The Oregon Health Authority “accepts some criticisms” about a 2020 report that found insufficient evidence that cellphone exposure can cause cancer, said Center for Health Protection Administrator Andre Ourso at an Oregon Senate Education Committee virtual hearing Monday. Ourso generally defended the agency’s work after RF safety advocates urged state lawmakers to retract the report.
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.
Amazon violated California labor law when it concealed from warehouse workers state-required information about COVID-19 cases in the workplace, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) alleged Monday. Amazon would be required to change its practices under a stipulated judgment agreed upon by the state and the company. Also Monday, California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) Executive Director Ashkan Soltani said the fledgling agency is focused on speeding up staffing as it develops and prepares to enforce updated state privacy rules.
Consumer advocates said to reject changes proposed by Verizon and Tracfone to the California Public Utilities Commission’s conditional draft OK of the companies’ combining. CPUC members plan to vote Nov. 18 on Verizon/Tracfone, showed a Tuesday agenda. The companies disagreed last week with state LifeLine and customer migration conditions in the draft (see 2111050039). The companies' proposed edits are “factually incorrect, legally unsupported, and, if adopted, would make this merger detrimental to the interests of California consumers,” the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office replied Tuesday. The companies seek to “weaken or outright eliminate critical conditions” for low-income customers, PAO said. The Utility Reform Network and the Center for Accessible Technology agreed. Verizon said the proposed decision, with its recommended changes, “accomplishes the goal of ensuring that the Transaction is in the public interest.” Additional conditions proposed by the other three groups are “unnecessary and appropriate,” it said.
Texas urged a state court to again dismiss carrier claims that the Public Utility Commission didn’t adequately fund Texas USF (TUSF). Judge Karin Crump of Travis County District Court in Austin heard livestreamed, virtual oral argument Tuesday on a challenge by AMA TechTel. Crump dismissed a similar challenge by two state telecom associations June 7 (see 2106210048). The Texas Appeals Court for the 3rd Judicial District in Austin will hear the associations’ appeal of that decision Dec. 15, said Texas Assistant Attorney General Carl Myers. “This case is about AMA and AMA only,” and the court should decline relief because “it would take the pot of money ... from the case pending before the 3rd Court of Appeals” and due to lack of jurisdiction, he said. The legislature, not the court, should fix TUSF, he said. The other case’s plaintiffs are ILECs, but AMA is suing from its perspective as a CLEC, said its attorney Kevin Terrazas of Cleveland Terrazas. AMA isn’t asking the court to order the PUC to increase TUSF surcharges, but to follow a law requiring the commission to maintain an adequately funded TUSF. The PUC set the amount AMA should receive, but it isn’t paying that amount, he said: The law gives the PUC discretion on how to fund TUSF but not whether to fund it. Crump believes she made the right decision in the first case but wants to understand the distinctions between cases, the judge said. The hearing continued after our deadline.
As states prepare for a significant role spending broadband funds from the bipartisan infrastructure bill, telecom industry representatives cautioned NARUC Tuesday against applying traditional telephone rules. “States will have a bigger role than they’ve ever had before” since the infrastructure package includes $42.5 billion for broadband deployment that NTIA will distribute to states, said Verizon Director-Public Policy Paul Vasington on a livestreamed, partially virtual NARUC conference panel. State commissioners asked companies to do more to help them resolve customer complaints.
The FCC’s pause on the phasedown for voice-only Lifeline support won't stop the Oregon Public Utility Commission from seeking to make permanent its increase to the state subsidy next week, a PUC spokesperson told us Monday. The PUC temporarily increased the state’s Lifeline subsidy July 28 to $10 from $7 for Sept. 1-Jan. 31 to offset the reduction in federal support and opened a rulemaking that would make it permanent (see 2109160028). “Staff will petition the Oregon PUC at the” Nov. 16 meeting “to issue a notice of permanent rulemaking in which the Oregon subsidy is permanently set at $10.00, effective” Feb. 1, the spokesperson said. The FCC paused the phasedown Friday for one year (see 2111050058).
Verizon disagreed with draft conditions on state LifeLine and customer migration proposed in the California Public Utilities Commission’s Tracfone acquisition review. The CPUC posted comments Friday in docket A.20-11-001 on a proposed decision by Administrative Law Judge Thomas Glegola to conditionally clear the deal that would affect many low-income customers (see 2110150051). California commissioners may vote Nov. 18 on Verizon/Tracfone, which also needs FCC OK.
West Virginia Public Service Commission staff urged strict action against Altice so the cable operator known there as Suddenlink understands "its current inability or unwillingness to provide adequate, safe and reliable cable television service to West Virginia subscribers is simply unacceptable.” Staff, Altice, localities and the state consumer advocate filed briefs Wednesday on the PSC’s Altice probe in case 21-0515-CTV-SC-GI. Altice doesn’t seem to be taking concerns seriously, said staff. “The old saying that ‘actions speak louder than words’ was affirmed by Suddenlink” when executives left early from last month’s hearing (see 2110060056), showing “they had no interest in what” other hearing participants “had to say about Suddenlink’s performance in West Virginia.” Altice failed to provide knowledgeable witnesses, staff added. The Consumer Advocate Division urged the PSC to impose "statutory penalties to the full extent permitted by West Virginia law" and to remediate current Altice customer service practices. The cabler isn’t taking the inquiry seriously, it agreed. Kanawha County supported PSC staff recommendations: “The Commission has received thousands of complaints, and the Staff has responded accordingly, giving those customers a loud voice.” High rates, poor service, no competition and insufficient local franchise leverage are "the result of abusive monopoly power by a loosely regulated service providers,” said Beckley, Charleston and Elkins. The company acknowledged its “performance challenges ... particularly with respect to its delivery of field services and customer care," saying it acted to address problems, is investing millions of dollars in its West Virginia network and is committed to do more. Don’t penalize or take remedial action because staff recommendations exceed commission authority under state and federal law and Altice is “substantially in compliance” with the Cable Act, it said.
State and federal policymakers should consider infrastructure funding for energy and telecom together rather than in silos, said Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley at a partially virtual Utilities Telecom Council workshop in Spokane, Washington. That could lead to a “multiplier of benefits,” since modernizing the electric grid will require fiber that could be shared for consumer broadband, said Presley. NARUC plans to vote on Presley’s draft resolution on the subject at its meeting next week. The draft focuses on electric cooperatives building middle-mile infrastructure, meaning if a cooperative is pursuing the last mile, “there's perhaps a suggestion that these legislators and commissioners ought not to be approving that kind of stuff,” said Keller Heckman lawyer Tom Magee on a UTC panel Thursday: It might not be well-taken by places like Chattanooga that directly sell service to residents. Five to 10 states passed laws empowering utilities to use electric easements to provide broadband, said Lerman Senter attorney Brett Heather Freedson on the same panel. There may be legal risk for co-ops even in states with utility broadband laws, she cautioned: A Virginia law faces a constitutional challenge after landowners sued an electric cooperative in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, Virginia (case 3:20-cv-00065). Northwestern utilities stepped in to install fiber when telcos wouldn’t, said another panel Thursday. Douglas Electric Cooperative of Roseburg, Oregon, formed Douglas Fast Net because Lumen had no plans to significantly upgrade service, said DFN Manager Todd Way. “They were never going to really take care of our rural community, and I think we still see that to this day across the nation.” With an open-access fiber network in Kitsap County, Washington, the Kitsap Public Utility District is “not in this for a revenue stream,” stressed Telecom Director Angela Bennink: If the project had been a moneymaker, “the privates would be there.” Now the PUD’s network transports data for Lumen and cable companies, which provide residential services, she said. Addressing UTC virtually over Zoom, Presley faced intermittent audio and video issues as he discussed internet access. About 10 minutes into his remarks, his connection dropped out and UTC couldn’t get him back.
Three more municipalities opted out of a Colorado law banning municipal broadband in Tuesday’s election. And Virginia former Gov. Terry McAuliffe conceded Wednesday to Republican Glenn Youngkin, who supported low-orbit satellites for expanding rural broadband during his campaign (see 2110250029). In other races, Boston chose for mayor Michelle Wu, a progressive Democrat with a digital equity plan. In Colorado, Mesa became the 44th county to opt out by passing its ballot initiative with about 72% voting yes. "This is a big win for rural western Colorado,” emailed county Commissioner Cody Davis (R). “It's the first step in bringing reliable high-speed internet to every corner of Mesa County.” Milliken and Windsor become the 117th and 118th municipalities to opt out, said the Colorado Municipal League. About 81% voted yes in Milliken, 77% in Windsor. Colorado has 64 counties and 271 municipalities. Elsewhere, residents in Northampton, Massachusetts, supported muni broadband, while those in China, Maine, voted against it and people in Hampden, Maine, voted against a $4.5 million public network. Harlan, Iowa, residents voted to sell its muni network. Election results suggest broadband is “still growing as a voting issue,” emailed Institute for Local Self-Reliance Director-Community Broadband Networks Christopher Mitchell. “I remain concerned that Virginia is discouraging investment in better broadband networks, whether in areas totally unserved, areas needing more choices, or low-income areas,” he said. “The Democrats had a chance to remove the barriers and didn't.”