Weiser Urges FCC Not to Compress Time for State Broadband Plans

State plans won’t be due before FCC maps are final, and money won’t be spent before plans are made, under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, said Weiser. Under the Obama administration, in which Weiser worked, the U.S. got a poor result by going in the opposite order, spending money first, making a plan second and doing maps third, the AG said. ISPs had to submit broadband service availability data to the FCC by Thursday.

Weiser would have concerns if an FCC mapping delay compressed the time frame for states to plan, he said. “If they try to say, ‘OK, we’ve got the maps -- [you've] got a chance to challenge and your plans are due one day after you decide to challenge,' [then] they’re really forcing states into a narrower planning process than would be ideal," said Weiser: "Please don’t do that to us.”

Weiser told NATOA’s local government attendees to consider that “having state-of-the-art is a core economic development imperative, and rather than think about how you charge your nickel at a toll booth, think about how can we make it easy and smart to provide access.” He allowed for “reasonable concerns like aesthetics.”

“I totally agree” with removing Colorado’s ban on municipal broadband, Weiser told us later. While more than 100 communities have opted out of the restriction through ballot votes, the state broadband office plans to seek repeal in the legislative session starting this January (see 2208300036). The state's limit is “archaic” and “could get in the way of local governments having broadband funding,” the AG said.

The FCC may not be able to capture the whole picture as it tries to implement the federal infrastructure law’s prohibition on digital discrimination, said Weiser in his keynote. “The FCC’s jurisdiction has generally been the broadband providers,” but “a lot of the digital discrimination that I worry about happens … higher up in the stack.” For example, the agency probably would lack authority over an “online gig-economy company that engages in discrimination in hiring or in service” due to their algorithms, he said. The FCC declined to comment.

The Colorado AG is implementing the state’s privacy law that will take effect July 1. “I’d love there to be a federal law as long as we as the state can enforce the federal law," Weiser said. "I’m OK being preempted by a federal standard as long as it’s as good as Colorado’s.”

Colorado’s interest in repealing its muni broadband ban and Sen. Michael Bennet (D) vowing Tuesday to bring back a proposal to preempt state restrictions shows the tide may be turning on that issue in favor of local networks, NATOA General Counsel Nancy Werner told us: NATOA remains concerned that some states could try to restrict grants going to local governments.

NATOA President Michael Russo’s city, Calabasas, California, is “thinking about municipal fiber,” he said in the same interview. “We keep going back and forth on it and there’s no real consensus among our city leadership.” Calabasas is “a very wealthy enclave in western Los Angeles County, so you don’t really have those obvious” underserved areas, but the city is considering muni fiber to “remain competitive” for residents and businesses, he said.

This week’s NATOA conference was the association’s first in-person conference since the COVID-19 pandemic began. “Just to look out there and see everybody really for the first time in three years,” said Russo. “Nothing better than that.” NATOA waited longer than many other groups in returning to in-person. “A large reason why we waited an extra year” was “because we were particularly worried about local government budgets” preventing travel, said Werner.

Budgetary concerns stemming from the pandemic haven’t abated for all localities, said Russo. “There are some people who would normally come to this event who can’t because the travel budgets are just nonexistent right now.”

NATOA attendance was about 300 this year, down 25% from 400 at the pre-pandemic 2019 conference in Tampa, said Executive Director Tonya Rideout Thursday. Unexpectedly, she said, more than one-third of this year's attendees were first-timers.

NATOA Notebook

Local governments should watch out for states seeking to copy a 2022 Louisiana law that prevents cities from collecting franchise fees from streaming services (see 2208110003), warned Best Best’s Gerard Lederer on a Thursday panel at the NATOA conference. There are “strong arguments” that revenue a cable operator receives for streaming services delivered over its system is subject to franchise fees, said the local government attorney. "This is coming up all over the country," said Sue Buske, a cable consultant for local governments. She highlighted a Massachusetts bill (H-130) that would assess streaming services a 5% fee on gross annual revenue that would be distributed to local governments and community media centers. Lederer cautioned localities not to “surrender” the streaming issue when renewing franchise agreements with operators. Don't agree to broad gross-revenue exemptions that exclude revenue received from services delivered through the internet or from information services, he said. “Live to fight another day.” Over-the-top streaming is a rising concern for NATOA members as consumers cut traditional cable services (see 2208310065).