The California Public Utilities Commission agreed to open a proceeding to consider rules for NTIA broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) grants, the CPUC said Thursday. Commissioners adopted a proposed order released earlier in February (see 2302160020). The rulemaking kicks off “an in-depth public engagement process to develop the roadmap for how these funds will be used in California,” said CPUC President Alice Reynolds. The commissioner seeks collaboration with local governments, tribes, regional broadband consortia, digital equity advocates, labor groups and ISPs, she said. “This outreach is essential and will ensure we are using these funds as effectively and equitably as possible to build sustainable networks that will offer future-proof, reliable, and affordable service to unserved and underserved regions of the state.” Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma said the effort will allow the CPUC to use federal money to address lingering connectivity gaps in rural and urban California.
State legislators advanced bills on social media, privacy, broadband and 988 in votes Wednesday. A Utah bill to regulate social media cleared a Senate committee Wednesday after passing the House Feb. 9. The Senate Business and Labor Committee voted 3-2 for HB-311, which would require parental consent and prohibit social platforms “from using a design or feature that the company knows causes a minor to have an addiction to a social media platform.” The bill would be enforced by the Utah Department of Commerce Division of Consumer Protection and through a private right of action that would allow consumers to get attorney fees and damages “for harm incurred by a minor's use of the company's social media platform.” The Hawaii Senate Commerce Committee voted 4-1 to advance a comprehensive privacy bill. SB-974 remains pending before the Ways and Means Committee. The latter committee voted 11-0 to adopt SB-1317 to appropriate state funding for matching requirements in federal broadband programs. It would appropriate $33 million “or so much thereof as may be necessary” for fiscal year 2023-24 for required matching funds for NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. Also, the bill would use at least $95,000 from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for the same fiscal year for BEAD. The New Mexico Senate voted 33-1 Wednesday to pass a bill to require incumbent local exchange carriers with at least 50,000 customers to be regulated the same as rural ILECs under New Mexico’s Rural Telecommunications Act. Also, SB-41 would say effective competition exists in a wire center when two or more alternative providers sell voice, regardless of technology. It goes next to the House. In Wyoming, the state Senate voted 19-12 for a bill to fund and set state rules for the 988 mental health hotline. The House now must concur with the Senate after passing HB-65 last month 38-23.
The California Public Utilities Commission may vote Feb. 23 to open a proceeding to consider rules for NTIA broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) grants, showed a Wednesday agenda. The rulemaking will consider requirements “to determine grant funding, eligibility and compliance for funds distributed to California under” BEAD, said the proposed order. “The issues this proceeding would address include developing rules, where the Commission has discretion, that would apply to the subgrantees to whom the Commission would award BEAD funding.” That includes setting an extremely high-cost per-location threshold and deciding what geographic level to solicit proposals from applicants. Also, the CPUC would ask about additional prioritization factors, including how much weight to give proposals that use the state’s open-access middle-mile network. The proceeding would consider rules on overlapping project areas, the challenge process, match requirements, grant conditions and impacts on environmental and social justice communities. Comments will be due 45 days after the rulemaking opens.
The NARUC board passed telecom resolutions Wednesday on the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and extending FCC spectrum auction authority. The RDOF resolution recommends a referral to the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, but that body’s state members told us at NARUC’s meeting this week the joint board hasn’t met in several years. The FCC’s continuing lack of five commissioners could be a big reason, they said.
Fiber has advantages over fixed-wireless access (FWA), which is why fiber is at the start of a boom cycle, said Gary Bolton, president of the Fiber Broadband Association, during an Informa Tech webinar Wednesday. FWA proponents countered it also has advantages and is cheaper and easier to deploy than fiber. The wireless industry is seeking to make FWA a bigger part of the $42 billion broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program (see 2301230052).
The NARUC Telecom Committee unanimously agreed Monday to proposed resolutions on the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and extending FCC spectrum authority. It’s critical to keep RDOF awards in the location that won them even if the FCC rejected the winning bidder, said Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Chair Gladys Brown Dutrieuille in an interview Sunday. The draft resolutions, passed at the state utility regulator association’s winter meeting, need NARUC board approval.
The Wireless ISP Association released a paper Thursday arguing that NTIA’s notice of funding opportunity for its broadband, equity, access and deployment program is biased against WISPs and wireless, and promotes “bad policy.” WISPA is working to overcome NTIA resistance to funding projects that rely partly on using unlicensed spectrum (see 2301230052). By designating fiber as a “priority broadband project” for deployments, NTIA will drive up the cost of closing the digital divide by as much as $60 billion, the paper said.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: