Connecticut received NTIA approval for volume 2 of its initial plan for the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment program. The state may now access its $144 million BEAD allocation, the federal agency said Thursday. NTIA has approved entire initial plans for 18 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Also on Thursday, NTIA awarded $20.5 million to Michigan to implement its digital equity plan. Michigan is the second state that received funding through the $1.44 billion state digital equity capacity grant program.

New York state will adopt one-touch, make-ready (OTMR) and initiate other changes to state pole attachment rules, the New York Public Service Commission said Thursday. Commissioners revised state pole attachment rules through a unanimous vote on a consent agenda at a Thursday meeting. The state commission adopted OTMR for simple attachments in the communications spaces unless it’s precluded by collective bargaining, the PSC said in a news release. Other changes establish time frames for resolving disputes, create a pole-attachments working group and add annual reporting requirements for pole owners and attachers, the PSC said. Also, the PSC will require consideration of post-construction inspections and alternative pole attachment methods. The full decision wasn’t immediately available in docket 22-M-0101. “It will be posted in a day or so,” a PSC spokesperson emailed. New York PSC Chair Rory Christian said the changes streamline telecom and cable system collocation on utility-owned poles while ensuring “safe, adequate, and reliable utility service at just and reasonable rates.” The PSC received comments in March on a Dec. 18 staff white paper recommending OTMR and other rule changes (see 2403050043).

Hawaii and Rhode Island received NTIA clearances for volume two of their initial plans for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. The approvals mean Hawaii can access its $149 million allocation and Rhode Island will receive $108 million, the federal agency said in news releases this week. NTIA has approved entire initial plans for 17 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

The California Public Utilities Commission could vote this fall on an incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) decision, the CPUC signaled Wednesday. The commission extended its deadline until Oct. 17 to act in docket R.20-10-002. “Commission staff have been reviewing the data submitted related to the cost of providing IPCS services and related ancillary services,” it said. “The next procedural steps are the issuance of a staff report addressing permanent intrastate calling rates caps for IPCS services, as well as rate caps for ancillary fees and charges.” The agency will propose a decision after receiving comment and replies on the staff report, it said. The CPUC has a voting meeting Oct. 17. It would have to propose a decision one month prior. The deadline was originally May 29, 2023.

U.S. research and development performed by the semiconductor and other electronic components manufacturing industry reached $47.4 billion in 2021, an increase of 9.8% over 2020, the National Science Foundation said Tuesday. California accounted for $23 billion, or 51% of the total, Oregon for 15% and Arizona and Texas each had 8%, NSF said. Idaho and Massachusetts accounted for 3% each of the total.

A California bill requiring more reporting on the state’s middle-mile network is duplicative, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said. The governor on Monday vetoed AB-2708, which would have required the California Department of Technology (CDT) to annually report data about cost and timing related to the Middle Mile Broadband Initiative (MMBI). “The recently adopted 2024-25 Budget augmented funding for the MMBI and codified new and additional oversight and reporting requirements on CDT for the development and operation of the MMBI,” Newsom’s veto message said. “This bill is redundant to these efforts and creates an unnecessary ongoing workload for CDT without providing additional accountability or transparency to taxpayers.”

Allied Telecom Group is too late to challenge a 2015 procurement in which the District of Columbia Public Schools selected the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) DC-Net program to provide E-rate services, the city said Friday at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (case 1:22-cv-00653-CJN). Last month, Allied said it sought to block the “cozy relationship” between D.C. Public Schools and OCTO. Seeking summary judgment against the telecom company and opposing summary judgment against itself, D.C. wrote: “This is a procurement dispute that could have -- and should have -- been raised in the proper forum at the proper time.” Allied waited seven years to sue, the District said. Also, the Telecom Act precludes “equitable private enforcement of the competitive bidding requirements of the E-rate program,” D.C. said. “But even if that were not the case, Plaintiff is not entitled to summary judgment because it fails to demonstrate any conflict between the federal requirements of the E-rate program and District procurement law generally or the 2015 bidding process related to the E-rate program specifically.”

A District of Columbia councilmember shared concerns about social media’s impact on gun violence with tech CEOs of X, Snap, Meta, TikTok and Alphabet. In a letter Friday, D.C. Judiciary and Public Safety Chairwoman Brooke Pinto (D) asked for the “companies’ partnership to play a responsible and focused role in removing dangerous content to keep our communities safe.” Gun violence in the District is “distressingly high,” Pinto wrote. “A number of factors have contributed to this uptick in gun violence, but one that stands out is the impact of social media in spurring incidents of violence.” A recent National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform report “concluded that the motive behind many shootings … is not a traditional gang war but rather interpersonal conflict that often stems from ‘the now ubiquitous social media slight,’” said Pinto. The tech companies didn’t comment.

Consolidated Communications received Maine’s OK on the telco’s deal with Condor Holdings. The Maine Public Utilities Commission approved a stipulated settlement among Consolidated, Condor, the Maine Office Public Advocate, the Maine Connectivity Authority and the Telecom Association of Maine in a Thursday order in docket 2023-00327. Under the stipulation, Consolidated agreed to extend until August 2026 an existing freeze on provider of last resort rates. Among other pledges, the company said it will offer next year a 50 Mbps symmetrical broadband service for $25 monthly with a customer-supplied router or $35 with a company-supplied router, with that rate applying for at least 12 months. While the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers didn’t participate in the agreement, the PUC found the included parties represented “a sufficiently broad spectrum of interests.” Also, the agreed resolution “provides net benefits to Consolidated’s ratepayers,” the PUC said. In Vermont, the state's PUC held an evidentiary hearing on the same deal Wednesday (docket 23-4353-PET). The New Hampshire PUC is scheduled to hear testimony July 23-24. Charter Communications withdrew from all three state reviews last month (see 2406210040).

California will spend about $88.5 million on last-mile broadband projects using federal funding from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, the California Public Utilities Commission decided at a Thursday meeting. Commissioners voted 5-0 for resolution T-17826 to spend $44.1 million on unserved areas in Imperial, Lassen and Plumas counties. They also voted unanimously for resolution T-17829 to spend $44.4 million on unserved areas in Alameda, San Francisco and Sierra counties, including an Oakland project that especially received support from local officials and community groups in comments during the meeting. Awardees included Golden State Connect Authority and Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications and the cities of Oakland, Fremont and San Francisco. The CPUC proposed the resolutions last month (see 2406070073). "These projects are a shining example of our state's broadband-for-all values and objectives," CPUC President Alice Reynolds at the livestreamed meeting said. She praised the approved projects for exceeding the program's 100 Mbps symmetrical requirements and for focusing on connecting low-income and disadvantaged communities. A top state legislator recently criticized the CPUC for not rolling out last-mile grants faster (see 2406050065). Thursday’s resolutions awarding federal funding account support are the CPUC's first since the agency received 484 applications requesting $4.6 billion from the $2 billion program in January, Executive Director Rachel Peterson said. The commission plans a vote at its Aug. 1 meeting on another resolution that would include $95 million in proposed grants (see 2407010037). Before the meeting, the commission delayed until Aug. 1 voting on a proposed decision related to ratemaking for small local exchange carriers (see 2406070027).