A universal service bill moving through the Utah State Legislature could add revenue to the state USF, said a fiscal note issued Monday on SB-130. The Utah bill says telecom companies providing access lines, connections or wholesale broadband internet access service qualify for state USF distributions. It requires each provider to contribute to the USF and requires the Utah Public Service Commission to develop a method for calculating the amount of each contribution. And it makes wireless companies eligible for state Lifeline support. Enactment could “increase revenues to the Universal Public Telecommunications Service Support Fund, assuming the Public Service Commission adjusts surcharge rates to match fund disbursements,” said the fiscal note. “One aspect of the legislation, expansion of the state Lifeline Program to wireless customers, could require increased surcharge revenue to the fund of at least $1.1 million.” The bill means broadband and internet providers will face additional regulation and contribution requirements, while customers could pay increased surcharges, it said. Expanding the state Lifeline program could give $42 annually to at least 26,200 individuals, it said. The Utah Senate passed SB-130 on Feb. 27 and the bill awaits a House vote. The Utah PSC, which is considering contribution changes amid projections its fund could run out early this year, tentatively decided last July to increase its revenue-based surcharge as an interim step while the state legislature considers broader changes (see 1607150017).
Settlement talks between Verizon and the Communications Workers of America continued in a Pennsylvania probe of the company’s copper policies. Public Utility Commission Administrative Law Judge Joel Cheskis this week granted the parties’ request that the litigation schedule remain suspended until April 7, a PUC spokesman said Thursday. The parties previously said they hoped to wrap up talks March 1. Meanwhile, New York Public Service Commission hearings on a separate Verizon copper investigation may start in June (see 1703010048).
A Hawaii small-cells siting bill cleared a House committee Wednesday. The Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee voted 8-0 to pass HB-625 with amendments. The bill allows collocation of small wireless or wireline facilities and networks on state and local structures, poles and lighting, “subject only to clear and objective building permit standards.” Small facilities and networks wouldn’t be subject to special or conditional use permit in any public rights of way and property or any rural, agricultural or urban land. Providers could place up to 25 separate facilities on one application. Hawaii is one of several states considering wireless siting legislation (see 1702280039).
Personal emails and text messages by city employees may be made public under the California Public Records Act (CPRA), the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday. It overturned the contrary judgment of the 6th District Court of Appeal. Ted Smith in 2009 sought public records from San Jose, including emails and text messages sent or received on private devices used by the mayor, two council members and their staffs. When the city refused to disclose personal communications, Smith sued, saying the CPRA includes all communications about official business, no matter how they’re created, communicated or stored. “Employees’ communications about official agency business may be subject to CPRA regardless of the type of account used in their preparation or transmission,” Associate Justice Carol Corrigan wrote in the unanimous opinion. But the writing must relate in some substantive way to public business to qualify as a public record, she said. The ruling considered technological change, Corrigan said. “This case concerns how laws, originally designed to cover paper documents, apply to evolving methods of electronic communication. It requires recognition that, in today’s environment, not all employment-related activity occurs during a conventional workday, or in an employer-maintained workplace.” Electronic communication “has encouraged a commonplace tendency to share fleeting thoughts and random bits of information, with varying degrees of import, often to broad audiences,” Corrigan said. “The line between an official communication and an electronic aside is now sometimes blurred.” San Jose will respect the ruling, City Attorney Richard Doyle said in an interview. "We're not surprised," he said, because it follows a trend of similar state high court rulings in Illinois and Washington state. It's increasingly difficult to argue that public business on a private device is not subject to disclosure, he said. The city now will have to "grapple with protocols" for how to go about doing searches, and it might be helpful if the California legislature writes into law a set of rules for conducting searches, he said. It's a "major victory for transparency," the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a blog post: "Today’s decision will have wide-ranging impact on how public records are treated throughout the state, whether that’s elected officials communicating with lobbyists through Twitter direct messages or law enforcement officers exchanging controversial text messages on their personal smartphones."
A South Dakota bill providing tax refunds to ISPs passed the state legislature Tuesday. SB-71 by Sen. Ernie Otten (R) adds broadband to projects eligible for tax refunds called reinvestment payments. Public Utilities Commissioner Chris Nelson, the previous NARUC Telecom Committee chairman, supported the legislation. "The passage of this bill will allow broadband providers to further leverage their private capital and Connect America Fund dollars to build broadband infrastructure to more locations in rural South Dakota,” Nelson emailed us Wednesday. “That buildout will spur economic development opportunities in those rural areas that will benefit our entire state.”
The Arizona Corporation Commission should narrow funding for broadband to rural areas and commercially provisioned, finished services, CenturyLink said in Tuesday comments on the ACC’s proposed broadband fund for rural schools (see 1702080022). But the ISP praised the commission’s other Feb. 15 revisions to draft amendments to the state’s USF rules, including capping the proposed fund at $8 million, limiting collection to 12 months and limiting the program to the 2017 and 2018 E-rate funding cycle. In other comments, AT&T urged the commission to clarify that it’s not asserting regulatory jurisdiction over broadband, prohibit overbuilding and limit funds to E-rate special construction projects. The Arizona commission plans an all-day workshop on the matter Thursday at 1 p.m. EST, the agency said in a Wednesday news release.
The Missouri Public Service Commission sought comment on the future of the state USF, in a notice released Tuesday in docket TW-2017-0078. The commission asked if it should revise its $6.50-per-subscriber support amount and what should be the USF assessment level. The PSC asked if the fund, which today supports only voice landline Lifeline service, should support a broadband-only service and if it should provide a high-cost service. It asked if it should use different assumptions to project state USF revenue and expenses. Killing the state USF is on the table, too, said the agency: “Should the Missouri USF be eliminated? If yes, how and when should it be done? What should be done with any unused funds?” In an accompanying memo, staff said changes in consumer behavior and federal developments necessitate a revamp of the state USF. "The number of participants in programs supported by the Missouri USF has declined, primarily due to a shift in consumer preferences to wireless service,” staff said. “Federal Lifeline program reforms are shifting federal support to only support a broadband service.” The Missouri USF fund balance is $2.45 million and has slowly declined since October 2014, staff said. The state requires companies to contribute 0.0010 times their net jurisdictional revenue, it said. Despite repeated reductions in contribution amounts to the state USF, the Missouri fund could be financially viable through 2023 even if the assessment was eliminated, staff said. Comments are due May 1. Revenue from contributions to state USFs has declined in multiple jurisdictions, our report last year found (see 1607010010).
The New York Public Service Commission may start hearings in its Verizon copper probe in late June, a PSC administrative law judge said Wednesday. In an email to parties, ALJ Sean Mullany proposed starting evidentiary hearings June 26, with staff and intervenor testimony due March 24 and Verizon’s rebuttal due May 24. The ALJ asked parties to raise any objections to the proposed dates by Tuesday. The PSC previously planned hearings to start in April 19 (see 1611250028).
A Missouri Senate committee advanced municipal broadband restrictions in a vote Tuesday. SB-186 by Sen. Ed Emery (R) would prohibit local governments from offering competitive services, including retail and wholesale models, unless the community releases a public feasibility study and voters allow it. The bill next could get a vote by the full Senate. “SB 186 fattens the state’s existing laws that insert state government between a local community and its ability to make its own choices about its broadband future,” said the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in a blog post Tuesday.
A Colorado small-cells wireless bill advanced through a House panel. The Business Affairs and Labor Committee voted 10-0 to clear HB-1193. It would allow industry to locate facilities in any zone, require local governments to process small-cell applications within 90 days and set a maximum access fee of $200 per pole or structure. At a live-streamed hearing Tuesday, witnesses from CTIA, Verizon and others in the wireless industry supported the bill, and a representative for the Colorado Municipal League, Colorado Counties Inc. and the Colorado Communication Utility Alliance said the groups were neutral. The three local groups negotiated terms of the bill with the wireless industry (see 1702280039). But a witness for another local group, the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, said the legislation would reduce revenue that local governments need to recover costs. Other states are considering similar bills, but sponsor and Chairwoman Tracy Kraft-Tharp (D) said her bill isn’t cookie-cutter: “I personally have been involved in hours of negotiation between different parties, and I can tell you that the different components involved in this bill are unique to Colorado’s needs.” Also Tuesday, the Minnesota House Commerce Committee advanced a small-cells bill (HF-739) to the Government Operations Committee.