New York state will halt enforcing its affordable broadband law while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a petition from ISP groups for a writ of certiorari, the industry groups wrote to the court Thursday. CTIA, NTCA, USTelecom, ACA Connects, the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association and the New York State Telecommunications Association said they plan to file that petition Monday in case 24A138. Last week, the ISP groups filed an application for emergency stay of the state law at SCOTUS. In Thursday’s letter, the groups said they no longer need a ruling on that application by Aug. 15, but they can’t withdraw the request entirely because New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) hasn’t agreed to stay enforcement if the court grants cert, “absent a ruling from the Court compelling it not to enforce that law.” ISPs waited for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the FCC’s order reclassifying broadband as Title II before appealing the 2nd Circuit’s ruling that upheld New York’s law based on a Title I regime (see 2408010065 and 2406170042). The 2nd Circuit ruled in April that federal law doesn’t preempt the 2021 New York law requiring $15 monthly plans with 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds for qualifying low-income households (see 2404260051). In the Aug. 2 application for stay, the ISP groups said their forthcoming cert petition “will seek review of a divided panel decision that presents fundamental questions about whether the Communications Act of 1934 preempts States from regulating rates for broadband internet access service and other interstate information services.”

Maryland digital ad tax litigation moved back to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In a Tuesday order, the 4th Circuit required an opening brief by Sept. 15 from appellants U.S. Chamber of Commerce, NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association. Maryland should respond by Oct. 15, the court said. The industry groups are appealing a July decision of the U.S. District Court for Maryland, which issued its final judgment Thursday. The case went back and forth between the two courts previously, with the district court last month dismissing the remaining count of plaintiffs’ complaint (see 2407050012).

The California Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday handed down a $200,000 fine against T-Mobile’s MetroPCS for universal service violations. Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason in June recommended the amount, which translates to $100,000 per violation (see 2406250054). The CPUC’s enforcement division had sought a $10 million fine, finding that the carrier insufficiently responded to a Sept. 27, 2021, data request (see 2209230032). The proceeding is now closed, the order said.

NTIA gave Wisconsin approval to collect more than $1 billion in broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) funds Tuesday. The federal agency approved volume 2 of the state’s initial proposal, granting it access to Federal Internet for All funds. NTIA has approved BEAD initial plans for 29 states, plus three territories and the District of Columbia. Twenty-three states and territories have submitted volume 2 initial proposals and the NTIA expects to review most of them by next month (see 2408010053).

The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority approved a Verizon Wireless proposal to install small-cell wireless facilities on a utility pole within the public right-of-way. A final decision was posted Wednesday. The pole is located in New Canaan. Verizon’s Cellco “is undertaking the project to provide customers and emergency service providers with enhanced and more reliable wireless, voice and data services, in the vicinity of the Facilities,” the regulator said: “The Authority finds that the Facilities are in the public interest because they increase the capacity of the existing telecommunications system and do not represent a threat to public health and safety.”

AT&T filed a motion July 31 to discontinue service in Alaskan communities, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska said in a public notice Monday. The application indicates the proposed discontinuance would affect 500 residential and 1,400 business customers and cover 42 townships on Alaska's west coast. AT&T filed a motion for expedited consideration, seeking approval by Nov. 30. Comments are due Sept. 4.

NTIA gave Arizona approval to collect $993 million in broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) funds Monday. The federal agency approved volume 2 of the state’s initial proposal. NTIA has approved entire initial plans for 28 states plus three territories and the District of Columbia. The agency approved five plans last week and expects to review most by next month (see 2408010053).

Charter Communications and Hawaiian Telcom joined a $4 billion settlement with Hawaii to resolve lawsuits related to last year’s Maui wildfires, Gov. Josh Green (D) said Friday. Under proposed terms of the agreement, which “remains subject to final documentation and court approval,” the telecom companies and five other defendants will compensate about 2,200 parties who filed lawsuits, the governor’s office said. The agreement is the result of four months of mediation. Green said his goal “was to expedite the agreement and to avoid protracted and painful lawsuits so as many resources as possible would go to those affected by the wildfires as quickly as possible.” Charter declined to comment Monday. Hawaiian Telcom didn’t comment.

NTIA gave Missouri and Tennessee the go-ahead to collect a combined $2.5 billion in broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) funds Friday. The federal agency approved volume 2 of each state’s initial plan. NTIA allocated about $1.7 billion to Missouri and $813 million to Tennessee. NTIA has approved entire initial plans for 27 states plus three territories and the District of Columbia. The agency approved five plans last week and expects to review most by next month (see 2408010053). Meanwhile, Kentucky opened a portal to apply for broadband grants from the state’s $1.1 billion BEAD allocation, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said Friday. Potential applicants can register now. A prequalification phase will run Aug. 14 to Sept. 13, in which the state will collect managerial, technical and operational information. Kentucky expects to start accepting applications in November, Beshear's office said.

Electric pole owners raised labor shortage and other concerns with Kentucky Public Service Commission changes to state pole attachment rules that are meant to spur broadband. The PSC received comments Wednesday on emergency amendments that the agency filed May 31 with the Legislative Research Commission. The PSC previously received comments May 21 on a draft in docket 2023-00416 (see 2405220040). The PSC's "use of inflexible timeframes for make-ready requirements -- rather than continuing to rely on commonsense good cause provisions -- will only compound the problems posed by [a] national worker shortage,” a group of electric cooperatives warned. Someday, the current "trickle of applications will likely be replaced by a deluge that will stretch the Cooperatives’ staff and resources, frustrating pole owners and attachers alike,” they added. Duke Energy questioned the PSC’s plan that would allow an attacher with multiple applications to choose the order a utility should review them. Prioritizing a new application would reset the review period of an older application currently under review, under the change. But Duke said "the need to track priorities and reset timelines of individual applications will create confusion, inefficiencies, and an unreasonable administrative burden for the utility.” The electric co-ops also raised concerns about that change. “Giving attachers the ability to reprioritize their applications at their discretion -- which can just as easily be done internally by attachers before submitting applications to pole owners -- only complicates the challenge of obtaining the right number of contractors at the right times.” In addition, the PSC rules lack "adequate enforcement of timely payment,” the co-ops said. “The staggering amount of outstanding payments due to pole owners from broadband providers looms over this entire proceeding.”