Implementing proposed 988 outage reporting requirements shouldn't be very onerous, Jonathan Gilad, National Emergency Number Association government affairs director, told us, predicting 4-0 approval of the draft order on the FCC's agenda (see 2306290056). CTIA didn't comment, and there hasn't been lobbying on the docket 23-5 draft order. It will take years of 988 promotion and use before the Lifeline has the kind of recognition and automatic use that 911 does, speakers said Thursday at an event sponsored in Washington by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) marking a year since 988's official rollout. "‘911 didn't start off with instant success either; it takes a while," said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. HHS said Thursday it's adding Spanish-language text and chat services to Lifeline.

The Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General plans to publish a “management alert” about NTIA’s “reliance on tribes’ self-certifications of their broadband status to determine their eligibility for grants under the Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program,” Assistant IG-Audit and Evaluation Arthur Scott said in a Monday memo to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson we obtained Tuesday night. OIG plans to release the alert Wednesday, officials said. TBCP is one of several federal broadband programs congressional Republicans have focused on since December as part of ramped-up scrutiny of the government’s connectivity spending.

State commissioners proposed NARUC telecom resolutions seeking permanent annual funding for the affordable connectivity program (ACP) and recommending no government subsidies to communications companies using network equipment that might pose a national security risk. The state regulator association may consider the draft resolutions at its July 16-19 meeting in Austin. Telecom Committee ex-Chair Karen Charles Peterson of Massachusetts proposed the ACP resolution and another draft that would urge expanding Lifeline Awareness Week to include broadband access. ACP funds are expected to dry up by Q2 2024, said the first resolution. “Establishing a new federal assistance program was a complex process at the federal, state, territory, tribal and local level,” and potentially losing a permanent low-income broadband program "with government oversight is troubling because universal high speed internet access is essential for a well-functioning economy.” New Telecom Committee Chair Tim Schram (R) of Nebraska proposed the national security resolution. Despite "efforts to rip out and replace equipment and services from" the FCC's covered list "to safeguard our communications networks," a March 1 FCC public notice found about 79 providers still have covered equipment. That poses "an unacceptable risk to national security,” the draft said. The resolution would encourage the FCC to work with state commissions and broadband offices to identify risky equipment and hold back funding. “NARUC recommends that no federal, state, or local governmental body provide universal service support, broadband deployment support, or any other form of grant funding to any communications company which utilizes equipment identified on the FCC’s Covered List anywhere in its network.”

NTIA awarded nearly $8.4 million in additional tribal broadband connectivity support to 17 tribes, the agency announced Thursday. The new funding will support tribal communities' efforts to "move forward in planning for future high-speed Internet infrastructure projects or promoting Internet use and adoption." A second notice of funding opportunity for additional program funding will be released "in the next few months," NTIA said.

AT&T won’t yet be relieved of an obligation to file automated reporting management information system (ARMIS) financial reports with the California Public Utilities Commission, the CPUC decided at a virtual meeting Thursday. The commission voted unanimously for a consent agenda that includes a draft decision denying AT&T’s 2021 petition for modification of a 2009 order about regulating large and mid-sized telecom companies (docket R.05-04-005). The CPUC will consider the issue instead as part of its service-quality rulemaking (docket R.22-03-016), said the draft. AT&T argues the ARMIS reports no longer serve a useful purpose and are too time-consuming to produce. Its petition got opposition from consumer groups and support from small carriers. Also at the meeting, California commissioners supported a draft resolution T-17793 to approve $5.1 million in local agency technical assistance applications for nine non-tribal local agency applications. The approval will exhaust $45 million available for such entities. Commissioners approved another proposed resolution T-17786 to approve $162,655 in support from the California Advanced Services Fund adoption account to two projects. “We have to build broadband infrastructure and make sure everyone is able to use it,” said Commissioner Darcie Houck. “These grants are one step in accomplishing these goals in a manner that will maximize the impact of our investment.”

A draft FCC order would update several E-rate rules to ensure tribal colleges and university libraries are eligible to receive program support, according to a draft released Thursday (see 2306280064) for consideration during the commissioners' July 20 open meeting. The agency in its draft 988 outage reporting order defended the reporting requirement as requiring nominal action, requiring only clicking on a checkbox in its national outage reporting system (NORS) to indicate if a reported outage potentially affects a 988 facility.

The FCC will consider additional steps to ensure tribal communities have access to E-rate funding during the agency's July 20 meeting, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a note Wednesday. Rosenworcel circulated a proposal last week to allow the use of E-rate funds for Wi-Fi hot spots (see 2306260029). Also on the agenda are an order addressing local programming and proposed rules on reporting and notice requirements for 988 outages.

The FCC will host an in-person workshop July 12-13 in Washington state for tribal governments, employees, and members, said a public notice Friday. The event will "provide information that will help tribal nations identify and evaluate opportunities to develop more robust broadband infrastructure and services in tribal communities."

There is no requirement that an importer intentionally evade duties to be hit by an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, the Court of International Trade ruled in a June 13 opinion. Upholding CBP's finding that importers Ikadan System USA and Weihai Gaosai Metal Product Co. evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on steel grating from China, Judge Leo Gordon rejected the importers' claim that the definition of "evasion" requires a finding of some level of culpability.

The California Public Utilities Commission authorized pilot programs to allow low-income consumers to stack state and federal benefits to pay for wireline and wireless broadband services. At a virtual meeting Thursday, commissioners voted 5-0 for a revised draft (see 2306060048) in docket R.20-02-008. Meanwhile, a consumer group is raising concerns about Verizon’s Friday letter to the commission on its struggles to migrate TracFone California customers to its network. Ensuring those customers weren’t abandoned was a “central issue” in the state commission’s merger review two years ago, Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) legal counsel Paul Goodman said in an interview.