The California Public Utilities Commission may vote Jan. 19 on updating state LifeLine rules to align them with changes to the federal low-income program, the CPUC said in a proposed decision posted Thursday. Also, the draft implements AB-2570, a bill signed into law in September requiring the CPUC to adopt a 60-day portability freeze rule for the state LifeLine program (see 1609010058). The proposed decision doesn't tackle all issues raised by the federal Lifeline changes, but the state agency plans to address more in the future, it said. “Given that the FCC’s readjustments to federal Lifeline remain in a state of development at this writing, the conclusions we reach in this decision are made in a context of some uncertainty. We expect the adjustments ordered today, along with the changes we anticipate, to take several months, if not years, to fully implement because of the time needed to develop and test new process technologies.” While she wrote the proposed decision, Commissioner Catherine Sandoval won’t return to the CPUC next year. Sandoval’s term expires at the end of this year, and she said at Thursday’s commissioners' meeting she plans to return to full-time work as a law professor at Santa Clara University in January. Commissioner Mike Florio also is leaving (see 1612150062). With Florio and Sandoval departing, the California body lost its “most consistently activist” commissioners, said Tellus Venture Associates President Steve Blum in a blog post Friday. Blum is a consultant for local governments. “Florio and Sandoval advocated for greater competition in California’s telecoms market and supported efforts to extend broadband connectivity into rural and low income communities," he wrote. "They’ve been more willing than most to buck pressure from AT&T, Verizon and cable lobbyists and, among other things, push for investigations into service and infrastructure issues that the incumbents would prefer to sweep under the carpet, and resist Comcast’s attempts to turn California into its own walled garden.”

State and local governments should consider broadband access as they assess affordable housing and community development needs, said the Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD added the broadband requirement to its Consolidated Plan with a rule to be in Friday's Federal Register. The plan outlines priorities for funding by HUD’s formula block grant programs. “States and localities that submit a Consolidated Plan [must] describe the broadband access in housing occupied by low- and moderate-income households,” said the notice. If low-income residents in the communities lack such access, it said, "States and jurisdictions must consider providing broadband access to these residents in their decisions on how to invest HUD funds.” The digital divide remains a problem, many say (see 1612130066).

San Francisco landlords of multi-dwelling units may not interfere with tenants’ choice of ISPs, under an ordinance adopted Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors. The board voted 11-0 to pass the measure, which got support from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (see 1612080013). In a blog post Wednesday, EFF said such local measures may become increasingly important if the Trump administration reverses net neutrality rules. “In absence of rules protecting users, fair competition can go a long way to deter practices like site blocking and censorship,” wrote EFF activist Elliot Harmon. “If the FCC’s Open Internet Order doesn’t survive the transition -- or if it simply goes unenforced -- then one way that cities can help mitigate the damage is through local laws like this one. Similarly, if the FCC fails to adequately protect Internet users’ privacy, then subscribers will be able to choose ISPs that stand up for their rights.”

New York State officials said their broadband program is "technology neutral and open to wireline, fixed wireless, and satellite broadband providers." They continued to push for an expedited FCC waiver to augment a New York broadband reverse auction with money from federal Connect America Fund Phase II subsidy support slated for use in a commission auction (see 1610130047). Rules for the next phase of the New York broadband auction "will specifically allow satellite providers to participate," said a filing posted Thursday by Empire State Development (ESD) in docket 10-90 on a meeting with Wireline Bureau officials. ViaSat and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association last week voiced concern the New York eligibility rules could exclude "cost-effective" technologies from the state program (see 1612080058). "Broadband services providing 100 Mbps or greater download speeds are preferred in the auction, but only if bids for such services are cost reasonable," said ESD. "Broadband services providing 25 Mbps or greater are eligible for the auction in areas where cost-reasonable 100 Mbps services are unavailable. In such cases, New York will award funding to the bidder with the lowest cost of service in the State regardless of technology." The filing said New York officials also discussed with satellite providers their possible participation in the state program. ViaSat and WISPA made their arguments this week, this time to an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.

Government agencies should partner with tech companies and nonprofits to create online tools connecting low-income people to public and philanthropic programs to which they're eligible, the Progressive Policy Institute said. PPI and Hunger Free America released a report proposing what it called Health, Opportunity and Personal Empowerment (Hope) accounts at a Tuesday event in New York City. “The only thing low-income people have less of than money, is time," Hunger Free America CEO Joel Berg said in a news release. "The new HOPE technology partnership would streamline multiple government and nonprofit safety net programs all into one user-friendly device, allowing low income individuals to fill out one application, rather than wait in line for hours at up multiple government and nonprofit assistance offices.” NYC Department of Social Services Commissioner Steven Banks supported the report at Tuesday’s event, PPI said.

Vermont may conclude interconnected VoIP is a telecom service and not information under federal law. Public Service Board Hearing Officer George Young recommended the finding in a proposed decision in docket 7316 we obtained Tuesday. Comments are due Dec. 23 on the proposed decision, which isn’t final and may be modified by the board, Young wrote in a cover letter. The board has been examining whether fixed VoIP is an information or telecom service since 2013, when the Vermont Supreme Court remanded the board’s past VoIP decision, and PSB Member Sarah Hofmann last month hinted a decision was imminent (see 1611150014). The proceeding focuses on how Comcast’s fixed VoIP service meets that definition under federal law. The board previously ruled interconnected VoIP is a telecom service rather than information, arguing federal law doesn't pre-empt state regulation due to the ability to divide interstate and intrastate traffic. The company appealed the regulators’ decision. The court agreed with its appeal, but remanded to the board on the classification question. "Notwithstanding the differences in the manner in which calls are transmitted, from the consumer's perspective, there is no perceived difference between the VoIP service and traditional landline service,” said the proposed decision dated Friday. The customer uses the same phone, plugs into the same outlets and has the same voice communication experience, it said. Comcast markets its VoIP service as a substitute for the switched landline service, it said. The proposed decision cites in part the FCC net neutrality order, including an FCC finding that a provider is a common carrier “by virtue of its functions.” It also cited a 1998 FCC report to Congress in which the commission reached the tentative conclusion that "phone-to-phone" IP telephony is telecom service. And it referred to the Supreme Court Brand X decision saying an entity may not avoid Title II regulation of a telecom service by bundling it with an information service. Despite the precedent, some uncertainty remains, it said: "The FCC still has not definitively classified VoIP services as telecommunications services or information services." The proposed decision didn’t resolve how the board should regulate providers of VoIP services pursuant to state law authority. That question will be answered in a second phase of the investigation, it said. A PSB spokeswoman declined comment. Comcast didn't comment.

Charter and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission fired more shots at each other’s motions for summary judgment before Jan. 9 oral argument in federal court on whether the PUC may regulate the cable operator's VoIP service as a telecom service (see 1611250026). Charter’s complaint alleged the PUC overstepped its authority by imposing on VoIP services state regulations for traditional phone services. The case began in March 2013, when the company transferred 100,000 Minnesota customers to an affiliate that provided VoIP phone service that wasn't certified by the PUC. The agency said interconnected VoIP is a telecom service subject to state regulation, but the operator and the Voice on the Net Coalition said it’s an information service subject only to FCC regulation. In a Friday reply (in Pacer), the PUC urged the court to grant its motion and dismiss all of Charter’s claims with prejudice. Charter replied (in Pacer) that the court should grant the company’s motion against the PUC and follow four other federal courts that held interconnected VoIP is an information service.

Verizon will postpone planned disconnections of copper service in Maryland through Feb. 15, the company said. Verizon wants to cooperate with Maryland PSC staff “to complete its network transformation process as transparently and smoothly as possible,” said a Friday letter to the state commission. Last month, the telco opposed an investigation sought by the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, with the company saying it violated no FCC rules when it sent copper retirement notices to Maryland consumers (see 1611230049).

Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell lost the election for U.S. Senate to Republican John Kennedy, in a run-off Saturday. Kennedy replaces retiring Sen. David Vitter, Republican chairman of the Small Business Committee and member of the Judiciary Committee. Campbell's term on the PSC expires Dec. 31, 2020, and the commissioner hasn't said he will depart sooner, a PSC spokesman said. Meanwhile in Ohio, the Public Utilities Commission nominating council seeks new commissioners to fill vacancies on the five-member body, the state agency said in a Sunday news release. One is for an unexpired term ending April 10, 2020, and the other is for a five-year term that starts April 11. Gov. John Kasich (R) chose Howard Petricoff in June for the first slot, but after the state Senate appeared unlikely to confirm him, Petricoff announced his resignation Dec. 2. Under the Ohio process, applications are due to the nominating council Jan. 12, and the council on Jan. 26 will interview candidates and select four names to submit to Kasich. The Republican governor then has 30 days to appoint names from the list or request more names. The state Senate must confirmed the governor’s appointments.

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Richard Mroz will preside over a probe into Verizon copper service quality, the BPU said Monday. The investigation responds to a complaint by Cumberland County and 16 southern New Jersey municipalities that was supported by the Division of Rate Counsel (see 1609290064). Talks among the parties haven’t led to a settlement, the board said. Mroz will rule on motions, issue a procedural schedule and preside over any hearings, it said.