California legislators passed several telecom bills in their chambers of origin Monday. The Assembly voted 73-0 for AB-2750 to require the California Department of Technology to develop a state digital equity plan. The Assembly voted 71-0 for AB-2752 to require the California Public Utilities Commission to maintain an interactive map of all last-mile connections from the state’s middle-mile network. The Assembly voted 51-0, with 27 members not voting, for a bill (AB-2408) that would make social media platforms civilly liable for addicting children to their websites. The Senate voted 36-0 for SB-857 to extend California High-Cost Fund A and B programs, set to expire Jan. 1, until Jan. 1, 2028 (see 2204040040). Senators voted 25-3 for SB-884 to require the CPUC to establish an electric undergrounding program that requires telecom providers to cooperate with the power company to put non-wireless infrastructure underground and pay proportionate costs. Meanwhile, the Electronic Frontier Foundation opposed a bill (AB-2749) to revise the CPUC’s review process for California Advanced Services Fund grant applications. The bill, ordered Monday to a third and final reading in the Assembly, would amend the state’s last-mile broadband funding program by restricting the CPUC from requiring providers to offer affordable plans to all residents and forcing the state to treat wireless on equal terms as fiber, EFF said Monday.

A Washington state court denied Google’s motion to dismiss a location-tracking complaint by Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D). The Washington AG sued in January (see 2201240028). "Google attempted to evade accountability for its actions, and the judge rejected the corporation’s arguments," Ferguson said Monday. The state “adequately alleges … that Google engaged in trade or commerce that directly or indirectly affects the people of Washington,” and “has properly pled a Consumer Protection Act … claim against Google,” King County Superior Court Judge Matt Lapin wrote Friday. Trial is set for January. Texas AG Ken Paxton (R) last week amended a separate location-tracking complaint against Google (see 2205190040). Google didn’t comment Monday.

Oklahoma enacted an anti-robocalls bill on Friday. Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) Friday signed HB-3168 after it passed the legislature earlier this month (see 2205120057). The same day, the Oklahoma legislature passed and sent Stitt HB-1123 to provide $2 million for the state’s broadband governing board to use for mapping, plus about $365,000 for fiber technician training. The Senate voted 42-2 and the House voted 77-3.

Don’t try to expand state authority to VoIP and wireless, industry warned the Iowa Utilities Board in Friday comments in docket NOI-2021-0002. IUB Chair Geri Huser said in December the agency plans to finalize a draft bill on telecom statutory changes for the 2023 legislative session, while pushing back on industry concerns the state commission is angling to expand its telecom authority at a December meeting (see 2112130049). A revised draft released last week fails to address industry concerns, commented Lumen, warning the IUB to expect opposition. One problematic section may allow the IUB to determine a service is an essential communication service and broadly regulate it, Lumen said. Another part includes VoIP as a telecom service that the board can regulate, despite the 8th U.S. Circuit of Appeals finding VoIP is an information service, it said. And Lumen raised concerns with the draft possibly allowing investigations into whether an interexchange carrier is providing any service in a nondiscriminatory fashion. "Lumen is not aware of a nondiscrimination requirement associated with broadband services, and any attempt to regulate service quality of broadband services would face an inevitable court challenge.” Proposed complaint rules may exceed IUB jurisdiction, said CTIA: Mandatory administrative assessments "would disproportionately burden wireless providers." The draft could “subject VoIP and wireless to regulation by the IUB in a manner that is preempted by federal law,” warned AT&T, which also cited the 8th Circuit. “Wireless services have been deregulated in Iowa since 1986, and VoIP has never been regulated in Iowa.” Keep that deregulation going, agreed Verizon. "As there does not appear to be any evidence that the statute and rules are not working as currently written and with no deadline mandate, we ask that the Board take the time and careful consideration necessary to work through the implications of these sweeping changes.” The Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities also opposed the board expanding regulatory authority. The IUB plans a workshop on the matter Thursday at 8 a.m. CDT.

California will spend about $225 million on optical fiber and other materials to construct 3,000 miles of the state’s middle-mile network, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Friday. The state technology department awarded contracts to two vendors, said the governor’s office. Anixter will receive about $113.5 million over four years for fiber; Graybar Electric will get $111 million for conduits, vaults and construction hardware, a department spokesperson said. “With this milestone in place, we can continue our planning with” the state’s transportation department “to begin installing the fiber as soon as possible,” said Middle-Mile Advisory Committee Chair Russ Nichols. Middle-mile network construction is expected to be completed by December 2026, the governor’s office said.

Google’s incognito mode misleads users into thinking their web search and activity history isn’t recorded, said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in an amended complaint Thursday at Texas District Court in Victory County (case 22-01-88230-D). Paxton added that claim to his original suit claiming Google violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by tracking users’ locations even if they disabled location tracking (see 2201240028). “Google claims to give users control and to respect their choice but in reality, regardless of the settings users select, the Big Tech giant is still hard at work collecting and monetizing the location and other personal information that users seek to keep private,” said Paxton. The Texas AG's case is "based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings," said a Google spokesperson. "We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data. We strongly dispute these claims and will vigorously defend ourselves to set the record straight.”

The California Public Utilities Commission shouldn’t investigate T-Mobile’s MetroPCS while related litigation is pending at U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the company said in a motion posted Wednesday in docket I.22-04-005. Metro faces up to $230 million in possible fines for failing to remit California USF payments for prepaid phone service, the CPUC said last month (see 2204250049). The court case “is expected to go to trial by early 2023,” Metro said.

An administrative law judge dismissed AT&T’s challenge of Florida Public Service Commission pole attachment rules Wednesday. The failure of AT&T’s appeal means the PSC could approve a certification to reverse preempt the FCC’s pole attachment authority as soon as its July 7 meeting (see 2205160059). The Florida commission "properly engaged in rulemaking, considered the interests of regulated entities and their consumers, made changes to the rule based thereon, and ultimately approved the Proposed Rule based on that robust process," said Florida Division of Administrative Hearings ALJ Andrew Manko. The carrier had said the PSC should explicitly use FCC rules as the default. But Manko said the PSC "reasonably chose not to include methodologies so that it could develop precedent on those substantive standards through the unique adjudicatory process mandated by the Legislature." Florida's pole attachment rules aren't "illogical, unreasonable, despotic, or arbitrary and capricious," said Manko: Nothing in the federal Communications Act Section 224(c) "requires a state to adopt a specific methodology in its rules, much less to certify that it has done so," and not adopting a specific method doesn't contravene Florida law's requiring the state rules, "even if that statute were interpreted to require compliance with the federal certification standards,” he said. The Florida commission filed the rule Thursday with the state department, and it will take effect June 8, said a PSC spokesperson: Florida still must certify its pole attachment authority to the FCC. AT&T didn’t comment.

The California Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 to modify various account rules under the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Also at Thursday’s livestreamed meeting, the CPUC decided to update the California LifeLine program renewals process. Commissioners supported updating CASF program rules for the Broadband Public Housing Account, Broadband Adoption Account and Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Account in response to a $6 billion broadband package and three other 2021 state laws (see 2204140056). “To be fully and meaningfully connected to internet services, communities need not just access and affordable infrastructure, but also devices, training and support,” said CPUC President Alice Reynolds: Adopted changes will help build gap networks in low-income and affordable housing communities, train digital navigators and provide digital literacy education. Commissioner John Reynolds joined other commissioners supporting the item. “By adopting key changes to the CASF such as expanding program eligible for farmworker housing, further expansion of eligibility for low-income communities and setting a [25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload] speed requirement for the Public Housing Account, the CPUC will continue its mission of bridging the digital divide and advancing areas of California that have been historically unserved or underserved,” he said. The CPUC cleared the LifeLine proposed decision in a unanimous vote on its consent agenda. The adopted item in docket R.20-02-008 would comply with a 2021 state law by eliminating "use of a PIN for all renewals completed through database matching and for all participants with personal identification information on file as of the date the renewals suspension concludes," and implementing "recertification without a Commission-issued PIN for participants without a database match or personal identification information on file by" Dec. 31, 2023 (see 2203220026).

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) will probe social media companies about Saturday’s mass shooting in Buffalo, her office said Wednesday. James will investigate how the shooter used social media “to discuss and amplify his intentions and acts to carry out this attack,” with a focus on “platforms that may have been used to stream, promote, or plan the event, including but not limited to” Amazon’s Twitch, 4chan, 8chan and Discord, the AG office said. “That an individual can post detailed plans to commit such an act of hate without consequence, and then stream it for the world to see is bone-chilling and unfathomable,” said James. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) asked James to investigate. “We need to respect individual First Amendment rights, but when individuals use online platforms to promote and plan violence, it raises questions about the role of social media platforms in the promotion of the violence,” the governor said.