Adam Bender

California stepped toward regulating VoIP, broadband and wireless service quality. The California Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 at a virtual meeting Thursday to open a rulemaking sought by consumer advocates to update telecom service-quality standards and enforcement. The Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition warned that states are preempted from regulating interconnected VoIP.

It might be safest to let Alaska USF die, said Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) Common Carrier Specialist David Parrish at virtual technical conference Friday. Alaska’s public advocate and telecom industry officials disagreed. AUSF, set to sunset mid-2023, "has been really hobbling along for years," said Parrish: If the commission wants to continue the fund, RCA staff thinks the “only equitable solution” is its proposal to target AUSF support to areas where voice remains the primary form of telecom (see 2203140056), especially because much federal infrastructure money is coming and since pursuing state USF reform could increase the likelihood the RCA is sued, Parrish said. Just because it’s easiest to let AUSF die “doesn't mean it's the right thing to do,” responded Alaska Chief Assistant Attorney General Jeff Waller of the Regulatory Affairs & Public Advocacy division. The Matanuska Telephone Association also disagreed with killing AUSF. "This is not the time for AUSF to go away," said MTA counsel Dean Thompson of Kemppel Huffman. "What do you do about access charges?" It would leave "a big hole of lawfully recovered rate recovery,” he said. MTA had submitted an alternative proposal to switch to connections-based contribution. Alaska Communications sees a remaining need for AUSF, said Manager-Regulatory Affairs Lisa Phillips. GCI Senior Director-Regulatory Affairs Juliana Wayman cautioned the RCA that coming federal funding will do nothing for ongoing operating costs.

A Tennessee bill to regulate social media as common carriers cleared the House Business and Utilities Subcommittee in a voice vote Wednesday. The bill, which goes next to the Commerce Committee, would authorize the Tennessee Public Utilities Commission to probe and fine social websites for “intentionally deplatforming or shadow banning a user … if the basis of such action is rooted in political ideology, viewpoint discrimination, personal animus, or discrimination because of race, creed, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin,” said a HB-2369 summary. The bill responds to outrage from constituents banned by Big Tech, said sponsor Rep. Dennis Powers (R). Websites are censoring misinformation even though Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act restricts only obscene, lewd, filthy, excessively violent, harassing or objectionable things, said Rep. Jason Zachary (R): “Misinformation is not part of that.” Treating sites as common carriers is a good way to keep the bill from running into legal trouble faced by similar Texas and Florida laws, he said. Some members raised concerns. Rep. Dwayne Thompson (D) said he doesn’t like the government stepping on private businesses. Rep. Patsy Hazlewood (R) appreciates the goal but worries about ceding so much control to the PUC and allowing the agency to levy large fines, she said. The Senate Commerce Committee cleared companion bill SB-2161 Tuesday (see 2203160053).

Minnesota Democrats and Republicans joined on a social media bill to regulate how platforms use algorithms to target children. Tennessee legislation to more broadly regulate social media also advanced this week. In Vermont, legislators plan to pursue data privacy next year, said House Commerce Committee Chairman Michael Marcotte (R) at a Wednesday hearing.

Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority should quickly adopt one-touch, make-ready (OTMR), telecom companies said in reply comments Monday in docket 19-01-52RE01. Meanwhile in Florida, AT&T challenged the Public Service Commission’s pole dispute rules. With limited disagreement among stakeholders, Connecticut’s PURA “has the information necessary to reach a final determination,” the New England Cable and Telecommunications Association said Monday. PURA should reject pole owner requests to shift more upfront costs to new attachers, NECTA said. CTIA urged PURA to get on with codifying FCC rules for pole attachment rates and timelines, OTMR, self-help and dispute resolution. "Despite numerous rounds of comments, a hearing, and a late-filed exhibit hearing, there is nothing in the record suggesting that any other approach is better suited to resolve Connecticut pole owners’ continuing, unabated failure to meet pole attachment deadlines, which is the very issue that gave rise to this docket.” In earlier comments, state agencies urged quick OTMR adoption to prepare the state for incoming federal dollars (see 2203020013). PURA is tentatively scheduled to post a draft decision April 11 and make a final decision May 11. Friday in Florida, AT&T petitioned the state’s administrative hearings division to toss pole attachment complaint rules adopted earlier this month by the PSC, which adopted some but not most of AT&T’s suggested edits (see 2203010020). “The Proposed Rule should be declared invalid because it is an invalid exercise of delegated legislative authority,” AT&T said. “The PSC was directed to develop rules sufficient to reverse preempt the FCC’s regulation of pole attachments and to consider the interests of Florida consumers when doing so.” Instead, it “proposed a rule that fails to provide adequate standards for PSC decisions and creates significant uncertainty for the regulated community.” Also in Florida, two state bills (SB-1800 and SB-1802) to set up a broadband pole replacement fund (see 2203030064) didn’t get votes before legislators adjourned last week.

The Tennessee Senate Commerce Committee supported proposed confirmations of Clay Good and Michael Ellis to the Tennessee Public Utilities Commission on 9-0 votes. Good was appointed to the commission last year. Ellis was formerly Atmos Energy vice president-operations. Also, the committee voted 3-6 to kill a comprehensive Tennessee privacy bill. Proposed language in amendments to an unrelated 2021 bill (SB-1554 and HB-1467) is modeled on Virginia’s law and the Utah bill that recently passed the legislature, said House sponsor Johnny Garrett (R). It's an opt-out bill to be enforced only by the attorney general with no private right of action, said Senate sponsor Mike Bell (R): It has 27 exemptions including for financial, insurance and healthcare data protected by federal laws. NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo opposed the bill. The "well-intentioned" bill is close to the Virginia and Utah models, but “close doesn't always cut it,” he said. The bill is “almost there,” but the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce fears potential compliance costs, said Vice President-Government Affairs Ryan King. Chairman Paul Bailey (R), who voted no because he said he's concerned with adding regulations, asked the chamber official to quantify business costs. Small and medium-sized businesses might have to hire one to four new staff, answered King. The fiscal note doesn't show costs flagged by the chamber, said Sen. Bo Watson (R). Tennessee needn’t wait for a federal law, he said: “This is a system of federalism.” Sen. Frank Niceley (R) agreed: “It’s important that we do something.” The committee was also scheduled to weigh broadband and social media regulation bills but hadn’t taken them up by our deadline.

Staff at state commissions pushed forward USF update efforts. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is seeking comment and plans a meeting soon on draft legislation to update Oklahoma USF (OUSF) into a broadband-focused subsidy, the OCC emailed stakeholders Monday. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) posted a staff proposal Friday to use Alaska USF (AUSF) to close the digital divide in places where voice remains the primary form of telecom access. The Oregon Public Utility Commission plans to post a state USF proposal within a week, it said Monday.

NTIA can refuse infrastructure funding to states that insist on enforcing municipal broadband limits, and it’s not a question of preemption, said NATOA General Counsel Nancy Werner in an interview last week. She responded to the Free State Foundation's claims NTIA lacks authority to override some states' restrictions. NTIA should seek to empower localities, but denying funding to certain states could be bad politics for the Biden administration, said Institute for Local Self-Reliance Director-Community Broadband Networks Christopher Mitchell.

A Missouri panel plans to bring one omnibus broadband bill to the House floor incorporating ideas from multiple separate bills, said House Special Committee on Broadband and Infrastructure Chairman Louis Riggs (R) at a livestreamed hearing Thursday. The committee heard testimony that day on five bills. HB-2016, sponsored by Rep. John Black (R) and opposed by Lumen, would let localities form a broadband infrastructure improvement district to provide residential service. HB-2353 by Riggs would let two or more localities, upon a vote by residents, form such a district. HB-2638, sponsored by Riggs and supported by AT&T and Lumen, would establish a broadband council to explore ways to expand access and usage and develop a map with data provided by any entity that gets state or federal broadband funding. HB-2645 by Rep. Josh Hurlbert (R) would require grant applicants to share address-level maps showing highest speeds they provide. Riggs said Hurlbert’s mapping bill would be folded into his council bill. HB-2817 by Rep. Jason Chipman (R) would require fast Wi-Fi in Missouri’s Capitol building in Jefferson City.

Three states’ privacy bills appeared to fail in one week as legislators struggled to find agreement before their sessions ended. Washington state legislation looked dead Thursday; it hadn’t received votes as legislators neared adjournment. Florida and Wisconsin bills also stalled, and an Indiana bill could also run out of time soon. Recent privacy bill defeats show “it's tough to get a bill passed on a big-ticket item like this,” said Husch Blackwell privacy attorney David Stauss in a Thursday interview.