Pre-empting local authority over wireline and wireless broadband infrastructure could lead to off-shoring, problems for public safety and digital-divide expansion, New York City and Los Angeles officials said. They raised concerns about FCC infrastructure rulemakings and the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) in an Oct. 18 meeting with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, said a Friday ex parte released Monday in docket 17-79. The officials supported suggestions by local associations to make the BDAC more transparent (see 1710200030).

The sponsor of a Michigan bill that would ban municipal broadband (see 1710170050) received large campaign contributions from the telecom industry and dined with trade association lobbyists before introducing the measure, said an International Business Times report Monday. AT&T gave Rep. Michele Hoitenga (R) $1,500, the Telecommunications Association of Michigan (TAM) gave $3,500 and the Michigan Cable Telecommunications Association (MCTA) gave $1,000, said contributions records. After IBT asked about Hoitenga thanking AT&T Michigan President Jim Murray on Twitter for donating to a school in her district, the state representative deleted the tweet, the report said. "TAM, like virtually all organizations representing companies with an interest in public policy, contributes to candidate campaign committees," TAM President Scott Stevenson emailed. TAM is a relatively small contributor, but "we do what we can to support candidates who understand the concerns of businesses operating in rural areas," he said. Hoitenga and AT&T declined comment. MCTA didn't comment.

Don't create "regulatory morass" by allowing VoIP regulation by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Charter said in an appellee brief (in Pacer) posted Monday at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The PUC asked the appeals court to reverse a district court ruling that Charter’s VoIP service is an information service that the state may not regulate (see 1708290028). But Charter said reversal would allow each state to make its own decision about regulating VoIP, creating a patchwork of requirements that would frustrate FCC policy. The district court decision “is consistent with the decision of every other federal court that has addressed the classification of interconnected VoIP,” as well as FCC precedent, Charter said.

The Missouri Public Service Commission denied numerous industry requests for more time to comment on proposed changes to state USF rules, including a proposal to support broadband in the state’s low-income program (see 1710170045). PSC staff Oct. 17 asked for comments by Monday. “The short time allowed for these initial comments is merely the first step in a more extensive review process,” the commission said Friday in file TW-2017-0078. “Staff requested quick responses to allow for the possibility of stakeholder input before the suggested rule revisions are presented to the Commission and then to the Governor’s Office for a more detailed review in accordance with time-frames requested by the Governor’s Office.” There will be more opportunities after that, the PSC said.

Amazon's bidding frenzy for its second North America headquarters (HQ2) has drawn 238 proposals from 54 states, provinces, districts and territories across North America, said the company Monday. Amazon expects to invest more than $5 billion in construction and reach an eventual base of 50,000 "high-paying jobs" in what will be a "full equal" to the company's Seattle campus. The e-commerce giant's direct hiring and investment, construction and ongoing operation of Amazon HQ2 will create "tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community," said Amazon, which will announce the winner next year.

State plans by FirstNet and AT&T don’t adequately address state needs or suitably compensate them for valuable spectrum or NTIA grant money, Wireless 20/20 analyst Berge Ayvazian said Monday after releasing a white paper on how states should evaluate FirstNet proposals. The AT&T plan doesn’t provide a network built specifically for first responders, but instead “a rate plan on AT&T’s commercial LTE network,” Ayvazian said. AT&T is likely to provide only limited Band 14 coverage for public safety, the analyst said. Pennsylvania lawmakers mulled costs of opt-out at a hearing last week in Harrisburg (see 1710190039).

Michigan Sen. Joe Hune (R) introduced a small-cells bill to pre-empt local jurisdiction in rights of way. SB-637 is similar to bills passed in 13 states and vetoed in California (see 1710170026). The bill defines a small cell as not larger than 6 cubic feet, with associated wireless equipment not cumulatively more than 28 cubic feet. The bill would stop local governments from charging anything for small-cells unless they charge other communications providers, they would have to be competitively neutral to other ROW users and couldn't charge more than $20 per pole annually. “Small cell wireless facilities are permitted uses and not subject to zoning review or approval if they are collocated within the ROW in any zone or outside the ROW in property not zoned exclusively for single-family residential use,” it said. A local authority would have 10 days to notify an applicant that an application is complete and 60 days to approve or deny, or the request would be deemed granted. “The Michigan Municipal League is aware of SB 637 and our staff are currently assessing the pros and cons,” a league spokesman said Friday. CTIA declined comment.

Texas Public Utility Commissioners will consider a controversial proceeding about PUC authority over wireless network nodes in rights of way (ROW) at its Thursday meeting, the PUC said Friday in docket 47530. Commissioners postponed consideration of the item at the Oct. 11 meeting. The matter involves how to interpret the Texas small-cells law passed earlier this year, including whether its rules about ROW compensation replace the older regulatory regime. The Texas senator who wrote the law said Oct. 10 he never meant to spur regulatory regime shopping by wireless infrastructure providers (see 1710110062).

The California governor’s veto of small-cells legislation could disadvantage the state's economy as other states adopt similar bills, Free State Foundation's Michael Horney blogged Wednesday. The bill aimed to streamline 5G wireless deployment by pre-empting local government authority in rights of way. Some expect the veto by Gov. Jerry Brown (D) to spur a more collaborative approach (see 1710170026).

Google Fiber launched in Louisville in three neighborhoods, it blogged Wednesday. The company will provide 1 Gbps service for $70 monthly and 100 Mbps for $50, it said. Incumbent ISPs AT&T and Charter challenged a Louisville ordinance requiring one-touch, make-ready, a policy that Google Fiber sought to speed up its fiber rollout. In August, a federal court ruled in the city’s favor and against AT&T (see 1708210045). “Louisville is the fastest we’ve ever moved from construction announcement, which happened in May, to signing up customers,” Google said.