The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision last week in the student loan case, Biden v. Nebraska, didn’t touch on communications law, but it delves deeper into the "major questions doctrine" laid out a year ago in West Virginia v. EPA (see 2206300066). Legal experts told us the opinion, by Chief Justice John Roberts, appears to further expand when the doctrine may apply and moves the court further away from the Chevron doctrine. The case also has implications for the most controversial items addressed by the FCC, including net neutrality, experts said.

Ohio will limit wireless eligibility for broadband grants and require age verification on social media. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed a 2024-25 budget bill (HB-33) Tuesday including those two sections despite opposition from wireless and internet groups. The wireless restriction may misalign Ohio with federal requirements in the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said a Wireless ISP Association (WISPA) spokesperson Wednesday: “Fewer solutions never result in more flexibility.”

Geostationary orbit (GSO) traffic is growing, but it's far from triggering the concerns about congestion that are accompanying the low earth orbit (LEO) boom and the emergence of mega constellations there, space experts said. 2022 ended with 596 operational GSOs in orbit, up from 574 at 2021's end, 562 in 2020 and 554 in 2019, according to Satellite Industry Association data. "My guess is that there is still room for growth" in GSO, emailed Patrick Seltzer, University of Michigan astronomy research professor emeritus.

High-profile RF safety skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s entry in the 2024 Democratic primary is likely to draw more attention to the debate over RF radiation, but that’s not likely to mean FCC action on the item, according to interviews with academics and wireless attorneys. “I don’t think his candidacy will have a practical effect” on the agency, said Best Best attorney Tim Lay. The agency might get more pressure from the public, but “they have enough other things on their list,” he said. The agency “tends to take a long time” to act in RF radiation proceedings, said wireless attorney David Siddall.

This has been a quiet year for FCC’s Technological Advisory Council, which last met Dec. 8, but members remain focused on a few remaining reports, all focused on 6G, and the FCC is still focused on the group, a spokesperson said. The FCC announced last week TAC will meet Aug. 17 (see 2306300059), in what is expected to be the final meeting under its current charter. TAC met four times last year and has generally had quarterly meetings.

Industry breathed a sigh of relief after a California state court delayed enforcement of California Privacy Rights Act regulations Friday. The California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) said the ruling by the California Superior Court in Sacramento righted an unfair situation for businesses. “Significant portions” of CPRA remain enforceable, despite the court’s ruling, said California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) Executive Director Ashkan Soltani.

NTIA expects to issue a report on responsible AI policies “later this year,” Associate Administrator-Policy Analysis and Development Russ Hanser said Thursday.

A California state court signaled it would delay enforcement of California Privacy Right Act (CPRA) regulations. The CPRA had required the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to start enforcing regulations implementing the sequel to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) by Saturday. Connecticut and Colorado’s comprehensive privacy laws took effect that day, joining California and Virginia laws. The Delaware Senate passed a privacy bill Thursday.

Broadcasters, satellite companies and trade groups disagreed how often the FCC should reevaluate its regulatory fee structure and whether the system needs new payers, in reply comments filed by Thursday’s deadline. The agency should “continue to conduct such reviews of the work of its indirect FTEs [full-time equivalents] annually, as well as to identify additional ways that the Commission’s regulatory fee process can be made fairer and remain current,” said a joint reply from state broadcast associations in docket 23-159. “A complex accounting of indirect FTEs is not fair, administrable, or sustainable” and doing such an analysis annually would create administrative burdens and raise fairness concerns, said CTIA.

Carriers are still working through how to approach the cloud, experts said Thursday during a webinar by data services company Pure Storage and GSMA’s Mobile World Live. Experts said the hybrid cloud, with data in both public and private clouds, and at on-premise data centers, is starting to become a reality.