The lack of telecom resolutions at the 2016 NARUC Summer Meetings is an anomaly, state commissioners told us this week in Nashville. At its Tuesday business meeting, the Committee on Telecommunications considered only two honorary resolutions for retiring staff subcommittee members Gene Hand of the Nebraska Public Service Commission and Lenora Best of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. There were no substantive resolutions about policy issues. "Let me assure you, that is rare,” said NARUC President Travis Kavulla of the Montana PSC. The Committee on Telecommunications is usually the most active NARUC group and where states tend to find the most common ground, he said. Committee Chair Chris Nelson of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission agreed it’s "highly unusual." Telecom usually has the most, he said. "I don't try to put my thumb on the scale on any of those, nor do I try to go out and stir up any resolutions. If the membership wants to organically bring them up, great." There will likely be substantive resolutions at the annual meeting Nov. 13-16 in La Quinta, California, predicted Nelson: "Not that I know of anything bubbling out there, but just based on our history, I would think so."

Pokémon Go players should watch out for public utility properties as they try to catch all the Pokémon monsters, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission warned Friday. The PUC cited “scattered reports across Pennsylvania” of people who are playing Nintendo’s mobile game trespassing and sometimes suffering injuries. “Some players focused on the new augmented reality game may wander too close to secure utility facilities, either accidentally -- because they are focused intently on the game -- or because they believe that some elusive Pokémon might be found there,” the PUC said in a news release Friday. “Additionally, the location of some Pokémon ‘gyms’, where players gather to virtually battle other players, could also generate concerns around utility property that is considered critical infrastructure -- triggering calls to security services or police.”

With numbers running out in San Antonio’s 210 area code, the North American Numbering Plan Administrator assigned 726 as an overlay area code, the Texas Public Utility Commission said Thursday. Numbers in the 210 area code are expected to last until early 2018, the PUC said. Under a schedule ordered by the PUC, 10-digit dialing will be required in September 2017 and the 726 area code will be activated the following month. From March to September 2017, people can dial seven or 10 digits. Also Thursday, the New York Public Service Commission announced six public hearings in the upstate 518 area code to seek feedback on whether to use an overlay or split the area in half to relieve number exhaust. The hearings will be July 26 to Aug. 4 in a variety of places, the commission notice said.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International is partnering with a group of state lieutenant governors who support aerospace initiatives to promote use of drones to grow the national economy. AUVSI CEO Brian Wynne said in a Thursday news release that the Aerospace States Association (ASA) will help advance unmanned aviation at the state level. "Informing state elected officials about the benefits of unmanned systems and listening to their concerns and interest in this emerging technology are vital to enabling the infrastructure and public policy needed to grow our industry,” he said. The drone industry "is expected to grow our state economies, create over 100,000 high-paying jobs, and be a source of innovation and inspiration for our youth to enter the [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] workforce,” said Alabama Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey (R), who also chairs ASA. The release said Wynne will speak at ASA's annual meeting July 29 about Federal Aviation Administration recent rules for operation of small commercial drones (see 1606210025).

The California Public Utilities Commission should extend right-of-way rules of commercial mobile radio services (CMRS) to wireless pole attachments by cable companies, said the California Cable and Telecommunications Association. In a petition posted Wednesday, CCTA said the CPUC previously “recognized that ‘there is no obvious reason why’ cable operators not be afforded the same wireless attachment rights as CMRS providers.” It cited the state commission’s February decision. No material differences exist between wireless equipment installed on poles by CMRS providers and the facilities attached by cable companies, it said. Extending the rules to cable “will advance state policies intended to enhance competition and promote the deployment of broadband to the public,” it said. Last week, Wireless Infrastructure Association CEO Jonathan Adelstein reported progress updating siting and pole attachment rules in California as the industry moves toward 5G services (see 1607150055). WIA didn’t comment Thursday on the CCTA petition.

A recent court ruling supports Georgia counties bringing lawsuits to enforce collection and remittance of 911 fees, Cobb and Gwinnett counties told U.S. District Court in Atlanta. In a Tuesday filing (in Pacer), the counties urged the federal court to reject a Comcast motion to dismiss their complaint, which alleged the cable company failed to bill, collect, report and remit the appropriate amount of 911 charges from customers. The counties seek to collect the charges from Comcast, which asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit because the counties don't have authority to hold telecom providers liable for unpaid 911 changes (see 1603280040). Tuesday, the counties cited a July 14 Gwinnett County Superior Court ruling, which rejected motions to dismiss by defendants in two similar lawsuits by the counties against AT&T and EarthLink. That judge said counties could enforce collection and remittance of fees by bringing suit, and the 911 Act was intended to protect counties from improper collection and remittance, the counties said. “The Defendants’ arguments in both cases were virtually identical to those in this case.”

Telecom companies urged the U.S. District Court in San Francisco to reject the defense of the California Public Utilities Commission in a dispute over whether a CPUC division violated the court’s preliminary injunction banning disclosure of FCC Form 477 and other data to third parties. The form includes information about phone and broadband deployment that AT&T, Comcast, CTIA, Verizon and other industry plaintiffs say is confidential. Last week, the CPUC said it didn’t violate the ban because its Office of Ratepayer Advocates disclosed to an agent of the ORA, and did so before the May 20 injunction (see 1607130019). But the telecom companies rejected the argument in a reply (in Pacer) Tuesday. “None of the CPUC’s arguments in response has merit,” the companies said. CPUC disclosed to a third party, not an employee, and the court has “ample authority” to enforce its ban, they said. “The Eleventh Amendment, in particular, poses no barrier to an order enforcing (or clarifying) the preliminary injunction as Plaintiffs have requested.”

The FCC should clarify state enforcement powers in its Lifeline order, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said in a petition posted in the federal agency's docket 10-90 Wednesday. The FCC should clarify (1) states’ role in enforcement and consumer protection pertaining to Lifeline broadband providers (LBPs), (2) notice requirements and (3) outstanding compliance plans filed with the FCC pursuant to the 2012 Lifeline and Link-Up reform order, it said. The FCC should recognize state authority to enforce federal and state law and may engage in ordinary enforcement activities and consumer protections even if the eligible telecom companies are FCC-designated LBPs, the PUC said. Alternatively, the FCC should at least require LBPs to provide notification and register with the appropriate state agency, it said. Notice requirements could be written like those for VoIP providers seeking direct access to numbering resources, it said. FCC action on outstanding compliance plans will assist the Pennsylvania commission in its monitoring of voice-only and mixed voice and broadband service providers, it said.

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).