The Nebraska Public Service Commission set Oct. 5 for a second hearing on the state’s Next-Generation 911 plan. The PSC’s hearing on the state’s revised NG-911 plan will be at 10:30 a.m. CDT at the City Council Chambers in North Platte, Nebraska, the commission said in a news release. “As public safety expectations evolve it is important Nebraska continue to transition toward Next Generation 911,” said State 911 Director David Sankey. Like other parts of the country, Nebraska has experienced failures and unreliability in the legacy 911 system (see 1709080018). Nebraska commissioners heard funding and governance concerns at their first NG-911 hearing in July (see 1707200022).

Frontier Communications said it has standing and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) can’t claim sovereign immunity to the telco’s lawsuit against a one-touch, make-ready law. Frontier posted its opposition (in Pacer) to Justice’s motion to dismiss at U.S. District Court in Charleston. Justice asked the court to reject the suit (see 1709050031). “Faced with this invalid and indefensible statute, the Governor’s motion seeks to sidestep the merits and obtain his dismissal by arguing that he is an improper defendant under Rule 12(b),” but “the Governor has significant connections to the implementation and enforcement of HB 3093,” the company said.

“If all we’re going to do is sweep everything under the rug, we’re not really interested in a doing an ethics” code, said Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Burns at ACC’s Friday ethics workshop: “I want to get to the bottom of some of these things that have been going on in this commission that have put a really dark mark on this commission.” Burns commented after the commission’s legal counsel admonished the commissioner for bringing up controversial resignations of two top ACC officials, as Burns also did at the commission’s first ethics workshop (see 1708310046). Burns said the commission should investigate “misbehavior” by commissioners, including alleged misconduct involving the resignations: “There’s been some misconduct committed by commissioners and I’m concerned that it hasn’t been addressed and it hasn’t been investigated.” Chairman Tom Forese reacted, “If you choose to go down the direction of going into past issues … there’s a nice long list for Commissioner Burns going back to 2011.” Commissioner Boyd Dunn, ethics committee chair, said he doesn’t want history and political differences to distract the committee from moving forward: “I don’t want to get off track of coming up with a code of ethics -- that I think will be the best code of ethics of any commission in this country -- that will define what we expect from every commissioner.” Having a code, and someone on staff to explain rules to commissioners and lobbyists, would reduce overcautiousness, Dunn said. Transparency efforts should focus on areas that can make the biggest difference, Forese said. “The goal is … to find where is the attempt of influence.” Disclosure is important, but rules mustn’t tie commissioners’ hands at useful conferences such as NARUC, Commissioner Andy Tobin said. “When you talk about registering the cup of coffee, I just think there’s bigger pieces of this equation.”

The California Assembly passed small-cells legislation that seeks to promote 5G deployment by pre-empting local authority on wireless siting. It voted 46-16 Wednesday to send SB-649 to the Senate for a final up-or-down concurrence vote. Senators started voting Thursday afternoon, with 17 for and 3 against, but not enough senators were on the floor to finish, said a spokeswoman for bill author Sen. Ben Hueso (D). Friday is the last day for California bills to pass this legislative session (see 1709060053). State small-cells bills elicited much discourse at the NATOA conference this week (see 1709130024 and 1709120001).

New York public service commissioners cleared Charter Communications' $13 million settlement with New York State for failing to meet a cable network buildout condition in the PSC order that OK’d the company’s buy of Time Warner Cable (see 1708220021). They voted 4-0 Thursday for the order at a livestreamed meeting. Rather than pay a penalty, Charter agreed to pay $1 million in equipment grants to provide computer and internet access to low-income users and to set aside $12 million as a security to meet the network expansion commitment, the Department of Public Service said. The company also agreed to finish the buildout in increments over six periods through May 18, 2020. The company agreed to forfeit its right to earn back up to $1 million each time it misses a six-month target, DPS said. Charter agreed to develop a communications plan within 60 days of settlement execution informing New Yorkers if they’re part of the buildout plan. “We need to be vigilant about ensuring full and complete compliance by taking these additional steps,” Chairman John Rhodes said. Commissioner Gregg Sayre said it’s a “fair settlement,” “far better for customers and for the state than simply pursuing penalties.” Sayre wants improvements to pole-attachment processes statewide to expedite broadband rollout in New York. "Charter has met and even exceeded the vast majority of our key year-one commitments in New York associated with the merger," a spokesman said. "Delays in pole-attachment approvals and make-ready by pole owners made it impossible to extend our network to the targeted number of homes in the first year post-merger." Thousands have access "where approvals and make-ready have occurred, and we have a solid deployment plan to reach the thousands of additional homes in our commitment," he said.

Friends and foes of proposed California ISP privacy rules traded blows before a state Senate floor vote expected Friday evening. AB-375 would make state law the FCC broadband privacy rules that were repealed earlier this year by Congress and President Donald Trump (see 1709130052). A Tuesday amendment pushed back the bill’s effective date to Jan. 1, 2019, and cut security and disclosure requirements. If passed in the Senate, the Assembly would need to concur because AB-375 started life with a different title. Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler supported the California bill in a Wednesday letter to author Assemblymember Ed Chau (D). It “would reestablish a simple and basic concept that consumers should be able to control how their data is used and shared by their Internet Service Providers,” wrote Wheeler. The bill as amended “will restore the privacy protections that Congress took away,” said the former chairman, predicting other states would follow. Industry condemned the bill, in a letter this week to senators. “AB 375 is vague and unclear to a degree that will have serious effects on consumers and businesses,” said AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Sprint and other companies and business groups. “The bill would also lead to recurring pop-ups to consumers that would be desensitizing and give opportunities to hackers. The bill also prevents internet providers from using information they have long relied upon to prevent cybersecurity attacks and improve their service.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation blogged Wednesday that the industry points are “lies,” and the Center for Democracy and Technology slammed an anonymous website that, like the industry letter, claimed the bill makes consumers vulnerable to pop-ups, hackers and cyberattacks. CDT Policy Analyst Natasha Duarte blogged: “These claims are not just false -- they shamefully exploit internet users’ understandable fears about data security.”

A California bill requiring ISPs to get express consent from consumers to use, disclose and sell personal data (see 1707170052) is heading for a Senate vote Friday, blogged Electronic Frontier Foundation Legislative Counsel Ernesto Falcon. That's the last day of the legislature's session and, if the bill passes, it would be sent to the governor this year, he said. The Senate Rules Committee Chair and Senate Leader Kevin de Leon decided Tuesday to move AB-375, which unanimously passed the Assembly in May, for a vote, among other procedural steps, blogged Falcon. "The bill’s final version continues to mirror the now repealed FCC broadband privacy rule and the bill as it stands now would effectively return power to California consumers over personal data that their ISP obtains from the broadband service," he wrote. "That means your browser history, the applications you use, your location when you use the Internet are firmly controlled by you." A call to confirm the vote with the office of Assemblymember Ed Chau (D), who introduced the bill, wasn't returned.

CTIA said a proposed consumption tax increase in Connecticut, which would also apply to wireless services and products, would hurt consumers. State lawmakers are to consider a budget Thursday that would close a two-year $3.5 billion budget deficit. Jamie Hastings, senior vice president-external and state affairs, said Wednesday that “wireless service is already highly taxed.” Consumers there face a $1 surcharge per subscriber per month.

American Enterprise Institute Visiting Scholar Shane Tews said local governments have a role to play in furthering 5G deployment. The FCC is looking at speeding up deployment of wireless infrastructure, with action likely this fall (see 1705230057). “Potentially the most important catalyst for the implementation of 5G will be the cooperation of local governments for the approval of equipment placement on utility poles and streetlights,” Tews blogged Monday. “Those who restrict access to 5G deployment through excessive municipal fees and arduous permitting processes will be blocking the opportunity to improve their local information infrastructure.”

Level 3’s $34 billion sale to CenturyLink “has merit and should be approved,” the California Public Utilities Commission said in a proposed decision released Friday. The CPUC said it may vote as soon as the commissioners' Oct. 12 meeting on the draft order approving a June 30 settlement agreement between the companies and some consumer groups (see 1708170022). The settlement "meets the requirements for approval in that it is reasonable in light of the record, consistent with the applicable law, and in the public interest,” the proposed decision said. "The combined company will be enabled to offer wholesale and enterprise customers a broad range of services that they currently provide individually.” Customers will benefit from settlement conditions including “the commitment for California-specific capital expenditures over the next three years of at least $323 million,” it said. The companies should invest more because the committed amount is less than what the companies invested earlier, said California Emerging Technology Fund CEO Sunne McPeak: CETF wants the CPUC “to require fair, reasonable and comparable public benefit contributions from CenturyLink-Level 3 as has been committed by all other companies doing business in California and seeking approval for a corporate consolidation that reduced market competition.” The Utility Reform Network, one of the consumer groups that signed the settlement, supports the proposed decision and urges quick approval, Managing Director-San Diego Christine Mailloux said: "While TURN does not like to see further consolidation in the wholesale market, we think that the settlement terms and the companies' commitments to continue offering middle mile and backbone services means consumers will see broadband deployment and advanced services throughout the state." California is the last state OK that CenturyLink and Level 3 need; the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities said yes last month (see 1708230044). The FCC’s 180-day shot clock Friday remained paused at Day 170. CenturyLink didn’t comment.