Wisconsin will award $43.2 million in broadband grants for 30 projects covering 16,000 residential and business locations, Gov. Tony Evers (D) and the Wisconsin Public Service Commission said Monday. Money for the grants comes from the U.S. Treasury’s capital projects fund, the governor’s office said.

Republican opposition couldn’t stop a Minnesota House bill on local broadband authority from advancing Monday. The Commerce Committee split by political party in a 10-6 vote to send HF-4182 to the House State and Local Government Committee. Also, the committee voted by voice to make an anti-junk fees bill (HF-3438) eligible for a full House vote. HF-4182 would establish local franchise authority for broadband in Minnesota much like what currently exists for cable. Rep. Isaac Schultz (R) slammed the bill, which he said would set up a “slush fund” for local governments by allowing unlimited fees with no directions for how to use the money. Rep. Harry Niska (R) added that it’s not transparent to put fees on monthly internet bills, where he said customers are less likely to expect a local tax. However, local franchising authorities and public, educational and governmental (PEG) stations support the bill, said Jodie Miller, Northern Dakota County Cable Communications Commission executive director. The bill would fill a revenue gap from quickly declining cable franchise fees, she said. "Our residents don't mind paying franchise fees when they know their dollars are being employed locally to provide our franchise office and our local programming.” The bill would extend cable franchise benefits to broadband, said Mayor Dan Roe of Roseville, Minnesota. Through franchising, local governments can ensure all their residents are served with high-speed internet, said local government attorney Michael Bradley. However, telecom and cable industry groups opposed HF-4182. "The bill authorizes every level of local government to impose unlimited, overlapping franchise fees" on broadband that will hurt low-income customers most, said Minnesota Cable Communications Association attorney Tony Mendoza. Minnesota Telecom Alliance members planned to spend $300 million this year to expand broadband, but "this bill puts that figure in doubt,” warned MTA President Brent Christensen, adding that no other state has a similar law. The proposed law may conflict with FCC wireless rules, cautioned CTIA Assistant Vice President-State Legislative Affairs Jeremy Crandall. The FCC requires cost-based fees, but the Minnesota bill would allow charges for raising revenue, he said. CTIA also opposed the junk-fees bill. Mobile companies should be exempted because they are already covered by FCC broadband labeling and truth-in-billing rules, testified lobbyist Sarah Psick for the wireless industry association.

The California Public Utilities Commission received warnings Friday about how the CPUC plans to make a foster-youth pilot a permanent part of the California LifeLine program. IFoster, the pilot’s administrator, said the current draft is “unconscionable” and would create a program “destined to fail.” The CPUC "is about to take a successful Digital Equity program and destroy it while also making ineligible foster youth as they age out of foster care, the very time they need a communications device most to obtain housing, food, and apply for jobs,” the nonprofit iFoster commented in R.20-02-008. Moreover, it said the revised proposal “will result in 12,000 foster youth losing what has been to date a life-saving resource that they describe as a lifeline, a bright spot in their lives, and a necessity for their vital communications.” It's wrong for the CPUC to try to conform the program to the state's “ill-fitting regular LifeLine program,” which “routinely rejects foster youth.” Also, using the traditional LifeLine model would mean removing the mandate for providing a device for foster youth and "no requirements for high speed or unlimited data or hotspot capability,” said iFoster. Neither T-Mobile nor affiliate Assurance Wireless will participate in the proposed permanent program, T-Mobile commented. The revised proposal "still does not address how -- or whether -- current Pilot Program participants will receive service" after the pilot expires July 31, T-Mobile cautioned. Cox supported making the program a permanent part of California LifeLine. But the CPUC shouldn't assign the program its own minimum service standards or specific support amounts, the cable company said. The CPUC had planned to vote Feb. 15 on an earlier proposal but twice postponed the item. The commission now plans voting on the revised proposal at its March 21 meeting (see 2402290056 and 2403050016).

The Kentucky House unanimously approved a bill authorizing a state broadband office to use federal broadband equity, access and deployment funds. Members voted 95-0 Thursday to send HB-267 to the Senate. Also, that day, the Mississippi House voted 120-0 to pass an ethics measure for its state broadband office. HB-1471 would prohibit Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) officers and employees from accepting or receiving “any gratuity, gift, gift in-kind, money, emolument, or any other pecuniary benefit, either directly or indirectly,” from any broadband provider, association, nonprofit or other entity that works with BEAM. HB-1471 will go to the Senate.

The California Privacy Protection Agency could open formal rulemaking in July on draft regulations related to cybersecurity, risk assessments, automated decision-making and updating privacy rules, CPPA General Counsel Phillip Laird said Friday. The rulemaking would likely conclude in 2025, he said at a partially virtual meeting. Before the rulemaking starts, CPPA plans a “roadshow” across California to engage with and encourage broad public participation, he said. The board discussed revised, pre-rulemaking proposals on the latter three issues, which privacy experts say could affect many industries, including communications and the internet (see 2312060021). It gave staff a green light to move ahead on the cybersecurity rules last December (see 2312080064), but this summer’s rulemaking would take up all four items as a package. Recent CPPA revisions tightened automated decision-making draft rules, McDermott Will privacy lawyers David Saunders and Cathy Lee blogged March 1. For example, the definition of automated decision-making “in the last iteration was so broad so as to include calculators or even spreadsheet formulas,” they said. Board member Alastair Mactaggart raised that concern at a December meeting. The current draft “expressly excludes ordinary technologies … so long as they are not used in a manner that replaces human decision-making. Ambiguity remains, however, as to what happens if one of the excluded technologies is used to facilitate human decision-making.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signaled he will sign the legislature’s revised ban restricting kids on social media. Lawmakers approved a revised proposal that includes parental consent after DeSantis vetoed an earlier proposal to ban kids younger than 16 from having social media accounts (see 2403070058). A list of legislative accomplishments this session DeSantis posted on X included “protected children from the harms of social media.” At a Friday news conference alongside the governor, House Speaker Paul Renner (R) said that, with HB-3, “we’ve taken strong action to save our kids and save their childhood.” NetChoice is “disappointed to see Gov. DeSantis sign onto this route,” General Counsel Carl Szabo said. “There are better ways to keep Floridians, their families and their data safe and secure online without violating their freedoms.”

The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4-0 at its open meeting Thursday to adopt changes to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband public housing account and tribal technical assistance program (docket R.20-08-021). CPUC Commissioner Matthew Baker, appointed Feb. 16, recused himself from the vote because he was previously director of the CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office, which participated in the proceeding. The order, as revised March 4, includes clarifying that public housing broadband grant recipients should provide free service without government subsidies, among other things (see 2401290059). "To meet our goal to close the digital divide and provide equal opportunity to all Californians, we need to make sure that we can allocate funds in an efficient manner that can meet the needs of our diverse communities,” said Commissioner Darcie Houck, who was assigned to lead the docket. "This decision has been in the works for a long time and is a product of extensive engagement with a diverse group of stakeholders and community groups.” It’s important that public housing receives free broadband service, said President Alice Reynolds as she supported the order.

New Hampshire is the 15th state with a sweeping privacy law. Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signed SB-255 on Wednesday, which provides "transparency about what information is collected, why, and confidence that in the age of AI, steps are taken to protect that data," he said. A West Virginia comprehensive privacy bill passed the Senate on a 27-6 vote Thursday. The Senate asked the House to concur with its amendments to HB-5338. The House previously voted 91-0 for the bill (see 2402280046).

The Florida legislature passed a second try at restricting kids on social media. The House voted 109-4 to concur with the Senate-amended HB-3 on Wednesday. Lawmakers revised the proposal to include parental consent after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vetoed an earlier proposal (see 2403040054). NetChoice sought another veto in a Thursday letter to DeSantis. HB-3 similarly “would violate Floridians’ constitutional rights and place their privacy at risk,” the tech industry group said. DeSantis didn’t comment Thursday. Two other states advanced social media bills Wednesday. The Iowa House voted 88-6 to pass a bill (HF-2523) that would restrict minors younger than 18 from having social media accounts unless they have parental consent. It's now in the Senate. The Arizona Senate voted 16-14 to pass SB-1124, which would require social platforms to publish standards for deplatforming political candidates.

Nearly half the states have received federal approval for volume 1 of their initial plan for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, NTIA reported Wednesday. NTIA said it OK'd volume 1 for seven more states over the past week: Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, New York and Oregon. Approval allows those states to start their challenge processes. NTIA has now approved the first volume of 24 states and Puerto Rico. It OK'd the second volume of just one state, Louisiana.