Washington state should make its own broadband map because the FCC map “still has issues” despite improvement from the past edition, said the state broadband office’s director, Mark Vasconi, at a Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee hearing on HB-1746. The House-passed bill would require the state map by July 1, 2024. With as much as $1 billion possibly coming into the state over the next five years, it's “essential that we know where the infrastructure is and who is being served,” Vasconi said at Friday's livestreamed hearing. The Washington Public Utility Districts Association likes that the bill will allow the broadband office to contract with private entities to physically investigate and verify broadband availability on the ground, said lobbyist Scott Richards. On Thursday, the House voted 95-0 to pass HB-1711, which provides a sales and use tax exemption for internet and telecom infrastructure projects involving a federally recognized tribe. It now goes to the Senate. In Georgia, the legislature passed a broadband mapping bill Thursday. The House voted 167-0 for SB-193. It previously passed in the Senate and next will go to Gov. Brian Kemp (R).
A Vermont House panel opted for a straight extension to the state’s Section 248(a) telecom siting process, at a meeting Thursday. The Environment and Energy Committee voted 9-0 for H-110, enough to pass the bill, but kept the roll open to allow another member to vote later. The bill would extend the sunset on the 2007-established infrastructure siting process by three years until July 1, 2026, while making no changes to the process. The Vermont Public Utility Commission and the wireless industry raised concerns about possible additional limits proposed in H-70, which also would have extended the process’ July 1 sunset by three years (see 2303140063). Noting the PUC concerns, Rep. Avram Patt (D) said passing the extension was most urgent and legislators could take more time to consider changes. The committee could come back to H-70 later this year or next year, he said.
A Minnesota 988 surcharge on telecom bills is a must, said state Sen. Melissa Wiklund (D) and a mental health advocate, at a Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services hearing livestreamed Thursday. Wiklund’s bill SF-2588 would allow a 988 surcharge of 12-25 cents monthly. Short-term federal funding is helping the mental health and suicide hotline, said the senator. "However, this is not ongoing funding, and there is a need to create a stable and sustainable funding model to support the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline in Minnesota long term.” Wiklund noted she's talking to telecom industry lobbyists about ensuring accountability for how 988 fee revenue is used, like there is for 911 fee revenue. Mental Health Minnesota Executive Director Shannah Mulvihill said federal funding is "temporary and still not enough,” and Minnesota “can’t depend” on the state’s current budget surplus. "The broad allowable use of these fees reflects reality," she said. "The 988 service fees in this bill will help establish an equitable system to address mental health emergencies and parallel services including 988 call centers." The fee will start at 12 cents if the bill becomes law, said Mulvihill, answering a question by Sen. Paul Utke (R). But Sen. Jim Abeler (R) said it seems like fees always seem to end up at the maximum allowed. And Abeler isn’t sure Minnesotans expect higher fees when the state has a $19 billion surplus, he said.
The District of Columbia’s 911 office will improve processes and be “transparent and accountable to the public,” said its possible next director, Heather McGaffin, at a D.C. Council committee roundtable livestreamed Wednesday. Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Chair Brooke Pinto (D) pressed McGaffin on how she will make the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) more open about errors responding to emergency calls. The committee mulled confirming McGaffin (PR25-0115) to lead OUC and Lindsey Appiah to be deputy mayor-public safety and justice.
Vermont legislators mulled a more restrictive telecom siting process at a livestreamed hearing Tuesday. The House Environment and Energy Committee considered whether to revise the state’s Section 248(a) application process as part of a proposed three-year extension. The Vermont Public Utility Commission, which administers the state process, supports an extension but has concerns that proposed changes could have “unforeseen consequences,” said Greg Faber, the PUC’s legislative liaison.
Texas “cannot continue to wait on Washington, D.C., to protect” state residents’ privacy, said Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R) at a livestreamed hearing Monday. The Texas House Business Committee heard testimony on a privacy bill (HB-4) that Microsoft and other businesses praised as being interoperable with other state laws they like.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted wants verifiable parental consent before kids under 16 can access social media or online gaming platforms, the Republican said at a livestreamed news conference Thursday. The proposed Social Media Notification Act, part of Ohio’s 2024-25 budget proposal, would require companies to determine a user’s age, said Husted: If the user is under 16, the website would have to obtain verifiable consent from a parent or legal guardian and send confirmation of that consent to the parent or guardian’s home. Parents could provide verifiable consent by signing an electronic form, calling a toll-free number, providing a credit card, videoconferencing with trained personnel or providing a government-issued ID, he said. "The facts are clear that social media is harming our children. It's been an epidemic.” Companies “are addicting our kids to their platforms with these very advanced algorithms,” and voluntary safeguards aren’t enough, he added. “We don’t want to make it burdensome,” but if companies “make it too difficult,” he's willing to increase requirements and penalties, he said. The issue is bipartisan, said State Rep. Gail Pavliga (R), who plans to usher the proposal through the General Assembly.
Industry won’t support comprehensive state privacy bills that allow consumers to sue businesses for possible violations, trade groups told legislators this week. Maryland senators weighed a bill (SB-698) with a private right of action (PRA) at a livestreamed hearing Wednesday. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum (D) endorsed her state’s bill (SB-619), which also includes a PRA and gathered support from consumer privacy advocates, at a webcast hearing Tuesday.
Minnesota lawmakers weighed bills Tuesday to release more cash for broadband and create a tax exemption for fiber broadband. In Florida, electric cooperatives raised concerns a bill to apply pole attachment rules to co-ops would make it harder for them to bring broadband to hard-to-serve areas.
A Pennsylvania bill to ban TikTok on government devices and state networks advanced Monday. The Senate Communications Committee voted unanimously by voice to clear SB-379. The bill will “help protect our state’s infrastructure and eliminate the potential access point for bad actors,” Chair Tracy Pennycuick (R) said at the livestreamed hearing. Minority Chair Jimmy Dillon (D) said he will vote for the bill to keep the conversation going. But he noted the Pennsylvania Office of Administration is opposed because it doesn’t think a statutory change is necessary and it's “concerned about a piecemeal approach for banning applications one by one.” Dillon hopes for more conversations with Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) about potential executive action, he said. Sponsor Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R) said 27 states already ban TikTok and it’s “imperative that Pennsylvania takes bold and decisive action.”