Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said states should find answers to cyberthreats, as he took the chair of the National Governors Association for the 2016-17 year. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) will be vice chairman, the association said in a news release Saturday. “Cyber crime is a growing threat to our states, territories and our nation,” McAuliffe said. “As governors, we must be prepared to combat this threat in order to protect the welfare of our citizens.” Under the initiative, states will develop strategies to strengthen cybersecurity practices, NGA said. Over the next year, McAuliffe plans to host several regional summits on the subject with state policy leaders, industry officials and federal partners, concluding with the National Summit on State Cybersecurity in Virginia, it said. McAuliffe hosted his first cyber roundtable Tuesday in Fairfax, Virginia, with a panel of CEOs discussing the intersection of cybersecurity and healthcare, the NGA said.

One out of 8 Tennesseans doesn’t have access to high-speed broadband, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development said in an announcement Tuesday. The department released a study that found 13 percent of the state, or 834,545 people, lack access to broadband at the FCC standard of at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds. The report estimated it would cost nearly $1.2 billion to build fiber-to-the-premise to that 13 percent. A less expensive technology approach using a combination of fiber and fixed wireless would cost about $491.7 million, it said. The department sent the report to Gov. Bill Haslam (R), the General Assembly, the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the telecom industry and others, it said. “The information in this report is a starting point to advance the conversation about broadband access in our state,” Haslam said. “An internal working group will review the report and have discussions with stakeholders to develop potential solutions to close the gap on broadband access in Tennessee.” In commissioning the report, the state government sought to “establish benchmarks on broadband access in Tennessee,” the department’s Commissioner Randy Boyd said. “We need to evaluate these options and begin a meaningful dialogue.” The state department commissioned Strategic Networks Group and NEO Connect to do the survey of more than 23,000 Tennessee residents and businesses between January and March. Tennessee and North Carolina have a lawsuit against the FCC for pre-empting state restrictions on municipal broadband (see 1606210036). North Carolina released a broadband study last month (see 1606220032).

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission plans to probe Verizon in Feb. 6-8 hearings for the state’s investigation of the company’s copper service quality (see 1606160054), the commission said last week. The public hearings start at 10 a.m. each day at PUC headquarters, with Administrative Law Judge Joel Cheskis presiding.

The California Public Utilities Commission extended by two months the deadline for a rulemaking to revamp the California High Cost Fund-A program, which provides subsidies to 13 small rural LECs for basic phone service. The public utility code requires quasi-legislative cases to be resolved with 18 months but allows the CPUC to extend it by 60 days at most. The new deadline is Oct. 7. The CPUC seeks to update the program in response to market, regulatory and technological changes since the fund was established in 1987, it said in an order issued Friday. “Due to the complexity of this proceeding, a second phase will be required.” Second-phase topics include the applicability of rate of return as a regulatory framework for RLECs, alternative forms of regulation including one based on incentives, whether competition tests should include all technologies and a review of the commission’s preliminary conclusion not to open areas served by the small RLECs to competition, the state commission said.

The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-1 to provide a $1.49 million grant from the California Advanced Services Fund to Inyo Networks for a fiber-to-the-premises last-mile network in the underserved Nicasio area of western Marin County, California. Also at the commission’s Thursday meeting, CPUC unanimously approved an environmental review that authorized the release of a $2 million CASF grant funding to TDS Telecom for a project that will extend fiber internet to 15 square miles covering the Winterhaven community and other areas of unincorporated Imperial County, including the Quechan Indian Reservation. The commission also signed off on staff comments to be submitted to the FCC docket 16-145 on the transition from text telephone (TTY) technology to real-time text (see 1607110058).

With its universal service fund quickly depleting, the Utah Public Service Commission tentatively decided to increase its USF surcharge to 1.65 percent from 1 percent of billed intrastate retail rates, said a notice in Friday's Utah State Bulletin. The rule change may become effective Aug. 22, though the PSC could change its decision after comments are filed Aug. 15. If no change is made, the rate would increase Oct. 1, the Bulletin said. The new rate is “intended to function as an interim solution to address the current funding deficiency in the least disruptive way possible, and to allow time for the Utah Legislature to consider other changes to the fund,” it said. The Utah Division of Public Utilities last month urged a revamp of the state USF contribution method, saying without a change, the fund balance could dip $3 million this year and run out completely by early 2017 (see 1606210035). The DPU had recommended moving to a charge of 32 cents per line. But a Legislature committee “expressed interested in more fundamental changes to the Utah Universal Service Fund,” the State Bulletin said. Revenue from contributions to state USFs has declined in multiple jurisdictions, our survey has found (see 1607010010).

Indiana plans to invest $1 billion over 10 years to spur innovation and entrepreneurship, said a state news release. Before he was announced Friday as the running mate to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Gov. Mike Pence outlined the state innovation plan Thursday at the Innovation Showcase in Indianapolis. The plan focuses on collaboration among government, communities, the private sector and education and research institutions, and includes matching funds and tax credits for early-stage and mid-market startups, the state said.

Facing phone number exhaustion in the 323 area code by Q2, the California Public Utilities Commission signed off Thursday on a plan to remove a boundary between two area codes in Los Angeles. By allowing 213 and 323 to be used in the same geographic region, the CPUC took a different approach to traditional area code overlays where a new code is added to an existing geographic area, it said in a news release. Customers will retain existing phone numbers, but starting July 2017 will be required to dial 1 plus the three-digit area code for all calls to and from 213 and 323 area codes, CPUC said. The North American Numbering Plan Administrator came up with the plan “because of the unique geography of the 323 area code,” CPUC said. “Alternatives, such as an overlay for just the 323 or a further split of the 323 area code, were not considered as both would require the introduction of a third area code in Los Angeles.” CPUC ordered a public education plan to explain the overlay to users.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission plans hearings next month on the imminent exhaustion of the 717 area code, the commission said in a news release Wednesday. Neustar, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA), predicted the area code will run out of numbers during Q3 2018. In March, the PUC sought comments on a NANPA petition recommending the PUC overlay a new area code throughout the existing 717 area code and require customers to dial 10 digits for every call. Alternatively, NANPA said the PUC could split the area in half and require half the region’s residents and businesses to use a new area code. The hearings will be held Aug. 9, with one at 1 p.m. and a second at 6 p.m., at the state commission’s HQ and webcast.

The New York Public Service Commission granted a second extension to Verizon for filing testimony in the PSC’s copper probe. The new due date is Aug. 1. Testimony was initially due May 20, but the PSC gave Verizon until July 18 because of the East Coast union strike. Last week, Verizon asked for another two weeks, saying it “underestimated” how much time it would take to prepare testimony. But the Communications Workers of America objected, saying Verizon hadn’t given a “rational basis” for an extension (see 1607110013). In a letter Tuesday to Verizon, PSC Secretary Kathleen Burgess said she found the company's request to be “modest” and the telco’s explanation “reasonable and plausible.” She said requiring Verizon to file only part of its testimony by July 18, as suggested by CWA, isn’t a good compromise: “The Commission and the parties have a strong interest in a clear and complete filing from Verizon.”