The FCC Enforcement Bureau adjusted for inflation the amounts of 2018 forfeiture penalties, said an order released Friday. The adjustment is based on fluctuations in the consumer price index. The bureau said a multiple of 1.02041 will be applied to 2017 penalties, rounded to the nearest dollar. The new levels apply to penalties assessed after Jan. 15, even if the violation occurred before.

The FCC is one of six finalists for an award recognizing achievements in analytics for its incentive auction, said a news release from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. The Franz Edelman Award for Achievements in Operations Research and Management Science “recognizes corporate, non-profit, and governmental organizations” that used “operations research and related tools to solve complex problems,” it said. “This auction would not have been possible without the use of operations research tools to solve complicated design and implementation challenges,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Other finalists include Turner Broadcasting System, which developed TV audience advertising targeting software.

Correction: The author of a Free State Foundation paper on local government response to FCC net neutrality rules is Enrique Armijo (see 1801030023).

Universal Service Administrative Co.'s board "is fully committed to strengthening oversight and delivery of timely, reliable and secure systems needed to fully administer all aspects" of USF, said Chairman Brian Talbott in a letter the FCC posted Wednesday. He responded to a Dec. 13 letter from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai expressing concerns about USAC's information technology and security systems and seeking the board's "unqualified commitment" to bolster oversight. Pai said system problems caused delays affecting important FCC deadlines, including for a fully functioning E-rate Productivity Center and the launch of a Lifeline national verifier. USAC's board shares Pai's concerns, Talbott wrote. He said new (see 1712130018) CEO Radha Sekar has "extensive" IT experience and USAC is "actively seeking a qualified Chief Information Officer and Chief Information Security Officer" to make improvements. On information security, he said the board pledges USAC, in collaboration with the FCC, "will ensure every effort is made to deliver timely and effective compliance with all applicable rules and requirements" -- including of the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act -- on all projects. "Security compliance will be incorporated into USAC's information systems development and design process to avoid the kinds of pitfalls that historically beset the E-rate Productivity Center and contributed to the recent delay" of the Lifeline national verifier, he wrote.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has withdrawn from a planned visit to CES and interview with CTA President Gary Shapiro, the association said Wednesday. This is the second CES in a row that won’t be attended by the FCC chairman -- Tom Wheeler withdrew plans to attend last year. "We look forward to our next opportunity to host a technology policy discussion with him before a public audience," CTA said. The commission didn't comment.

State Democrats offered net neutrality legislation on the first day of some sessions. Wednesday in California, Scott Wiener, along with other Democratic state senators, introduced the bill he promised last month that would counter the FCC rescinding Communications Act Title II regulations (see 1712210034). New York lawmakers opened their session Wednesday with three net neutrality bills already introduced: AB-08882, SB-7183 and S-7175. Massachusetts also opened session with a net neutrality bill (SD-2428) in the hopper. “As states across the country explore how to maintain an open internet, California can and must lead the charge to protect net neutrality,” Wiener said in a Wednesday news release. His bill (SB-822) would regulate business practices to require net neutrality and condition state contracts on adhering to net neutrality. It would require the policy as part of cable franchise agreements and as a condition for using a right of way, including for small-cell wireless facilities. “Although the FCC included in its order a purported preemption of state net neutrality rules, the FCC likely does not have the power to preempt state action on this issue,” said the Wiener office, citing the agency’s loss in a 2016 municipal broadband decision by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. With local governments eyeing municipal broadband as a response to the FCC order (see 1712260026), Free State Foundation board member Enrique Armijo wrote Wednesday that it’s hypocritical for local governments to decry removing mandates for private ISPs without seeking the same for their own networks. “Terms of service such as those used in Chattanooga, Wilson, [North Carolina,] and potentially scores of other cities … violate basic tenets of First Amendment law, let alone the principle that network providers should not block or throttle speech.”

The FCC could soon issue the order undoing net neutrality regulation, officials told us Wednesday. "I don't think they're looking to drag it out. My sense is it could come out later this week or early next," said one. "That sounds about right," said another, noting "it's just a big item" and "takes more time," particularly given the holiday break. The second official said the final item will look "pretty similar to the draft" that circulated, except for a few changes, including those previously cited by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly on the legal basis of a transparency rule and on the pre-emption of state and local transparency requirements. Some commissioners appear to be writing lengthier statements than they gave Dec. 14, when the item was adopted in a 3-2 party-line vote (see 1712140039). The Republican-run FCC could add some justifications to the text to respond to criticisms of the two dissenting Democratic commissioners and others as it prepares for promised legal challenges. A spokesman declined to comment. Once the order is released, congressional Democrats may file a resolution of disapproval (see 1801030051).

Carriers should give public safety answering points an initial notification of 911 service outages “as soon as they can offer a ‘strong maybe’ that there is an outage taking place -- in other words, even before an outage can be confirmed with complete certainty,” the FCC Public Safety Bureau said Tuesday. The bureau released recommendations from a Sept. 11 FCC workshop on best practices for improving situational awareness during 911 outages (see 1709110067). The notification should include “a description of affected network elements, geographic scope, expected duration, and any other information that could have an impact on 911 service,” the bureau said. An outage notification also should get “to everyone who needs it” and be “provided in an effective format,” the notice said.

The FCC rollback of net neutrality regulations "may adversely impact the spread of telehealth as patients and providers may be unable to afford a connection that can sufficiently support a telehealth interaction," said a release from the nonprofit Center for Connected Health Policy Tuesday. It said the developments could "encumber" Veterans Affairs Department policies helping patients "receive services via telehealth in the home and any potential remote patient monitoring efforts." When the FCC adopted its deregulatory order Dec. 14, CCHP Interim Executive Director Mei Wa Kwong reportedly said that allowing differentiated internet access lanes "could hurt telemedicine since it requires a 'pretty robust connection.'" An FCC spokesman responded: "The Restoring Internet Freedom order will support the delivery of broadband-enabled health care by reversing the ban on paid prioritization on the Internet. With Internet-enabled health care apps and services, paid prioritization could be the difference between life and death for patients who require very reliable and fast connectivity for health monitoring, consultation, and service delivery. And we expect that the combination of our transparency requirements, consumer expectations, market forces, and the presence of antitrust and consumer protection laws will protect against potential harms." Kwong told us questions remain about how paid prioritization would work in providing healthcare at home, one of the main benefits of telehealth. "How do you tell [if] the patient is using their connection for health purposes only if they get a set rate for that?" she emailed. "Does someone monitor that usage and aren’t you getting into privacy issues then if it is being monitored? Are separate lines needed in the home, one for health and the other for all other uses? Then are patients required to pay for two lines instead of one?"

NTIA renewed the Digital Economy Board of Advisors charter, it said in a Federal Register notice Friday. The Commerce Department formed the board in 2015 to generate recommendations for the secretary and NTIA administrator on the digital economy and internet policy issues (see 1511240034). It saw controversy in August when a majority of board members resigned over President Donald Trump’s response to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia (see 1708180058).