Industry groups urged the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to move quickly in its rulemaking to modernize its carrier of last resort (COLR) requirements as the agency considers changing the state's 30-year-old rules (see 2410310044). Some suggested that the requirement be removed entirely in areas that are well-served, while advocacy organizations encouraged the commission to maintain the rules and instead update the framework.

Former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Wednesday that while he has long been a critic of the USF, he was relieved that the U.S. Supreme Court last week didn’t overturn the program (see 2506270054). Cutting off support that USF recipients need would be “a terrible outcome,” O’Rielly said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez on Wednesday called for the FCC to investigate how criminals are using spectrum jammers in burglaries, saying she has discussed the issue with Chairman Brendan Carr. The commission's lone Democrat, Gomez appeared on a webcast interview with Fiber Broadband Association CEO Gary Bolton.

House action on the Senate-cleared version of the HR-1 budget reconciliation package, previously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, appeared in doubt Wednesday afternoon amid resistance from several GOP lawmakers. Critics of Senate Commerce Committee Republicans’ HR-1 spectrum language held out hope amid the ruckus that lawmakers would make additional bands ineligible for potential reallocation. The Senate narrowly passed its HR-1 language Tuesday (see 2507010070).

Paramount Global has agreed to a settlement in President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS over its editing of a 60 Minutes interview last October with former Vice President Kamala Harris during the election, the company said.

Now with a Republican majority, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday laid out policy priorities that range from accelerating and easing broadband infrastructure deployment to tackling blue-collar workforce issues.

Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.

The U.S. is expected to push to get the full ITU to overturn an ITU Council decision last week to hold the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference in China (see 2506260058). It’s unclear how likely it is to succeed, industry observers said. The Trump administration made a late push to get the council to agree to hold the meeting in the U.S. (see 2506250005). Rwanda also submitted a bid to host the conference but later dropped it.

Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in Trump v. CASA limiting nationwide injunctions doesn’t directly affect the judiciary’s power to set aside national regulations from federal agencies like the FCC, but it could prompt future challenges to that authority, according to attorneys and academics.

The Senate narrowly passed an amended version Tuesday of the HR-1 budget reconciliation package, formerly named the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with a proposal for an 800 MHz spectrum auction pipeline but without a controversial Commerce Committee proposal for a voluntary freeze on enforcing state-level AI rules. The chamber voted 99-1 to strip out that language after a deal between Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. (see 2506300072), collapsed Monday night.