Defending a New Jersey prorating rule challenged by Altice, acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck (D) pointed the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to Tuesday’s 1st Circuit decision finding Maine’s prorating law isn’t rate regulation preempted by the Cable Act (see 2201040072). The 3rd Circuit is weighing a New Jersey Board of Public Utilities appeal of a lower court’s March 23 opinion agreeing with Altice that the BPU’s prorating rule is preempted (see 2108240043). "A unanimous panel of the First Circuit held an analogous proration requirement is not preempted by the Cable Act, reversing the contrary decision of the District of Maine on which the court below (and Altice) extensively relied,” Bruck wrote Wednesday. “The panel rejected precisely the same preemption arguments Altice presents here.” The 3rd Circuit earlier scheduled a hearing Jan. 27 in Philadelphia. Altice didn’t comment now.
New York state will give broadband grants to municipalities as part of a $1 billion initiative announced Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) in a State of the State address. The “ConnectALL” effort will empower local municipalities and state agencies to set up nation-leading broadband infrastructure statewide,” Hochul said in a news release. A new broadband office will direct three grant programs, including one that will provide funding to municipalities, nonprofits and others to build open public broadband infrastructure, the governor’s office said. A second program will provide matching grants, plus federal infrastructure dollars, to support last-mile and middle-mile broadband in rural areas; a third will provide competitive grants for connectivity pilot programs, it said. The New York Department of Public Service will develop a broadband map and lead a marketing effort to increase participation in the $30 monthly federal broadband subsidy program, and other state agencies will seek to retrofit affordable housing projects with broadband, Hochul’s office said. The state will develop a digital equity plan and grant program, with a director to be appointed to spearhead those efforts, it said. The state plans regulatory changes including eliminating state use and occupancy fees, streamlining the make-ready process and standardizing right-of-way access for wireless and fiber deployments, the office said. Also, a planned pilot will use existing state fiber to support middle mile, it said. "It is extremely exciting to see New York specifically encourage publicly owned open broadband infrastructure," emailed Christopher Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance director-community broadband networks. "The communities that need these funds have often waited the longest for high-quality Internet access and they may soon have some of the best access at the lowest prices in the state." New York Public Utility Law Project is "heartened" by Hochul's broadband focus, especially with COVID-19 "imperiling in-person schooling and threatening potential closures again," emailed Executive Director Richard Berkley: The state has more than a million homes without fast internet "and many more households with substandard and expensive broadband." CTIA Senior Vice President-State Affairs Jamie Hastings said Hochul's announcement "recognizes the important role of wireless in helping to close the digital divide."
Oral argument on Maryland’s digital ad tax will be held virtually Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. at the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby ordered Tuesday in case 1:21-cv-410-LKG. The hearing is on defendant Maryland’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint and U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other plaintiffs’ cross-motion for summary judgment. The sides disagree whether the Tax Injunction Act bars businesses’ challenge (see 2112130053).
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) set up a rural development office, which will collaborate with the state’s High-Speed Internet Office, the governor’s office said Tuesday. The Office of Rural Development will be part of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the executive directive signed Tuesday. “We are committed to investing in our rural communities and businesses through job creation, broadband and infrastructure expansion,” said the agriculture department’s Director Gary McDowell.
Despite one commissioner's objection, the Nebraska Public Service Commission awarded nearly $18 million in grants under the $40 million Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program, the PSC said Tuesday. The commission voted 4-1 Tuesday to approve the order, with Commissioner Crystal Rhoades (D) dissenting. The PSC accepted 60 applications from 19 providers and rejected 16 applications. Applications and challenges didn’t get “full and fair review” and the awards “may not be the best use of this program’s funds,” said Rhoades, the commission's lone Democrat. Challenges weren’t held to standards set in the program guide, she said. “Because of this, more challenges were upheld than should have been, meaning that applications which should have been approved were not.” Rhoades said she was frustrated by carriers refusing to provide individual customer information due to customer proprietary network information confidentiality concerns, and “unimpressed with most of the applicants’ digital inclusion plans.” Winning applicants included Windstream, Consolidated Communications, Great Plains Communications and Nebraska Central Telephone Co.
Utah USF rule changes took effect Saturday, said a Public Service Commission notice Wednesday on docket 21-R008-04. The Utah Rural Telecom Association supported changes earlier this month and nobody filed opposition (see 2112160058). The changes included establishing an $18 per line monthly broadband subsidy for low-income customers and setting a standard $25 per line monthly rate to be imputed to rate-of-return regulated providers for wholesale consumer broadband-only loops, up from the current weighted $8.97 average.
The New York Public Service Commission must set reasonable rates for cable and broadband pole attachments, under a bill (AB-2396) signed Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D). It takes effect 90 days from enactment.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission denied 4-0 Frontier's petition for reconsideration of a September order on an investigation into the company's "virtual separation," during an in-person and livestreamed meeting Wednesday (see 2110270022). Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Richard Dornfeld told commissioners the Commerce Department "anticipates that it will be able to timely file its comments summarizing its investigation into this matter without issue." Frontier didn't comment.
Florida’s social media law includes “modest regulations” requiring tech companies to publish platform rules upfront, apply them consistently and notify users about violations, and requiring “platforms to host certain content by journalists and political candidates,” the state replied Monday at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (case 21-12355). The law’s challengers, NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, ask the 11th Circuit to affirm a lower court’s preliminary injunction (see 2111090062). It's contradictory for tech companies to “disclaim responsibility for the user speech they host” while arguing “their platforms are full of the platforms’ own speech,” said Florida. "Plaintiffs insist they are no different from newspaper editors, but in truth they are more like a telephone company, controlling the very instrument others use to express themselves.”
Ex-NARUC President Paul Kjellander will retire Dec. 31 from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, he told us Tuesday. After nearly 20 years with the PUC, he will pursue independent contract work, initially in energy, though he isn’t ruling out telecom work, he said. The commissioner had one year left in his term. He will depart NARUC’s board and executive committee but still plans to attend NARUC meetings including Feb. 13-16 in Washington, D.C., he said. Gov. Brad Little (R) would need to appoint a replacement in the new year, the commissioner said. State commissioners’ telecom role “has evolved significantly since I started as a regulator,” the former NARUC Telecom Committee chair said. “I actually am one of the few regulators left -- at least for another week -- who understands the old legacy form of regulation.” Kjellander said he now sees a big “nexus” among the telecom, energy and water sectors, and a “huge opportunity” coming up to use federal infrastructure funding for broadband and advanced communications.