California Public Utilities Commissioners Lianne Randolph and Genevieve Shiroma met FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and “the need for a path forward for California and other states with broadband programs,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. “Commissioners discussed how California’s state broadband programs can be aligned with the RDOF program to promote bids in California that can cover the high cost of deploying more resilient technologies -- especially fiber -- in rural areas in the state."
Washington state’s House Appropriations Committee OK'd 19-14 privacy legislation Monday: the Senate-passed SB-6281 (see 2002280070). The House Rules Committee will now consider the bill.
The South Carolina Public Service Commission should do nothing in response to a Jan. 30 staff audit, Frontier Communications said Monday in docket 2019-352-C. Office of Regulatory Staff says the company needs to improve reporting and restoration of service outages, and accounting practices for USF spending (see 2002200022). If the commission wants to act, it should collect comments from all providers and apply policies market-wide, the carrier said. “An arbitrary determination that all aging equipment should be replaced is not appropriate or fiscally responsible,” and staff haven't shown a recurring problem justifying regular reports to the commission on status of telecom equipment, said Frontier. The carrier disagreed it should have to specifically state USF spending: ORS hasn’t shown it would help the telco provide affordable service, the provider said.
An Oregon bill to expand state USF to broadband and extend fees to VoIP and cellphones cleared the Joint Committee on Ways and Means at a webcast Friday meeting. HB-4079 reduces the fee to 6% from 8.5% and would take effect Jan. 1. Oregon had missed out on millions of dollars in broadband support because the state couldn’t put up matching funds, said sponsor Sen. Arnie Roblan (D). Cellphone bills could increase 40 to 60 cents, noted Sen. Lee Beyer (D). Sen. Rob Wagner (D) said he was opposed last year but would vote yes despite lingering “heartburn.” Wagner, whose district includes part of Portland, thinks it’s “a little bit problematic and maybe even perverse that we're talking about an urban-rural divide in this state when the folks that are utilizing cellphones in my Senate district are not people who would be benefiting from this last mile or rural broadband expansion.” No Republicans attended the meeting due to their walkout over a climate-change bill.
South Dakota senators passed bills to ban misleading caller ID and make it a crime to trespass, damage or tamper with critical infrastructure including communications facilities. The Senate voted 35-0 Wednesday for the robocalls bill (HB-1131), previously passed by the House, and 34-1 Thursday for the critical infrastructure bill (SB-151), which goes next to the House. The bills cleared a key committee earlier in the week (see 2002250033).
State policy matters for expanding broadband, Pew reported Thursday. Most states have broadband programs, it said. “Differences that reflect the political environment, the state’s resource levels, the geography of the areas that remain unserved by broadband, and the entities that provide service.” Measures many states have taken that "are proving effective" include engaging stakeholders; writing a policy framework with well-defined goals and agency assignments; developing broadband plans, funding projects with broadband grants; and frequently evaluating and modifying programs.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 5-0, without any discussion at a Thursday meeting to extend waivers of certain regulations for Verizon through 2022. It applies to Verizon wire centers reclassified as competitive and given waivers in 2015. Pennsylvania’s Office of Consumer Advocate wanted to end waivers (see 2002200052). The telco and OCA didn’t comment.
Before a key vote Friday on Washington state’s privacy bill, Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Innovation, Technology and Economic Development Committee proposed amendments to the Senate-passed SB-6281. Chairman Zack Hudgins (D) floated one tightening enforcement and removing local preemption. It would give a private right of action, and clarify violations are enforceable under the state Consumer Protection Act. It wouldn’t preempt local laws about facial recognition, or local personal data laws adopted before the state law takes effect. The amendment would make the bill applicable to legal entities that have data of at least 25,000 consumers and get 25% of gross revenue from selling personal data. It’s 50% in the current bill. Ranking Republican Norma Smith proposed in one of multiple amendments to remove a controversial facial recognition section in its entirety. Rep. Debra Entenman (D) proposed to require opt-in consent before controllers use facial recognition on a consumer’s image, and require facial recognition training include information on error rates based on demographical differences. Enforcement and facial recognition have been sticking points, with Microsoft and the tech industry against a private right of action that consumer groups support (see 2002210053). The hearing starts 8 a.m. PST.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau denied a waiver request by Aliso Viejo, California, for a March end-to-end wireless emergency alert test. The city “fails to explain why it must conduct an end-to-end test using a Public Safety Message, rather than the State/Local test category,” the bureau said Wednesday: “The Commission specifically adopted the State/Local WEA test category to provide emergency managers with a way ‘to test in an environment that mirrors actual alert conditions.”
An Alabama Senate panel cleared a 5G bill meant to promote small-cell deployment by pre-empting local governments in the right of way. The Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously Wednesday for SB-172, sending it to the floor. The Iowa Senate voted 50-0 Monday for SF-2196 to extend the sunset of its small-cells bill by three years to July 1, 2025. The House read it for the first time Tuesday. At a Tuesday hearing, the Missouri House Utilities Committee failed to pass a similar bill (HB-2182) that would repeal its law’s Jan. 1 sunset.