A Washington state panel Thursday cleared two bills to tighten phone solicitation rules. The House Consumer Protection Committee at a virtual meeting voted 5-2 for HB-1497 to restrict phone solicitation hours to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and require solicitors to identify themselves and provide a chance to opt out in the first 30 seconds, and end the call within 10 seconds of being asked. It would expand the definition of phone solicitation to include calls to nonresidential customers. The committee unanimously adopted an amendment to require only solicitors seeking donations to ask called parties if they want to continue or end the call or be removed from the solicitor's phone list. Members voted 4-3 for HB-1650 to increase civil remedies available for state law violations for commercial robocalls, emails or text messages, and update definitions of automatic dialing and other terms. The panel unanimously adopted an amendment that included exempting emails or texts that constitute collection activity and allowing electronic consent in certain circumstances. Rep. Jeremie Dufault (R) opposed the bills, saying they're contrary to his belief in American entrepreneurialism. Chairman Steve Kirby (D) supports the efforts to reduce robocalls, he said: "My phone just won't stop ringing." In Florida, all present members at a House Regulatory Reform Subcommittee hearing voted for HB-1095 to tweak a 2021 state robocall law. Sponsor Rep. Mike Beltran (R) said the measure seeks to prevent some unintended lawsuits, including by adding two-way attorney fees and banning suits against companies that use robocalls to respond to consumer inquiries.
A new-look Washington state Senate privacy bill took fire from all sides at its first hearing Thursday. Business groups at a Senate Technology Committee virtual hearing said they prefer the 2021 Washington Privacy Act (SB-5062) by Chairman Reuven Carlyle (D) to his pared-down SB-5813 this year. The American Civil Liberties Union, a SB-5062 opponent, said SB-5813 is better but still wouldn’t meaningfully protect privacy. Two state government offices also raised concerns.
Wireless and consumer tech industries opposed a digital right-to-repair bill Wednesday at a Washington state House Consumer Protection and Business Committee virtual hearing. HB-1801 would require manufacturers to label products with a repairability score. Sponsor Rep. Mia Gregerson (D) said an upcoming amendment would change the bill so it would set up a task force to study right to repair. The committee later voted 5-2 on HB-1810, which would require manufacturers to make documentation, parts and tools available to owners and independent repair providers on fair and reasonable terms. The panel voted 4-3 for HB-1697, which would ban websites from marketing or advertising certain products or services to minors, restrict certain online ad practices based on minors’ personal information and give minors the right to request removal of certain information posted online. HB-1697 would be enforced solely by the attorney general. Ranking Republican Rep. Brandon Vick, voting no, complained the privacy bill is too vague. Testifying on HB-1801, CTA lobbyist Charlie Brown said it would be tough to have a state right-to-repair standard that doesn't align with standards in other countries. CTA supports setting up a work group, he said. It would be better to handle this issue at the national or international level than to pass a state law that would be “extremely operationally burdensome,” said TechNet Vice President-State Policy David Edmonson: The proposed score would paint an incomplete picture of devices’ overall quality and confuse consumers. CTIA thinks the "requirements in this bill are unworkable,” said Director-State Legislative Affairs Lisa McCabe. Other attributes besides repairability, such as water resistance, factor into a device’s longevity, she noted. iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens backed HB-1801. Apple AirPods and Samsung Galaxy Buds are similar in quality, but Samsung’s product lasts longer because it has replaceable batteries, he noted: Consumers currently have no easy way of knowing that. Another right-to-repair advocate, Owen Rubel of SecuRepairs, doesn’t think it’s wise to trust manufacturers with determining their own repairability score, he said: A standards body should do that.
A Washington state digital equity bill cleared the House Community and Economic Development Committee with an amendment, at a virtual hearing Tuesday. The panel voted 8-5 for HB-1723, which would set up state programs to provide reduced voice and broadband rates for low-income people and to give discounts on telecom service rates and infrastructure costs for anchor institutions. It would establish a grant program for digital equity planning by local governments, higher education and workforce development councils. The committee agreed to an amendment removing a proposed requirement that the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission determine the reduced broadband rates, while modifying some definitions and making other technical tweaks. Ranking member Matt Boehnke was the only Republican voting yes. He said other committee Republicans wanted to narrow the bill and had funding questions. Earlier at the hearing, the committee heard testimony on HB-1729 to establish a blockchain work group including industry and regulators. It would help grow the state’s blockchain sector, said Molly Jones, Washington Technology Industry Association vice president-public policy. Mayor Lynne Robinson of Bellevue, Washington, also backed the bill. Lt. Gov. Denny Heck (D) supports the concept, but his office has too few staff to set up the working group, said David Bremer, a director in Heck’s office. Chair Cindy Ryu (D) promised to work with him.
“Broadband is an essential service and is not yet accessible to all Californians,” said new California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Reynolds at her first CPUC meeting Thursday. Reynolds, who replaced now-retired Marybel Batjer (see 2112160064), is “very excited” about recently announced state and federal funding, “and the commission has an important role going forward to help communities both rural and urban that have been left behind for too long,” she said virtually. “We must work with local and tribal governments, consumer advocates and the public to build networks that provide modern, affordable and reliable broadband service that is future-proof, lasting for decades to come.” Reynolds showed “she is committed to continue the groundbreaking work being undertaken in California to extend high quality, affordable and reliable broadband to everyone in our state,” emailed Regina Costa, The Utility Reform Network telecom director: “We are very pleased that she values the collaboration with consumer advocates, Tribes, the public and local governments.” Also at the meeting, CPUC commissioners voted 4-0 to adopt a consent agenda including a proposed resolution (T-17758) to adopt $34.6 million in California High Cost Fund-A support for 2022. The funding goes to CalTel and nine other small LECs. The CPUC is down to four commissioners because former member Martha Guzman Aceves left to become administrator of EPA Region 9.
State privacy bills are surfacing quickly as legislatures return for 2022 sessions. Washington state Sen. Reuven Carlyle (D) will try for the fourth straight year to pass a privacy bill, and many other state legislators introduced bills this and last week. Experts are also watching California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) implementation this year.
Carriers resisted a California Public Utilities Commission staff proposal to apply a utility affordability framework to telecom services through the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF). Don't adopt a staff proposal to apply affordability metrics to essential communications services “because the purpose of this proceeding should be to develop the metrics, not apply them,” AT&T commented Monday in docket R.18-07-006: The CPUC "lacks jurisdiction to set prices for wireless and broadband services” and consumers can get affordable broadband through the new federal affordable connectivity program. California lacks wireless jurisdiction and the CPUC addresses affordability through the state LifeLine program, said CTIA: competition keeps wireless service cheap. Applying the staff proposal "to communications services that are not rate-regulated telecommunications services would run counter to the Staff’s goal to bridge the digital divide,” said the California Cable and Telecommunications Association. "The Commission has expressly abstained from regulating the intrastate rates of nearly all competitive voice service providers” and “is precluded by law from regulating broadband prices, which are controlled by a competitive market.” CalTel and other small rural LECs agreed the agency lacks broadband authority. Limit using the metrics “to informing consumers in the Commission’s annual affordability report” and in the commission’s LifeLine proceeding, they said. Communications services mostly aren't rate-regulated, but the CPUC should consider affordability when providers submit merger and other kinds of applications, commented the Center for Accessible Technology. Applying an affordability framework could help the CPUC identify broadband projects for state funding, said the National Diversity Coalition. The Utility Reform Network agreed with CPUC staff that CASF could benefit from incorporating affordability metrics, but added that the commission should incorporate the framework in all of its communications decision-making processes. The agency should revise its proposal so the metric is used to “analyze affordability generally” rather than set prices for low-income broadband plans, said the CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is open to renewing, at least temporarily, an interim change to the state USF contribution method. At a livestreamed meeting Tuesday, OCC members reviewed the state’s November’s shift to a connections-based mechanism. Commissioner Todd Hiett reserved his right to support moving back to revenue-based reporting if he doesn’t see progress on legislative changes.
Eversource “can’t keep up” with a growing “avalanche” of pole attachment requests under the state’s current cost structure, said Assistant General Counsel Vincent Pace at a Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) virtual hearing Monday. With increasing broadband demand, the utility expects 70,000 attachment requests this year, up from 4,600 in 2016, he said. The company spent $11 million last year for operation and maintenance costs and $19 million capital for make-ready work, he said: In 2022, it expects $19 million and $32 million, respectively. “We just do not have the resources to meet this level of work, and unless we have a different framework in place, the effort to expand broadband will simply be frustrated.” Eversource suggests that pole attachers cover a larger share of costs. Communications attachers that trigger pole make-ready work “should pay for their proportionate share using cost-causation principles.” Owners should be able to use a portion of pole rental revenue to pay for the work, he said: Currently, any increase in annual rental revenue goes back to electric customers. Eversource plans to explore if federal infrastructure dollars can be used to fund work; attachers should do the same, he said. “After exhausting all these steps, if the work is still not funded, we propose to defer the amount for PURA’s review at the time of our next rate case.” Eversource doesn’t object to adopting the FCC’s approach to one-touch, make-ready. Stakeholders commented last month in the same docket (19-01-52RE01).
The omicron variant is the latest test for already stretched-thin 911 centers managing with the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency call officials told us last week. Public safety answering point (PSAP) professionals said staff taking sick leave is the main challenge. PSAPs are more prepared than they were at the beginning of the pandemic but are also experiencing higher-than-normal staffing issues amid a national trend of workers quitting jobs in the “Great Resignation,” said National Emergency Number Association (NENA) 911 and PSAP Operations Director April Heinze in an interview.