NARUC Telecom Committee Clears Resolutions With EBB Edit

The NARUC Telecom Committee advanced proposed resolutions on the emergency broadband benefit, outage and disaster information sharing and recommendations by the association’s broadband task force. At the panel’s partially virtual Tuesday meeting, members revised the EBB measure’s language on how long to extend EBB, after South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Chairman Chris Nelson objected to NARUC seeking the benefit’s renewal. The proposals still require OK by the NARUC board Wednesday.

The original EBB draft by Crystal Rhoades would have sought additional funding to extend the program “for as long as necessary,” or at least until Lifeline reimbursement increases. The Nebraska Public Service Commission member’s measure would urge the FCC to address problems with enrolling eligible households through the national verifier and ask Congress to end bypassing the state eligible telecom carrier designation process. NCTA opposed requiring ETC designation (see 2107160055)

Nelson at first wanted to delete the clause urging an EBB extension but then accepted alternative language suggested by Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley. New language would urge Congress to “adequately fund the EBB program from existing or proposed appropriations of federal funds to meet the goals of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 so as to assure that the program remains fully funded until six months after the [Health and Human Services] Secretary declares the end of the cited emergency.”

Nelson told the committee the emergency is ending and he’s wary of exacerbating the $28.5 trillion federal deficit by extending EBB. Rhoades said she agreed federal spending is high, but with COVID-19 pandemic and wage inequality and the need for connectivity, she hopes the government can “find other places [where] we can be fiscally responsible." Telecom Committee Chair Karen Charles Peterson of Massachusetts said she feels “we’re still in the emergency” since she’s still wearing a mask: “We have so many families in need of support for broadband that we cannot ... in good faith say that we're past the pandemic, we're no longer in an emergency status and we should just move forward."

Rhoades said she earlier accepted a friendly amendment from Presley that would ask Congress in any temporary EBB extension to require providers receiving any federal broadband funding to participate in the program for low-income households. She also accepted a suggestion by TruConnect last week (see 2107150056) to mention that more than 15 states haven’t connected Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program databases to the national verifier.

The Telecom Committee unanimously OK’d Nelson's compromise amendment on EBB, while one member voted against the overall resolution, said commissioners and a NARUC staffer in brief interviews afterward. They identified the no vote as coming from Utah’s Thad LeVar.

Charles Peterson saw the bipartisan approval of the amendment as proof that state commissioners often work across party lines. Nelson “had a concern and, excuse the pun, we were able to come to a resolution with the assistance of Commissioner Presley,” Peterson told us. “When my colleagues are happy, Republican and Democrat,” it’s a good thing, she continued.

LeVar takes "a generally conservative approach to advocacy, considering my quasi-judicial role," he emailed after voting no. "I simply don’t advocate for policy legislation at the state level, much less on federal issues." The Utah PSC chair took "no position on the merits of the various viewpoints expressed today."

Need for the EBB “has run its course,” Nelson told us Monday. “It was meant to get through the emergency, and it looks like we are rapidly getting through the emergency. The economy is robust.” EBB funding should last through year-end, said the Republican: It’s best now to consider how the Lifeline program should look going forward, said Nelson. He said he supports the rest of the resolution and spoke that day with Rhoades about his concern. The EBB hasn’t had big impact in South Dakota, where fewer than 1,000 subscribed, he said.

Congress should extend the EBB, California Public Utilities Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen said in another Monday interview. “This is an essential service,” and “not just in the pandemic.” Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority Commissioner Michael Caron said Tuesday he supports extending the EBB. So far it seems to be a success despite some enrollment barriers, he said. To drive adoption, Caron urged a more decentralized approach involving more stakeholders, including “the people who are really on the ground and that the people who need this program trust.”

Other Resolutions

The committee unanimously supported Rechtschaffen’s resolution asking the FCC to seek comment on whether the FCC should keep its presumption of confidentiality for network outage reporting system (NORS) and disaster information reporting system (DIRS) filings. Sharing information is important with California “in a permanent wildfire season,” and climate change “rearing its very, very ugly head ... throughout the west,” Rechtschaffen said. With “more and more outages,” it’s increasingly important for the public to have information “so they can plan their lives,” participate better in state commission proceedings and “decide which carriers to choose based on which ones maintain their networks most effectively and which ones have poorer service quality,” he said. “Some outages are due to mother nature; others are due to the lack of infrastructure investment by the provider.”

Rechtschaffen sees much “interest among other states ... in reexamining the presumption of confidentiality,” with the telecom market much changed since the FCC decided to keep NORS and DIRS confidential 17 years ago. Comparable electric outage information is public, he added.

The panel unanimously supported the broadband task force measure. The broadband group took an "extensive, exhaustive dive into these issues,” said Presley, who as NARUC president last year established the group.

Nelson praised the work of the broadband task force that he chairs. Assuming the group’s proposed resolution passes, “I feel good about where that places NARUC” in public policy discussions, he said. The recommendations came from a “broad spectrum of commissioners,” including those who don’t “typically deal with telecom,” he noted. The task force is finished, said Nelson. “If anything else needs to be done, it would be something that the Telecom Committee as a whole might look at on an ad hoc basis.”

This NARUC conference had only telecom resolutions, which isn’t the norm for the association that has several other committees on electricity and other state-regulated utilities. It’s “not unusual” for the Telecom Committee to have numerous resolutions, and broadband is top-of-mind for many due to the pandemic's requiring internet for remote work and education, association President Paul Kjellander told us. Fewer resolutions in other committees this time might stem from difficulties working virtually, said the Republican from the Idaho Public Utilities Commission.

The Biden administration should fill the FCC vacancy with a state commissioner, Presley said before the meeting concluded. Presley plans to ask the NARUC board Wednesday to make such a statement because he said having a state member could resolve "unneeded turbulence” with the FCC.