Net Neutrality, 5G Bills Steam Ahead; Tenn. Muni Broadband Ban Lives for Now
State bills on net neutrality, small cells and broadband deployment marched forward this week, but another to allow municipal broadband expansion failed. The Hawaii Senate passed a bill Tuesday reinstating net neutrality rules rescinded by the FCC in December, and both Hawaii chambers passed bills to streamline 5G deployment by pre-empting local governments. Washington state's legislature sent a rural broadband bill to the governor, but a Tennessee bill to end the ban on muni-broadband expansion died in committee.
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Hawaii senators voted 25-0 for net neutrality rules, sending the bill to the House. SB-2644 would require network management transparency and ban broadband ISPs from blocking content, degrading traffic, engaging in paid prioritization or interfering with customer access or edge provider provision of content applications, services or devices.
USTelecom is weighing options after Washington state became first to enact a net neutrality law despite FCC pre-emption threats (see 1803060023). Oregon’s governor is weighing a bill passed last week (see 1803020032). “We’re still looking at our legal options, but a patchwork of state laws and regulations is not the best path forward,” a USTelecom spokeswoman emailed Wednesday. The FCC declined comment.
Maryland bills on net neutrality and ISP privacy fill “voids left by the rollback of federal protections,” said Maryland Assistant Attorney General Richard Trumka at a Wednesday livestreamed hearing of the House Economic Matters Committee. The panel heard HB-1654 and HB-1655, which would put in place net neutrality and ISP privacy rules like those enacted by the previous FCC that were repealed last year. CTIA and USTelecom witnesses said companies would never exploit customers and the FTC will sufficiently protect consumers. "State efforts ... will be pre-empted by federal law," warned Jonathan Banks, USTelecom senior vice president-law and policy.
The Maryland bills’ authors disagreed with industry opponents. The FTC is good at stopping fraud but is unlikely to stop ISPs from charging extra to keep users’ data private, said Del. William Frick (D). The FCC can’t pre-empt net neutrality provisions, because Maryland would exercise state rights to set procurement rules to encourage compliance, said Del. Kirill Reznik (D).
Other states have net neutrality hearings soon. The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Telecommunications scheduled a Tuesday hearing on H-4222 and H-4151. Also Tuesday, a Tennessee House subcommittee plans to weigh HB-2405 and HB-1755 that had been scheduled this week.
Small Cells
Hawaii House members voted 49-1 to send a small-cells bill (HB-2651) to the Senate, and that chamber voted 25-0 to send its version (SB-2704) to the House. The Missouri Senate had SB-837 on its Wednesday “bills for perfection” calendar, a procedural step before final passage. Earlier this week, Virginia passed bills expanding its small-cells law (see 1803050037).
The Utah House is expected to vote by Thursday on a small-cells bill (SB-189) passed last week by the Senate. That bill could cost the Utah Department of Transportation $72,600 annually to manage increased volume of permit applications, estimated a Tuesday fiscal note: “The Department has indicated it can absorb this cost.”
The Tennessee House Business and Utilities Committee advanced a small-cells bill (HB-2279) by unanimous voice vote Wednesday to the Finance, Ways and Means Committee. Including an amendment OK’d at the hearing, there have been 50 changes since the original version designed to balance industry and local government interests, sponsor Rep. William Lamberth (R) said at the livestreamed session. The bill would provide a 5G deployment “how-to manual” for providers and local governments, he said.
A Tennessee Senate panel plans to consider that chamber’s small-cells bill (SB-2504) Monday, delayed from Tuesday this week. The Maryland Senate Finance Committee has a March 20 hearing on SB-1188. A Pennsylvania House committee canceled a planned March 15 hearing of HB-1620.
Broadband
The Washington state legislature passed a bill to let all ports build wholesale fiber infrastructure within and outside district limits, building on a 2000 law that enabled only rural ports. The House and Senate previously passed HB-2664, but the House refused Monday to accept Senate amendments, including one requiring ports to focus on unserved and underserved communities. Tuesday, the Senate agreed to drop its changes and voted 49-0 to pass the unamended bill. The bill goes next to Gov. Jay Inslee (D).
Tennessee lawmakers held back muni-broadband bills SB-1045, HB-1410 to end the restriction challenged by the FCC under ex-Chairman Tom Wheeler but upheld in 2016 in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. At a Tuesday streamed hearing in the Senate, no committee members argued against the bill, but it failed 3-4. Sen. Frank Niceley (R), voting yea, understands “people protecting their own turf, but there’s too much at stake.” SB-1045 author Sen. Janice Bowling (R), who had told us she has written variations on the muni broadband bill (see 1803020055), informed the committee: “I have two more bills that I’ll have on notice next week.”
The Tennessee Senate committee “let down rural folks … and chose to vote to preserve the telephone and cable monopolies,” blogged Institute for Local Self-Reliance researcher Lisa Gonzalez.