States and privacy advocates hailed a federal court ruling Tuesday that said Maine’s ISP privacy law isn’t preempted by Congress or the FCC. The U.S. District Court of Maine order (in Pacer) is a preliminary win for Maine’s 2019 law countering Congress’ 2017 Congressional Review Act (CRA) repeal of 2016 FCC broadband privacy rules. It could pave the way for more state privacy laws and may have implications for state net neutrality laws, said the state law's supporters.
Wireless carriers warned California it will exceed legal authority with network resiliency requirements responding to wildfires and public safety power shutoffs. The California Public Utilities Commission received comments Wednesday in docket R.18-03-011 on a proposed decision giving wireless providers 12 months to deploy generators capable of 72-hour backup power in tiers 2 and 3 high-fire-threat districts. Counties hit hard by wildfires last year support the plan (see 2006170049). The PD "proposes several requirements that are unworkable and, as discussed below, exceed the Commission’s legal authority and are preempted by federal law,” commented CTIA. “Much of what has been proposed is expressly preempted by the federal Communications Act, barred by conflict preemption" given the FCC's "affirmative decision not to regulate these matters, and barred by field preemption.” Seek industry “informational filings,” CTIA asked. AT&T and T-Mobile raised similar issues. The proposal contains "factual, legal and technical errors that perpetuate certain fundamental misperceptions of wireless network resiliency and otherwise relies on unprecedented and unlawful assertions of Commission authority,” T-Mobile said: The CPUC lacks "authority to mandate how wireless carriers design their networks, the type or level of service they provide, the times that service is available, or what equipment should be used to help maintain service.” Noting the PD didn’t include infrastructure companies, the Wireless Infrastructure Association mostly supported the draft, including the proposed waiver process for areas where the requirement is infeasible or not needed. Avoid being “inundated with waiver requests," WIA suggested: “Any requirement that 72 hours of backup power must be deployed at all small cells would trigger an onslaught of waiver requests,” so expressly limit that requirement to macro cellsites that provide coverage. The Utility Reform Network said the CPUC has authority and “ample record support.” Also address "the need for reliable backhaul,” TURN said. The California State Association of Counties urged considering expanding the backup power rule to tier 1 high fire threat districts.
Texas' Public Utility Commission disagrees with Lifeline providers telling the FCC the PUC's Texas Low-Income Discount Administrator (LIDA) process is preventing reimbursement and hurting low-income consumers. Texas commissioners voted 3-0 at a Thursday meeting livestreamed from Austin to clear staff comments due July 10 at the FCC on a National Lifeline Association (NaLA) petition to revoke Texas’ opt-out of the national Lifeline accountability (NLAD) (see 2006110023).
The California Consumer Protection Act enforcement kicked off Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Robert Hertzberg (D) told us he expects Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) to act shortly to enforce CCPA, even with some matters unresolved. Privacy attorneys, consumer advocates and others expect the AG to tackle egregious violations of the statute in enforcement’s early days, they said in interviews.
A fight is brewing in the Assembly over areas eligible for broadband grants under the California Advanced Services Fund. Monday, the chamber erased the complete contents of AB-570 about local government bonds and inserted CASF language that conflicts with the Senate-passed SB-1130 (see 2006260069). The Senate bill would raise the minimum standard for a served area to 25 Mbps symmetrical, but the Assembly bill maintains current 6/1 Mbps minimum. It would change the law by allowing funding for high-poverty areas where at least half residents are designated low income by the U.S. Census American Community Survey. In eligible areas, it would fund speeds at 25/3 Mbps -- up from 10/1 Mbps now. The revised AB-570 amounts to a Frontier Communications “bailout,” because it would mean areas now served by Frontier DSL would remain ineligible for funding, Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Legislative Counsel Ernesto Falcon told us Tuesday. EFF supports the fiber-focused SB-1130, he said. By preferring low-cost providers that can provide 25/3 Mbps, the proposed law could lead to even more DSL rollout, he said. Falcon expects a hearing on both bills in late July in the Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee. SB-1130 opponent the California Cable and Telecommunications Association is reviewing AB-570, said CCTA President Carolyn McIntyre. Frontier declined comment.
The California Public Utilities Commission should hold T-Mobile accountable to conditions in its April order clearing the deal, said CPUC Public Advocates Office Communications Program Manager Ana Maria Johnson. It proves PAO’s concerns that “compliance with merger conditions will be taken lightly and ultimately California consumers are negatively impacted,” Johnson emailed us Thursday. PAO joined the consumer and union backlash to T-Mobile asking the CPUC to modify three conditions on jobs, 5G speeds and deployment (see 2006230062). The company didn’t comment Friday.
The California Senate voted 28-9 Friday to raise the minimum standard to 25 Mbps symmetrical from 6 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload under the current law (AB-1665) governing the California Advanced Services Fund (see 2004090056). Opposing SB-1130, Sen. Brian Dahle (R) argued that the point of the slower standard was to focus on unserved areas first. Cover everyone before increasing speeds in places that have service, he said on the Senate floor, livestreamed from Sacramento. SB-1130 author Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D) replied, "We shouldn't settle for low speeds." The federal floor is 25/3 Mbps, which isn’t high enough, and many California communities with 6/1 Mbps can’t get funding under AB-1665, she said. The bill goes to the Assembly.
AT&T denied it's resisting a proposed rural broadband grant program responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mississippi. The House received SB-3046 Thursday after senators voted 49-2 the previous day. Tweeting Friday, Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley claimed AT&T and the cable industry are lobbying the House on the bill “to kill rural broadband.” The NARUC president added, “We cannot allow them to rule the roost on this issue any longer.” AT&T has “no opposition to the grant program established by the Senate,” though it hasn’t seen details of what the House is considering, the carrier’s spokesperson emailed. “In general, we see the value of programs -- like the FCC’s Connect America Fund and others -- that help spur increased investment by the private sector in underserved, rural communities.” The Mississippi Cable Telecommunications Association didn’t comment, and Presley didn’t comment further. The House voted 114-4 Thursday for HB-1786 providing $200 million for a distance-learning grant program for electronic devices. It goes to the Senate. In Louisiana, lawmakers’ second try at an electric cooperative broadband bill looks likely to be enacted after state senators voted 35-0 Thursday to concur with amendments by the House. That chamber voted unanimously for SB-10 Wednesday (see 2006240065). Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said he supported the cooperative-backed SB-10 when he vetoed SB-406, an earlier bill that co-ops opposed because it restricted them to unserved areas. Edwards “will review the final version of the bill when we receive it and make a decision,” emailed a spokesperson.
Small rural telcos and consumer advocates supported 25/3 Mbps, with caveats, as California’s essential broadband definition in comments filed Wednesday in a utility affordability proceeding at the California Public Utilities Commission. That standard is fine if the agency recognizes smaller companies need state and federal funding to cover their higher costs, CalTel and other small RLECs commented in docket R.18-07-006. The Utility Reform Network said 25/3 Mbps is a “reasonable starting point” but the CPUC should specify that the service must not include data caps and reevaluate the speed every three years. The agency should consider what is an essential data capacity in the proceeding’s next phase, said the Center for Accessible Technology, saying 1 terabyte "is a commonly provided data cap in both market-rate and certain low-income broadband programs." Consolidated Communications warned that broadband internet access services are beyond the agency’s jurisdiction. “Clarify that unregulated broadband Internet access services will not be subject to rate regulation or data reporting requirements beyond providing publicly available pricing information,” it commented. The National Diversity Coalition urged included a household's socio-economic status when defining affordability of essential utility services.
California’s privacy law sequel qualified for the Nov. 3 election, with more than 623,212 signatures validated, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) said Wednesday, one day before the deadline to approve ballot initiatives. “We’ve come a long way in the two years since passing the landmark California Consumer Privacy Act, but during these times of unprecedented uncertainty, we need to ensure that the laws keep pace with the ever-changing ways corporations and other entities are using our data,” said Alastair Mactaggart, author of CCPA and the new California Privacy Rights Act. CPRA is “the important next step in ensuring that privacy rights are sustained now and well into the future,” said California Senate Majority Leader Robert Hertzberg (D). Mactaggart sued Padilla over a deadline snafu that could have kept CPRA off the ballot (see 2006120060). In a Friday ruling on that suit, the California Superior Court in Sacramento supported Mactaggart and listed possible remedies. CCPA enforcement starts Wednesday, but it’s unclear if the Office of Administrative Law will approve by then the final rules, submitted earlier this month by Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D), said Wiley privacy attorney Duane Pozza on a Thursday webinar. If not, enforcement would be based solely on the text of the CCPA law, he said. “We’ll have to see what the attorney general does” on the first day of enforcement, he said: Becerra could focus on a few cases, announce broader investigations or send warning letters to businesses that would be “made public and put people on notice about the kinds of things they’re looking at.”