An amended New Jersey small-cells bill cleared the Assembly Telecom Committee 8-0 Thursday. The New Jersey League of Municipalities is neutral on A-1116 to streamline 5G deployment by preempting local governments in the right way, said Associate General Counsel Frank Marshall at the livestreamed virtual hearing. Sponsor Assemblywoman Carol Murphy (D) said she spent many hours “fine-tuning” the bill since last year’s attempt. If New Jersey wants smart cities that attract and keep businesses, “we have to make sure we have the infrastructure,” she said. Committee Vice Chair Clinton Calabrese (D) noted he received calls from mayors concerned that new poles will go up unnecessarily. AT&T outside counsel Andy Emerson assured him that's addressed in talks with the municipal league and New Jersey Conference of Mayors. The carrier, CTIA and ExteNet testified in support. Local Progress urged localities to fight preemption laws.
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
National telecom industry groups balked at a California plan to revive and require the FCC’s voluntary Keep Americans Connected pledge with no sunset. The California Public Utilities Commission lacks authority to stop disconnections for nonpayment and late fees amid the pandemic, said VoIP, wireless and wireline companies in Wednesday comments emailed to the service list for R.18-03-011. They said they still voluntarily help customers despite the FCC pledge having ended June 30.
Frontier Communications got another state OK for its bankruptcy reorganization. The Mississippi Public Service Commission voted 3-0 Tuesday to adopt an order clearing the deal. The PSC recognized the deal is in the public interest, a Frontier spokesperson emailed. “We look forward to working to secure our remaining state approvals in California, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.” Also at the webcast meeting, commissioners unanimously supported the PSC entering into talks with the NTIA on the national broadband availability map (see 1910180017). “It presents an opportunity for Mississippi to have state-specific data that we are able to either upload ourselves or have carriers upload to help clear up some of the interim problems that we know exist with mapping right now,” said Commissioner Brandon Presley (D).
Facebook is the subject of antitrust lawsuits from the FTC and attorneys general of both parties from 46 states, Guam and Washington, D.C. The FTC and AGs alleged separately Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Washington that Facebook committed illegal, anticompetitive behavior in the social media market (see 2012090042). Lawmakers from both parties praised the suits. Facebook said government shouldn’t get a “do-over” on approved acquisitions and the company will defend itself.
Facebook faces antitrust lawsuits from 40-plus states with attorneys general of both parties along with the FTC for allegedly illegal, anticompetitive behavior in the social media market. While the agency's chairman signed onto the litigation, fellow FTC GOP members Noah Phillips and Christine Wilson voted no. Chairman Joseph Simons joined the agency's two Democrats voting yes.
Five states diverted more than $200 million of 911 fee revenue -- about 6.6% of all such money -- for unrelated purposes in 2019, the FCC reported Tuesday. That’s about $2 million more than the same states were reported to divert in 2018 (see 1912190077). Outgoing Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said he did what he could.
Two California lawmakers with competing broadband bills last session will co-author a single bill to revamp and fund the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D) Monday introduced SB-4 (see 2012030032). Gonzalez’s previous bill stalled in the Assembly, where member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D) had a different CASF bill (see 2008310034). "We each made great individual progress this year in building support for universal connectivity in, and funding for, both urban and rural communities,” said Aguiar-Curry. “Together ... we will deliver a 21st Century program that will support advances in distance learning, telehealth services, remote work, and small business.” Other supporters, all Democrats, include Senate Majority Leader Robert Hertzberg; Sens. Mike McGuire, Scott Wiener, Anna Caballero, Henry Stern, Nancy Skinner and Maria Elena Durazo; and Assembly members Buffy Wicks, Eduardo Garcia, Lorena Gonzalez, Luz Rivas and Wendy Carrillo. SB-4 would require the California Public Utilities Commission prioritize projects in unserved areas with at most 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds, with a goal of upgrading those places to at least 100 Mbps downstream. It would remove the existing 2022 funding sunset on CASF and require a maximum surcharge of 23 cents monthly per access line. The CPUC raised the CASF surcharge to 1.019% of intrastate revenue in October. The California Cable & Telecommunications Association has no position yet. It looks forward to working with Gonzalez "on broadband policy that will benefit all Californians," emailed CCTA President Carolyn McIntyre.
Colorado and Pennsylvania agencies urged caution as the FCC weighs how to deter states from diverting 911 fees on consumer bills for unrelated purposes. In reply comments due Wednesday in docket 20-291, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission warned some possible solutions in the FCC’s notice of inquiry “are inappropriate in response to the issue and may cause significant harm to the cause of improving public safety communications systems for use by the public.” The FCC shouldn’t adopt too narrow a definition for diversion that might conflict with 911 surcharge laws, the PUC said. Avoid imposing penalties that further harm local 911 systems, impede upgrades or severely hurt local governments, it said. Give states flagged as diverters an appeals process and a chance to correct behavior, it said. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency doesn’t support "a nationwide fixed ‘list’ of allowable 911 expenses at the federal level nor do we support a liberal application of 911 fees to all public safety functions," PEMA replied. “An approach to a national list of allowable expenditures that is more restrictive or contradicts state statutes or eligibility rules would penalize Pennsylvania 911 systems and has the potential to significantly impact 911 service.” Conditioning federal grants on no diversion is more effective when more money is at stake, PEMA said. "A large-scale federal funding program for 911, in a similar fashion to FirstNet, would serve as a strong deterrent to 911 fee diversion." The FCC hasn’t flagged Colorado or Pennsylvania as diverters. USTelecom and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) discouraged requiring providers to disclose on bills that a customer’s state is a diverter. ATIS said its Network Reliability Steering Committee “strongly opposes this approach because it would put the service providers in the middle of an issue that does not directly involve them and over which they have no authority to resolve.” Local and public safety groups warned in comments last month that some ways of punishing diversion could harm 911 (see 2011030029).
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission aims to spur broadband with its first pole-attachment dispute resolution since the state asserted authority in March by reverse preempting the FCC, Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille said at Thursday's virtual meeting. Commissioners voted unanimously to reduce telecom attachment rates FirstEnergy charges Verizon. In other states that day, California Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D) announced a second go at her Broadband for All bill and Colorado’s Broadband Advisory Board held its first meeting.
Expect President-elect Joe Biden’s DOJ to quickly withdraw from a lawsuit at U.S. District Court for Eastern California challenging that state’s net neutrality law (case 2:18-cv-02660), experts said in interviews this week. It probably wouldn’t stop USTelecom, CTIA, NCTA and ACA Connects from continuing industry’s challenge (case 2:18-cv-02684), they said. Open-internet bills blossomed in many states after Chairman Ajit Pai’s FCC reversed the previous commission’s Communications Act Title II order.