West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) proposed legislation that would eliminate a sales tax exemption and line up West Virginia's telecom tax with 41 other states. “Once adopted, this legislation will place the same 6 percent sales tax on cellphone and phone line usage -- putting us in step with what is done in the vast majority of other states,” he said in his state of the state address Wednesday. By eliminating the exemption, the state will be able to collect an extra $60 million each year, Tomblin said.

FirstNet Government Affairs and Consultation staff met with the Arkansas Interoperable Communications Executive Committee in Little Rock to discuss the network's progress, plus local needs and concerns, last month, FirstNet said in a blog post. Local officials told FirstNet about their experiences with network capacity and lessons learned, the post said. They also talked about Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s (R) initiative to teach coding in public schools, which could possibly lead to generating apps for the network, the post said. "Given Arkansas’ predominately rural make-up, broadband coverage is a significant priority for the state," the blog post said. "Arkansas has had its fair share of emergencies in the last few years, from tornadoes, to floods, to major ice storms. It was clear from our dialogue that the state knows what is needed during an emergency, especially the ability to communicate effectively and continually."

Stanley County, North Carolina, is between two of Google's upcoming gigabit cities, but because of how sparsely populated it is, the county will likely not be the next to receive gigabit service, said a blog post from the Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) in North Carolina. CLIC says it represents public and private interests that support the authority of local communities to make broadband Internet decisions that are important for economic competitiveness. To keep the county's young people and businesses, county officials need to be creative to develop broadband opportunities without breaking the state law that limits local governments' authority to do so, CLIC said. County officials chose to build rather than lease a public safety tower because "aerial space like that is good real estate for multiple purposes," the CLIC said. Connecting the tower with fiber could provide needed backhaul that would help private carriers and provide leasable connections for a private-sector partner, it said. It will help fill in the region’s middle mile gap, CLIC said.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers will make cybersecurity, flexibility in federal regulations, FirstNet and information sharing its 2016 federal advocacy priorities, said a NASCIO news release Tuesday. “Cybersecurity is a top concern for state CIOs and with the tremendous growth in data that we anticipate, securing our public networks and the state’s digital assets are and will remain a top priority for NASCIO,” said President Darryl Ackley, secretary of information technology for New Mexico. NASCIO will also work with federal regulators to reduce regulatory burdens that hamper state government, it said. NASCIO also will closely watch the FirstNet process as states move closer to the opt-in/opt-out decision slated for 2017, it said. Some state CIOs are their state's single point of contact for FirstNet and it's crucial that CIOs stay informed of major developments, especially as FirstNet evaluates and awards bids this year in response to its request for proposals, said the group.

The FCC should rely more on the efficiency measures it adopted in 2014 for state and local governmental decision-making on tower-siting applications, Gregory Vogt said Monday in a blog post for the Free State Foundation. The Montgomery County v. FCC decision (see 1512180045) in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the FCC's 60-day "deemed granted" remedy was constitutional and a "reasonable interpretation of ambiguous provisions" contained in Section 6409(a) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, the blog post said. Adoption of time limits for reaching decisions in proceedings and "deemed granted" solutions are an important part of achieving more efficient government processes, Vogt said. The "deemed granted" remedy for tower siting applications is laudable, and this type of mechanism would work especially well in proceedings where the original policy issues have already been substantially resolved, such as routine license applications and waiver petitions, he said. "Either Congress, or the FCC itself, should expand upon the FCC's laudable step, now upheld in court, in speeding state and local government antenna siting decisions to encompass speeding up a number of the FCC's own processes," the post said. "This will permit the Commission at all levels to come closer to acting with the speed of business for the ultimate benefit of consumers."

Time Warner Cable customers in parts of the Carolinas experienced a service outage Thursday caused by a router problem that lasted about 55 minutes, a spokesman emailed us Friday. Because customers in the same region are served by different routers, the outage didn't affect all of the customers in a given region, he said. The outage was the second of its kind in the Carolinas within two weeks, with the prior one Dec. 27, the spokesman said.

The FCC released its annual Report to Congress on State Collection and Distribution of 911 and Enhanced 911 Fees and Charges for public comment in docket 09-14, said a Friday public notice from the commission. The report covers the collection and distribution of 911 and E-911 fees and charges for the calendar year ending Dec. 31, 2014, and was submitted to Congress Dec. 31, 2015, the notice said. Eight states reported diverting or transferring 911/E-911 fees for purposes other than 911/E-911, the report said. Of those, five -- California, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia -- used a portion of their 911/E-911 funds to support other public safety or emergency response-related programs, it said. Three -- Illinois, New York and Rhode Island -- diverted a portion of their 911/E9-11 funds for either nonpublic safety, or unspecified, uses, it said. The total amount of 911/E-911 funds diverted by all reporting jurisdictions in calendar year 2014 was $223.42 million or about 8.8 percent of total 911/E-911 fees collected, the survey said. Fourteen states reported collecting 911/E-911 fees at the state level, nine reported collecting fees at the local level and 24 states collected fees at both the state and local level, it said. Fees and charges collected on a per-state basis ranged from a low of $8.16 million by Delaware to a high of $213.98 million by Illinois, the report said. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia reported spending 911/E-911 funds on next-generation 911 (NG-911) programs in calendar year 2014, it said. The total amount of reported NG-911 expenditures from the fees was $227.57 million or about 9 percent of total 911/E-911 fees collected, it said. Forty-eight states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Navajo Nation and three Bureau of Indian Affairs offices responded to the report year’s data request, the report said. Comments are due Feb. 8, replies March 9.

The Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Commerce initiated an audit of FirstNet, said a letter sent in December to the FirstNet board secretary. The audit will evaluate FirstNet's processes for entering into, monitoring and closing its interagency agreements, the letter said.

Connected Nation Exchange received a contract to work on behalf of Warren County, Kentucky, to help provide fiber-based broadband services throughout the county, said a news release from CNX Wednesday. CNX will develop technical and financial models to find the best path for establishing public-private partnerships to invest in infrastructure and provide broadband services to county residents, businesses and community anchor institutions such as schools, libraries and public safety agencies, it said. The effort was accelerated by the start of construction of the state's new KentuckyWired middle mile network, which is designed to provide every Kentucky county faster, cheaper high-speed networks locally, it said.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) is partnering with the Department of Homeland Security to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure and government services, a Wednesday news release from his office said. Inslee signed an executive order creating a state Office of Privacy and Data Protection, it said. Both were announced at the Governor’s Summit on Cyber Security and Privacy in Seattle, the release said. The DHS partnership is a pilot to develop a "playbook of critical infrastructure defense strategies" that states and local governments can adopt, Inslee's office said. DHS and the state Office of Cyber Security will establish an advisory board of experts from government, critical infrastructure providers and intelligence organizations to guide development of the playbook. The Office of Privacy and Data Protection will build on work being done by state Chief Privacy Officer Alex Alben, Inslee's office said. The office will provide privacy training and best practices to state agencies as well as consumer outreach and education for Washington state residents, it said.