Senate confirmation of Democratic FCC nominee Anna Gomez is likelier than not to stretch into next week, with the chamber on track to vote on invoking cloture on her Thursday, said Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and other officials in interviews. The Senate's Wednesday schedule didn't include a cloture vote on Gomez that some lobbyists previously thought possible (see 2309050084), though some suggested it could still happen that night.

State senators chose not to advance a bill that would have limited California rules for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday held the Assembly-passed AB-662, which was opposed by local and consumer advocates (see 2308170044). Assembly Communications Committee Chair Tasha Boerner said earlier her bill’s purpose was to bring accountability to the California Public Utilities Commission. The Democrat didn’t comment Tuesday. The committee also held AB-296 on 911 public education and AB-1546, which would have extended the statute of limitations for privacy claims brought by the state attorney general. AB-1546 sponsor Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D) said, “We’re disappointed that the bill won’t be moving forward this year, but are committed to continuing our effort to protect Californians' privacy rights.” The panel voted 7-0 to advance AB-286 on adjusting state broadband map requirements to the Senate floor. It also unanimously cleared AB-1065, which would explicitly authorize wireless broadband providers to apply for CASF federal funding account grants. Also Friday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted 16-0 for SB-60, which would explicitly authorize wireless broadband providers to apply for CASF federal funding account grants. The panel also unanimously advanced to the floor SB-74 to prohibit high-risk social media apps that, like TikTok, are at least partly owned by an entity or “country of concern.”

Proposals from GOP presidential hopefuls Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to abolish the Commerce Department face long odds of coming to fruition, but space experts told us the calls raise new questions about how that would affect commercial space operations and the operators that the entity currently regulates. Right-leaning groups want a new Republican administration to consider restructuring Commerce’s space regulatory operations. House Communications Subcommittee leaders, meanwhile, believe the chamber can resurrect the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (HR-1338) to revamp the FCC’s satellite regulatory process.

Wireless carriers don't have much apparent interest in the 42 GHz band, to judge from comments posted Thursday in response to a June NPRM. New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge were enthusiastic about the possibilities. Comments were due Wednesday in docket 23-158.

The FCC released a draft Further NPRM on the long-awaited 5G Fund Thursday, with commissioners scheduled to vote Sept. 21 (see 2308300062). Also on the agenda is a Space Bureau “transparency initiative,” with the bureau giving more guidance at initial application stages. Per the draft order and accompanying Further NPRM, the streamlining proposal is to be the first in a series of intended improvements to the Space Bureau. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel also is seeking a vote on an additional action targeting VoIP robocalls.

Hurricane Idalia’s eye left Florida around mid-day Wednesday, but the state is still having effects from the storm, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said at a 12:30 p.m. news conference livestreamed from Tallahassee. The FCC’s disaster information reporting system shows initial communications outages in Florida -- including for 58,941 cable and wireline subscribers -- from the storm, and the agency expanded the system’s coverage to include 16 counties in South Carolina, according to a number of public notices released Tuesday and Wednesday.

Nebraska will comprehensively reassess state USF rules, commissioners agreed at a Nebraska Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday. The all-Republican commission voted 5-0 to consider changes to the Nebraska USF (NUSF) high-cost distribution mechanism and associated reporting requirements (docket NUSF-139). The commission will seek feedback this fall.

Florida and the communications industry are preparing for Idalia, a tropical storm that's expected to develop into a major hurricane before it makes landfall on the Gulf Coast in days. “It will become a hurricane ... without question,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) at a Monday news conference in Largo, Florida. “Buckle up for this one.”

NTIA raised concerns on an April petition by the Shortwave Modernization Coalition (SMC) urging the FCC to launch a rulemaking to amend its eligibility and technical rules for industrial/business pool licensees to authorize licensed use of frequencies above 2 MHz and below 25 MHz for fixed, long-distance, non-voice communications (see 2305010053). “Numerous federal entities” including the Commerce, Transportation and Homeland Security departments, the Air Force, the Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard, the FAA and the National Science Foundation “are greatly concerned by the regulatory changes contemplated in the Petition,” NTIA said, in a Thursday filing in RM-11953. “To the extent the Commission considers initiating a responsive rulemaking, NTIA respectfully requests that the Commission recognize that much more information would be needed to ensure protection of the significant number of incumbent federal operations in the 2-25 MHz band,” NTIA said. The FCC could also consider excluding bands “where federal incumbents and safety missions are operating,” the agency said. NTIA warned that “some 28 Federal agencies hold over 120,000 frequency assignments in the 2-25 MHz frequency band, including safety-of-life operations such as the aeronautical mobile service where no interference can be tolerated.” NTIA attached comments by the Coast Guard laying out specific concerns. ARRL, NCTA and others oppose a rulemaking, which the SMC defended, in recent comments (see 2308180033).

Three telecom policy stakeholder groups urged Senate Communications Subcommittee leaders Friday to include stronger accountability rules in USF revamp legislation but diverged on some other goals. The entities were responding to a late July feedback request from Communications Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., and other USF working group members for feedback on the path forward on legislation (see 2305110066). FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, meanwhile, is pushing back against criticisms from House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, of the agency's Learning Without Limits proposal to allow E-rate program money to pay for Wi-Fi on school buses and for hot spots (see 2307310063).