The West Virginia Public Service Commission should “stand ready to entertain complaints" that ISPs may bring against FirstEnergy for possibly violating commission pole attachment rules, a recent Frontier Communications settlement (see 2306220022) and terms of recently filed amended joint use agreements, the state’s Economic Development Department said Monday. ISPs face problems attaching equipment to FirstEnergy poles amid an influx of federal cash for broadband deployment, the department wrote. “A significant hurdle in implementing most of these projects is developing prompt, orderly, and reasonably priced pole attachment arrangements with the owners of utility poles, which are most often electric utilities,” it said. The volume of pole attachment permit applications has increased due to available federal funding, said the department: As a result, FirstEnergy outsourced its permit review process to third-party engineers and changed its attachment requirements. “These changes have increased costs and turnaround time which have caused significant delays and have negatively impacted lSPs to meet federal funding project deadlines.” ISPs say FirstEnergy "requires pole replacements and pole additions where none is needed,” the department said. “FirstEnergy is imposing the entire cost of pole replacements on lSPs when this expense should be shared among pole users when the existing pole is inadequate or deteriorated.” Also, the utility charges triple what Frontier asks for pole replacements, “appears to be changing its requirements from application to application,” and seems to lack a standardized process, it said. A FirstEnergy spokesperson said the utility has seen a spike in pole attachment requests. It received 1,124 requests monthly on average in 2022, increasing to 2,629 monthly by July 2023, the spokesperson said. “Verifying that the engineering and work associated with broadband attachments meets … stringent safety standards is key to maintaining the integrity of our infrastructure."

The Nebraska Public Service Commission cleared about $20 million for high-speed internet projects through the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program. Commissioners voted 4-0 at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday, with one member absent, for an order approving grants (docket C-5484). Awarded projects will mostly connect unserved areas, said PSC Telecom Director Cullen Robbins. Projects must be completed by July 9, 2025, said the order. Hartelco received the most funding ($7.2 million), followed by Glenwood Telecom ($3.5 million), Pinpoint Communications ($2.6 million) and Cox ($2.4 million). Commissioners voted 3-1 to keep Dan Watermeier (R) as PSC chair. Commissioner Kevin Stocker voted no and Commissioner Christian Mirch was absent. The commission censured Stocker and Mirch last year for alleged, but not disclosed, misconduct (see 2310030043).

The Oregon Public Utility Commission voted 2-0 Tuesday to approve a staff recommendation finding Lumen in compliance with PUC orders during outages on Sept. 2 and 3, a PUC spokesperson said. The orders required Lumen to make repairs within 48 hours, provide a customer support line and perform a post-incident assessment.

Connecticut’s consumer counsel wants a probe of Frontier Communications' service quality, according to a Monday petition at the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA). The petition "provides documentary evidence from reports submitted by Frontier, reflecting failure to meet mandatory minimum standards relating to out-of-service repair and maintenance for extensive periods of time,” the consumer counsel said (docket 24-01-15). PURA should open “a contested case proceeding to investigate Frontier’s non-compliance with the specified quality of service standards and, thereafter, initiate a notice of violation proceeding to impose civil penalties and to issue appropriate orders to ensure compliance with the minimum standards as required by law,” it added. On average, across Connecticut, Frontier failed meeting an out-of-service repair standard in 44 months between January 2015 and July 2023, or about 46% of the time, the consumer counsel said. Frontier didn’t comply with a maintenance standard in 30 months, or about 31% of the time. The consumer counsel sought $10,000 in civil penalties per day of noncompliance. Frontier didn’t comment.

New Jersey legislators passed a comprehensive data privacy bill and proposed telephone line abandonment rules during floor sessions Monday. The Assembly voted 47-27 to pass S-332 after substituting into the bill language from A-1971. The Senate voted 34-1 for A-1100, which would require removing phone and cable lines that don’t terminate at both ends to equipment or to a customer premise, aren't in a safe condition or haven’t been operated for at least 24 consecutive months. The state privacy bill will “protect for the first time in New Jersey history our citizens’ and our children’s data, including personally identifiable information and sensitive data, and join the dozen-plus states that have beaten us to it,” said Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Raj Mukherji (D), who sponsored A-1971. “With no comprehensive federal framework to address this, unlike in Europe, it’s fallen to the states to fill the gaps and protect our citizens’ data.” Mukherji highlighted the bill’s inclusion of a universal opt-out mechanism, which would support using a browser plugin or setting to opt out of many sites. The Assembly adopted amendments to the privacy bill at a Dec. 21 floor session. Changes include clarifying that a controller isn’t required to authenticate opt-out requests and that the consumer’s option to opt out applies to data selling or targeted ads, according to a floor statement. Also, the amended bill extended the deadline for controllers to comply to six months from four. In addition, lawmakers added an exemption for data subject to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The Assembly Judiciary Committee passed A-1971 in December (see 2312180067), many months after the Senate approved S-332 last February (see 2302030065). Consumer Reports believes "the bill improved substantially as it has moved through the legislative process," said CR Policy Analyst Matt Schwartz. "The bill now includes baseline consumer privacy protections" and a universal opt-out mechanism that will make it "far more usable for consumers than what was previously being considered," he said. However, "we see room for improvement, particularly relating to the bill's data minimization and enforcement provisions." The Assembly passed the line abandonment bill last March (see 2303010017). The New Hampshire House last week completed a comprehensive privacy bill (SB-255). It passed the state's Senate last March (see 2303170035). The House Judiciary Committee amended and advanced the bill in November (see 2311080062).

The California Public Utilities Commission extended the deadline 30 days, until Feb. 7, for Verizon and consumer advocates to complete negotiating a settlement on migrating TracFone customers still using non-Verizon networks. CPUC Administrative Law Judge Thomas Glegola granted Verizon’s request on Friday in docket A.20-11-001. The parties already agree in principle on most issues, the request said.

Florida could prohibit kids younger than 16 from creating social media accounts and let parents request ending the existing account of their children 16 and younger. HB-1 would have children 16-18 accept a disclaimer at login: “This application may be harmful to your mental health and may use design features that have addictive qualities or present unverified information or that may be manipulated by [insert platform name] or others for your viewing. This application may also collect your personal data to further manipulate your viewable content and may share your personal data with others.” State Rep. Tyler Sirois (R) introduced the bill Friday. In addition, HB-1 would require social websites to reveal content moderation policies, whether they use addictive design or deceptive patterns and consider "the best interests of platform users who are younger than 18 years of age when designing, developing, and providing services.” In addition, websites would have to say if they collect or sell personal information of those younger than 18. The Computer and Communications Industry Association raised concerns about the proposed law, with CCIA State Director Khara Boender saying, "This legislation raises similar issues to those in laws passed in [Arkansas] and [Utah], which are currently facing legal challenges due to constitutional concerns." Also Friday, Florida Sen. Lauren Book (D) introduced a children’s social media bill (SB-1430) with language similar to HB-1 about required disclosures, but without banning kids from using sites. State Sen. Joe Gruters (R) proposed a bill requiring “foreign-adversary-owned entities operating social media platforms” to "disclose the core functional elements” of their "content curation and algorithms.” Covered entities also would have to “implement a user verification system for each user and organization that purchases advertisements concerning social or political issues.” The system would have to verify buyers’ age, residency and citizenship and disclose the company's identity in ads. In Tennessee, state Sen. Mark Pody (R) unveiled legislation (SB-1643) requiring that websites verify that users trying to access pornographic content are at least 18 years old. Covered websites include social media platforms where more than one-third of content is “sexual material harmful to minors.”

Colorado’s challenge process starts Monday for NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, the state broadband office said Thursday in an email newsletter. Colorado received NTIA approval for volume 1 of its initial plan Wednesday, allowing the office to move forward with challenges, the state office said. The state revised its first draft of volume 1 to receive NTIA approval, it said. “These changes include the removal of a number of the proposed ‘Modifications to Reflect Data Not Present in the National Broadband Map.’ As a result, the only modification made to the data is the DSL Modification.” The broadband office plans to publish the approved version in “coming days.”

An Ohio law requiring age verification to access social media runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution, NetChoice said Friday. The tech industry group asked the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio to block the 2023 law from taking effect Jan. 15. Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted (R) lambasted the lawsuit as “cowardly but not unexpected.” Passed as part of Ohio's 2024-25 budget, the state law requires verifiable parental consent before kids under 16 can access social media (see 2307050064). Husted championed the measure (see [Ref:2303090051). Requiring Ohioans to submit sensitive personal data to age-verification services before they can share and receive information online violates the First Amendment, NetChoice argued. Also, the state law is too vague because it imposes a parental consent requirement for the internet broadly, the group said. And NetChoice complained about unclear definitions and descriptions in the law. “The law simply requires parental consent before children under the age of 16 sign up on social media and other online platforms,” Husted responded in a statement Friday. “In filing this lawsuit, these companies are determined to go around parents to expose children to harmful content and addict them to their platforms.” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) didn’t comment by our deadline.

New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham (D) proposed spending $100 million to launch a state match fund that could be used for broadband. Grisham unveiled the $10.5 billion, FY 2025 executive budget recommendation Thursday. The New Mexico Match Fund would “leverage federal funding for infrastructure investments, including roads, bridges, water, energy and broadband,” Grisham’s office said.