A federal court should uphold the FCC order pre-empting two state laws that restrict municipal broadband growth, said an amicus brief filed Thursday by the Benton Foundation, Common Cause, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition. The North Carolina and Tennessee laws "placed significant burdens on municipalities attempting to provide their own broadband networks," the consumer-oriented groups told the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is reviewing state challenges to the order in two dockets (Tennessee v. FCC, No. 15-3291, and North Carolina v. FCC, docket No. 15-3555). Also filing amicus briefs in support of the FCC were: the Coalition for Local Internet Choice; the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors; Next Century Cities and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance; and the North Carolina League of Municipalities.

The California Public Utilities Commission revoked operating authority of 26 wireline carriers for failing to comply with certain regulatory requirements, under Resolution T-17489, which was released Tuesday after being unanimously adopted by commissioners last week. The revocation will take effect 30 days after the Nov. 5 adoption of the resolution, which is Dec. 5. The carriers had their operating authority revoked for failing to comply with at least two of the following duties: payment of user fees, payment of “public purpose” surcharges and submission of a performance bond. The affected carriers were mostly competitive local carriers, resellers and interexchange carriers; one was a radio telephone utility.

Both of the proposed telecom resolutions were approved unanimously Tuesday by the NARUC board during the annual state utility regulators group's meeting in Austin. The board didn't raise concerns about the second resolution being filed late, despite the Committee on Telecommunications having discussed that matter during its Monday business meeting (see 1511090033), when the committee approved the resolutions. There was no discussion about either resolution during the board vote.

NARUC members voted Monday to elect Montana Public Service Commissioner Travis Kavulla as its next president, during the annual meeting here in Austin. Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner Robert Powelson will become first vice president, up from second vice president. Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority Commissioner Jack Betkoski becomes second vice president. Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissioner David Ziegner remains treasurer, and Charles Gray remains executive director. The elected positions carry one-year terms.

An administrative law judge proposed the California Public Utilities Commission approve Frontier Communications' buy of Verizon's wireline system in the state subject to conditions and related settlements with various groups. Among the conditions in the ALJ's 82-page proposed decision (PD): Frontier "shall offer broadband connectivity to all Lifeline-eligible Verizon California, Inc., customers at the rate and on the terms contained in its Memorandum of Understanding with the California Emerging Technologies Fund," and "Prior to the closing date of the Transaction, Verizon California, Inc., shall repair all known General Order (GO) 95 non-conformances within its California service territory or, to the extent completion of all repairs within that time period is impossible, shall at the closing date escrow with the Commission in accordance with the terms of this decision the balance of funds necessary to complete the repairs." The PD will appear on the CPUC's Dec. 3 agenda, said an attachment, which noted the commission could act then or postpone a vote. A Frontier statement called the proposal "favorable," and noted the company had already received Department of Justice antitrust clearance and FCC approval of its planned purchase of wireline systems in California, Florida and Texas (see 1509030063). It said it expected to close the transaction by the end of Q1. In a Friday statement, Kathleen Abernathy, executive vice president-external affairs, said Frontier was pleased the proposed decision says its proposed settlements with the Office of Ratepayer Advocates, The Utility Rate Network, Center for Accessible Technology, California Emerging Technology Fund, Greenlining and others "address the public interest requirements to be considered by the Commission. ... We will continue to work through any remaining issues raised in the PD and address them in our comments, which are due in a few weeks."

The FCC requested oral argument in the municipal broadband pre-emption cases Tennessee v. FCC and North Carolina v. FCC (Nos. 15-3291/15-3555). Also filing Thursday in the same dockets, the Department of Justice officially took no position in the case. Letters sent to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in August 2014 by North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis and North Carolina state Rep. Marilyn Avila were added to the docket in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Both letters assert the need to have a law like the North Carolina "Level Playing Field Law" to protect consumers from "poor local government financial decision making," Tillis said. "To rule that the North Carolina General Assembly is powerless to prevent such a result brings Chief Justice John Roberts' warnings regarding the 'growing power of the administrative state' to mind."

FirstNet quietly sent letters to all U.S. states, D.C. and several territories in mid-October requesting a meeting with their leaders and clarifying information about opting in to the network, revenue usage and details about the use of the network itself. In the letter sent to New York, FirstNet said the "financial, operational and contractual risk of the network buildout and operations within New York would be the responsibility of FirstNet and its partner(s)." No revenue can be redistributed in the state for any other uses, the letter said. There is also no requirement that any public safety organization use the network once it's built, the letter said. While many reports have focused on the revenue issue the letter mentioned, that isn't new, having been discussed at the October board meeting (see [Ref:1510020045]). The information about how states must reinvest all resulting revenue from their own radio access networks back into the nationwide network was a part of Resolution 69, which was approved at the meeting. "The correspondence was an important next step in our consultation with the states and territories now that we have completed the initial round of consultation meetings with them," a FirstNet spokesman said.

Colorado voters in 43 municipalities approved ballot measures to opt out of the state's restrictive broadband law that prevents municipalities from creating public/private partnerships to build out fiber (see 1510300041), said the Institute for Local Self Reliance. ILSR said Colorado Mountain College also asked six municipalities to allow the school to provide its own Internet if necessary, and they all passed the measure. Last year, nine municipalities passed similar ballot measures, ILSR said.

Twelve people were arrested in connection with the alleged theft of underground copper cable in south and central Florida, said a news release Tuesday from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. FDLE officials said the thefts made communications infrastructure vulnerable to failure, with at least one theft damaging adjacent fiber cables that carry 911 communications. The investigation began in October 2014 after a request from Florida Power and Light, the release said. After allegedly stealing the copper cable, the suspects sold the copper to metal recycling facilities across Miami-Dade, it said.

A bill that would create the Next Generation Network Initiative Grant Fund to help municipalities move broadband deployment forward was introduced in the Massachusetts House Joint Telecom, Utilities and Energy Committee Tuesday. HB-2854 would issue grants to cities for research and planning to develop gigabit-speed networks throughout Massachusetts. The funds from Next Generation Network also would be used to evaluate municipal broadband offerings and research the entrance of private market players that are committed to providing next generation broadband services, the bill said. Funds would also be able to be used to match other public and private funding sources. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Evandro Carvalho (D).