The Louisiana House supported legislators’ second try on a bill to spur rural broadband by electric cooperatives (see 2006220044). Members voted 102-0 Wednesday, sending SB-10 back to the Senate for concurrence. Cooperatives support SB-10 as passed and expect no issues in the Senate, said Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives CEO Jeff Arnold.

Indiana disagrees with "some aspects" of a state Supreme Court ruling that individuals may refuse to unlock their phones for law enforcement to avoid self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment, a spokesperson for Attorney General Curtis Hill (R) said Wednesday. "We are carefully reviewing it to determine how it will impact future criminal investigations involving electronic devices." The court ruled against the state Tuesday in Katelin Seo v. Indiana (18S-CR-00595), reversing a trial court that held Seo in contempt for refusing to unlock her iPhone. “By unlocking her smartphone, Seo would provide law enforcement with information it does not already know, which the State could then use in its prosecution against her,” wrote Chief Justice Loretta Rush, who seemed to bristle at April 2019 oral argument in which Indiana said individuals may not refuse (see 1904180025). Indiana argued if the compelled act doesn't give the government additional information, the result is a “foregone conclusion” not protected by the Fifth Amendment, but Rush said that exemption doesn’t apply in this case and possibly others involving smartphones due to their “unique ubiquity and capacity." Justices Mark Massa and Geoffrey Slaughter dissented. The case “was mooted when the underlying criminal case was dismissed,” wrote Massa. “And this now-moot case shouldn’t be resolved under our ‘great public interest’ exception because doing so could -- in violation of the core principles of federalism -- leave our Court as the final arbiter of our nation’s fundamental law.” State courts have split on smartphone encryption. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court sided with law enforcement, while the Pennsylvania Supreme Court supported Fifth Amendment protections. The New Jersey Supreme Court held argument on a similar case in January (see 2001210053). The Constitution's individual privacy protection is important, but the document "also recognizes society’s equally important interest in investigating crime and holding criminals responsible," said the Indiana AG spokesperson said. "These legal issues are difficult, and courts all across the county are struggling with how to strike the right balance when modern technology is concerned. Our argument in this case has always been that police followed the proper procedures to obtain a court order and Ms. Seo should have also followed proper court procedures rather than first openly flaunting her contempt for the trial court." The Electronic Frontier Foundation is “gratified by the ruling, and we’re watching for courts in New Jersey, Oregon and elsewhere to continue the trend of protecting against compelled decryption,” blogged Senior Staff Attorney Andrew Crocker.

Two Hawaii House committees supported a proposed state broadband grant program Monday. The Economic Development and Business Committee voted 8-0 and the Intrastate Commerce Committee voted 7-0 for SB-2527. The Senate-passed bill needs Finance Committee signoff. In North Carolina, the House Appropriations Committee cleared a broadband bill (SB-284) that day to streamline leasing on state property and provide $1 million in grants for satellite broadband. Senators received HB-1105 Tuesday to appropriate $30 million for an Information Technology Department special supplementary grant process after the House passed it 119-0 Monday. Several states are advancing broadband bills in response to COVID-19 (see 2006220044).

The California Public Utilities Commission extended through Aug. 31 the temporary suspension of state LifeLine renewals and de-enrollments for non-usage and the three-month documentation rule for demonstrating income-based qualification. Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Wang’s emailed ruling in docket R.20-02-008 aligns the CPUC with the FCC’s June 1 order on federal Lifeline, and lengthens a previous ALJ ruling to extend suspensions through June 30 (see 2006080039).

U.S. Cellular disputed findings of an investigation of Mobility Fund-II coverage released last year (see 1912040027). “We have identified substantial inconsistencies in the FCC staff data collection process,” the carrier said. It focused on results from Vermont. “Some drive test data points are located in areas outside of U.S. Cellular’s MF-II Coverage map” and “results contain duplicate data test points, affecting the percentage of successful tests.” Testing was done from a vehicle “ignoring MF-II requirement that tests be conducted outdoors.” A company official spoke with aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, among other staff, said a filing posted Friday in docket 19-367.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission authorized funding for a 90-day pilot by Hamilton Relay of real-time texting technology for low-income people who need assistance communicating. Commissioners voted 4-0 Thursday to use funding from the state telecom relay service fund, the agency said. The pilot will include 50 participants and help the PUC decide if wireline RTT devices should be included in the TRS telecom device distribution program, it said. Hamilton will notify the commission 20 days before starting the pilot and confirm its proposed $167,575 cost then, a PUC spokesperson said.

States should stop local governments from giving special tax and other privileges to municipal networks without extending the same to private networks, Wichita State University Institute for the Study of Economic Growth Executive Director Theodore Bolema wrote Thursday in a Free State Foundation paper. Bolema said a Michigan bill (HB-5673) by Rep. Donna Lasinski (D) to expand local government taxing authority for muni networks would tilt the playing field. But the article supports a “monopolist industry” effort to put down a grassroots initiative “to develop the internet access they desperately need and industry refuses to provide,” responded Kitsch’s Mike Watza, a telecom attorney for Michigan local governments. The bill “allows local folks to organize through their local township offices, to assess a particular area ... for the purpose of financing the development and provision of” affordable broadband, he emailed Thursday. Michigan Broadband Cooperative President Ben Fineman emailed, "The assertion that townships (who are the only government entities affected by HB 5673) want to compete with incumbent providers is laughable." Only townships that have significant populations without broadband access would tap the mechanism, he said. "Rural townships running on a few part time staff are certainly not looking for more work, but they are looking for tools to address what has become the number one concern for many rural residents." Fineman doesn't expect a quick hearing on HB-5673 because state legislators' political priority now is the pandemic, he said. Lasinski didn’t comment.

The California Senate Appropriations Committee cleared Thursday SB-1130 to raise the minimum speed standard to 25 Mbps symmetrical (see 2005270037), per unofficial results released by the committee. Under current law, California Advanced Services Fund support may only go to areas where no facilities-based provider offers 10/1 Mbps. A recent amendment reduced an earlier version’s proposed requirement that subsidized projects deliver 100 Mbps symmetrical, changing that to at least 25/3 Mbps. Numbers could still change since it’s “not a finished product,” said Rural County Representatives of California Legislative Advocate Tracy Rhine. The committee held SB-1058 that would require ISPs file emergency operations plans for disasters and emergencies and SB-1069 for telecoms to report location and status of infrastructure and performance of emergency alert messages.

CenturyLink seeks to cancel its payphone certificate in South Carolina because it has no customers there and no longer plans to provide intrastate service, the telco wrote the Public Service Commission Tuesday. CenturyLink still has payphones “in a handful of other states based on existing contracts,” a spokesperson emailed Wednesday.

Louisiana’s second try at an electric cooperative broadband bill is expected get a House Commerce Committee vote Monday and be on the floor Wednesday, SB-10 sponsor Sen. Beth Mizell (R) emailed Wednesday. “We are running short on time and I am looking at possible options to a quicker passage over there.” Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) vetoed Mizell’s earlier SB-406 due to amendments that restricted co-ops to unserved areas (see 2006160051). Edwards supports SB-10 as drafted, so Mizell “requested all colleagues to leave it untouched by any new amendments,” she said. The bill would ask internet providers and co-ops to next year report any deployment impediments, which “would allow for legislation for next session to address any concerns they bring up,” she said.