It’s good for the federal government to fund chips in states that have already spent their own money, rather than trying to spread money across every area that hasn’t invested in semiconductors, said panelists on an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) webinar Wednesday. State officials discussed their roles in helping the Chips Act succeed. “Piggybacking on the work we’re doing is what is going to see us succeed,” said Kevin Younis, New York Empire State Development chief operating officer. “There has to be strategic cluster-based investments [or] we’re not going to succeed. With the peanut butter spread over the whole sandwich, you won’t taste it.” States can help the Chips Act succeed by addressing the workforce gap and cutting red tape, said David Isaacs, Semiconductor Industry Association vice president-government affairs. "There's a huge gap throughout the economy in skilled workers," with the semiconductor industry “just a small slice of the overall pie,” said Isaacs. An SIA report said about 58% of needed jobs may not be filled, including engineers, computer scientists and technicians, he said: “We need to see federal-state partnerships with industry and education to train these workers.” Also, states can play an important role speeding projects by streamlining permitting and other regulatory approval processes, he said. Arizona Commerce Authority CEO Sandra Watson said her state is “constantly having conversations about the regulatory environment and how to make that easier on industry.”
State senators chose not to advance a bill that would have limited California rules for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. The Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday held the Assembly-passed AB-662, which was opposed by local and consumer advocates (see 2308170044). Assembly Communications Committee Chair Tasha Boerner said earlier her bill’s purpose was to bring accountability to the California Public Utilities Commission. The Democrat didn’t comment Tuesday. The committee also held AB-296 on 911 public education and AB-1546, which would have extended the statute of limitations for privacy claims brought by the state attorney general. AB-1546 sponsor Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D) said, “We’re disappointed that the bill won’t be moving forward this year, but are committed to continuing our effort to protect Californians' privacy rights.” The panel voted 7-0 to advance AB-286 on adjusting state broadband map requirements to the Senate floor. It also unanimously cleared AB-1065, which would explicitly authorize wireless broadband providers to apply for CASF federal funding account grants. Also Friday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted 16-0 for SB-60, which would explicitly authorize wireless broadband providers to apply for CASF federal funding account grants. The panel also unanimously advanced to the floor SB-74 to prohibit high-risk social media apps that, like TikTok, are at least partly owned by an entity or “country of concern.”
Lumen restored Nebraska 911 service after fiber cuts led to outages statewide from Thursday night to Friday morning. “Our team worked throughout the night to fix the issue” and “the system is now fully functional,” a Lumen spokesperson said Friday. Nebraska experienced regional 911 system failures statewide Thursday evening, Republican Gov. Jim Pillen’s office said in a statement that night. The state's 911 system went down at about 7:30 p.m. CDT Thursday, Nebraska’s Douglas County said Thursday on Facebook. The state’s most populous county posted Friday at 8:10 a.m. CDT that services were restored. “Sarpy County’s 911 network provider experienced what they described as a network event that disrupted calls to 911 across Nebraska,” Sarpy County said Friday. “The network provider is investigating the source of the disruption.” Lumen said the outage began at 7:05 p.m. CDT Thursday and service was restored at 5:30 a.m. CDT Friday, said the Nebraska Public Service Commission: The PSC is working with the carrier to determine what caused the cut. The FCC didn’t comment.
California Public Utilities Commission members rejected the state cable association’s bid to reconsider what counts as free broadband service as it doles out public housing grants. Through a unanimous vote on the consent agenda at a webcast Thursday meeting, California commissioners denied a California Broadband and Video Association (CalBroadband) petition. Commissioners later voted 5-0 to approve a $1.77 million grant to South Valley Internet under the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) line extension program.
Pennsylvania state senators confirmed nominee Kimberly Barrow to the Public Utility Commission. The Senate voted 47-0 Wednesday after the Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure Committee unanimously cleared Barrow earlier that day at a livestreamed meeting. Barrow has been chief of staff for Pennsylvania PUC Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille since 2013 and worked at the PUC for 22 years total. Dutrieuille’s term expired April 1, but Pennsylvania commissioners may continue an additional six months or until a replacement is confirmed. When Dutrieuille exits, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) will choose which commissioner will be chair. "My focus really will be on consumers,” with affordability and reliability as top issues, Barrow told the Senate committee. Shapiro’s nominee said she seeks to find “balance” between consumers and utilities. Saying he looked forward to balanced decisions, Committee Chair Patrick Stefano (R) asked Barrow how she would handle possibly being a deciding vote on a commission with two Democrats and two Republicans. Most PUC decisions are 5-0, and that’s worth continuing, replied Barrow. Barrow will fill Dutrieuille’s “big shoes,” said Minority Chair Lisa Boscola, a Democrat: "It will be great to work with a full commission." Dutrieuille testified that Barrow “will make an excellent commissioner.”
Nebraska will comprehensively reassess state USF rules, commissioners agreed at a Nebraska Public Service Commission meeting Tuesday. The all-Republican commission voted 5-0 to consider changes to the Nebraska USF (NUSF) high-cost distribution mechanism and associated reporting requirements (docket NUSF-139). The commission will seek feedback this fall.
Florida and the communications industry are preparing for Idalia, a tropical storm that's expected to develop into a major hurricane before it makes landfall on the Gulf Coast in days. “It will become a hurricane ... without question,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) at a Monday news conference in Largo, Florida. “Buckle up for this one.”
LTD Broadband said there’s no urgent need for the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to resume proceedings on revoking LTD Broadband’s eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation. The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) winner disagreed with state industry groups and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) in reply comments filed Monday in docket 22-221. "The contention of these parties that LTD’s FCC application could suddenly spring to life and result in LTD obtaining immediate authorization for [RDOF] support, thereby barring others from seeking alternative funding for broadband deployment, has no basis in fact," the ISP said.
A bill that would restrict California regulators’ discretion to make extra rules for NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program dismayed local and consumer advocates. With a month left in session, California legislators are also weighing broadband bills to require wireless eligibility for federal funding and to streamline broadband permitting. Assembly Communications Committee Chair Tasha Boerner (D) said the goal of her BEAD bill (AB-662) is to bring “accountability” to the California Public Utilities Commission.
Don’t let Lumen’s CenturyLink relitigate a Washington state probe of a 911 outage that led to a nearly $1.32 million fine against the carrier, said Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission staff and the state attorney general office’s public counsel in comments Monday. Staff took no position on public counsel seeking about 10 times the penalties ordered. CenturyLink opposed increasing fines, arguing the company should face no penalty.