The Texas Public Utilities Commission “will comply” with the Austin state Court of Appeals’ June 30 order to “fully fund” the state’s USF, a spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) emailed us. TPUC approved an increase Thursday in the USF surcharge to 24% from the previous 3.3%, effective Aug. 1 (see 2207140060). The hike was a response to the Court of Appeals’ ruling on a lawsuit by rural LEC associations Texas Telephone Association and Texas Statewide Telephone Cooperative. The court agreed with TTA and TSTC that a 2020 TPUC increase in the USF surcharge to 6.4% violated the state’s constitution and utility and administrative procedure laws (see 2207010045). Abbott vetoed a bill last year to revamp TUSF by adding VoIP providers to the contribution base (see 2106210048). The legislature meets every two years and will return in January.

The Treasury Department cleared broadband funding for four states under the American Rescue Plan’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund, the department said Thursday. Treasury OK'd $83.5 million for Kansas, $110 million for Maine, $95 million for Maryland and $68.4 million for Minnesota. The states’ projects are expected to connect about 83,000 homes and businesses, it said. States must submit plans to Treasury by Sept. 24.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission agreed unanimously to open a proceeding on whether it should revoke LTD Broadband’s eligible telecom carrier (ETC) status for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support (docket M-21-133). Minnesota’s Commerce Department and attorney general’s office had recommended opening the review due to concerns raised in a petition by the Minnesota Telecom Alliance and the Minnesota Rural Electric Association and in local government comments (see 2206090024). At the PUC’s livestreamed meeting Thursday, commissioners supported referring the matter to the Office of Administrative Hearings. PUC members requested proceedings be conducted speedily and include discovery and cross-examination of expert witnesses. LTD Broadband tried to persuade commissioners not to investigate at the meeting. LTD is in compliance and on track with obligations in Minnesota, said outside counsel Andy Carlson of the Taft firm. “There is nothing, other than legal or procedural arguments from other states, that is different” from when the PUC last year decided to approve ETC designation, he said. Revoking ETC status would jeopardize $311 million in federal funding, Carlson added. Commissioner Joseph Sullivan disagreed. “It seems like a lot has changed,” if it’s true that three other state commissions rejected ETC requests and LTD defaulted on 30% of bid locations, he said. Carlson said he meant nothing is different in Minnesota. Commissioner John Tuma said the public-interest reasoning for considering a revocation is that LTD having RDOF funding is blocking others from applying for other government cash in the same areas. Minnesota is always allowed to take a second look at ETC designations, which aren’t static, said Assistant Attorney General Kristin Berkland. Chair Katie Sieben raised concerns that there would be no guarantee Minnesota would win back the $311 million if it rejected LTD. Berkland countered that it would also be problematic if that money came into the state, but LTD didn’t carry out its commitments. Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's broadband task force supported opening the proceeding in a Tuesday letter to the commission.

Texas commissioners will weigh increasing the state USF surcharge to 24% from 3.3% at Thursday's meeting, the Texas Public Utility Commission said Wednesday. The Texas USF (TUSF) revenue-based surcharge would increase effective Aug. 1, said a memo in docket 50796-58. The PUC attributed the increase to reduction of intrastate voice revenue. “Currently, the fund is losing $10 to $11 million per month and the fund currently is in arrears $192 million,” it said. “Additionally, this fiscal year the commission is completing rate of return adjustments for some small and rural ILECs to increase their support payments, which could add an additional $18 million in expenditures per year.” A state court said last month the Texas PUC violated the state’s constitution and utility and administrative procedure laws when in June 2020 it chose not to increase the surcharge to fully fund TUSF (see 2207120028).

Calls made to 988 in any of New York's 62 counties will be routed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline upon the 988 launch Saturday, the governor's office said Wednesday. The state has 13 988 crisis contact centers, with two more in development, it said. It said the state's FY 2023 enacted budget included $35 million to expand the state's 988 crisis call center capacity, with that funding increasing to $60 million on a full annual basis starting in FY 2024. The state Office of Mental Health also allocated $10 million in federal community mental health block grant funding to the call centers for expanded capacity and infrastructure, while the state received a $7.2 million Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant to help cover costs of rolling out the new 988 Lifeline.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission will probe T-Mobile numbering practices, the agency said Wednesday. The 207 area code could exhaust in Q4 2025, but after reviewing T-Mobile’s numbering resources requests from January 2021 through April 2022, the PUC “has reason to question” the carrier’s “forecasting process … and the rate at which old numbers are returned to the system as part of the ‘aging’ process,” it said. The probe follows a similar investigation last year about Verizon Wireless (see 2108030047). The PUC sought T-Mobile’s response in case 2022-00212. T-Mobile didn't comment.

Parties should propose a schedule by July 22 for further briefs on the constitutionality of the pass-through prohibition in Maryland’s digital ad tax, Judge Lydia Griggsby ordered Wednesday in case 1:21-cv-00410-DKC. At oral argument Tuesday, Griggsby decided the ban implicates speech (see 2207120077).

The West Virginia Public Service Commission should investigate a nearly 30-day Frontier Communications outage experienced by some customers in the state’s Kanawha County, the local government said in a letter posted Tuesday (docket 22-0628-T-P). The PSC should audit Frontier and require the company to complete repairs and credit customers, it said. “This is a complete failure on behalf of Frontier to provide service to these residents,” said the county. “Frontier’s delays in making the necessary repairs have created a serious public health and public safety situation.” Frontier last month agreed to a settlement with West Virginia 911 officials over outages (see 2206290010).

The Arizona Commerce Authority unveiled about $100 million in broadband grants Tuesday. It said $75.7 million will go to 14 awardees in rural counties, and $23.6 million will go to six entities in urban counties.

Wisconsin should collect internet access data from ISPs at the household and business level to map broadband infrastructure, said a state broadband report released Tuesday. Among other recommendations, the governor’s broadband task force said Wisconsin should engage communities, reduce permitting and construction barriers, and adopt affordability and adoption policies. “Removing barriers to access, affordability, and the use of broadband are necessary to ensure that all can realize its benefits,” said Wisconsin Public Service Commission Chairperson Rebecca Cameron Valcq.