Calif. Passes 10-Year CASF Extension

despite industry resistance (see 2109090049). Newsom declined to comment Friday. His office was involved with the bills and he's expected to sign before an Oct. 10 deadline. The bills, contingent upon each other's enactment, would include extending the CASF by 10 years and raising the surcharge cap to $150 million yearly from $66 million. “Both houses have approved a historic investment to close the digital divide,” Assembly sponsor Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D) said Thursday. “Broadband for All is one step closer to becoming a reality,” said sponsoring Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D). SB-4 and AB-14 “get the money correct, but fall short on critical upgrades to a state that is more dependent than ever on broadband infrastructure,” emailed Mike Montgomery, executive director of CALinnovates, an advocacy group with partners including AT&T and Uber. “What is really needed is to focus spend on delivering services to underserved communities in need, coupled with wraparound education to encourage uptake in these communities.” Consumer Reports Senior Policy Counsel Jonathan Schwantes applauded lawmakers Friday “for taking action to help bridge the digital divide.” Also Thursday, the Assembly concurred with Senate amendments to AB-74 to require various California LifeLine enrollment and recertification processes. The Senate concurred with Assembly changes to SB-28 to increase CPUC authority to check if state video franchisees are deploying enough broadband and to SB-341 on telecom outage reporting (see 2109080071).