The FCC should require carriers of last resort to report outages of 300,000 user minutes or more, said California Public Utilities Commissioner Catherine Sandoval. The requirement comes from a CPUC proposed decision written by Sandoval, she said in a Nov. 9 call with FCC Homeland Security Bureau Chief David Simpson, recounted an ex parte posted Friday in FCC docket 15-80. That standard “is a good starting point to identify outage patterns,” she said. “Data analysis will reveal whether outages track rural, urban cluster, or urban population centers, transport facilities, physical network deployments, software design, service issues, or other factors.” Wireless outage reporting on a county basis won’t work for California, Sandoval said. “California has some very large counties,” with San Bernardino twice the size of Maryland, she said. “Outage reporting based on a county, a measurement equivalent to or greater than many U.S. states, would leave many outages unreported.” In an outage, the FCC’s role isn’t to deploy country deputies or “send personnel to announce evacuation using bull horns because the telephone system is down,” but it must ensure outage reporting under the Network Outage Reporting System (NORS), Sandoval said. “Data gaps about communications outages compromise the ability of California’s public safety personnel to respond to emergencies including those where the communications outage is the emergency.” CPUC members may vote Dec. 15 on a rural call completion order (see 1610180038).

North Carolina’s ban on municipal broadband expansion could be at risk after GOP Gov. Pat McCrory conceded the race to the state’s Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper. After seeking a recount in the contentious Nov. 8 election, McCrory announced the concession Monday in a YouTube video. Muni broadband advocates have said Cooper would be more likely than McCrory to change the 2011 state law that was challenged by the FCC but upheld by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (see 1611090024). The law bans cities from expanding government-run broadband outside their municipal boundaries. During the gubernatorial race, the small town of Pinetops reached out to Cooper after learning it might lose fiber broadband service due to the court decision (see 1609270035). While changing the law also will require support by the GOP-controlled state legislature, two Republican state legislators in October pledged to sponsor community broadband legislation when the General Assembly reconvenes Jan. 11. McCrory "had very little respect for local autonomy, frequently pushing to overrule it from Raleigh," Institute for Local Self-Reliance Community Broadband Networks Initiative Director Christopher Mitchell emailed Monday. "I think Cooper will be more interested in returning some authority to local governments rather than micro-managing from afar in matters of Internet access." Community broadband advocates will still have to win against big telephone and cable companies that are likely to defend the law, he said.

Seeking to expand rural broadband across Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker proposed an extra $35.5 million in grants over three years. The Republican sent a draft bill Thursday to the legislature that would tap a state USF surplus to increase funding to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s Broadband Expansion Grant Program and the Department of Administration’s Technology for Educational Achievement (Teach) program, the governor’s office said in a news release. If approved, the appropriations bill would bring total funding for the broadband programs to $52 million over three fiscal years. The bill also bans the Natural Resources and Transportation departments from requiring appraisals or charging fees before granting permits or easements for construction of broadband infrastructure in underserved areas. “The proposed legislation we’re asking the Legislature to act on triples the state’s broadband and technology investments and it will allow Wisconsin communities, especially in rural areas, to compete for jobs, improve education, and provide a higher quality of life,” Walker said. Madison-based LEC TDS Telecom said it will pursue the new broadband funding. “We plan to aggressively pursue more grants, should the legislature enact these important economic development proposals,” said TDS Vice President-External Affairs Drew Petersen. “We expect this to be acted on by the Wisconsin Legislature in early January and fully anticipate a vote by Valentine’s Day.”

Taking on IP transition issues, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) voted 4-0 Wednesday to approve several changes to its rules, including a new process for ILECs seeking to withdraw or abandon basic local exchange service (BLES). The PUCO order in docket 14-1554-TP-ORD implemented section 749.10 from Ohio’s FY2016 and FY2017 budget legislation (HB-64), which set up a collaborative process whereby ILECs, CLECs, cable operators and the Ohio Consumers' Counsel identify what alternatives are available to BLES customers, including wireline and wireless alternatives. The rule changes aren’t final; under the Ohio process, intervenors have 30 days to apply for rehearing, then PUCO submits final rules to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. Under the PUCO rule changes, an ILEC must provide at least 120 days' advance notice to affected customers when withdrawing basic service. If a residential customer receiving notice can't obtain reasonable and competitively priced voice service, the customer may file a petition within 30 days of receiving the notice. If no residential customers file a petition or are identified as having no alternatives in the collaborative process set by the statute, the ILEC's notice to withdraw will be deemed to have satisfied state requirements. If no alternatives exist, the ILEC requesting withdrawal must provide a reasonable and competitively priced voice service, via any technology, for at least 12 months and for as long as there is no alternative provider.

Verizon may avoid a Pennsylvania copper probe by settling with the Communications Workers of America. CWA requested the investigation, but Verizon told the commission Nov. 21 it was "engaged in serious settlement discussions" with the union, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said in a scheduling order dated Nov. 22 and released this week. “The Commission strongly encourages settlement,” wrote Administrative Law Judge Joel Cheskis. The ALJ moved the due date for Verizon testimony to Jan. 27 from Dec. 1 and ordered the parties to provide a status report on settlement talks by Jan. 27, unless the matter is resolved sooner. He suspended all other previously set dates, including a plan for February hearings. The commission will set a new procedural schedule if there's no settlement by that date, the ALJ said. “Any settlement submitted for approval must be supported by substantial evidence.” The New York Public Service Commission previously postponed hearings on its Verizon copper probe until April 19 (see 1611250028).

Connecticut law might preclude the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority from developing rules enabling cities and towns to use utility poles for fiber networks, a Frontier Communications attorney told PURA Thursday in oral argument. Connecticut has a “municipal gain” statute by which it reserves a space on each pole for municipal use for any purpose. This summer, the Connecticut Office of Consumer Counsel petitioned the regulator to clarify rules on pole access, attachments, maintenance and make-ready costs so localities can use the municipal gain space for fiber (see 1608030013). At oral argument, Frontier counsel Daniel Venora said the OCC request is premature and PURA must first decide whether the municipal gain statute even gives municipalities the right to build competitive telecom networks. One commissioner asked whether the term “municipal gain” implied municipalities may use the space; Venora said no. The statute “doesn’t grant municipal powers,” the Frontier attorney said. Consumer Counsel Elin Katz responded that the statute allows a municipality to use the space “for any purpose.” While 20 states have laws specifically prohibiting municipal fiber, Connecticut doesn't, Katz emailed afterward. “Our petition is about how municipalities can access the gain, not a referendum on municipal networks, which is what the opponents seems to want it to be about. The questions that need to be resolved … are what is the proper process for munis to access the gain, how is the gain supposed to be delineated or reserved for their use, and how should efforts by certain pole owners to impede use of the gain for municipal networks be resolved.”

FTC staff partly supported a proposed telehealth rule in Delaware to allow telepractice by hearing and speech practitioners with an initial in-person evaluation. The FTC staff submitted a comment to the Delaware Board of Speech/Language Pathologists, Audiologists and Hearing Aid Dispensers, the agency said in a news release Wednesday. The staff “stated that allowing licensees to determine whether telepractice is an appropriate level of care could enhance consumer choice by providing an alternative to in-person care, potentially reducing travel expenditures and increasing both access to care and competition,” the FTC said. “However, because the proposed regulation does not include evaluations in its definition of telepractice, and would require that all initial evaluations be conducted in person, it may unnecessarily discourage the use of telepractice and limit its potential benefits.” The FTC voted 3-0 to issue the staff comment. Also this week, DOJ backed a Michigan telehealth bill (see 1611290026).

Rhode Island wants to lead the nation on 5G wireless, Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) said Wednesday as she announced a request for information on how to build 5G and other next-generation infrastructure. “We are sending a signal that Rhode Island is open for business as a lab state for innovation -- the ideal place to test new technologies like 5G wireless,” she said in a news release. The Department of Administration's Division of Purchases posted the RFI on behalf of the Public Utilities Commission. The state wants "to work with all stakeholders to accelerate, and lower the cost of deployment and operation of next generation broadband networks," the request said. "This RFI is primarily directed at making the Rhode Island the first state to have 5G networks accessible everywhere while assuring the State and its communities have the Civic Internet of Things and the fiber networks … that they will need to thrive. The State plans to collaborate closely with municipalities to realize these goals.” The state said it has fiber infrastructure already, but it “faces a significant challenge with extending the fiber backbone to all eligible end users.” Submissions for the request (RFI #7551177) are due Dec. 27. Brookings Institution Fellow Blair Levin is an adviser to the state and said the RFI shows the Nutmeg State is “getting ahead of the curve by looking at the multiple issues holistically.” While the federal government “has laid a lot of foundation stones for 5G, the rubber will meet the road for deployment at the state and local level,” he emailed Wednesday. “Rhode Island has the potential to create a playbook that others can use to lower the cost and time of deployment.” In the governor’s news release, AT&T New England President Patricia Jacobs praised the initiative. "Wireless infrastructure deployment is critical to economic growth and public safety in Rhode Island," Jacobs said.

New Mexico joined other states seeking waiver of an FCC Dec. 2 implementation deadline for aligning state Lifeline rules with the updated federal low-income program that added broadband as a supported service. In a petition dated Monday, the Public Regulation Commission said it needs seven more months “to make technical, administrative, and operational changes.” An extension will ensure eligible consumers continue to receive Lifeline benefits in the state, the PRC said. An FCC Wireline Bureau official earlier this month said the federal agency will respond soon to USTelecom and state petitions for postponement (see 1611140052).

DOJ supported a Michigan bill (SB-753) that would add “telehealth” to the Michigan Public Health Code, ease the process by which patients may consent to the treatments, and allow telehealth providers to prescribe drugs. The department said in a letter to its sponsor, Michigan Sen. Peter MacGregor (R), the bill would promote competition. “Consumers benefit when innovative technologies further competition to deliver convenient and affordable quality health care,” said Antitrust Division Acting Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse in a Tuesday news release. “Telehealth, when used consistent with patient health and safety, has the potential to improve not just access to certain types of health care, but also the cost of that care. Better access and lower health care costs are especially important, as consumers may forego or delay care if it is inconvenient or costly to obtain.”