Connecticut’s comprehensive privacy bill neared a Senate floor vote. The Appropriations Committee voted 48-0 Monday to clear SB-6. The Judiciary Committee supported it in a 25-14 vote on the previous Monday. The General Law Committee cleared it earlier (see 2204110039. A Maine biometric privacy bill (LD-1945) cleared the Senate in a 20-14 vote Monday. It returned to the House for a concurrence vote because it was amended. The Maine legislature is to adjourn Wednesday (see 2204180028).

Arkansas can bring broadband to 110,000 unserved homes that don’t currently receive Rural Digital Opportunity Fund support, said a state report released Monday by Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R). Arkansas has 210,000 unserved households, with 100,000 of them covered by an RDOF grant, the governor’s office said. “I look forward to expedited progress as we put into operation the recommendations,” Hutchinson said. Arkansas Commerce Secretary Mike Preston said “we now have a roadmap and a detailed plan to fill the remaining gaps of the underserved areas of our state.” Arkansas will continue partnerships with ISPs, electric cooperatives, the legislature and other stakeholders, “taking recommendations from this plan and updating the broadband rules,” he said. Also Monday, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) said the state will spend $189 million on 14 broadband infrastructure expansion projects in the third round of the state’s broadband grant program. It will cover about 52,900 homes and commercial locations in 80 counties, Holcomb’s office said. Adding to the state’s investment, 35 telecom providers and electric cooperatives committed about $239 million in matching funds, it said. Indiana grants included $13.6 million to Comcast, $6.1 million to AT&T, $2.9 million to Mediacom and $2.2 million to Frontier Communications.

The Maine House passed a biometric privacy bill (LD-1945) in an 89-38 vote Friday and sent it to the Senate to concur. The legislature is to adjourn Wednesday.

Objecting to a proposed ISP challenge process, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) vetoed a Republican state broadband bill that would narrow what areas may receive grants but not limit by speed what projects could get money (see 2202240041). The challenge process in SB-365 would let ISPs “block competition in rural and outlying areas of the state for up to two years by interfering with grants to other providers, potentially leaving residents with no service, inadequate service, or unaffordable service for a longer period,” Evers said in a Friday veto message: “Now is not the time to grant a competitive advantage to providers that have chosen not to deliver this service to these communities.” Evers also objected to codifying the speed definition of unserved areas, which the bill defines as places where no provider has service with 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speeds. “Broadband technology is evolving at a rapid pace and defining the speed of broadband service that leaves an individual as ‘unserved’ in state statute could leave the Public Service Commission unable to make necessary updates” to the state’s grant program quickly, the governor said. SB-365 sponsor Sen. Howard Marklein (R), Senate President Chris Kapenga (R) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) didn’t comment Monday.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed off on an executive branch broadband office, signing HB-1029 into law. “This office will give us a coordinated & streamlined approach to expanding broadband access across the state,” Reeves tweeted. He said it will be led by Sally Doty, executive director at the Mississippi Public Utilities Staff. Reeves earlier signaled support for HB-1029 (see 2203290027).

Two Oklahoma bills meant to empower rural electric cooperatives to provide broadband cleared the Senate Business, Commerce and Tourism Committee at a livestreamed hearing Thursday. The panel voted 11-0 for HB-3835 setting maximum pole-attachment rates when cooperatives and communications companies can’t agree to a negotiated rate. “All parties are giving up something,” sponsor Sen. Brent Howard (R) told the committee. “None of them are real happy about it, but none of them are against it.” The committee later voted 11-0 for HB-1123 prohibiting class-action lawsuits by landowners against companies seeking to expand usage of easements for broadband. On Wednesday in Kentucky, the House voted 73-22 and the Senate voted 20-14 to override a partial veto by Gov. Andy Beshear (D) of HB-315. Beshear objected to an emergency clause in the bill to set up a state broadband office with $300 million from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (see 2204120040).

The California Public Utilities Commission may vote on May 19 to modify various account rules under the California Advanced Services Fund. Wednesday's proposed decision in docket R.20-08-021 would update 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. Changes would include expanding eligibility for public housing grants and increasing that program’s minimum speed requirement to 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, from 6/1 Mbps today. For the adoption program, the proposal would double allowable reimbursement for take-home devices to $300, increase the current one-device-per-household limit to two and expand eligible program costs to include hot spots, modems, switches and computer warranties. The CPUC would increase maximum grants for regional consortiums to $200,000 from $150,000 annually. The commission proposed setting about a $72.6 million budget for CASF that would include about $30.9 million for the infrastructure program, $19 million for adoption, $10.7 million for consortiums, $10 million for public housing and $2 million for tribal technical assistance.

The D.C. Superior Court should reconsider dismissing an antitrust complaint against Amazon, said D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine (D) Thursday in case 2021 CA 001775 B. Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo orally dismissed Racine’s complaint at a hearing last month (see 2203210046). Racine asked the court to reconsider or, alternatively, allow D.C. to amend its complaint or receive a written decision. The court “erred by “misinterpreting and misapplying the plausibility standard” from the 2007 case Bell Atlantic v. Twombly and 2009’s Ashcroft v. Iqbal, “ignoring or failing to accept as true detailed factual allegations in the complaint,” and “incorrectly applying Twombly and Iqbal where there was direct evidence of agreement,” wrote Racine. The AG added a proposed amended complaint adding more allegations about anticompetitive effects from Amazon allegedly artificially inflating consumer prices through restrictive contract provisions and agreements. Amazon didn’t comment.

Hawaii broadband and telehealth bills passed legislative chambers Tuesday. Hawaii House members unanimously passed SB-2076, which would define broadband equity, clarify the state broadband office’s equity duties and provide funding for staff (see 2204050034). The House also unanimously passed SB-2479 to require public housing built, renovated or reconstructed after Jan. 1 to have broadband access (see 2204060011). Because the House amended the bills, they went back to the Senate to concur. Also Tuesday, the Senate voted 25-0 to return to the House an amended HB-1980, which would permit but not require Medicaid, health insurers and others to cover telephonic behavioral health services.

The Colorado House voted 59-5 Wednesday for a broadband bill (HB-1306) to update rules for awarding grant money under the American Rescue Plan Act to comply with finalized federal regulations. It goes next to the Senate. Missouri Senate Commerce Committee members cleared a measure (SB-1074) Wednesday to ban local governments from using federal funds for broadband construction in areas deemed served by the state broadband office. The cable industry supported, but a local government official raised concerns about, the proposed municipal broadband limit at a hearing last week (see 2204060011).