The Oklahoma USF (OUSF) administrator expects to seek a 34% increase to the connections-based surcharge, to about $1.53, said Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) Telecom Coordinator Mark Argenbright at a virtual workshop Tuesday. Increased support is needed to fulfill demand from transferring remaining support in the former high-cost fund to OUSF, increased demand for primary OUSF support, and an ongoing funding deficit for previously granted support, said a document displayed at the meeting. Oklahoma implemented connections-based contribution in November. Other states that adopted the method have had unstable surcharges, and the possible Oklahoma increase might show the same happening here, said Director-State Regulatory Benjamin Aron. If the OCC had kept a revenue-based method, the surcharge would have jumped to more than 17%, from about 6.3% before the commission shifted to connections, noted Argenbright. The OCC aims to propose statutory language to shift OUSF’s mission to broadband in time for the 2023 legislative session, he said. It’s an odd time to repurpose USF for broadband, considering so much federal money is flowing into the state, said Aron. It seems premature to talk about writing a OUSF bill to support broadband without a better understanding of what will happen with federal dollars, agreed Bill Bullard, attorney for Consolidated Communications and other rural LECs. The OUSF administrator is "sensitive" to other sources of broadband funding and gets that coordination will be needed with the newly formed state broadband council, said Argenbright: Talks to develop an OUSF revamp bill should continue.

A New York state Senate panel supported municipal broadband Monday. The Senate Local Government Committee voted by voice to send S-594 to the floor, with Sen. George Borrello (R) voting “without recommendation.” The bill by Sen. Rachel May (D) would establish a right for local government to create a muni broadband network on their own or by contracting with a company, and allow municipal corporations to issue and sell bonds to fund network infrastructure.

MetroPCS faces up to $230 million in possible fines for failing to remit California USF payments for prepaid phone service, the California Public Utilities Commission said Friday. The CPUC ordered an investigation into whether T-Mobile’s Metro violated the state’s 2014 Prepaid Act. The agency said the carrier failed to remit the full amount of surcharges and user fees paid by customers in 2017 and 2018 for state public purpose programs that support low-income and disadvantaged consumers. CPUC staff tried to collect, but Metro claims it owes nothing, the agency said. A related 2017 lawsuit brought by MetroPCS (see 1811060005) is pending in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco (case 3:17-cv-05959-JD). The company challenged the Prepaid Act and related CPUC resolutions imposing surcharges as unlawful and preempted. The district court agreed with Metro in a 2018 decision, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded in August 2020. The district court case awaits a new trial date and is scheduled for a case management conference May 12, the CPUC said. "This is a longstanding dispute with the CPUC that Metro has been litigating in federal court for well over four years," a T-Mobile spokesperson said. "We ... are confident in our position based on federal law. Metro has remitted and continues to remit surcharges to the Commission consistent with federal law and in a manner that is non-discriminatory to its prepaid customers."

Arkansas could use part of a $1 billion surplus expected by June 30 for broadband, Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said on a webcast news conference Friday. Other options for the state surplus include schools and tax relief, said Hutchinson: specific amounts haven't been determined. The governor said state Commerce Secretary Mike Preston will work with the legislature to revise state broadband funding rules per recommendations in a state report released earlier in the week that found Arkansas can bring broadband to 110,000 unserved homes that don’t currently receive Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support (see 2204190020). Revised rules would aim to increase competition for grants and provide more accountability, Hutchinson said. Also, Arkansas plans to “strengthen” its state broadband office, he said. Praising the report’s recognition of fixed wireless, Hutchinson said “flexibility is important and necessary.” The report estimated it would be feasible to extend fiber to all 110,000 unserved locations for $500 million, said Preston. Hutchinson urged the U.S. government to expedite deployment in the federally funded areas. "Under the current federal rules, 90% of the census blocks in Arkansas are covered by the federal programs and they're exempt from our ability to accelerate those,” he said. “Providers have six years to roll out that broadband,” said the governor. "That's a long time. That's not as fast as I would like it to go."

LTD Broadband asked the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission to reconsider denying the company’s designation as an eligible telecom carrier. Company CEO Corey Hauer told us in February that LTD would challenge (see 2202220060). The PUC exceeded “the plain language of its administrative rules and impos[ed] requirements for ETC status on LTD that it has never applied to any other applicant,” and the decision included multiple erroneous factual findings, LTD said Wednesday in docket TC21-001. Also, the commission “found that LTD lacked the ability to deploy its network because, at least in part, LTD's estimated construction costs for fiber-to-the-home deployment were understated, it said. “LTD has in fact deployed fiber-to-the-home network at a lower cost than even its estimates since the evidentiary hearing in this matter concluded.”

Connecticut’s comprehensive privacy bill got a 35-0 bipartisan vote in the Senate and will go to the House. Democratic and Republican state senators praised the amended SB-6, modeled after Colorado’s privacy law, on the floor Wednesday (see 2204200070). "There is a crisis of privacy that we must overcome," said Senate President Bob Duff (D). The amended bill would apply to companies that possess personal data of 100,000 Connecticut residents in the previous calendar year, up from 65,000 in a previous version, or 25,000 residents if more than 25% of revenue comes from processing that data. Under other changes, controllers would no longer have to authenticate opt-out requests and children-specific protections would apply to 13-to-16-year-old teens, which is narrower than ages 13 to 18 in the previous version. In Maine, biometric privacy bill LD-1945 died amid disagreement between chambers.

The Florida House voted 70-38 to remove an exemption for theme park owners from its social media law. Many Democrats voted no while loudly demonstrating against redistricting bills passed earlier that day. SB-6 “is the bill repealing the carveout that every Democrat voted to oppose last year,” said Rep. Alex Andrade (R) before the webcast vote. The Senate passed it Wednesday, a day after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) asked legislators to remove special districts and privileges for Disney in Florida in response to the company’s opposition to HB-1557, what opponents call the “Don’t Say Gay” law (see 2204200047). The governor’s office didn’t comment on when DeSantis would sign. Oral argument is scheduled for next Thursday on the underlying social media law at the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. With Congress not passing any “meaningful” online content regulations, “state governments have begun experimenting with ways to regulate online expression,” said a University of North Carolina Center on Technology Policy report released Thursday. “On the right, legislators have introduced dozens of bills addressing what they see as problematic online censorship. On the left, legislators have introduced a series of bills addressing what they see as harmful online content. Yet, state legislation from both Democrats and Republicans faces significant legal and practical challenges, limiting the efficacy of state government reform efforts to date.” Asked Thursday about his support for the amended bill, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr disputed that the removal of the theme park exemption was a response to Disney’s political speech. The proclamation calling for a special session to amend the bill frames the change as a response to the courts criticizing the original legislation for giving Disney special status, Carr said on a press call. “Eliminating that legal vulnerability made sense,” he said.

A group of wireless tower climbers filed for union representation, a U.S. first, the Communications Workers of America said Wednesday. A majority of QualTek climbers in Henderson, Nevada, petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a union election last week, the communications union said. CWA President Chris Shelton urged QualTek management to negotiate a fair contract. He said “there is a growing movement among tower climbers across the country.”

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission sought comments on a review of local exchange carrier-to-carrier rules in case 22-48-TP-ORD. State law requires agencies to review rules every five years to decide if they should be continued, amended or cut, the PUC said Wednesday. Comments are due May 13, replies May 20, it said.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission will open a rulemaking to update state USF rules. Commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday to adopt staff's recommendation in docket AR 649. Telecom industry groups gave mixed reviews last month to the PUC’s plan to adopt a CostQuest model to decide the size of the Oregon USF (OUSF) starting Jan. 1 (see 2203310040). Deciding to issue an NPRM is merely a “jumping-off point” for the rulemaking, reminded Chair Megan Decker at Tuesday’s virtual PUC meeting. The PUC signed a contract earlier in the week to use a CostQuest model, said PUC senior telecom analyst Nicola Peterson. But the proposed NPRM is a framework to move forward while allowing input, she said. "I don't think putting it off is going to help make it an easier process." The Oregon Telecommunications Association doesn’t want to open a rulemaking that says the PUC will use a model when it doesn’t yet understand the model’s potential results, said OTA attorney Rick Finnigan: The PUC should take more time. "This is important and we need to get it right," he said. The Oregon Cable Telecommunications Association supports moving forward because it thinks the proposed framework is “flexible enough” to let parties work with the model, said Davis Wright’s Mark Trinchero. Commissioner Mark Thompson supported moving forward, while sympathizing with OTA’s concerns. “It is resonating with me that it feels a little weird to ... adopt a rule that says we're going to use a cost model when there seems to be concerns that we really don't know what that cost model is going to produce.” Commissioner Letha Tawney said she sees “outs” for the commission if “this goes off the rails.” Concerned parties should proactively engage, she said.