Arizona Corporation Commission staff warned Tuesday that the Arizona Universal Service Fund (AUSF) could exhaust its money unless the commission increases contribution rates. Commissioners could vote March 12 on a staff-proposed order to raise fees. AUSF administrator Solix told commission staff “that although there were enough funds collected to fund the AUSF for January, February and March 2024, Solix has calculated that it's anticipated, by the end of April, the AUSF fund balance would be depleted and that the fund will not be able to pay the Commission-approved and contractual obligations to [Frontier Communications] and Solix, respectively, beginning in May 2024,” said a Tuesday (docket RT-00000H-97-0137). For basic local exchange and wireless service providers that interconnect with the public switched network, staff recommended increasing the monthly surcharge to 3.4 cents per access line, up from 2 cents, and to 34 cents per interconnecting trunk line, up from 20 cents. For intrastate toll service providers, Arizona commission staff recommended increasing the monthly surcharge to 45% of revenue, up from 34.1%. The new rates would start April 1 and would result in a $200,000 fund balance by year-end, a “reasonable level” that would “potentially eliminate the need to revise the AUSF surcharge rates again for 2024,” staff said. Arizona commissioners declined raising AUSF contribution rates in December (see 2312050032). Frontier is the only company receiving AUSF high-cost support.
The Vermont Senate approved a telecom bill Wednesday updating merger rules for communications union districts (CUDs), groups of two or more municipalities that build infrastructure in rural parts of the state. Proposed changes in S-199 will “simplify the process by which two or more CUDs can merge and provide additional flexibility related to CUD governance and business practices.” The measure next needs House approval.
Alabama and Arizona received NTIA approvals on first volumes of their initial plans for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program. NTIA updated its "Initial Proposal Progress Dashboard" on Wednesday. The two states can now start their challenge processes. NTIA has approved 17 states’ first volumes, but volume 2 only for Louisiana. NTIA said four states are accepting challenges, while six states closed their challenge portals.
The Utah House voted 64-0 on Wednesday for a bill that requires content filters when minors use tablets and smartphones. Eleven members were absent or didn’t vote. Because the House amended the bill, SB-104 must return to the Senate. Utah senators previously voted 25-3 in favor of the measure (see 2402070074). Meanwhile, lawmakers in other states advanced privacy and social media legislation this week. The West Virginia House voted 91-0 Wednesday for a consumer privacy bill (HB-5338) and sent it to the Senate. On Tuesday, the Georgia Senate voted 37-15 for another comprehensive privacy bill (SB-473), sending the measure to the House. On Monday, the Georgia Senate voted 51-1 for a measure requiring education for children about social media and the internet (SB-351). On Tuesday in Virginia, the House Commerce Committee voted 21-0 to advance a kids’ privacy bill (SB-361) that would add children-specific protections to the state’s comprehensive consumer privacy law. The Senate previously passed the bill 40-0 (see 2402120072). Also that day, the Missouri House Innovation Committee cleared HB-2141, which would prohibit state employees from using TikTok (see 2401030014). In Florida, the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee approved SB-1448 Tuesday, requiring platforms that foreign adversaries own to disclose how they curate, personalize and target content and how they address misinformation and harmful content. A House version of the bill advanced last week (see 2402220051).
Wireless carrier facilities in Hawaii would need eight hours of emergency backup power under a bill the state's House Commerce Committee cleared Tuesday. The panel voted 10-0 for HB-2710. The Technology Committee earlier passed it 8-0. The full House could vote next.
Alabama awarded $148.3 million for last-mile broadband through the U.S. Treasury Capital Projects Fund, the governor's office said Tuesday. The state awarded 66 grants to 16 internet service providers across 48 counties, it said. Grant winners included AT&T ($7 million), Charter Communications ($44.8 million), Mediacom ($22.8 million) and Central Alabama Electric Cooperative ($22 million). The last-mile awards follow $188.5 million in middle-mile grants announced by Gov. Kay Ivey (R) earlier this month (see 2402050059).
Municipal interests pushed back on a bill before the Missouri Senate Tuesday clarifying that streaming content is exempted from paying video franchise fees. In a Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee hearing on SB-947, Missouri Municipal League lobbyist Shanon Hawk of Armstrong Teasdale said municipalities started working with the Senate about eight years ago on updates to the state's public right-of-way rules, and streaming was part of that much larger conversation. She said subsequent updates included a promise that there would be a state task force on the future of right-of-way taxation, but that task force authorization expired in 2023 without ever meeting. Confusion remains about who must get a state franchise as a video service provider and municipalities are still trying to get right-of-way updates. ROWs are a financial liability for municipalities, as they carry maintenance and upkeep costs, said Pat Kelly, Municipal League of Metro St. Louis executive director. If streaming services don't pay using infrastructure in the ROW, taxpayers must, he said. Republican sponsor of the bill, Holly Thompson Rehder, said she had pushed for similar legislation when she worked as head of government relations for Galaxy Cablevision. She said streaming services weren't being considered when the state's Video Services Providers Act was passed, and that legislation never intended for streamers to be included under its franchise-fee obligations. She said franchise fees are intended to pay for actual access to rights of way. Levying a franchise fee on streamers is akin to levying such a fee on a cable provider's premium channels like HBO, she said. Representatives of Dish Network, DirecTV and Netflix all briefly testified in favor of the legislation. Backers of the bill repeatedly referred to franchise fees on streaming series as a tax that would be borne by those streamers' subscribers. Rehder said fee increases ultimately get passed to subscribers, and the clarification would prevent "our constituents from getting a tax increase, because that's exactly what this would be for them." The Municipal League's Kelly disputed that, calling it a fee. Similar legislation, HB-2057, has been introduced in the Missouri House.
The Wisconsin legislature passed a bill last week repealing a tax on personal property of telephone companies. The Assembly voted 90-7 Thursday and the Senate voted 30-2 Tuesday approving SB-323. Also on Thursday, the Wisconsin Assembly passed a bill that would require wireless carriers to provide device location information to law enforcement without a warrant if the subscriber consents and the company believes disclosure could prevent a person’s death or injury or if it receives a written law enforcement request stating that disclosure is needed to respond to an emergency call or situation involving possible death or serious physical injury. AB-960 also would give wireless providers immunity from criminal liability for such disclosures. The similar SB-890 cleared a Senate committee earlier this month (see 2402090055).
AT&T’s nationwide wireless outage last week shows why California regulators shouldn’t relieve the company of carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations, Communications Workers of America said. COLR requires AT&T to make landlines available to anyone who requests them across the state. The hourslong wireless outage (see 2402220058) showed that landlines remain important, CWA District 9 Vice President Frank Arce said Thursday. As such, the California Public Utilities Commission should reject “AT&T’s attempt to cut service to our most vulnerable residents,” he said. An AT&T spokesperson responded Friday, “We are not canceling landline service in California, and none of our California customers will lose access to voice service or 911 service.” The carrier said it's focused on upgrading customers to fiber and wireless technologies that consumers increasingly demand. “No customer will be disconnected, and we’re working with the remaining consumers who use traditional landline service to upgrade to newer technologies.” AT&T is pushing for quick CPUC action on its COLR relief petition (see 2402210038). The carrier disclosed in a Thursday ex parte notice that it plans to meet virtually Tuesday with aides to Commissioner Karen Douglas.
The Kansas House supported a 911 administration shakeup in a 117-3 vote Thursday. HB-2690 would replace the Kansas 911 Coordinating Council with a state 911 board. Also, it would allow counties to contract with each other to consolidate public safety answering points and require transfer of 911 fees collected from monthly phone bills and prepaid wireless sales to various state 911 funds at the state treasury. Also Thursday, the House unanimously passed a bill to end a recurring state 911 audit (see 2402220062).