U.S. District Court in Tampa closed CTIA’s lawsuit against the city, said a Thursday order (in Pacer). CTIA voluntarily dismissed its suit because the city didn’t file an answer or motion for summary judgment, the group said in a Thursday notice (in Pacer). The association had alleged that Tampa violated Florida’s new small-cells law by prohibiting wireless small-cells facility applications for 120 days (see 1710040044). Tampa complied with the Florida law after the suit, a CTIA spokeswoman said: It looks "forward to working with city authorities on deploying wireless technologies.”
Ohio and Vermont governors are the 34th and 35th to join FirstNet. The Ohio Department of Administrative Services announced Thursday's decision by Gov. John Kasich (R). Vermont is the eighth state to opt in after evaluating alternative radio-access-network plans, the network said in a Wednesday news release. Gov. Phil Scott (R) opted in while Vermont nonprofit news organization VTDigger pursues legal action against the Department of Commerce for refusing to process its Freedom of Information Act requests on FirstNet (see 1711280029). U.S. District Court in Burlington set a hearing in case 5:17-cv-192 for Dec. 15, said a Tuesday notice (in Pacer). California's request for proposal last month for alternative plans (see 1711200029) doesn't mean the state decided to opt out, California Office of Emergency Services Public Safety Communications Assistant Director Patrick Mallon emailed us. "We are investigating all our options in order to determine what is best for the state."
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley (R) can continue investigating backpage.com for allegedly facilitating online sex trafficking. U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Cohen Tuesday rejected the company's motion to dismiss Hawley's inquiry because it would have interfered with a state proceeding. Hawley welcomed the decision Wednesday, calling the lawsuit "meritless." Backpage's adult ads attracted attention of lawmakers seeking to pass bills to curb online sex trafficking (see 1709190065).
NTIA gave more guidance on the FirstNet state opt-out process, in a state alternative plan program notice of funding opportunity released Tuesday. It details application requirements needed to meet five statutory demonstrations for ongoing interoperability, financial stability, technical compliance and comparable security, coverage, quality of service and timelines, NTIA said. Grant applications are due 90 days after an opt-out state receives FCC approval of its alternative state plan, NTIA said. Also Tuesday, a Rivada Networks news release made official the company’s partnership with Macquarie Capital in pursuing opt-out state contracts. Earlier this month, undecided Colorado revealed it gave that team conditional award to build an alternative radio access network (see 1711170026).
Charter Communications misled the New York Supreme Court in arguing the FCC net neutrality draft order (see 1711280024) supports the company’s case that federal law pre-empts New York attorney general allegations that recently acquired Time Warner Cable deceived customers about broadband speeds (see 1707310025), the AG's office said in a Tuesday letter in case 450318-2017. The AG office responded to Charter’s Monday letter to Justice Peter Sherwood about the draft order that pre-empts state and local broadband regulation (see 1711210020). Even though the draft order isn’t final, Charter said it planned to have made the argument at a Tuesday hearing because “the FCC’s proposed holdings regarding federal preemption nevertheless are instructive.” The court shouldn’t allow the argument, the AG office said. “Defendants’ Letter violates Commercial Division Rule 182 because the Draft Rule is not a court decision and Defendants’ Letter contains additional argument.” Draft rules don’t specifically address the transparency rule, it said. The draft "repeatedly and emphatically stresses the continued availability of traditional state remedies and consumer protections," it said. Charter omitted language saying states retain their traditional role enforcing violations of state laws, it said. The draft proposes to "abolish outright the broadband nutritional label and its corresponding 'safe harbor,' … the same safe harbor allowed by the FCC would be impermissibly undermined if Defendants were also required to comply with State law,” it said. New York AG Eric Schneiderman separately has slammed the net neutrality draft (see 1711270042 and 1711210041).
The FCC Wireline Bureau extended until April 30 the deadline for New York to implement Lifeline eligibility changes. The New York Public Service Commission Oct. 27 asked for an extension to June 29 to overcome “unforeseen challenges” modifying the state’s Lifeline verification systems and to consider changes to its support system for customers (see 1710300049). Potential harm outweighs desire for sooner changes, but an April 30 deadline should give the PSC enough time, the bureau said in Monday's order in docket 11-42. “Rendering New York’s eligibility database unusable could create significant burdens and inefficiency, and would undermine the state’s investment in an eligibility verification database.” The bureau earlier granted extension to California (see 1710260025).
Utah residents can now track state bills by app on an Apple Watch, the state announced Wednesday. Apple Watch was added to Bill Watch, which helps Utah citizens keep track of legislative issues by topic, legislator’s name or bill number. Utah was the first state to create a tracking service for legislation via mobile devices, and the Apple Watch support makes it "so easy to follow legislation,” said Utah Chief Technology Officer David Fletcher.
Vermont should opt in to FirstNet, recommended the state’s Public Safety Broadband Network Commission. Nine members voted to opt in and two abstained, said Commission Chair Terry LaValley. The commission focused on coverage, service and risk to the state, it said in a Monday news release. Independent consultant Televate did a technical review of radio-access-network plans by AT&T and competing providers, Coeur Business Group analyzed opt-in versus opt-out, and the state treasurer assessed financial risks. All recommended opt-in and the International Association of Fire Chiefs endorsed the AT&T plan, the commission said. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) has until Dec. 28 to decide.
The District of Columbia Public Service Commission sought comment on proposed changes to service quality rules for telecom providers with more than 10,000 access lines. Amendments to Title 15 sections 2720 and 2799 of municipal regulations would add a trouble clearing time measure -- to evaluate time needed to repair service-affecting but not out-of-service problems -- and a repeat trouble measure to study the percentage of repeated problems with a particular service line, said Friday's notice on RM27-2014-01 in the DC Register. Comments are due Dec. 18, replies Jan. 2. Verizon objected to a separate PSC proposal to require more detailed outage data (see 1711010003).
Mulling whether to join FirstNet, California issued a request for proposals seeking alternative radio-access-network plans. The California Office of Emergency Services RFP seeks bids by Dec. 6; states have until Dec. 28 to opt out. “California is seeking responses from Bidders who can offer a no cost solution to the State of California, other than those wireless rate plans identified, while providing the professional services, products, equipment and warranties required to design, build, deploy, finance, operate, maintain and continually improve and update a statewide wireless broadband system to serve California [public safety entities] that is fully interoperable with" FirstNet, the RFP said. California previously collected responses to a request for information. FirstNet took some heat earlier this month from Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., for estimating it might cost California up to $15 billion in fees if the state chose an alternative plan and it failed (see 1711010035). Colorado last week selected a plan by Rivada and Macquarie Infrastructure Developments as its preferred opt-out option if it doesn't join the national network (see 1711170026).