CASF Bill Foes to Seek Newsom's Veto
The Utility Reform Network urged Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to veto a broadband bill to update the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grant review process. The legislature last month passed AB-2749, which would set a 180-day shot clock for the…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
California Public Utilities Commission to decide CASF applications. TURN Executive Director Mark Toney told us he sent a letter Wednesday seeking Newsom's veto and a coalition of opponents including TURN plans to send a separate veto request later this week. Groups including American Civil Liberties Union, Public Knowledge, Center for Accessible Technology and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance joined an earlier coalition letter asking legislators not to pass the bill. Toney is verifying that they all will join the veto letter but hasn’t heard any group has changed its position, he said. USTelecom earlier urged Newsom to sign AB-2749; previous bill opponents Electronic Frontier Foundation and Rural County Representatives of California became neutral on the bill before it passed (see 2208290020). AB-2749 “is unnecessary, adopts a broken ‘shot clock’ detrimental to underserved communities, and undermines a recent CPUC decision,” Toney wrote in the TURN letter: The shot clock “could lead to either rushed or incomplete reviews of applications.” When the CPUC made program rules, the agency rejected AT&T’s call for a shot clock, Toney told us: Giving the carrier a “second bite at the apple” would be a “real abomination of the process.” Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign, the TURN official said. AT&T didn’t comment.