (see 2207290007 and 2207110030). “Affordability in the communications context is a little bit different and a little bit more complicated because there are multiple providers and different types of communications services,” said Rechtschaffen. “We don’t regulate them the same way we regulate our gas and electric and water utilities, but it’s nonetheless an essential utility service in today’s society and economy, and we need to understand the affordability challenges faced by vulnerable, low-income communities … in this space.” Also, the CPUC voted 5-0 to adopt a consent agenda including a proposed order to allow AT&T to discontinue residential landline service in Frontier Communications territory (see 2207210010).
The Oregon Public Utility Commission voted 3-0 for wildfire mitigation rules for utility poles, at a virtual meeting Thursday. A 2021 state law required PUC regulations. The Oregon PUC order will include a 25% surcharge that electric utilities may assess to pole-attaching entities for repairs or remediation of ignition risk on collocated facilities. CTIA and the Oregon Cable Telecommunications Association (OCTA) sought a 15% surcharge or limiting the 25% surcharge to certain poles or types of problems, said a PUC memo on proposed rules: Staff recommended keeping it at 25% to incentivize companies to fix issues quickly but also to allow a waiver process. Commissioners agreed. Also, the PUC supported CTIA’s suggestion that complaints filed by utilities should include an explanation about how a claimed violation is causing increased wildfire risk. And it agreed with OCTA to clearly require utilities to contact third-party equipment owners before determining facilities are abandoned.
Massachusetts inmates might be denied free phone calls with their families due to a disagreement between Gov. Charlie Baker (R) and the Democratic-controlled legislature. The California legislature will decide this month the fate of a similar bill that was opposed by sheriffs. California’s Assembly Appropriations Committee on Wednesday teed up a vote on that measure, a few broadband bills and two industry-opposed social media bills.
California could risk losing broadband funding if it grants a consumer group petition to require low-cost broadband plans for everyone, ISPs warned this week. The California Public Utilities Commission received responses Monday in docket R.20-09-001 on advocates’ petition to modify an April decision on rules for the state’s $2 billion last-mile federal funding account (FFA). Industry also clashed with consumer groups, in reply comments in docket R.20-02-008, on how California LifeLine subsidies interact with federal programs.
The internet industry raised alarms with a California social media bill as state Senate appropriators teed up the bipartisan measure for possible vote next Thursday, at a livestreamed hearing Monday. The Appropriations Committee could also soon vote whether to advance to the floor three other website regulation measures focused on children, plus a bill to implement the national 988 suicide prevention hotline and a proposal to require standards for emergency alerts.