State Regulators at NARUC Urged to Work on Social Justice

Protecting state eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation will be a top priority for NARUC, said Presley before the Telecom Committee quickly and unanimously supported a proposed resolution to reject congressional proposals to scrap the USF requirement. State commissioners say their ETC authority is important to a strong federal partnership (see 2007100033).

State regulators’ work is like making a good steak, said the NAACP president: Nobody knows "what you do, but like salt in food, if you didn't do your work, people would notice immediately.” But “there also need to be spices in the food," which are often "lacking because of the lack of diversity” among regulators, Johnson said. Diversity "ensures an outcome that's truly representative" of constituents, he said: regulators must speak for regular consumers whose voice isn’t as loud as businesses or municipal leaders.

“We’re living through a second civil rights movement,” and NARUC members must look at “social change and racial justice in a way that maybe we haven’t before,” said Presley. NARUC will host “meaningful dialogues” about social justice, he promised. “The uncomfortable conversations are the conversations we need to be having.” On another issue some see as related to social justice, the FCC chairman asked Presley and his colleagues across the country to act to lower intrastate inmate calling service fees (see 2007200058).

The pandemic is exacerbating racial inequities, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates Executive Director David Springe said on a keynote panel. “The virus and some of the economic hardship is really hitting our communities of color hardest.”

ETC Resolution

The Telecom Committee cleared the draft resolution less than five minutes after opening its virtual business meeting Monday. It will let General Counsel Brad Ramsay contact Capitol Hill aides and "fight to ensure that the ETC designation stays in place," said Chair Karen Charles Peterson. The Maine Public Utilities Commission is already contacting its congressional delegation about the issue, noted Commissioner Bruce Williamson.

The proposed resolution would ask Congress to reject the Expanding Opportunities for Broadband Deployment Act (HR-7160) by Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and amend the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-7302) by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., to require providers seeking reimbursement be designated ETCs. FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and cable and wireless ISP groups supported ending state ETC designation.

State ETC designation is “not some huge barrier” to participation in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction, USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter said on an earlier panel. USTelecom members are subject to ETC rules and don't support removing designation requirements for only some types of providers (see 2006300010). Bidders don’t need to be ETCs to participate in the auction, though winners would need to certify, Spalter noted. Congress shouldn’t hastily pass “this carve-out designed by -- and that would only benefit -- certain special interests” that don't already face ETC regulation. USTelecom supports a broader debate later on “the future of regulation, including ETC designation writ large and whether it’s the best vehicle for protecting consumers,” he said.

The state ETC process is “incredibly important consumer protection,” said NASUCA’s Springe. The association wrote the Senate Commerce Committee last week (see 2007170053).

Movement on broadband policy now seems likely amid the global pandemic, said panelists during a digital divide session.

Congress should -- but won’t necessarily -- act right away to fund broadband, cautioned Joseph Wender, aide to Sen. Ed Markey (D). Directly funding broadband in a COVID-19 stimulus bill would be best so, for example, connectivity isn’t competing with teacher salaries, he said. But with many broadband proposals and a push to limit the scope of the next stimulus, “it’s a question of how much can Congress ... chew off,” he said. “Congress is clearly going to come back to broadband at some point,” said Wender, citing “tremendous appetite” for an infrastructure bill, he said.

There’s political consensus for Congress to act, unlike 2010 when the FCC wrote the National Broadband Plan, said New Street Research analyst Blair Levin, the plan’s architect. “We were told ... to be bold and creative but not to look for Congress to spend any more money,” he said. Now, “there’s a number of proposals for Congress to spend money.” An infrastructure bill seems likely in the next four years regardless of who's president, he said.

“There is a political will,” agreed USTelecom Senior Vice President-Policy Patrick Halley. Pew Broadband Research Initiative Manager Kathryn de Wit concurred. "The tide has shifted.” The digital divide won’t be bridged by any single level of government acting alone, she said: “States are uniquely positioned to lead on this issue” because they work closely with federal and local officials.