Fla. Legislators Back Pole Regulation; Senate Cuts Private Suits
Florida could soon join 22 other states and Washington, D.C., in regulating pole attachments. The legislature passed a bill Wednesday to give the state authority to reverse preempt the FCC. A separate bill to regulate social media neared the finish line after the House passed an amended Senate bill. The Senate stripped language allowing private lawsuits from a House-passed comprehensive privacy bill. The legislature wraps work Friday.
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The House voted 114-3 to pass SB-1944 to give the Florida Public Service Commission authority to regulate pole attachments and mediate disputes. Senators voted 37-2 for the bill Monday (see 2104260061). It goes next to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), whose office didn’t comment Wednesday. Pennsylvania and West Virginia recently decided to regulate pole attachments after many years with no states reverse preempting the FCC.
"If and when" DeSantis signs the bill into law, the Florida commission will work with the legislature "to make sure the intent of the law is followed," a PSC spokesperson said. The proposed law would require the PSC to “adopt rules, regulate and enforce rates, terms, and conditions for pole attachments when parties are unable to reach an agreement; and to regulate safety, vegetation management, repair, replacement, maintenance, relocation, emergency response, and storm restoration requirements for poles and pole attachments,” said an April 21 Senate bill analysis. It would direct the PSC to set cost-based rates, terms and conditions using FCC orders “unless a pole owner or attaching entity establishes an alternative cost is appropriate and in the public interest.” The commission would be required to adopt procedural rules by Jan. 1.
The Florida House voted 78-41 Wednesday to pass a social media bill to make it unlawful for sites to deplatform political candidates and require sites to be transparent about policing users. The Senate previously passed SB-7072. It must agree with the House’s Tuesday amendment tweaking the definition of social media in the bill (see 2104270056).
"This bill protects the rights of the Floridians who have voted us here to represent them,” said sponsor Rep. Blaise Ingoglia (R) in livestreamed floor debate Tuesday. “Just because the federal government refuses to act does not mean this legislature shouldn't.” Likening the U.S. today to Cuba and censorship states, Rep. Thad Altman (R) urged colleagues to "stand up against this totalitarian view against our First Amendment." Big tech is “an existential threat” to the republic, added Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R).
There’s a way for politicians to avoid getting deplatformed, said Rep. Carlos Smith (D): "Stop trafficking in conspiracy theories" and "pushing misinformation." Other Democrats slammed the bill as unconstitutional.
The Senate removed a private right of action in the House’s privacy bill (HB-969) by adopting by voice an amendment from Sen. Jennifer Bradley (R) that effectively replaced the House bill with the Senate’s version (SB-1734). The state's attorney general would enforce the proposed law, Bradley said on the livestreamed Senate floor session Wednesday. Today’s internet is a “surveillance economy,” she said. "In a perfect world, the federal government would act.” The Senate teed up a vote by placing HB-969 on third reading.
HB-969 sponsor Rep. Fiona McFarland (D) will take "a close look" at Senate language, her aide said. Bradley’s amendment includes “changes fought for by the larger business community in Florida,” including “more favorable definitions of selling and sharing data” and removing the private right, blogged McGuireWoods Consulting. Disagreement over private suits was one reason Washington state's privacy bill failed Sunday (see 2104260061 and 2104220062).
The Florida legislature also passed a bill to allow police to use drones for crowd control and traffic management (see 2101260009). The Senate concurred with a House amendment and voted 40-0 Wednesday to send SB-44 to the governor.