The California Public Utilities Commission plans hearings April 18 and May 3 in a rulemaking on changes to service quality reviews, Administrative Law Judge Thomas Glegola ruled Monday in docket R.22-03-016. Wireless and VoIP groups bristled at the possibility of the CPUC applying such rules to their industries (see 2301240058). The ALJ directed telecom companies to help with outreach to customers about the hearings, which start at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. PDT each day.

Arizona Corporation Commission staff recommended delay considering repeal or changes to Arizona USF (AUSF). Commissioners could consider staff’s recommendation at its Feb. 22-23 meeting. Comments are due Feb. 17 in docket T-00000A-20-0336. "Amendment, modification, or repeal of the AUSF High Cost Rules may be appropriate at some time in the future,” staff said. But since Frontier, the sole recipient of the support, must file a rate case by Aug. 30 and "there may be several potential outcomes" to that filing, staff thinks it's premature to consider changing or killing AUSF. If commissioners decide at the end of the rate case that Frontier should stop getting support, they should direct staff to start the AUSF rulemaking, said the recommendation. Also, staff noted Solix remains under contract to distribute E-rate broadband special construction projects, which are expected to be completed by June 2024. Any commission action on USF would need to take into account that program’s status, it said.

The Virginia House passed bills to set privacy rules (HB-1688) and require online safety education for children (HB-1575). Also Friday, House legislators passed HB-2385 to ban TikTok on state government devices. The House voted 96-2 for the kids’ privacy measure and 99-0 for the internet safety and TikTok bills. The bills cleared House committees last month (see 2301230011 and 2301300037) and now move to the Senate.

An Oregon bill to regulate data brokers advanced through the House Business and Labor Committee in a 10-1 vote Monday. Also at the livestreamed hearing, state telecom groups opposed an anti-robocalls bill. The committee voted unanimously to amend the data broker bill (HB-2052) to clarify that an exemption for state and local governments includes public corporations. The amendment also made other technical fixes including to tweak the definition of “licensed” to align with Vermont’s data broker law. Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis voted no on the amended bill. The Republican said she opposed exempting government. Oregon DOJ Legislative Director Kimberly McCullough said she doesn’t think the government engages in data brokering. Another reason for the exemption is structural, said McCullough: It’s usually better to write separate laws for public and private sectors than to try to address them together. “If the government’s not involved in sharing that kind of data, then I’m not sure why they would be exempted in the first place,” responded Boshart Davis. Because the bill has fiscal impact, HB-2052 must go next to the Ways and Means Committee before getting a full House vote. The committee heard testimony but didn’t vote on the robocalls bill (HB-2759), which sponsor and committee Chairman Paul Holvey (D) said would give the Oregon attorney general the authority to hold accountable gateway telecom providers that pass along telemarketing calls from overseas. The bill also includes a private right of action. Oregon DOJ supports the bill, which aligns state law more closely with federal statute, said Deputy Legislative Director Kate Denison. Gateways providers are "actively choosing to ignore suspicious activity because carrying more calls equals more profit," she said. HB-2759 also got support from Oregon Consumer Justice and Oregon Public Interest Research Group. The Oregon Telecommunications Association (OTA) and Oregon Cable Telecommunications Association opposed the bill. OTA members aren’t telemarketing companies and don’t know who the telemarketers are, said Executive Vice President Brant Wolf. "This bill will hold us responsible for something we really can't avoid doing,” he said. "If a number is dialed, we have to complete the call.”

A Montana bill to reduce intrastate phone rates for inmates received unanimous approval in both legislative chambers. The House voted 96-0 Friday to pass SB-7 after the Senate passed it 49-0 last month. The bill would allow county jails to join state prison contracts or create their own contract if they don’t charge more than the current per-minute rate allowed by the FCC -- or 21 cents at most (see 2301260021).

A Virginia Senate bill to ban TikTok and WeChat on state government devices (SB-1459) cleared the General Laws and Technology Committee in a 14-0 vote Wednesday. A House committee supported a similar bill last week (see 2301230011). The measures would effectively codify an executive order by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).

T-Mobile will take California regulators to federal court over a decision to switch state USF contribution to a connections-based mechanism. In a complaint Wednesday against the California Public Utilities Commission (case 3:23-cv-00483), T-Mobile and subsidiaries urged the U.S. District Court of Northern California to preliminarily enjoin a $1.11 monthly per-line fee from taking effect April 1. The CPUC in October required carriers to count access lines to determine contributions to California public purpose programs including state USF (see 2210200073). The per-line fee will replace a revenue-based assessment. A handful of other states previously switched to a flat fee, including Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Utah.

Citynet raised concerns with an amended pole attachments agreement between Frontier Communications and Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison (MP/PE) in West Virginia. Frontier and MP/PE filed the pact in December in response to scrutiny from the West Virginia Public Service Commission about duplicative processes slowing pole-attachment application reviews (see 2212160032). The pact fails to resolve issues raised by PSC staff and would create additional problems in the pole attachment process, Citynet said Tuesday in case 22-0885-T-E-SC. By failing to “require Frontier to submit an application for review of pole attachments like all other providers,” the agreement would violate PSC rules and perpetuate problems at issue in the case, Citynet said. “More problematically, the Stipulation fails to address both the Companies’ failure to timely process applications and the exorbitant fees that the Companies are now charging to complete pole attachment application review.”

Michigan cable operators and subscribers declined slightly last year, the Michigan Public Service Commission said Wednesday. The commission’s annual video competition report found 31 operators in Michigan in 2022, which was two fewer than 2021, the PSC said. Customers declined more than 151,000 to about 1.5 million, it said. In 2021, subscribers increased by about 18,000, it said. There had been 2.3 million subscribers in 2015, the PSC said. “The trend of decreasing subscriptions reflects a continued nationwide transition as customers switch from cable-video services to internet streaming services.” There were 2,032 franchise agreements between cable providers and municipalities in 2022, up from 1,973 statewide the year before, the PSC said.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a Tuesday decision (docket 21-15969), reversed and remanded the district court’s injunction that enjoined the California Public Utility Commission from enforcing its zero co-pay rule on two tiers of affordable wireless service for service providers participating in the California LifeLine program. The CPUC’s zero co-pay requirement for certain affordable plans isn't rate regulation as preempted by the Communications Act because participation in LifeLine “is voluntary and service providers remain free to opt out and charge whatever rates they deem appropriate,” said the court. The CPUC didn't comment, nor did the National Lifeline Association, which sued the CPUC to block the zero co-pay rule.