The FCC should try harder to thaw the separations freeze, two state members of the Joint Board on Separations and the state chair of the Joint Board on Universal Service said in interviews ahead of NARUC's summer meeting. They complained that the federal side of the Joint Board isn’t engaging to update separations factors set more than 30 years ago and first temporarily frozen in 2001. NARUC members plan to vote next week in Scottsdale, Arizona, on asking the FCC to extend the freeze’s 2018 expiration by two years, and other draft resolutions related to the Lifeline national verifier, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and a precision agriculture bill pending in Congress (see 1807030052).
California state lawmakers said they restored net neutrality legislation to full strength after the Assembly Communications Committee controversially stripped major provisions including on zero rating and requiring neutrality at the point of interconnection. That committee’s chair, Miguel Santiago (D), joined state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) for a Thursday news conference to announce a deal that Wiener said revived those and other key components. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and other original supporters of SB-822 applauded the agreement.
“It would be statutorily permissible” for the Missouri USF to support broadband-only services, even though state laws are “unclear,” Public Service Commission staff commented Monday in docket TX-2018-0120. AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink and the Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association said the PSC lacks this authority. Expanding state Lifeline to support broadband and creating a new high-cost program within Missouri USF "exceeds the Commission’s authority under current law and raises significant policy matters,” said AT&T. USF support is limited to local voice services; adding broadband support would create a “mismatch” between contributing and supported services because “assessments fall solely on the state’s diminishing customer base of wireline voice services,” said the state’s biggest ILEC. The FCC bars states from requiring fixed and mobile broadband internet access services (BIAS) to contribute to USF, it said. CenturyLink said there are many statutory constraints to PSC authority over broadband, showing “the need for a legislative mandate that establishes both clear broadband policy priorities and a clear demarcation between detailed legislative prescriptions and matters delegated to the Commission.” Supporting broadband may not be necessary with the federal Connect America Fund, it said. “With an active multi-year effort underway by the FCC and broadband providers to implement the CAF programs, Missouri needs to be extremely careful in developing a State-sanctioned program for increasing broadband availability.” Twenty-five small phone companies supported expanding state USF to include BIAS. “This would be consistent with" FCC action "expanding the federal Lifeline program and recognize that essential telecommunications services no longer are limited to voice service but should also include access to Broadband services,” the small carriers commented.
The Lifeline national verifier should be rolled out quickly with application programming interfaces sought by carriers, said a NARUC draft resolution released Tuesday. Other proposed telecom resolutions up for votes July 15-18 in Scottsdale, Arizona, relate to separations, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and a precision agriculture bill pending in Congress.
Tennessee electric cooperatives are bringing fiber broadband to rural areas that earlier were unserved or underserved, after a 2017 state law lifted restrictions, said co-op officials in interviews. In April 2017, Gov. Bill Haslam (R) signed a bill allowing nonprofit electric co-ops to provide retail broadband and video service within their footprints (see 1704270032). Policymakers at state, local and federal levels should look for ways to encourage co-op entry into broadband, said National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson. “Anything that opens up the playing field for all participants to engage is the right thing.”
A state privacy law is likely to have effects beyond California, said consumer privacy advocates and others Friday. Last week’s bipartisan enactment of AB-375 (see 1806280054) may encourage other states to write their own privacy laws, they said. Tech companies warned the law needs work and isn’t ready to be copied. The authors said changes are likely before the mandates take effect in January 2020.
Racing against time, state lawmakers passed California's privacy bill in bipartisan votes Thursday to give consumers the right to seek business disclosure about collection and usage of personal information, seek deletion of that data and opt out of having it sold (see 1806270014). The Assembly voted 69-0 after the Senate minutes earlier voted 36-0 to pass AB-375. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the bill about two hours before the 5 p.m. Thursday deadline to withdraw a November ballot initiative that the bill is intended to replace. The legislature "made history by passing the most comprehensive privacy law in the country," said Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D), a Senate sponsor of AB-375. "We in California are continuing to push the envelope on technology and privacy issues by enacting robust consumer protections -- without stifling innovation." The Internet Association, state cable and other industry groups oppose the privacy measure but prefer a bill to a ballot initiative because it’s easier to amend later. At an information-only hearing Wednesday of the Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, Jay Obernolte (R) said he's glad the legislature Is taking control but worried about the abbreviated time frame to discuss a complex topic, with AB-375 revised from an ISP privacy measure last week (see 1806220061). Bill sponsor Committee Chair Ed Chau (D) said he wished there were more time but there's a deadline. Noting the bill wouldn't be implemented for one year, Chau pledged to look at lingering concerns in coming months “and see what we can do.” Hertzberg said, “I don't think anybody thought we were going to get something done.”
Local governments cheered Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel for sharing San Jose's 5G agreements as a model code while the FCC weighs rules to lower perceived local barriers. But carriers and others said San Jose's pact with industry is no model. The commissioner Wednesday released model agreements for small-cell 5G deployment negotiated by San Jose with wireless companies (see 1806150033), amid local government complaints that model codes developed by the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee favor industry.
Rhode Island state Sen. Louis DiPalma (D) will revive his failed net neutrality bill next year if re-elected, he told us. “As I've declared my candidacy for re-election, I plan to reintroduce in January,” DiPalma emailed Tuesday. The House didn’t consider the Senate-passed S-2008 to turn into state law Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo’s April 24 executive order restricting state contracts to ISPs that follow open-internet principles. “No consensus was reached, and the legislative session concluded on Saturday, June 23, so the bill is dead for this year,” emailed a spokesman for House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (D).
A net neutrality bill marched forward in the California Legislature amid questions about if it can recover from cuts by an Assembly Committee last week. Lawmakers there advanced a surveillance transparency bill and positioned a comprehensive privacy proposal for possible enactment Thursday. Industry groups prefer the privacy bill to a ballot initiative that’s to be withdrawn if the legislation is enacted.