The Washington state House wasn’t expected to have passed its privacy bill by Tuesday’s deadline for bills to clear their origin chamber. Instead, HB-1433 sponsor Rep. Shelley Kloba (D) planned to use the language in a proposed amendment to the Senate-passed SB-5062, said Kloba Legislative Assistant Brian Haifley. The House bill backed by the American Civil Liberties Union “will not be moving forward this session, but we are working to assure that any bill, including SB 5062, incorporates the most important provisions of HB 1433: opt-in consent, a private right of action, no loopholes, and no local preemption,” an ACLU-Washington spokesperson said. “These are the baseline protections needed for meaningful and effective data privacy regulation.” The Senate passed SB-5062 last week, for the third straight year (see 2103040007).

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) “intends to sign” a bill to require smartphones and tablets to include pre-installed and automatically activated adult content filters, a spokesperson said Monday. The Senate voted 19-6 for HB-72 Thursday after the House passed it 41-30 last month. It could be some time before it takes effect because the requirement is contingent on five other states enacting similar laws. TechNet and CTA opposed the bill in a Feb. 22 letter to Utah Senate Technology Committee Chair Wayne Harper (R). Many free and paid content filtering services exist, completely reliable filters are not technically feasible, and the bill would inappropriately "place device manufacturers in the role of deciding what content is obscene and whether it should be restricted," said the letter emailed to us by CTA.

The Oklahoma House passed a comprehensive data privacy bill. Members voted 85-11 Thursday for an amended HB-1602, sending the measure to the Senate. The bill is “best described as a heavily-modified version of the California Consumer Privacy Act,” blogged Husch Blackwell privacy attorney David Stauss. Lawmakers deleted a private right of action from an earlier draft, he noted. It would take effect Jan. 1, 2023, the same date as Virginia’s privacy law, which was signed Tuesday. The Washington Senate passed a privacy bill Wednesday (see 2103040007).

The Washington Senate passed a comprehensive state privacy bill for the third straight year. Wednesday’s 48-1 vote sent SB-5062 to the House, where similar bills died in the previous two sessions due to enforcement and other concerns. “Numerous other states, including Virginia, are moving forward with strong privacy legislation,” said sponsor Sen. Reuven Carlyle (D). The House has rival HB-1433 supported by the American Civil Liberties Union that differs from Carlyle’s bill by including a private right of action and opt-in consent (see 2101290053). Tuesday is the Washington State Legislature’s cutoff to pass bills in their originating chamber. Following California in 2018, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed the nation’s second major privacy bill Tuesday (see 2103030060).

A Connecticut panel will consider bills Tuesday to require net neutrality and stop internet data caps during the pandemic, said an agenda Thursday by the Joint Committee on Energy and Technology. SB-4 would include requiring the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to enforce net neutrality. SB-990, introduced this week, would ban broadband providers from imposing data caps until the end of the governor’s emergency declaration. It comes as localities and states respond to Comcast data caps (see 2102120068). The panel also plans to weigh broadband bill HB-6442 proposed by Gov. Ned Lamont (D) and SB-922 to require phone companies text customers.

There’s more legislative work to be done on privacy, said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., in statements after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed a privacy law (see 2102190041). “This is an important first step in providing vital privacy protections to Virginians,” said Warner. “My hope is that Governor Northam and the legislature will improve this law in the near future in important ways, including incorporating my important bipartisan work on dark patterns and enhancing privacy protections around online advertisements.” Northam’s office said he had no comment Wednesday. The new law takes effect in January 2023. DelBene urged Congress to act: “In the face of congressional inaction, states are understandably going at this on their own to protect their residents in our digital age.” The state patchwork is creating confusion for consumers and businesses, she said. She said previously she will reintroduce a bill from last session (see 2101220048). Future of Privacy Forum CEO Jules Polonetsky said FPF is encouraged by the new law, noting it “will be the first in the country to require companies to obtain affirmative opt-in consent for processing sensitive data” and “the first to mandate formal Data Protection Assessments.” Our earlier report on the law is here.

Washington state senators supported a municipal broadband bill that would set terms allowing public utility districts to sell retail telecom services in unserved areas. The Senate voted 43-3 Friday for SB-5383, sending it to the House, which voted 60-37 Feb. 23 to pass HB-1336. Senators voted 45-0 that day to send the House SB-5439, meant to better coordinate broadband installation on state highways through collaboration.

California could switch to connections-based USF contribution by Jan. 1. The California Public Utilities Commission said Friday it plans to vote Thursday on a proposal to open a rulemaking seeking a “straightforward and flexible" mechanism to fund California universal service public purpose programs (PPPs). The current mechanism based on a percentage of intrastate revenue “is not sustainable due to the continuing decline of intrastate revenue billing base being reported by service providers,” said the proposal. The current surcharge is about 7.75%, and the intrastate revenue base declined by more than 58% to $6.43 billion in 2020, from $15.41 billion in 2012, it said. The proposal contributes the decline partly to the FCC classifying text messaging as an information service, which stymied a 2019 CPUC plan to assess SMS (see 1901310023). The CPUC last year doubled surcharges for two USF programs. It also plans to vote Thursday on a proposal to require open access for middle-mile infrastructure funded by the California Advanced Services Fund (see 2102230018) and a $1.3 million proposed fine for Frontier Communications for 2019 service-quality failures (see 2101140058).

Texas Public Utility Commission Chairman DeAnn Walker resigned. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) sought this earlier Monday, citing inadequate response to power outages during the recent winter storm. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) thanked Walker "for her years of service," a spokesperson emailed. Resigning is "in the best interest" of the state, Walker wrote Abbott. The PUC couldn't be reached for comment.

The Maryland House Ways and Means Committee should support exempting news media from Maryland’s digital ad tax law, said local press and broadcaster associations at a virtual hearing Friday. The Maryland General Assembly overrode the governor’s veto of the tax law Feb. 12 (see 2102120050), drawing a lawsuit from business groups (see 2102180053). HB-1200 would remedy Maryland DC Delaware Broadcasters Association concerns, said counsel Tim Nelson. Broadcasting ad revenue is declining partly due to the big tech companies targeted by the tax, he noted. The bill “acknowledges the vital importance of Maryland's local news outlets,” said Rebecca Snyder, executive director of the Maryland, Delaware and District of Columbia Press Association. The exemption is narrowly tailored to newsgathering organizations, she said. It wouldn’t cover news aggregators but would cover small newspapers owned by larger entities like Gannett, she said. Del. Jason Buckel (R) doubted the effectiveness of the bill prohibiting tech companies from passing costs from the tax to small businesses. They might not be able to create an explicit fee, but Maryland can’t stop them from changing their pricing, he said. HB-1200 sponsor Del. Eric Luedtke (D) disagreed that tech companies would pass along the cost, even under the original bill, saying that's “fearmongering.”