Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) supported ending a five-year 911 audit by the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit. Kelly signed HB-2483, the governor’s office said Friday. The state legislature passed that bill and another to shake up state 911 administration earlier this month (see 2404020059).
Colorado appropriators supported bills on the future of the state's high-cost support mechanism (HCSM) at Friday committee meetings. The HCSM, which provides subsidies to a dozen rural telecom providers, is scheduled to sunset Sept. 1. However, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 8-0 for a bill (HB-1234) to prolong the fund indefinitely. It previously passed the House but will need another vote there to conform with Senate tweaks. Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee voted 7-4 for HB-1336, which transfers authority for awarding grant money from the HCSM to the state broadband office. A broadband deployment board in the governor's IT office currently distributes the money. Senate appropriators also voted 7-1 for a social media bill, HB-1136. The House previously passed the bill, which would require the state’s education department to create elementary and secondary school curricula on social media’s mental health issues (see 2403120065). In addition, it would require social media platforms to display pop-up warnings when users younger than 18 spend more than one hour on a platform during a 24-hour period and when they are active on social media between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Louisiana could use unspent cash from a broadband grant program for non-internet infrastructure. The state House voted 100-0 Thursday to pass HB-617, which would permit unobligated funds from the Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities (GUMBO) program for “nonbroadband infrastructure project uses.” Projects would need to satisfy the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund. The bill will go to the Senate.
Illinois counties could lease or license fiber and other broadband infrastructure for delivery of high-speed internet under a bill the state's Senate approved unanimously Friday. After Senate passage, the bill (SB-3173) arrived in the House. Senators voted 59-0 for an amended bill that would allow counties to lease to public or private entities so long as they do so “on a nondiscriminatory, nonexclusive, and competitively neutral basis” and the county complies with safety codes and all other state and federal laws. The bill's original version would have let counties and municipalities sell local broadband service as a retail provider by obtaining a telecom carrier certificate from the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Create a state version of the affordable connectivity program (ACP) with New York ConnectAll broadband funding helping low-income residents pay for wired broadband, the Cable & Telecommunications Association of New York (CTANY) suggested Thursday. The New York Public Service Commission received comments from the association, which includes Altice and Charter Communications, in docket 22-M-0313. "If ACP is eventually extended by Congress, the state program can complement the federal benefit, but if it is not extended, the subsidy can be an important safety net to continue connectivity for the over one million households who ... rely on ACP in the state,” CTANY said.
The California Public Utilities Commission plans to propose a decision in Q2 2025 on possible updates to the state’s deaf and disabled telecommunications program, Commissioner Darcie Houck said in a scoping memo Wednesday in docket R.23-11-001. The CPUC will consider whether and how it should modify program rules “in light of the changing communications landscape and participants' needs,” among other issues, it said. The agency will hold hearings and workshops from April to July and will collect more comments in Q4 this year, the memo said.
An Alabama bill aiming to protect kids’ online neared the finish line after it passed the state Senate unanimously on Tuesday. HB-164 would require a reasonable age-verification method to restrict those younger than 18 from accessing pornographic websites (see 2403210064). The House approved the bill Feb. 29 but must vote again to align it with a short Senate amendment, including a clarification about the appropriate venue for the bill’s private right of action. A day earlier, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) vetoed a similar bill requiring age verification for adult websites (HB-2586). “The legislation goes against settled case law,” wrote Hobbs. “Children’s online safety is a pressing issue for parents and the state,” but the answer “should be bipartisan and work within the bounds of the First Amendment, which this bill does not.” In addition, the Democratic governor vetoed the Republican-controlled legislature’s HB-2793, which would have required school policies restricting social media access and limiting cellphone usage. “This legislation establishes an unnecessary mandate for an issue schools are already addressing,” said Hobbs.
An Alaska effort to implement phone deregulation is back on. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska will soon seek comments on draft rules to implement SB-83, the state’s 2019 telecom deregulation law, commissioners decided 4-0 at their Wednesday meeting. The Alaska Department of Law in September disapproved rules that the RCA previously OK'd and suggested draft regulations that might cure the defects. In October, Alaska commissioners agreed to reboot the proceeding, directing staff to work with the law department to revise the draft (see 2310110046). On March 28 this year, the RCA received approval from the department to issue revised proposed rules for a 45-day comment period, said a Monday staff memo including the draft regulations. RCA staff said it's "prepared to make final arrangements” by the end of this week to close previous docket R-19-002 and start fresh in docket R-24-001. Prior to voting, Commissioner Bob Pickett said, "Let's get this thing moving."
Hawaii senators voted 24-0 to approve a broadband bill (HB-2359) establishing a digital equity grant program. The House passed the bill almost unanimously last month (see 2403040071) but now must agree with the Senate’s changes. The Senate Energy Committee amended the bill to remove wireless community networks from the list of eligible projects, insert an effective date of Jan. 1, 2060, “to encourage further discussion,” and make technical changes, the committee said March 20.
A Tennessee bill restricting children on social media passed the Senate in a 30-0 vote Monday. HB-1891, which Gov. Bill Lee (R) supports, would require parental consent for kids younger than 18 on social networks (see 2403120065). The bill would take effect Jan. 1. Meanwhile, a Tennessee panel will study a broadband reporting bill during the summer, the state legislature’s House Commerce Committee decided by voice vote Tuesday. HB-2910 would have required state and federal broadband grant recipients to list unserved areas where they plan to deploy high-speed internet using government cash, and to say when they aim to have service in those places. The Senate unanimously passed the cross-filed SB-2907 last week (see 2404020060). But at the House Commerce Committee’s final meeting of this session, Chair Kevin Vaughan (R) said more time is needed to develop how the reporting will work. “We all need to know more about broadband throughout the state,” so legislators will work “diligently” on the bill over the summer, he said. Lawmakers should move quickly because of "disparities and inequities that exist among the haves and have-nots,” said Rep. Goffrey Hardaway (D). The legislator said he distrusts summer studies, which sometimes are used to “dismiss a bill altogether.” The chair assured Hardaway that won’t be the case here. Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) supports continued work on the bill, Vaughan said. "We're off to do a real summer study."