The California Privacy Protection Agency board canceled a scheduled Friday meeting. The board Saturday completed revising proposed rules to implement the 2020 California Privacy Rights Act (see 2210310074).

NARUC may seek clarity on states’ ability to oversee federal broadband investment outcomes. Under a draft resolution for its Nov. 13-16 meeting in New Orleans, NARUC would urge Congress and the FCC “to ensure that significant federal and state broadband policy objectives and investments are capable of delivering the results promised.” Congress or the FCC should “confirm or specify specific State authority to, among other things, enforce FCC or Congressionally established minimum service quality standards for federally subsidized services or provided over federally subsidized infrastructure, so that federally subsidized carriers operating in multiple jurisdictions would operate with minimum uniform requirements to perform their businesses,” the draft said. Once a state funds a broadband project and customers sign up, “from that point forward the State often has little ability to remedy customer complaints,” noted the proposed resolution. “Subscribers, including residential consumers, businesses, and many state lawmakers, do not understand this and are surprised that States regulate land line service of old, but not contemporary communications mediums.”

The California Privacy Protection Agency board directed staff “to take all steps necessary to prepare and notice modifications to the text of the proposed regulatory amendments for an additional 15-day comment period” on rules to implement the 2020 California Privacy Rights Act, the CPPA tweeted Saturday. The board finished weighing proposed edits Saturday, after starting to consider them Friday. “It was readily apparent during the meeting that the Board wants the regulations finalized as soon as possible,” blogged Husch Blackwell attorney David Stauss. Rules could be finalized by the end of January, CPPA General Counsel Philip Laird said at Friday’s meeting (see 2210280055).

New York challenged the FCC broadband fabric, becoming the first state to announce a challenge of the FCC data about unserved or underserved addresses. The New York ConnectALL office submitted about 31,798 locations through the FCC’s broadband data collection challenge process, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Monday. New York’s address-level state map (see 2206160059) is helping the state better advocate for federal support, she said. The state map identified 138,598 total addresses as unserved or underserved. “By aligning the FCC maps with ours, we will ensure New York gets its fair share of federal dollars so every New Yorker has access to the internet when and where they need it,” said Empire State Development CEO Hope Knight. New York’s “efforts will help close the accessibility and affordability gaps that [make] broadband unavailable to many of the state’s low- and fixed-income consumers,” emailed Ian Donaldson, New York Public Utility Law Project policy associate. The FCC "is committed to building maps that reflect the most accurate information available, and we expect this New York submission will help us to accomplish that goal," said an agency spokesperson.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission reopened a Frontier Communications service quality investigation (docket 18-0291-T-P). “It is evident that Frontier’s copper network quality of service failures continue, particularly in the more rural areas of West Virginia,” the commission said in a Thursday order partly granting a PSC staff petition (see 2210050043). “These are the same issues that the Commission -- and Frontier’s customers -- have had in the past.” The PSC received 1,079 complaints since June 2021 and has heard “Frontier is not taking trouble tickets when a known outage exists.” While surveying two counties that complained, PSC staff “found areas of Frontier’s copper network in disrepair or in need of maintenance,” the commission added. The commission stayed Kanawha and McDowell counties’ individual complaints and made them parties to the general probe.

Back with a full complement of commissioners, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to let T-Mobile exit federal Lifeline in Pennsylvania. In the unanimous voice vote, PUC members granted T-Mobile’s Sept. 1 petition to relinquish eligible telecom carrier designation for low-income support effective Dec. 31. “We find that T-Mobile has given appropriate and sufficient notice to us regarding its planned abandonment,” said the PUC order in docket P-2011-2275748. T-Mobile’s 90-day written notice and other planned communications will give Lifeline customers “detailed information” and “ample time to obtain service from an alternative Lifeline provider operating in that same geographic region,” it said. T-Mobile on Sept. 30 sent the PUC a copy of a letter notifying customers that the carrier was ending Lifeline participation. T-Mobile’s petition noted the carrier provides “a variety of low-cost service plans” and subsidiary Assurance Wireless and MetroPCS participate in the federal affordable connectivity program. Thursday’s meeting was the PUC’s first since April 16, 2020 with commissioners in all five seats. The Pennsylvania Senate last week confirmed Katie Zerfuss, deputy secretary for legislative affairs for Gov. Tom Wolf (D), and Stephen DeFrank, former chief of staff for state Sen. Lisa Boscola (D), and reconfirmed Commissioner John Coleman, whose term had expired Oct. 1 (see 2210190042). “Retirement for two weeks was great,” remarked Coleman at the livestreamed meeting. The PUC elected DeFrank as vice chairman Friday, said Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille. T-Mobile didn’t comment.

The Pennsylvania legislature passed a data breach bill Wednesday. The Senate voted 48-0 to concur with House amendments. The House unanimously passed it earlier that day (see 2210260082). SB-696, which now goes to the Gov. Tom Wolf (D), would update notification timelines, expand the definition of personal information and require state data encryption.

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission aims to amend inmate calling service rules by year-end, Associate General Counsel Russell Fisk told us Thursday. No one spoke for or against the changes at a Thursday virtual hearing due to a commission rule preventing oral comments from parties that filed written feedback. The New Mexico PRC received positive feedback earlier this month in docket 20-00170-UT on a proposal to reduce an existing cap of 15 cents per minute on intrastate rates to 12 cents for state prisons and 14 cents for large local jails (see 2210030053). The record is set to close Tuesday. However, New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association attorney Carol Clifford of The Jones Firm said she planned to file a motion to extend the date so her client could file documents about a pending New Mexico Second Judicial District Court case on attorney-client calls from jails. The PRC would consider the possible motion and any responses, then decide whether to keep the record open longer, Fisk said.

Maine’s single area code could live 15 months longer than previously thought, the Maine Public Utilities Commission said Thursday. The PUC now projects number exhaustion for the 207 area code in Q1 2027. “These additional months are the direct result of multiple actions taken by dedicated Commission staff who have been persistent in efforts to preserve Maine’s single area code,” said Chair Philip Bartlett. “That work includes scrutinizing unnecessary requests for numbering resources.” Efforts included PUC probes into T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless numbering practices (see 2207130042).

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) rejected state USF changes proposed by industry. Many of the state’s local exchange carriers worked on and supported the proposal to shift Alaska USF (AUSF) to connections-based contribution (see 2210110036). At a virtual meeting Wednesday, commissioners took separate 4-0 votes to oppose the plan and instead open a 30-day comment period on a staff proposal to extend AUSF’s sunset date by two years to June 30, 2025 (docket R-21-001). Commissioner Robert Pickett concluded that if the RCA adopted rules based on the industry proposal, they would be dead nearly on arrival at the Alaska Department of Law. Pickett said the RCA requested and received DOL’s legal analysis on the industry proposal. Commissioners voted 4-0 to waive attorney-client privilege and release the DOL memo. “This is absolutely going to require a legislative fix,” said Pickett, but if this isn't fixed this upcoming session, “it's not going to get fixed.” Chair Keith Kurber said he supported extending the current fund to give the legislature time. Saying expanding AUSF into broadband is “problematic,” Commissioner Jan Wilson supported continuing AUSF up to three years to support telephone service. DOL’s legal analysis flagged two big problems with the industry proposal. A 2019 deregulation law known as SB-83 removed “significant statutory authority from virtually every section proposed to be revised,” it said. “Second, there are two situations where apparently similarly situated telecommunications utilities are treated differently based on distinctions that are not supported by statute, although they may have been prior to enactment of SB 83. This creates a probable equal protection problem.”