The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that denied preliminary injunction against the California Public Utilities Commission shifting to a per line surcharge for the state Universal Service Fund. T-Mobile’s Assurance Wireless had argued that the state must align with the FCC’s revenue-based method for federal USF. But on March 31 last year, the U.S. District Court for Northern California decided not to block the CPUC’s April 1 change. The 9th Circuit heard arguments on an appeal in October (see 2310170042). "The carriers have failed to show a likelihood of success on their claim that the access line rule is 'inconsistent with' the FCC rule,” Judge Ryan Nelson wrote in Friday’s opinion, which Judges Jacqueline Nguyen and Eugene Siler joined (case 23-15490). The court referred to the Communications Act's Section 254(f), which prohibits USF rules that are "inconsistent" with FCC rules. Inconsistent doesn’t mean different, Nelson wrote. "The access line rule differs from the FCC’s rule funding interstate universal service programs. But the carriers have not shown that it burdens those programs, and they have thus failed to show that they are likely to succeed on their claim that it is inconsistent with those rules." Also, the court rejected T-Mobile’s claim that the surcharge rule is preempted because it's inequitable and discriminatory. "The carriers argue that they are harmed more than local exchange carriers,” but the CPUC rule treats all telecom technologies “the same and, if anything, is more equitable than the prior rule, under which most of the surcharges came only from ever-dwindling landline services,” Nelson said. The CPUC’s "course correction" is "a fair response to a real problem,” he added. “In a world of ever-evolving telecommunications technologies, competitive neutrality must allow some play in the joints. To hold otherwise would hamstring California’s ability to satisfy its statutory mandate of providing universal service." T-Mobile also argued the change was discriminatory because the CPUC rule treats providers who get federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) support differently from those in the state LifeLine program. But the court found differences between the programs and noted that companies in ACP have the option of joining LifeLine. The decision "affirms that the CPUC's surcharge rule is consistent with federal law," said a commission spokesperson. "The CPUC will continue to utilize the surcharge to ensure consumers have safe, reliable, affordable, and universal access to telecommunications services." T-Mobile didn’t immediately comment.
Federal law doesn't preempt New York state’s Affordable Broadband Act (ABA), the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided Friday. In a 2-1 opinion, the court reversed the U.S. District Court for Eastern New York, which had barred the state from enforcing the 2021 Affordable Broadband Act (ABA). The ABA required $15 monthly plans providing 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds for qualifying low-income households.
Some California lawmakers want to take broadband responsibilities from the California Public Utilities Commission and create a broadband office, similar to many other states. At a webcast hearing Wednesday, the Assembly Communications Committee advanced Democratic Chair Tasha Boerner’s AB-2575, which would establish a department and commission on broadband and digital equity. The committee also cleared bills concerning the 211 helpline, video franchising and shot clocks for utilities to review broadband applications.
Controversy over a broadband bill spilled out into the open at a Louisiana Senate hearing Wednesday. The Senate Commerce Committee deferred the bill for a week as it attempts to resolve cable industry opposition to part of HB-700. That provision would require that Louisiana broadband grant winners collect data for the state broadband office about locations of new broadband infrastructure and “existing water, sewer, or gas infrastructure in the path of excavation funded through” the Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) program. Lashing out against cable for what he claimed was a “hit piece” against his son, sponsor Rep. Daryl Deshotel (R) nearly spiked his bill. Committee members convinced him not to do so.
California state and local enforcers could seek injunctive relief for digital discrimination under modification to a bill by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D). The Assembly Judiciary Committee approved AB-2239 with the amendment at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. The panel and the Senate Judiciary Committee also considered multiple bills on algorithms and social media.
The Kentucky Public Service Commission should quicken ISP access to utility poles in response to a directive from the state legislature, said the Kentucky Broadband and Cable Association (KBCA) in comments Friday. Electric companies that own poles said they’re fine with existing Kentucky rules. More could be done to encourage negotiation and to ensure complete applications and timely payments by attachers, they allowed.
Nevada could soon get a final OK for volume 2 of its initial plan for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said Brian Mitchell, the state’s broadband office director, on a Broadband.io webinar Friday. Nevada just needs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to concur with the approval, said Mitchell, explaining that NIST is NTIA’s grant manager and fiscal partner. The office recently completed the first phase of its challenge process and is currently in the rebuttal phase, he said. Volume 2 approval could allow Nevada to move into its subgrantee selection process this summer, he said. NTIA’s recommended changes for volume 2 were mostly “small and kind of technical in nature,” said Mitchell. Nevada is “open to all reliable technologies” for high-speed internet, said the director: Even wireless and satellite technologies need to connect to fiber somewhere. Therefore, the broadband office seeks to “extend fiber as deeply as possible … so that it can facilitate whatever last-mile technology makes most sense for any given location,” he said. Nevada's network should be scalable, added Mitchell. Don’t put in “a one-lane road when you're going to need a … four-lane road in the future,” he said. “It’s unlikely that Congress is ever going to … appropriate $65 billion for broadband again.”
Last week’s multistate 911 outage is under investigation, additional state and local officials said after the FCC and others noted Thursday they were examining Wednesday disruptions in Texas, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota (see 2404180053). The Nebraska Public Service Commission “will make a determination after more facts from [public safety answering points] and carriers are collected,” Commissioner Tim Schram (R) told us Friday. Deputy Fire Chief Billy Samuels of Clark County, Nevada, said in an email Thursday that the “cause of the outage remains under investigation.” On Wednesday night during the outage, Clark County’s Office of Emergency Management activated a multi-agency coordination center, while the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department “established unified command to ensure that police, fire and medical needs from the community were not unmet,” said Samuels. “Through this coordinated effort, an alternative solution was established, but full 911 service was restored before this was implemented,” he said. The county doesn’t know of emergencies that went unaddressed during the outage, he said.
The FCC "has already begun investigating the 911 multistate outages that occurred [Wednesday] night to get to the bottom of the cause and impact," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement Thursday. Authorities in affected states are asking questions, too. At least four states -- Texas, Nebraska, Nevada and South Dakota -- experienced 911 calling problems, said state officials and news reports.
Maine’s comprehensive data privacy bill came up short in the state Senate on Wednesday. The bill appeared to fail when senators voted 15-18 on a Judiciary Committee majority recommendation that LD-1977 by Rep. Margaret O’Neil (D) “ought to pass.” The House narrowly passed the bill a day earlier in a 75-70 vote. The bill isn't necessarily dead. When the chambers disagree, Maine's legislative process allows each body to insist on their vote. This forces the other side to vote again. A conference committee could also be requested. Both chambers agreed to kill an alternative bill (LD-1973) by Sen. Lisa Keim (R). The House supported a majority recommendation that the bill “ought not to pass” by a 81-63 vote Wednesday. The Senate voted 18-14 for that recommendation on Tuesday. Privacy watchers said LD-1977 is notable for proposing strict data minimization standards (see 2403270045).