CTIA urged the California Public Utilities Commission to quickly align state LifeLine rules with changes to the federal low-income program. Commissioners may vote on updating its rules at the Jan. 19 meeting (see 1612160002). Updating the rules is especially important for California’s veterans and surviving spouses, CTIA said in comments, posted Thursday in docket 11-03-013. The FCC granted California a waiver of its Dec. 2 federal Lifeline deadline until June 1 on port freeze requirements and Oct. 31 on eligibility rules (see 1612070043).

Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) appointed a Charter Communications executive to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, the governor said in a Wednesday news release. Hickenlooper appointed Charter Senior Manager-Government Relations Wendy Moser and Colorado Energy Office CEO Jeff Ackermann to the PUC. Ackermann will be chairman, filling the vacancy left by Joshua Epel (see 1701030043), and Moser will replace the retiring Glenn Vaad. They join returning commissioner Frances Koncilja on the three-member commission. The appointees need Senate confirmation, but can take their seats Jan. 9, a Hickenlooper spokeswoman said.

Alabama set a Jan. 31 deadline for its request for proposals seeking alternate plans for a FirstNet radio access network (RAN) if the governor opts out of the federal proposal for the national public safety network. FirstNet's delay in choosing a vendor forced Alabama and some other states to postpone deadlines for alternative RAN requests (see 1612190002). Alabama previously said proposals would be due 15 business days after FirstNet announced a vendor, but in a news release last week, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said FirstNet progress preparing state plans encouraged ALEA to set a concrete deadline. “They have indicated that they plan to have the state plan portal operational within 90 days of the announcement, and multiple key officials have made public statements that they are moving forward with their preparations for deployment of the FirstNet network as soon as the legal challenge is resolved,” ALEA said. “Based on FirstNet’s continued diligence towards providing the 56 states and territories with a viable state plan as soon as 90 days after the announcement of its nationwide partner, ALEA has determined that it is in the state’s best interest to establish a final deadline." Responses to a California request for information on alternative RAN plans are due Jan. 17, said the state’s procurement website (Event ID 3563).

Legislators in two states said to divert large amounts of 911 fees for unrelated purposes are reviving bills meant to stop the practice. A New York state senator Wednesday reintroduced a bill to stop fund diversion in the state, including using 911 fees on consumer bills to pay for things not directly related. New York diverted 41.6 percent of 911 revenue, or $77.3 million, to the state’s general fund in 2014, the FCC reported last year (see 1605270020). State Sen. Daniel Squadron (D) introduced SB-486 Wednesday, modeled after a bill that died in the previous session (see 1606240020). “The legislature shall not divert revenues derived from taxes and fees paid by the public into any dedicated fund for purposes other than those for which that fund was intended,” the bill said. “The only instance in which dedicated revenues may be diverted shall be upon declaration of a fiscal emergency by the governor, which shall be accompanied by a diversion impact statement.” Meanwhile, Rhode Island State Rep. Robert Lancia (R) told us Wednesday he will soon reintroduce his failed bill to stop 911 fee diversion in the state. Rhode Island diverted 69.5 percent, or $12.3 million, of 911 revenue in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015, the FCC reported. Most went to the state’s general fund and some to its information technology fund, it said. Asked what he will do differently this session to achieve the bill’s passage, Lancia replied, “I am going to need folks to testify.” Top 911 associations have sought to raise awareness about state 911 fee diversion, which the FCC estimated led to $223.4 million of 911 fee revenue going to other purposes in 2014 (see 1605310046).

The Vermont Public Service Board added an electronic filing and case management system as part of a website redesign for Jan. 1. The new look aligns the site with other Vermont agency websites, the board said.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission shouldn’t fine FairPoint for failing to meet service quality benchmarks from Q3 2014 to Q2 2016, said FairPoint Maine President Michael Reed. If the commission imposes fines, they should be minimal in amount and based only on provider-of-last-resort revenue, he said in Friday testimony in docket 2014-00376. The PUC in October proposed $500,000 in civil penalties for service quality violations (see 1610170011). Reed blamed service-quality failures on reasons out of FairPoint’s control. The telco still would have missed benchmarks for network troubles not cleared in 24 hours and installation appointments not met due to company reasons “even during normal operating conditions due to how the benchmarks for those metrics were derived during the rulemaking process,” he said. “Taking into consideration the cyber-attacks, labor strike and extreme winter weather, performance under those benchmarks worsened, and also resulted in [FairPoint] not meeting the Average Delay Days For Missed Appointments and Network Trouble Report Rate for the four quarters of 2015." FairPoint last month promised better service if regulators approve its acquisition by Consolidated Communications (see 1612210016).

Charter Communications attacked additional conditions on its buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks that were added last month by the California Public Utilities Commission. Commissioners unanimously gave the deal the green light in May, but Dec. 19 revised the order to add some conditions sought by consumer groups in rehearing applications (see 1612190021). The consumer groups claimed Charter agreed to the conditions -- on service quality, semiannual reports to Office of Ratepayer Advocates, a customer service survey and communications with customers with disabilities -- but the commission forgot to include them in its order. In an application for rehearing posted Friday, Charter said the decision “unreasonably imposes seven new conditions upon Charter in addition to the numerous conditions imposed” in the May decision. The commission already rejected the conditions sought by the consumer groups, Charter said. “The Decision’s revision, issued seven months after D.16-05-007, constitutes legal error that now should be corrected in a subsequent decision on rehearing.”

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau selected the Perkins School for the Blind for certification to participate in the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP) for the state of Ohio, effective Sunday, said a Friday order. In its NDBEDP pilot program order, the FCC determined it would certify one entity per state as eligible to receive support for the local distribution of equipment to low-income individuals who are deaf-blind, the bureau said.

Tough new restrictions on cellphone use while driving start in California Sunday as Assembly Bill 1785 is slated to take effect. People will no longer be able to check their iTunes playlist or check for directions on a smartphone while driving without violating the law. “Technology has improved so rapidly, and our cell phones are more capable of much more than just calls and text messages,” Assembly member Bill Quirk, a Democrat, said in a news release when the bill became law in September. “Smartphones have an abundance of available features that demand a driver’s attention, leading to very dangerous driving behavior. However, such activities are not clearly prohibited by law.”

Oklahoma lawmakers will take up a bill next year that would ban handheld use of cellphones and other electronic devices while driving. Texting while driving already is illegal in the state. Sen. Ron Sharp (R) filed legislation last week that would toughen state law aimed at preventing distracted driving. “Drivers are still getting distracted by their phones and other electronic devices and there’s no reason to be using them while driving except in emergencies,” Sharp said in a news release.