The Arizona Senate narrowly passed a bill requiring age verification to protect minors from harmful content online. Senators voted 16-12 Monday to send SB-1125 to Arizona's House. The bill would require websites with pornographic content to verify that users are at least 18, including by comparing IP addresses with a blacklist. Parents could request that their kids be added to the blacklist; ISPs “shall not be under any obligation to confirm” that the requesting internet user “has a minor child,” it said. CTIA in a Jan. 29 letter opposed the bill as technically unworkable. The current bill “misunderstands how IP addresses are used within the internet ecosystem and their infeasibility for identification and age verification,” the wireless association wrote. IP addresses change over time and can be “easily overridden through widely available tools like proxy servers and virtual private networks,” it said. “SB 1125 would impose incredible burdens on ISPs to create an unviable blacklist framework. The regulatory onus should instead be on the content providers that knowingly create and distribute the harmful content to use viable commercial age assurance mechanisms." Also Monday, the Arizona House Appropriations Committee voted 12-0 for a kids' privacy bill (HB-2858) that would prohibit minors younger than 16 from using social media platforms without parental consent. In addition, it would prohibit users older than 18 from sending messages on social media to younger users.

Wireless industry concerns about a Nebraska 911 outage reporting bill irked some state senators during a hearing Tuesday. LB-1256 would add to carriers’ compliance costs, said CTIA Director-State Legislative Affairs Jake Lestock. Also, disclosing confidential wireless outage information to the state could pose privacy and national security risks, he said. The FCC has a good outage reporting system with strong security protection -- and the Nebraska Public Service Commission may access it now, he said. Considering the importance of 911 and several recent Nebraska outages (see 2401230048), Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D) finds CTIA’s opposition “flummoxing and unsettling.” Sponsor Sen. Wendy DeBoer (D) said she hadn’t heard prior to the hearing that industry opposed her bill. “I will continue to work on this and make sure we have all the safeguards we need, but this is important,” she said. Nebraska PSC Chair Dan Watermeier (R) supported LB-1256 as an “important accountability and transparency measure.”

The California Public Utilities Commission delayed by four months its deadline to approve applications for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) infrastructure support. Postponing the deadline to June 30 from Feb. 29 “will provide the time necessary to complete coordination with the Federal Funding Account (FFA) and enable the CPUC to award grants for reliable and affordable networks to communities that need it most,” Executive Director Rachel Peterson wrote in an email to the CASF service list Friday. On June 1, the CPUC received 74 applications seeking about $527 million from the CASF infrastructure account, exceeding the $32.8 million available for FY 2023-24, said Peterson. On Sept. 9, the CPUC received 484 FFA applications, with many projects overlapping those in the CASF infrastructure program. Expect the delay to affect the release of a state broadband map and the deadline for 2024 CASF infrastructure account applications, said Peterson. “After new funds have been authorized for the 2024/2025 fiscal year, the CPUC will provide an update on the timing for the Broadband Map and the 2024 CASF Infrastructure application deadline via an email to the CASF Service and Distribution Lists.”

The Vermont Public Utility Commission announced a March 7 hearing on Consolidated Communications' transfer of indirect ownership and control of its local subsidiaries to Condor Holdings, a subsidiary of private equity firm Searchlight. Consolidated will present the deal at 6:30 p.m. and a public hearing will follow, said a Thursday notice in docket 23-4353-PET. Under a schedule released Feb. 2, non-petitioners must file direct testimony by May 3 and the company must file a rebuttal by June 14. More briefs will be due three weeks after an evidentiary hearing planned for July 10-11. Reply briefs would be due two weeks after briefs are filed.

Verizon said it reached and executed a settlement agreement with consumer advocates Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) and The Utility Reform Network on migrating Tracfone customers still using non-Verizon networks in California, the carrier said last week. Within seven business days, CforAT will attach the agreement to a motion to withdraw its Oct. 6 petition to modify the CPUC’s 2021 decision approving the Verizon/Tracfone deal, Verizon said in a Thursday email to California Public Utilities Commission Administrative Law Judge Thomas Glegola. The email was shared with the service list for docket A.20-11-001.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission will soon seek more data and schedule additional meetings and workshops as part of a pole-attachments proceeding (docket 2023-00300), the PUC informed Maine lawmakers last week. The commission sent legislators an interim report Thursday, as a 2023 state law required. The PUC is required to study pole-attachment requirements’ effect on broadband expansion. The interim report describes the history of pole attachments in Maine, commission efforts over the past decade to update rules and comments received in the current proceeding. The Maine PUC said it lacks "specific recommendations or suggested legislation at this time.” In comments last month, cable companies urged the PUC to quickly align the state’s Chapter 880 pole-attachment rules with the FCC’s December order (see 2401160035). A final report is due Dec. 1.

The Florida House unanimously supported extending a $1 promotion for broadband attachments through 2028. Members voted 119-0 Thursday to approve HB-1147, which would let ISPs continue to pay $1 a year per wireline attachment per pole to bring broadband to unserved or underserved areas in municipal electric utility service territories (see 2402080006). Florida began offering the rate in 2021; it will expire July 1 unless extended. The Florida Senate plans to vote on the similar SB-1218 on Thursday.

AT&T’s California application for relief of carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations attracted interest from Congress last week. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., raised concerns about the request in a Wednesday letter to California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Reynolds. Schiff wrote "the withdrawal of AT&T landlines will not only harm consumer choice but also pose safety issues in California.” In fires, earthquakes and other natural disasters, “our landlines become the most dependable form of communication,” he added. “While wireless connection is unreliable and cell phones can run out of battery, copper landlines have stronger receptions during power outages.” Schiff cited Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) data that more than 580,000 affected AT&T customers would be left with few options. “AT&T’s proposed withdrawal would harm rural residents disproportionately and the CPUC should weigh this factor heavily in its review of their application to end their COLR obligation,” Schiff wrote. Others from Capitol Hill could weigh in on the CPUC proceeding (docket A.23-03-003). RCRC saw “a lot of interest in this subject” when its delegation visited congressional offices earlier this month, Senior Legislative Advocate Tracy Rhine told us Thursday. Yet an AT&T spokesperson said Friday it will not leave customers behind, though millions have already moved to wireless and high-speed internet services. “We’re working with the remaining consumers who use traditional copper-based phone service to upgrade to newer technologies from us or other providers, so everyone will still be able to make their most important life connections.”

The South Dakota Senate will vote again on a 911 bill that failed to pass the chamber Wednesday. Senators voted 28-3 on Thursday to reconsider Wednesday's vote, which HB-1092 lost. Then the Senate voted by voice for a motion to reconsider the bill Feb. 26. The House-approved bill would increase South Dakota’s 911 fee on monthly phone bills to $2, from $1.25 (see 2402090055). But on the floor Wednesday, the bill failed to get a two-thirds majority necessary to pass the Senate, with 21 senators voting yes and 11 voting no. Sen. Jean Hunhoff (R) raised a procedural concern that the state’s 911 coordination board didn’t recommend the increase. Sen. Ryan Maher (R) objected to rewarding problems at the board with a $7.5 million tax increase for South Dakotans. The proposed fee increase won’t cover 911 centers' shortfall, said Sen. Brent Hoffman (R). He questioned why prepaid wireless wouldn’t face an increase under the bill. Sen. Jim Mehlhaff (R), carrying the bill in the Senate, said the surcharge hasn’t kept up with rising 911 costs. Don’t punish local public safety answering points for problems at the state 911 board, he said. In addition, Mehlhaff argued that prepaid wireless appropriately pays 2% of the point-of-sale cost. On the floor Thursday, Sen. Casey Crabtree (R) said the extension will give legislators time to work through the concerns raised in Wednesday's debate.

NTIA accepted Maine's digital equity plan, making it the first state gaining approval, the federal agency said Thursday. Maine received $542,222 for its plan that addresses disparities in digital access, skills and affordability.