A judge in Boston struck down Newton, Massachusetts, drone-use restrictions on grounds they were pre-empted by federal law. U.S. District Judge William Young Thursday sided (in Pacer) with resident Michael Singer, an FAA-certified drone operator. Singer said local law and “operation limits” regulate an “almost exclusively federal area of law.” Congress gave the FAA “the responsibility of regulating the use of airspace for aircraft navigation and to protect individuals and property on the ground,” Young ruled. Congress “directed the FAA to integrate drones into the national airspace system,” and “in furtherance of this duty, the FAA has designated specific rules regarding the visual line of sight for pilotless aircraft operation,” Young said. Newton representatives didn’t comment Friday. Young cited an amicus brief (in Pacer) with CTA and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International opposing the local law. “As the court said, the FAA is the authority on drone rules," said Doug Johnson, CTA vice president-technology policy, in a Friday statement. "The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over safety, flight altitudes, flight paths and no-fly zones.”

A Commerce Department rulemaking on 911 grant program rules “is an important step to "modernize antiquated 911 services,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a Thursday news release. “Next Generation 911 will save lives by being faster and more reliable, and by better connecting first responders to key health and government services.” Comments are due Nov. 6 on an NPRM published in Thursday's Federal Register (see 1709200043).

Hurricane Maria had “a catastrophic impact on Puerto Rico’s communications networks,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement Thursday. The agency is “proactively reaching out to communications providers in Puerto Rico to gather additional information about the situation on the ground and find out if there is anything that the Commission can do to assist with restoration efforts,” Pai said. The chairman tweeted: “Devastating news coming out of #PuertoRico after #HurricaneMaria; power knocked out, infrastructure destroyed.” Pai said in the release 95 percent of Puerto Rico’s cellsites are down. “Unfortunately, getting Puerto Rico’s communications networks up and running will be a challenging process, particularly given the power outages throughout the island,” Pai said. “The FCC stands ready to do whatever we can to help with this task.” The agency created a landing page for information about the storm. As of 11 a.m. EDT Thursday, both PSAPs in Puerto Rico are functioning normally, but in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) one 911 call center each in St. Croix and St. Thomas is having problems caused by the storm, said a report from the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System. All counties in Puerto Rico have more than 75 percent of their cellsites out of service, and 48 out of the country’s 78 counties have all of their cellsites down, the DIRS report said. In the USVI, 77 percent of cellsites are down, 60 percent or more in each county. “Since there are widespread power outages in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the FCC has received reports that large percentages of consumers are without either cable services or wireline service,” the report said. Only one TV station has reported being out of service in the affected area, but no other broadcasters in the area have reported in to DIRS, the FCC said.

Pennsylvania gave Level 3 a $79 million contract to provide backbone network, high-speed internet and managed network security services for five years, said a company news release Wednesday. It previously provided other services.

The Rhode Island General Assembly passed small-cells legislation to promote 5G infrastructure by pre-empting local government authority over wireless siting. It's the 14th state to pass such legislation. The bill seemed to fade in late June, but Tuesday the House voted 65-4 for an amended H-5224 and the Senate voted 30-2 that night to concur. The legislation needs the signature of Gov. Gina Raimondo (D), whose office didn’t comment Wednesday. A California small-cells bill, passed last week, also awaits gubernatorial OK (see 1709150030). California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is unpredictable, said local government attorney Gail Karish on a Best Best webinar Wednesday. Brown understands the wireless siting issue well, but his position on SB-649 is unknown, she said. Based on the vote counts at the legislature, there might not be enough votes to overcome a veto, Karish said.

Texas, Idaho and Maryland joined 19 other states and territories opting in to FirstNet radio-access-network plans by AT&T, said Republican Govs. Greg Abbott (Texas) in a Tuesday news release, Butch Otter (Idaho) Tuesday in a FirstNet news release and Larry Hogan (Maryland) Monday.

Don’t give California an extension on Lifeline eligibility rules until the state Public Utilities Commission implements FCC port freeze rules, said the California LifeLine Coalition in a Monday ex-parte letter to the FCC in docket 11-42. The coalition, which includes Telrite and other state LifeLine providers, supported granting CPUC’s motion for extension (see 1709060060) but urged the FCC to delay the effective date until the CPUC shows "it has properly implemented the Commission’s port freeze rules,” including the 12-month port freeze and exceptions process. The state agency met a June 1 deadline to implement a 60-day port freeze for voice services, but “made no progress” on the 12-month port freeze for broadband services and hasn’t sought further waiver, said the coalition, saying “it’s time for the Commission to require compliance with its port freeze rules in California.” Responding to the letter, a CPUC spokeswoman said, "We disagree with the assertions in the letter and will consider whether to submit a response to the FCC."

Privacy advocates supported an ISP privacy bill in the District of Columbia Council. Countering President Donald Trump’s repeal of FCC broadband privacy rules, the bill would require carriers to get opt-in consent from customers about use and sharing of sensitive personal data and opt-out consent for nonsensitive private information (see 1707120053). In a Monday letter, the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C., Consumers Union and others urged D.C. Council Business and Economic Development Chair Kenyan McDuffie (D) to hold a hearing on B22-0403. After national Republicans repealed FCC broadband privacy rules, “it is incumbent upon local governments to fill that gap in protections for consumers,” the groups wrote. Like the FCC rules, the D.C. bill “essentially codifies existing business practices,” they said. “The public wants these protections.” A similar bill in California failed last week; several other state ISP privacy bills also failed to make it to the finish line this year.

Securus opposed a proposed change to how Montana calculates rate caps for inmate calling service operators. The Montana Public Service Commission is mulling a staff proposal to align intrastate ICS rates with FCC interim rate caps for interstate services -- 21 cents per minute for debit and prepaid calls and 25 cents a minute for collect calls (see 1707250044). At a PSC hearing livestreamed Tuesday, Securus outside counsel Monica Tranel said that “will not work” because it won’t let the company recover its costs. The PSC’s proposed rate doesn’t account for the cost of site commissions that ICS operators must pay correctional authorities to win contracts, Tranel said. Securus is “agnostic” about the amount of the commissions themselves, she said, but they're costs that must be included in ICS rate calculations. Also, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected FCC use of industrywide averaging to set rate caps, Tranel said. Securus would support the PSC setting a 67 cent interim rate cap while commissioners launch a ratemaking process where stakeholders can provide more information about ICS costs, Tranel said. Commissioner Tony O’Donnell (R) said recovering costs is reasonable, but “using this as a profit center strikes me as being not reasonable.” Commissioner Roger Koopman (R) voiced concern about the amount of the government fees to ICS providers: “It seems the gorilla in the room is site commissions."

A California assemblymember promised to keep fighting for an ISP privacy bill to codify repealed FCC broadband rules, after his bill failed to pass the legislature Friday. "While I am disappointed that AB 375 was not taken up for a vote on the Senate floor, I remain committed to securing the right for California consumers to decide for themselves how their personal information can be used by their ISP," said bill author Ed Chau (D) in a statement Monday. The "common sense legislation" has "overwhelming bipartisan" public support, "and I will resume advancing this policy when we reconvene in a few months," he said. "In the dead of night, the California Legislature shelved legislation that would have protected every Internet user in the state from having their data collected and sold by ISPs without their permission," blogged the Electronic Frontier Foundation, accusing legislators of putting "profits of Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast over the privacy rights of their constituents." Others cheered. "Good riddance," blogged Doug Brake, senior telecom policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. The bill "might have been good politics, but it was bad policy," he wrote: "The poorly balanced federal rules were the product of an ill-advised power grab by the [FCC] -- both Congress and California were right to nix them." American Enterprise Institute visiting scholar Roslyn Layton said the bill "probably" violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment free speech rights and Commerce Clause. "While states have some leeway to regulate commerce within their borders, Dormant Commerce Clause arguments have been used to challenge state-level internet regulation, showing that it discriminates against and unduly burdens commerce," she blogged. The "discriminatory" FCC rules target ISP efforts to tap advertising to support broadband, she wrote.