South Carolina’s small-cells bill stumbled, missing this year's regular session deadline last week. This was the first year of the South Carolina legislature's two-year session. So January, the House-passed bill can be picked up where lawmakers left off in the Senate Judiciary Committee, a House Republican Caucus spokesperson told us. “The fast track through the General Assembly took a detour,” a Myrtle Beach spokesperson emailed Tuesday. “It was headed for swift approval, but caution prevailed.” The city opposed HB-4262, which aimed to streamline 5G wireless infrastructure deployment by pre-empting local governments in the right of way. CTIA and wireless companies supported the measure, urging 2019 passage in a May 1 letter to Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee Chairman Thomas Alexander (R). “The bill is the result of deliberate negotiation and compromise by many parties, including the Municipal Association of South Carolina,” the industry allies wrote. “Delaying passage until next year, therefore, will not result in a better bill” but “will deprive local governments of the additional application fees, right‐of‐way access fees, and tax revenues they will receive under the bill,” and hold back wireless broadband investment. CTIA declined to comment Tuesday. The Nebraska Legislature passed a small-cells bill Monday (see 1905130025). A CTIA-backed Alabama bill (SB-264) was pending third reading Tuesday in the Senate.
The Assembly passed a proposed tweak to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) changing a requirement that businesses give consumers two or more ways to submit information requests. Members voted 73-0 Monday to send to the Senate AB-1564, under which businesses would be required to give either a toll-free number or an email and physical address, plus a web form if it has a website, for consumer information requests. The Assembly amended but left pending AB-1138, which would prohibit social media sites from allowing children under 13 to sign up without parental consent. The amendment would let companies use any FTC-verified method to comply. The Senate Appropriations Committee placed another privacy bill (SB-564) in the committee suspense file. The bill lays out when an individual has a cause of action against someone who distributes sexually explicit material depicting the person, and related procedures and requirements. The committee plans to weigh that and Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s (D) proposed tweaks to CCPA (SB-561) at a Thursday hearing. The committee also Monday placed on suspense SB-603, a bill to authorize a small independent phone corporation to initiate a rate case at the California Public Utilities Commission through either an advice letter or application. The Assembly unanimously passed AB-956 Monday to clarify automatic dialing devices may be used once a year to test 911 for data accuracy and emergency alert capabilities. It would let phone companies share personal information without prior consent for the purpose of issuing an emergency alert or testing the alert system.
Seeking an OK to combine, T-Mobile and Sprint urged the California Public Utilities Commission to enforce 50 voluntary commitments the carriers said they made over the course of the state's lengthy review. The carriers listed its pledges in an appendix starting on page 105 of a Friday reply brief in docket A.18-07-011. In that and other closing arguments, positions appeared largely unmoved from the opening round (see 1904290065). Reject arguments of opponents including the Communications Workers of America and consumer advocates who “have dug in their heels,” the companies said: “Intervenors seem intent on condemning Californians to the status quo, where AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and the cable companies dominate the wireless and broadband markets.” The combining firms urged prompt OK of the wireline part of its transfer in a separate reply. CWA urged denial: “Applicants have failed to provide evidence of verifiable, merger-specific public interest benefits.” The CPUC "Public Advocates Office opposes the proposed merger because it is not in the public interest,” PAO said. Alleged public benefits from 5G are “not unique to this merger,” with the record showing Sprint and T-Mobile would deploy 5G individually without the deal, it said. The Utility Reform Network understands technical benefits of combining networks for the companies, but the carriers didn’t show how that translates into direct benefits for consumers, TURN replied. The Greenlining Institute urged the CPUC to reject the carrier’s procedural attempt to split review into two proceedings "despite the fact the Commission consolidated Joint Applicants’ wireline and wireless applications, because those applications involved related questions of law or fact.” The California Emerging Technology Fund, which signed a pact with the carriers that included $35 million for CETF (see 1905080024), now “enthusiastically and wholeheartedly” supports the deal. Ion Media, meanwhile, told the FCC in a letter posted Monday in docket 18-197 it supports the deal. “The deployment of 5G networks promises to create a new alternative for video distribution for consumers all over the United States,” Ion said: “The New T-Mobile’s network, which is expected to deliver coverage, speeds, and capacity far superior to what either T-Mobile or Sprint could offer on their own, will enhance ION’s ability to provide the highest quality entertainment to consumers, at home and on the go.” But Dish Network told the FCC it shouldn’t approve the transaction because Sprint might otherwise fail as a company. “At no point during this proceeding have the Applicants attempted to assert that Sprint meets the definition of a failing firm under the Department of Justice’s Horizontal Merger Guidelines,” Dish said. “This is because -- as Sprint’s own statements demonstrate -- the company cannot make such a showing.”
Prospects again seem iffy for Rhode Island lawmakers to stop 911 fee diversion this session. Advocates told us they’re trying to build momentum outside the State House. The House Finance Committee plans Wednesday to hear testimony on H-5933 by Rep. John Lyle and four other Republicans. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (D) told us the matter should be taken up in the budget process, and only if Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) edits her proposed budget that doesn't end the practice. Similar Republican bills failed in previous sessions under a Democratic political trifecta.
State lawmakers backed telecom bills on the municipal right of way and caller-ID spoofing this week. The Texas House passed a bill meant to stop municipalities from charging telecom providers twice when they use the ROW for phone and video. The House voted 92-50 Wednesday after the Senate last month voted 26-5 for SB-1152, which would require a provider to pay the municipality only the greater of the two sums due. The bill needs the governor’s signature to become law. The same day in Maine, the Senate concurred with the House to pass LD-1192, a pole-attachments bill that exempts municipalities from pole expenses (see 1904220023). To stop robocalls that use fake phone numbers to trick consumers, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) signed LB-693 Wednesday. It unanimously cleared the legislature last week (see 1905030038). Wednesday in California, the Assembly Appropriations Committee unanimously cleared AB-1132 to fine spoofers $10,000 per violation. California senators Tuesday ordered the Consumer Call Protection Act (SB-208) to third reading. The telecom industry raised concerns about the Senate bill, which would set a July 1, 2020, deadline for providers to implement Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (Shaken) and Secure Telephony Identity Revisited (Stir) protocols (see 1903270039).
Maine lawmakers passed a broadband bill allowing municipalities to construct, maintain and operate infrastructure. The Senate concurred Tuesday with the House to pass HB-1063 (see 1905030038). North Carolina House members voted 115-1 that day to pass H-387 empowering electric cooperatives to provide broadband. The House sent the bill to the Senate, which last week voted 49-0 to pass the similar S-310 (see 1905020050). Maine incumbent Consolidated Communications has "serious concerns with the use of public funds to overbuild existing broadband networks," wrote Vice President-Regulatory Mike Shultz about the Maine bill. "Collaborative arrangements between municipalities and existing service providers, like the public-private partnerships we recently announced in Chesterfield, N.H., and Brooklin, Maine, lessen the burden on taxpayers and ensure appropriate design and maintenance of the network." The Maine Municipal Association pushed for the bill and doesn't expect a veto since the bill won't cost the state and got unanimous support from legislators, emailed MMA Legislative Advocate Garrett Corbin.
A Rhode Island net neutrality bill faces an uncertain path in the House despite Democratic control and passing by wide margin in the Senate last week (see 1904300191). A high-ranking House Democrat told us he's deciding if the bill is necessary. Pending litigation may be a factor stopping some states from passing bills, observers said. Elsewhere last week, lawmakers cast yes votes for bills to combat robocalls using fake phone numbers and to support broadband by municipalities and electric cooperatives.
California lawmakers moved a cavalcade of privacy bills, including several tweaking last year’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), in hearings this week. The Assembly Appropriations panel Wednesday unanimously cleared three without discussion. No members voted against five privacy bills, or two other bills on wireless data throttling of public safety users and e-commerce marketplace transparency, at a Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee hearing Tuesday.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission sought Supreme Court review of the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision that interconnected VoIP is an information service, in a case about whether the state may regulate Charter Communications cable phone service. The agency Wednesday filed a writ of certiorari in case No. 18A889. That was expected (see 1903040025).
State bills empowering electric cooperatives to provide broadband marched forward in Colorado and North Carolina. Colorado senators voted 33-2 Tuesday to re-pass a bill aimed at making it easier for rural electric co-ops to provide broadband. The House voted 62-2 to pass an amended SB-107 Monday. It goes next to Gov. Jared Polis (D), who has until June 3 to take up bills passed this session; SB-107 would become law without signature or veto. North Carolina's HB-387 and SB-310 cleared their respective Judiciary committees Tuesday. Removing barriers to rural broadband has “become a major initiative for the General Assembly,” as reflected by 89 bipartisan sponsors on HB-387, said Rep. Dean Arp (R) at the livestreamed House Judiciary hearing. Most rural areas of North Carolina have at most one provider, he said. Charter Communications and North Carolina Telephone Cooperative Coalition witnesses raised some concerns, including about possible cross-subsidization of broadband and electric businesses. Charter wants the same easement rights that the bill gives to electric co-ops, said Senior Director-Government Relations Brian Gregory.