A district court paused proceedings on Florida’s social media law until the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on the state's appeal of a preliminary injunction. Plaintiffs NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association sought the stay, but Florida disagreed (see 2108190021). The appeals court’s “decision on the pending appeal will almost surely provide substantial guidance for, if it does not dictate the outcome of, further litigation in this court,” wrote Judge Robert Hinkle in an Aug. 25 ruling in case 4:21-cv-00220-RH-MAF.

The Copyright Office can’t recommend legislation that would abrogate “state sovereign immunity when states infringe copyrights,” the CO reported Tuesday. However, the office said it "nevertheless continues to believe that infringement by state entities is an issue worthy of congressional action." It responded to a request from Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Thom Tillis, R-N.C. They asked in April 2020 to determine whether there’s “sufficient basis” for legislation, the CO said. The request followed the Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Cooper, in which the high court “held that Congress had exceeded its authority under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment when it enacted legislation authorizing copyright infringement suits for damages against states,” the CO said. Given legal standard demands and “ambiguity” in application, the office can’t “conclude with certainty that the evidence would be found sufficient to meet the constitutional standard for abrogation,” the CO said, noting it supports exploring alternatives.

Let electric utilities focus on wildfire efforts, said some comments posted Tuesday. The California Public Utilities Commission is considering pilot projects by investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in unserved areas as part of its broadband rulemaking in docket R.20-09-001. Because it's critical IOUs "safeguard infrastructure from igniting catastrophic wildfires, the Commission should not overburden electrical utilities and slow that urgent work,” commented Rural County Representatives of California. The Utility Reform Network agreed: “The CPUC should not require the IOUs to undertake work to expand broadband infrastructure that would divert resources from utility wildfire risk mitigation or service restoration.” Charter Communications wants to ensure there isn’t any overbuilding. Southern California Edison’s proposal for Ventura County is in Charter territory, Charter said. Focus on supporting ISPs deploying broadband, suggested AT&T. Utilities appear reluctant about helping, so don't rely on their "substantial participation,” said Center for Accessible Technology.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission cleared Starlink and three other companies’ petitions to be eligible telecom carriers so they can access Rural Digital Opportunity Fund money, the PUC said Thursday. Commissioners voted 4-0 in favor of petitions by SpaceX’s Starlink, Blue Fiber and Starry, and 3-0 for Frontier Communications. Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille recused herself from the last vote because her brother works for Frontier, a PUC spokesperson said.

Assembly and Senate bills to update the California Advanced Services Fund cleared their opposite chambers’ Appropriations committees in Thursday votes. Next, SB-4 heads to the Assembly floor and the Assembly-passed AB-14 goes to the Senate floor, said a spokesperson for SB-4 sponsor Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D). The cable industry raised fiscal concerns about AB-14 last week (see 2108160046). SB-4 was amended to "conform with" the $6 billion broadband bill enacted last month (see 2107200056), the spokesperson said. AB-14 will be amended similarly on the Senate floor next week, said an aide to sponsor Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D).

Facing consumer advocate concerns in California, AT&T said Wednesday it will delay migrating residential landline customers to Frontier Communications in areas of the state where AT&T currently resells Frontier's ILEC service. The carrier originally set Friday as the date for moving to Frontier any customers who didn’t make an alternative selection. AT&T is seeking to discontinue residential service in Frontier territory and relinquish its eligible telecom commission designation this fall (see 2108030041). “As Communications Division Staff has directed, AT&T Corp. will begin migrating customers 30 days after” the carrier mails a third customer notice, which awaits staff approval, the carrier told the California Public Utilities Commission in a Wednesday filing (docket A.21-05-007). The letter will be co-branded with Frontier and include information on LifeLine renewals, it said. The original Friday termination date became “increasingly more concerning with wildfires and Red Flag warning in certain parts of the state,” said The Utility Reform Network (TURN), Center for Accessible Technology and the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office in a separate statement in the same filing. They raised concerns about possible impacts to California LifeLine users, people with disabilities and medical alert customers. AT&T assured the commission the transition “will be a seamless process that will ensure residential service customers do not lose essential local voice service.” Since AT&T service is "provided under a UNE-P [Unbundled Network Element-Platform] arrangement by Frontier, customers ... will be served with the same network they are on today,” it said. "Frontier will not need to dispatch personnel or equipment, and residential service customers will not be charged disconnection or activation fees due to the migration.” Frontier already handles trouble and repair tickets, AT&T added. The new transition time frame isn’t certain because the CPUC “is looking at this closely and continues its review of the transfer,” including concerns raised by consumer groups, emailed TURN telecommunications staff attorney Ashley Salas. AT&T "continue[s] to work with all applicable regulatory bodies to determine the effective date to no longer resell home phone service in California," a spokesperson emailed Thursday. "Once approved, a very small number of our customers’ services will be transferred to Frontier."

Philadelphia seeks residents' feedback on Verizon for next year’s cable franchise renewal process, the city said Wednesday. The current 15-year franchise with Verizon expires in 2024. Residents can comment by email, voicemail or online. The city “will collect comments for as long as reasonably necessary, but a deadline for feedback will be imposed when the community needs-assessment phase is close to being completed,” a spokesperson said.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio lacks discretionary authority to waive payphone rules for AT&T, commissioners decided at a livestreamed meeting Wednesday. Despite one member saying he’s sympathetic to AT&T, commissioners unanimously denied the telco's motion to waive a requirement that it provide a pay telephone access line and local usage to payphone service providers upon request. It makes sense to change policy, with payphone demand dwindling, but the statute doesn’t give PUCO leeway to waive the rule, said Commissioner Daniel Conway. “Our hands seem to be tied.” Other parts of the same law, including on 911 and telecom relay service, remain relevant, he noted. AT&T will determine next steps after reviewing the order, a spokesperson said. The Ohio commission unanimously voted for two other items involving a 2019 telecom deregulation law. Commissioners supported seeking comment by Sept. 1 and replies by Sept. 10 on draft rules on allowing ILECs to forego carrier of last resort obligations. Also, PUCO adopted an order requiring ILECs to file information so the commission can count basic local exchange service lines for a report required by the 2019 law.

The California Public Utilities Commission set a Sept. 15 prehearing conference on plans for phase two of the body’s inmate calling service (ICS) proceeding. The virtual hearing starts at 10 a.m. PDT, said a Tuesday ruling by Administrative Law Judge Cathleen Fogel. Commissioners voted unanimously last week for an interim order capping intrastate rates at 7 cents per minute for debit, prepaid and collect calls, and prohibiting some fees (see 2108190046). Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves, assigned to docket R.20-10-002, said at that meeting the commission would next look at adopting a permanent rate structure and appropriate fees for text and video communications.

T-Mobile and Dish Network may both testify and cross-examine each other’s witnesses at the California Public Utilities Commission’s Sept. 20 hearing on T-Mobile's shutting down its CDMA network (see 2108160021), Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge Anthony Colbert ruled Tuesday in docket A.18-07-011.