A proposed Texas House constitutional amendment on creating a state broadband fund will go to the Senate floor, but senators are making changes that would require House agreement. The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously at a livestreamed hearing Monday on substitutes to HJR-125 and on an accompanying bill (HB-9) that passed the House by wide margins last month (see 2304270056). Substitute text wasn’t immediately available Monday. Sen. Robert Nichols (R) supported the bills but said he wants to work with sponsors on adding language to require a local matching requirement. “People treat money better when they have a little skin in the game,” said Nichols, saying even a 10% local match would help. AT&T supports the proposal to create a "comprehensive funding mechanism that takes a holistic approach,” David Tate, retired vice president-legal affairs, testified at the hearing. State funding now is important, with Texas not due to receive federal money until 2025 from NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said Texas Cable Association President Walt Baum. But the Taxpayers Protection Alliance thinks making residents pay for a $5 billion fund is a “waste of money and fiscally irresponsible.” Texas 9-1-1 Alliance Chairman Chip VanSteenberg supports the bill including funding for next-generation 911. The existing 50-cent 911 surcharge on phone bills hasn’t kept up with rising costs, he said.
CTIA urged the FCC to put the onus on covered service providers (CSPs) rather than originating service providers (OSPs) if the agency imposes 988 outage reporting obligations, the subject of a January NPRM (see 2301040056). “As 988 communications are routed centrally to a single, nationwide response point, unlike 911 communications, which are routed to local Public Safety Answering Points, it is unclear how OSPs could provide actionable information about local outages to the nationwide 988 Lifeline or other stakeholders,” CTIA said, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 23-5. AT&T agreed rules “must reflect the fundamental differences in service architecture between 911 and 988.” Competitive Carriers Association members don’t “oppose some level of 988 outage reporting and notification,” but also don’t “support duplicative or potentially confusing efforts,” CCA said: If the FCC imposes a 988 outage notification requirement on OSPs, “in many cases, a 30-minute timeframe would be unreasonable and unrealistic, particularly for OSPs utilizing vendors for 988 solutions. Any 988 outage reporting requirement should enable realistic compliance.” The National Emergency Number Association said the FCC rightly proposes rules based on 911 outage reporting requirements approved last year (see 2211170051). The FCC should also require that PSAPs be alerted of 988 outages, NENA said: “If 988 service is not available to a person having a mental health crisis, and they do not have knowledge of an alternative means such as dedicated online chat services, then they may decide to dial 9-1-1 instead.” The group said the 988 system should plan to eventually migrate to next-generation 911 technologies “as a matter of building a more reliable, equitable life-saving service for people with mental health crises.”
Texas House members showed wide support for creating a state fund for broadband infrastructure this week, voting 137-7 for a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday on its second reading. On Thursday, the Senate received HJR-125 and the House voted 140-8 for companion bill HB-9 on third and final reading. Rural carriers applauded the House for passing the measures, which they said would help fill gaps from the state not fully funding Texas USF. “We will now shift our focus to the Senate where we hope to find similar support,” said Texas Telephone Association (TTA) President Mark Seale.
Businesses said privacy protections are too limited in a comprehensive Florida bill approved by a Senate panel Tuesday. The Senate Commerce Committee voted 9-0 for SB-262, a third attempt in three years by Sen. Jennifer Bradley (R) to pass a privacy bill. "We'll continue to work on it,” the state senator said at the webcast hearing.
Reps. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., refiled the Next Generation 911 Act Friday in a bid to boost emergency service tech upgrades. The bill, which formed the basis for NG-911 language leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees included in the Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act proposal they failed to attach in December to the FY 2023 omnibus appropriations measure (see 2212190069), would allocate $15 billion for the tech upgrades. “Over 85 percent of Americans now own a smartphone, and our 9-1-1 call centers aren’t equipped with the most up-to-date technology to respond to text messages or images from smartphones,” Eshoo said. “Our bill provides much needed funding for states and local communities to bring their 9-1-1 infrastructure into the 21st Century.” NG-911 “will begin saving lives in our communities the moment it is deployed,” Hudson said. The measure “would be a vital step in ensuring that all states and communities have access to the benefits of NG9-1-1, regardless of zip code,” said National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes, saying NENA will "work with all members of Congress to ensure this important legislation is passed and fully funded as soon as possible.” Eshoo’s office also cited support from the Industry Council for Emergency Response Technologies and Public Safety Next Generation 9-1-1 Coalition.
Wireless industry commenters and public safety groups agreed on the need for some flexibility, in reply comments on an FCC proposal that carriers more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR). Disagreements remain on some implementation details (see 2302170044). Comments were posted Monday and Tuesday on an NPRM commissioners approved 4-0 in December (see 2212210047).
The West Virginia Public Service Commission should approve a 911 pact between Frontier Communications and the state’s Morgan County, the company and county said Thursday. To resolve the county’s complaint, Frontier agreed to “various acts regarding redundant or diverse 9-1-1 circuits or their alternatives between the Berkeley Springs and Paw Paw exchanges,” said the joint petition in docket 22-0686-T-C.
Hawaii House and Senate committees advanced bills Tuesday to repeal some reporting requirements for broadband service providers. The House Consumer Protection Committee voted 9-0 for HB-371. At a joint meeting in the Senate, the Commerce Committee voted 4-1 and the Judiciary Committee each voted 4-1 for the similar SB-478. The bills would repeal Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 440J, which required wireline and cable companies to file broadband availability data at the census-block level and prices. The House Education Committee, which earlier cleared the bill, wrote in its report that Chapter 440J data collection “has effectively been replaced by the more comprehensive and granular data collection provided by the FCC.” Each bill may now go to its chamber’s floor.
Groups representing small carriers warned of timing problems and financial hardships for their members from proposed rules to more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR), in comments on an NPRM commissioners approved 4-0 in December (see 2212210047). But public safety groups urged the FCC to act as soon as possible. The commission proposed to require nationwide providers to deploy LBR within six months from the effective date of final rules, while smaller carriers would get 18 months.
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.