House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said Wednesday he and other supporters of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program are seeking stopgap funding for an FY 2024 omnibus appropriations package in a bid to keep the endangered initiative running. Meanwhile, ex-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and eight other former commission heads said congressional leaders should “act swiftly” and appropriate up to $15 billion for next-generation 911 tech upgrades. President Joe Biden last year sought $6 billion in stopgap ACP money and $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program as part of a supplemental appropriations request but didn’t mention NG-911 (see 2310250075).

The Florida Senate's version of a bill banning kids younger than 16 from having social media accounts cleared the Judiciary Committee on Monday. The panel voted 7-2 for Sen. Erin Grall's (R) SB-1788. It shares language with the House-approved HB-1, including prohibiting children from having accounts even with parental consent. However, the Senate bill wouldn't require social websites to disclose social media's possible mental health issues to those 16-18. A bipartisan majority in the House supported HB-1 last month (see 2401240079). Also, the Judiciary Committee voted 9-0 for Grall's SB-1792, which would require strict age verification for porn websites. It’s similar to HB-3, which unanimously passed the House (see 2401250017).

FCC commissioners unanimously approved an order Thursday requiring carriers to implement location-based routing (LBR) for calls and real-time texts to 911 within six months of when the rules become effective for nationwide providers and 24 months for small providers.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., is considering attaching an amendment to a pending national security supplemental spending bill that would allocate $3.08 billion to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, communications officials and lobbyists said in interviews. Telecom-focused lawmakers are still eyeing FY 2024 appropriations bills as vehicles for allocating rip-and-replace money, and some are pushing to keep using a spectrum legislative package to pay for it. President Joe Biden asked Congress to authorize the additional rip-and-replace money in October as part of a domestic funding supplemental separate from the national security request (see 2310250075).

Democrats peppered a Florida age-verification bill’s sponsors with questions Wednesday on their proposal to remove kids younger than 16 from social media platforms this summer. Several young people gave forceful testimony against the bill at the livestreamed hearing. But the state's House Judiciary Committee voted 17-5 to advance HB-1 to the floor.

Nevada, New Jersey and New York diverted about $205.4 million, or 5.3% of all 911 fee revenue, for unrelated purposes in 2022, an FCC report to Congress posted Tuesday found. The commission’s previous annual report found the same three states diverting about $198.5 million in 2021. The states used some of the revenue for public safety programs unrelated to 911; New York and New Jersey also used a portion for purposes unrelated to 911, the FCC said. Under the NET 911 Act, states must use 911 fee revenue for 911-related activities. The agency said 49 states, the District of Columbia and four territories responded to last year’s data request. Together they collected more than $3.5 billion in 2022 for 911. Idaho and the Northern Mariana Islands didn't report. New Jersey diverted 78.1% of $127.1 million collected, while fellow repeat offender New York diverted 41.7% of $254.4 million collected, said the report: It's unknown how much Nevada diverted from a $2.9 million pot. Nevada disclosed that at least two local jurisdictions diverted funding in 2022 for police body and vehicular cameras, the report said. “New Jersey and New York did not self-identify ... as diverting funds, but, consistent with previous reports, the Bureau has determined based on review of the information provided that these states diverted funds for non-911 related purposes within the meaning of the NET 911 Act.” In addition, the FCC said 44 states, D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico reported $512 million in total next-generation 911 spending in 2022. It said 37 states and jurisdictions reported having operating emergency services IP networks (ESInets). D.C., Puerto Rico and 47 states reported having text-to-911 by the end of 2022. Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands expected to provide that capability in 2023, the report said. National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes said it's unfortunate and unacceptable that some states still see 911 revenue as a way to fund other programs. "Funds that the public pays specifically for 9-1-1 purposes should be used to ensure that 9-1-1 callers receive an effective emergency response." NENA urges states that divert funds to end the practice. Instead, they should use the money for maintaining 911 service levels and upgrading to NG-911, he said.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission cleared about $20 million for high-speed internet projects through the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program. Commissioners voted 4-0 at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday, with one member absent, for an order approving grants (docket C-5484). Awarded projects will mostly connect unserved areas, said PSC Telecom Director Cullen Robbins. Projects must be completed by July 9, 2025, said the order. Hartelco received the most funding ($7.2 million), followed by Glenwood Telecom ($3.5 million), Pinpoint Communications ($2.6 million) and Cox ($2.4 million). Commissioners voted 3-1 to keep Dan Watermeier (R) as PSC chair. Commissioner Kevin Stocker voted no and Commissioner Christian Mirch was absent. The commission censured Stocker and Mirch last year for alleged, but not disclosed, misconduct (see 2310030043).

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission will seek clarity on its definition of “basic emergency service (BES) outage,” said a notice of proposed rulemaking Tuesday (docket 23R-0577T). The proceeding follows a more extensive 911 rulemaking in docket 22R-0122T, in which the PUC adopted rules for BES outages, the commission said. Since then, staff noticed that the state’s only BES provider, Lumen’s CenturyLink, construes what qualifies as a BES outage “differently than intended,” it said. “On numerous occasions, CenturyLink has argued in outage investigation responses that outages in facilities that service customers other than Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) are originating service provider (OSP) outages, not BES outages, even if those outages also impact a PSAP and prevent the PSAP from being able to receive calls. CenturyLink has also argued … that if the company reroutes 9-1-1 calls to another, alternate PSAP, then no outage has occurred, since the calls are still being answered, even if they are not being answered by the PSAP originally intended to receive the call.” The disagreement affects other rules including on outage reporting and billing credits, the PUC said. The commission hopes that the fresh rulemaking will “remove any potential ambiguity contained in the relevant rules prior to taking any enforcement action,” it said. Comments are due Jan. 10, with replies due Jan. 19. Also, the PUC plans a virtual hearing Jan. 29 at 11:30 a.m. MST.

Geometric Energy received an FCC experimental license for its DOGE-1 mission, the first space endeavor "to demonstrate Blockchain Technology beyond [low earth orbit]," according to the company's application. The mission will launch a cubesat into lunar orbit using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with electric propulsion getting the payload to lunar orbit. Geometric Energy said the mission will be paid for via Dogecoin cryptocurrency. In addition, it said the DOGE-1 payload will include "Distributed Public Ledger Technology Development & related imaging, authorization and authentication services." Authorization from the Office of Engineering and Technology was granted last week.

Reps. Norma Torres, D-Calif., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., refiled Wednesday their 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services Act, which would reclassify public safety call-takers and dispatchers as protective service. Torres has successfully added the measure to the House’s versions of several previous National Defense Authorization Act iterations but wasn't able to get it into the annual package this year (see 2307100063). The measure “provides a simple fix to reclassify 9-1-1 professionals as first responders and honor these brave men and women for their work,” Torres said. “As a former 9-1-1 dispatcher for over 17 years, I know this small change would mean a great deal to dispatchers.” NENA CEO Brian Fontes hailed Torres and Fitzpatrick for refiling the bill, saying in a statement that job reclassification is “of great importance to 9-1-1 professionals nationwide.” Torres’ office cited support from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, APCO and nine other groups.