State legislators advanced several telecom and internet bills Tuesday. New York state senators voted 42-20 Tuesday for a wireless tower bill that would require cellphone companies and third-party infrastructure companies to submit plans to power all their towers with 100% renewable energy by 2031. S-4305 will go to the Assembly. Republicans raised concerns about the bill at a hearing last month (see 2302280043). Also that day, the Senate advanced to a final floor vote a bill (S-5343) to require telecom companies to report on the quality of copper-wire services (see 2303160053). An Idaho bill to ban TikTok on state government devices passed both legislative chambers. The Senate voted 32-0 Tuesday for HB-274. The House passed it earlier this month 67-3. Similar bills in Georgia and Missouri advanced earlier this week (see 2303210047). In Tennessee, the House and Senate’s Commerce Committee advanced cross-filed privacy bills HB-1811 and SB-73 and cross-filed bills SB-1338 and HB-1211 to update Tennessee’s broadband speed standard to 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. The comprehensive privacy bill would be enforced solely by the attorney general and includes a 60-day right to cure. Among other rule changes, the broadband bill would require grant-eligible projects to provide at least 100/20 Mbps, up from 10/1 Mbps under current law. The state also would have to prioritize locations with less than 100/20Mbps, up from 10/1 Mbps. In Florida, a House panel supported applying state pole-attachment rules to electric cooperatives. The Communications Committee cleared HB-1221 on Tuesday. A Senate panel advanced its similar SB-626 earlier this month with support from Charter Communications (see 2303070073). Florida reverse-preempted FCC pole-attachment authority last year (see 2206070071), allowing the state to regulate attachments and resolve disputes. The House bill still needs approval from two more committees before it can go to the floor.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission rejected Lumen’s challenge to an October decision during a service-quality probe. The PUC said Wednesday it upheld the order in docket UM 1908 to keep existing Lumen residential rates and follow reporting and complaint resolution guidelines while the PUC probed phone and internet outages reported by customers in the Jacksonville area (see 2210120045). “As a carrier of last resort, Lumen is required to provide safe and reliable service to all its customers and this is particularly important when health and safety issues exist,” said Commissioner Letha Tawney. “The PUC’s investigation was launched as these families in the Jacksonville area continue to experience service quality and reliability issues with their landline voice service, which is a public safety concern. Upholding the decision enables the PUC to continue to track Lumen’s progress in making service quality improvements for customers in this area.” Lumen declined to comment.

Industry including NetChoice and CTIA slammed a Montana obscenity filter bill at a livestreamed hearing Wednesday. HB-349, which would require smartphones to have obscenity filters on by default, has constitutional problems, said NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo. Only Utah has passed the law, and it won’t take effect until five more states do the same, he said. A better model would be a Louisiana law requiring pornographers to collect identification from users, said Szabo. HB-349 sponsor Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway (R) said she’s “frustrated” opponents didn’t come to her earlier to propose the Louisiana approach if it’s such a good idea. Requiring obscenity filters to be on by default isn’t hard to implement, she said. Vice Chair Willis Curdy (D) asked how Szabo could say the Louisiana law is working when it’s been in effect for only three months. Sen. Christopher Pope (D) thinks a big hole in HB-349 is that it covers only phones and not computers, he said. Rep. Terry Moore (R) testified in support, calling HB-349 “a simple measure that respects free speech." Project Stand Director-Public Policy Erin Walker said parents can easily override the restriction proposed by the bill. “This is not overregulation.” Tennessee senators punted a similar bill earlier this week (see 2303200068). The Computer & Communications Industry Association opposed Idaho, Montana and Tennessee filter bills, in written comments this week. “Requiring a state-specific content filter would be technically infeasible for businesses to implement as manufacturers produce devices at the national -- not state -- level,” said CCIA State Policy Director Khara Boender.

Bills to ban TikTok on state government devices passed Georgia and Missouri legislative chambers Monday. The Georgia House voted 174-0 for SB-93. It previously passed the Senate but must return there due to House changes. The Missouri House voted 152-0 for HB-919, a broader bill that includes a ban on Chinese-owned social media. It goes to the Senate.

The Indiana House voted 94-0 Monday for SB-316 to ask the statewide 911 board to study interoperability of computer-aided dispatch systems used by public safety answering points. The Senate passed it earlier. The bill needs gubernatorial approval.

A bill to reduce Florida’s communications services tax by 1.44 percentage points cleared the Regulated Industries Committee at a webcast Tuesday hearing. SB-1432 would reduce the Florida CST to 3.48% from 4.92% for communications services. Under an amendment adopted Tuesday, it would reduce by the same amount the tax for direct-to-home satellite service to 7.63% from 9.07%. The bill would also freeze local government CSTs at 2023 rates for three years. Florida TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro applauded the bill. "We're going to reduce one of the most regressive state and local taxes we have.” Florida Association of Counties don’t object to reducing the state tax, but counties use distributions from the tax for local projects and want to be “held harmless” for the reduction, said Deputy Director Bob McKee. He said the tax reduction would reduce state revenue by $19.3 million annually. Sponsor Sen. Jay Trumbull (R) disagreed that his bill would disadvantage counties. “It's just time to reduce the tax on tech.” The House has a similar bill (HB-1153).

Delaware and several municipalities seek to increase awareness of the federal affordable connectivity program, Gov. John Carney (D) said Tuesday. Local leaders in Dover, Wilmington and other cities and towns plan outreach efforts over the next month, the governor’s office said.

A Tennessee Senate committee punted to next year a bill that would require smartphone manufacturers to turn on obscenity filters by default. SB-138 is unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment and the commerce clause, said NetChoice Deputy Director-State and Federal Affairs Zach Lilly at a livestreamed Commerce Committee hearing Monday. But the National Decency Coalition said the bill is the “most constitutional” way to protect kids. Sen. Shane Reeves (R) questioned the “logistics” of implementing the bill, including how to turn the filter on by default in only one state. Utah passed a similar law in 2021 (see 2103080044), but it won’t take effect until five other states do the same. That contingency is probably why nobody has sued Utah yet, said Lilly: There likely would be an “avalanche” of litigation otherwise.

The New Mexico legislature passed a bill Friday to authorize the state to lease or sell broadband infrastructure. The House voted 62-1 and the Senate voted 32-0 for SB-452.

The California Public Utilities Commission “admonishes” T-Mobile’s MetroPCS and the agency’s own Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division (CPED) for failing to comply with meet-and-confer procedures in a data request dispute, Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason said in a Monday ruling in docket I.22-04-005. The ALJ ordered MetroPCS and CPED to have that meeting within 14 days. Also, MetroPCS must within 40 days supplement responses to a data request despite the company’s objections related to pending litigation, the ALJ said. CPED had found factually and legally deficient a Nov. 4, 2021, MetroPCS response to a Sept. 27, 2021, CPED data request. “But rather than engage in any meet and confer, CPED chose instead to prepare a lengthy Staff Report that detailed the problems with MetroPCS’ response and asked the Commission to open this Order Instituting Investigation (OII) to order MetroPCS to pay a $10 million penalty for violating” CPUC rules, the ALJ said. MetroPCS is also at fault because it didn’t quickly notify CPED of any concerns the company had with the data request soon after receiving it, the ALJ said. Mason rejected MetroPCS’ objection that the carrier can’t answer CPED’s questions while a related federal lawsuit is pending. “MetroPCS fails to cite any law that the pendency of a federal lawsuit is a legitimate ground for refusing to respond to a data request” and it’s “doubtful that there would be such a law since both the federal government” and California “have concurrent jurisdiction to adopt regulations regarding universal service contributions from prepaid wireless providers,” said Mason: The company “failed to cite to any order from the assigned judge in the MetroPCS Litigation, or any other federal law, enjoining the Commission from executing its duty to gather information from entities subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction.” T-Mobile didn't comment by our deadline.