A proposed update to New Mexico’s rural telecom subsidy will soon be up for a House floor vote, after unanimously clearing the chamber’s Appropriations and Finance Committee Monday. SB-204 would update New Mexico's Rural Telecom Act to let carriers that didn't exist before 1999 get access reduction support payments, which would make Sacred Winds Communications eligible, said a summary. The bill also passed unanimously through the Senate and the House Commerce Committee earlier this month. It would improve broadband in one of the state’s least-connected areas and is backed by the Navajo Nation, said Sen. Michael Padilla (D) at the livestreamed hearing. Treat all telecom carriers the same, testified Matejka Santillanes, New Mexico Exchange Carrier Group executive director. She joined the Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Microsoft and other business groups supporting SB-204.
California’s privacy law author criticized Virginia’s new statute at a New Jersey legislative hearing Monday. The second major state privacy bill, signed this month by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), has “many loopholes” that effectively codify existing business practices, Californians for Consumer Privacy’s Alastair Mactaggart told the Assembly Science, Innovation and Technology Committee. Mactaggart, who proposed the California Consumer Privacy Act and the newer California Privacy Rights Act, urged lawmakers to update CCPA-based measures to the CPRA. CTIA, which prefers a national law, warned against basing a New Jersey law on CPRA because it’s “still unsettled,” said Davis Wright attorney Nancy Libin. The Virginia law, while also problematic, is at least less burdensome for businesses, she said. New Jersey should align with Virginia to provide uniform rules for businesses, agreed Internet Association Legal and Policy Counsel Alexandra McLeod. New Jersey lawmakers are returning to privacy after COVID-19 derailed efforts last year, said committee Chair Andrew Zwicker (D). The panel heard testimony but didn’t vote on Zwicker’s A-3283, which would provide an opt-in right and establish a state data protection office; A-3255, to require businesses notify customers about collection and sale of personal information and give customers an opt-in right; and A-5448, to require websites notify about collection and disclosure and allows customers to opt out. Harvard Berkman Klein Center affiliate Salome Viljoen supported A-3283 setting up a special office but suggested adding a private right of action and warned not to exclude third parties not covered in the current bill. Electronic Frontier Foundation Legislative Activist Hayley Tsukayama, also urging a private right, cautioned that the proposed office would need adequate funding. TechNet is optimistic about soon getting a federal law, but if New Jersey goes ahead, attorney general enforcement is better than allowing private suits, said Executive Director-Northeast Chris Gilrein. Opting out is more difficult for consumers than opting in, said Consumer Reports Policy Analyst Maureen Mahoney.
T-Mobile and San Francisco’s permitting dispute perplexed a federal judge Friday. "I'm still not at all convinced that I understand what the real dispute is here,” said Judge Susan Illston near the end of virtual argument at U.S. District Court in San Francisco on the wireless carrier’s lawsuit alleging the city delayed permitting in violation of Spectrum Act Section 6409(a). Deemed granted is meant to be self-enforcing, Illston said as the hearing opened. “What I'm having a hard time understanding is why that is not the case." Neither party disagreed that the dozen applications at dispute were deemed granted because the city didn’t act within 60 days, as required by the section. San Francisco recognizes it can’t stop T-Mobile from installing facilities now with a deemed-granted notice but disagrees with the carrier wanting the court to force the locality to provide a permit, said San Francisco’s attorney Wayne Snodgrass. The municipality seeks to avoid people pointing fingers at the local government in a deemed-granted situation if, for example, there's a fire at a facility because the operator didn’t follow fire codes, he said: Issuing a permit would make the city responsible. If an application was deemed granted and the city tried to stop installation, the court may enjoin the municipality, Snodgrass said. “That is quite different" from compelling the city to issue its own local permit, "which is entirely a creature of local law,” he said. Section 6409 says the city shall approve applications, countered Mintz Levin attorney Scott Thompson for T-Mobile. "The city doesn't get to avoid that" by saying a deemed-granted notice is sufficient, he argued. The city continued asking T-Mobile questions about applications after running out the 60-day shot clock, and the carrier can’t deploy promptly with uncertainty, he said. The FCC recognized in 2014's order implementing Section 6409(a) that carriers may seek declaratory judgment and other remedies in court, Thompson said.
ISPs advised Washington state senators to stick with narrow municipal broadband legislation and oppose a House-passed bill to fully allow retail and wholesale broadband by local governments. At a livestreamed hearing Thursday, industry witnesses told the Senate Technology Committee to lift state restrictions only in totally unserved areas, like in a Senate-passed measure. Sponsors disagreed on that limit in interviews.
The Washington state House wasn’t expected to have passed its privacy bill by Tuesday’s deadline for bills to clear their origin chamber. Instead, HB-1433 sponsor Rep. Shelley Kloba (D) planned to use the language in a proposed amendment to the Senate-passed SB-5062, said Kloba Legislative Assistant Brian Haifley. The House bill backed by the American Civil Liberties Union “will not be moving forward this session, but we are working to assure that any bill, including SB 5062, incorporates the most important provisions of HB 1433: opt-in consent, a private right of action, no loopholes, and no local preemption,” an ACLU-Washington spokesperson said. “These are the baseline protections needed for meaningful and effective data privacy regulation.” The Senate passed SB-5062 last week, for the third straight year (see 2103040007).
State and local officials backed Connecticut broadband regulations proposed by Gov. Ned Lamont (D) that would require universal buildout while updating infrastructure rules. But telecom industry officials opposed HB-6442 as regressive overreach, at the livestreamed Joint Energy and Technology Committee hearing Tuesday. Anticipating federal net neutrality action, some Connecticut lawmakers questioned the need for SB-4. Telecom lawyers disagreed in recent interviews on how other states will be affected by last month’s ruling by U.S. District Court in Sacramento allowing California’s law to take effect.
Meetings make states hopeful about closer FCC rapport under President Joe Biden, said officials from NARUC and the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates in recent interviews. Local officials seek a louder voice at the federal agency. “The relationship between state commissions and the FCC over the last four years” under then-President Donald Trump was “less than an example of cooperative federalism,” said NARUC President Paul Kjellander. FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel reacted favorably to states' hopes.
California Public Utilities Commissioners all OK'd a rulemaking asking if the state should switch to a connections-based USF contribution mechanism. Meeting virtually Thursday, they also all supported requiring open access for middle-mile infrastructure funded by the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and a $1.3 million fine for Frontier Communications for 2019 service-quality failures. Commissioner Darcie Houck, at her first CPUC meeting, supported all three items.
The Maryland House Ways and Means Committee should support exempting news media from Maryland’s digital ad tax law, said local press and broadcaster associations at a virtual hearing Friday. The Maryland General Assembly overrode the governor’s veto of the tax law Feb. 12 (see 2102120050), drawing a lawsuit from business groups (see 2102180053). HB-1200 would remedy Maryland DC Delaware Broadcasters Association concerns, said counsel Tim Nelson. Broadcasting ad revenue is declining partly due to the big tech companies targeted by the tax, he noted. The bill “acknowledges the vital importance of Maryland's local news outlets,” said Rebecca Snyder, executive director of the Maryland, Delaware and District of Columbia Press Association. The exemption is narrowly tailored to newsgathering organizations, she said. It wouldn’t cover news aggregators but would cover small newspapers owned by larger entities like Gannett, she said. Del. Jason Buckel (R) doubted the effectiveness of the bill prohibiting tech companies from passing costs from the tax to small businesses. They might not be able to create an explicit fee, but Maryland can’t stop them from changing their pricing, he said. HB-1200 sponsor Del. Eric Luedtke (D) disagreed that tech companies would pass along the cost, even under the original bill, saying that's “fearmongering.”
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) should scrap Virginia’s privacy bill that passed the legislature last week (see 2102190041), some said Thursday. The Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (VCCC), Consumer Federation of America, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group sent Northam a letter urging him to veto the legislation or send it back to the legislature for reconsideration next January. “Virginia has taken a business-first perspective that codifies business-designed obstacles to consumers having meaningful control of their personal information,” said VCCC President Irene Leech. Consumer Reports urged Northam to sign the bill but said legislators should work next session to strengthen it. “This bill has some important privacy provisions, but consumers need more practical options,” said CR Policy Analyst Maureen Mahoney. Northam's office didn’t comment.