A New Hampshire legislative subcommittee will work on privacy this summer, the House Judiciary Committee decided at a meeting livestreamed Tuesday. Chair Bob Lynn (R) said he wants to work on combining this year’s HB-314 and SB-255, which the committee retained this year (see 2305030040). One big difference is that SB-255 doesn’t include a private right of action, said Lynn, saying he doesn’t think the state should give individuals the ability to sue.
A Maine bill meant to combat robocalls and preserve the state’s 207 area code passed the legislature. The Senate concurred with House changes Tuesday. As amended, the measure would require voice providers that acquire and place into service phone numbers to pay in the state’s USF and telecom education access fund and give the Maine Public Utilities Commission authority to investigate compliance. Also, LD-396 would require VoIP providers to register with the Maine PUC and respond to any information requests about distributing phone numbers. And it would require the commission to file a report to the legislature on compliance, PUC efforts to preserve 207 and what else may be needed to ensure efficient numbering use. The bill still needs gubernatorial OK.
The California Public Utilities Commission plans a June 21 virtual forum on the cost of capital requests for independent small telephone companies (docket A.22-09-003), the CPUC said Wednesday. CalTel and other small LECs filed a joint application Sept. 1 seeking approval to establish cost of capital for each company’s ratemaking purposes, the agency said. Cost of capital is the rate of return a company may recover on infrastructure investments. The CPUC seeks customer input at the forum, which starts at 5 p.m. PST.
Washington state’s Public Works Board is accepting applications for $13.5 million in broadband construction loans, the state Commerce Department said Tuesday. Pre-applications due July 18 will allow 30 days for objections, then final applications are due Oct. 4, the department said. The board plans to award funds in December.
A Pennsylvania tax incentives bill for wireless cleared the House Finance Committee in a 12-9 vote Tuesday. HB-1138 would exempt mobile telecom from the state’s sales and use tax and gross receipts tax. The panel sent the bill to the Rules Committee.
An Ohio Senate panel supported upgrading to next-generation 911. The Financial Institutions and Technology Committee voted 4-0 Tuesday for SB-50. Ohio’s administrative services department could incur $10.3 million in yearly expenses to develop and maintain the NG-911 network, while counties may have to pay “several hundreds of thousands of dollars” to bring 911 systems into compliance, said a fiscal note: Costs might be fully offset by a NG-911 fee on landline, wireless and other communications services. The bill would replace the current 25-cents monthly wireless 911 fee with a 64-cents charge on communications services including landlines and VoIP. The bill would keep the current charge for prepaid wireless services, which is 0.005 percent of the retail sale price. “Expansion of the NG 9-1-1 fee to include communications services not currently subject to the fee is expected to increase the amount of revenue collected significantly,” the fiscal note said. The current wireless-only 911 charge collected about $25 million yearly on average over the past five years, it said. With the proposed larger and more broadly applied fee, “it is conceivable that revenue … could increase by tens of millions per year.”
The Nebraska Public Service Commission transferred broadband duties under NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program to the state’s broadband office and transportation department, the PSC said Tuesday. Four commissioners signed a resolution formalizing the transition. The commission had been working on the state’s five-year plan required to receive BEAD funding, but a state bill signed May 26 by Gov. Jim Pillen (R) shifted duties to a broadband office created in January (see 2302070039). “With the passage of LB 683, all authority for the BEAD Program now lies with the Nebraska Broadband Office,” said Tuesday's resolution.
The Louisiana House voted 76-18 to pass a kids’ social media bill Monday. The Senate previously passed SB-162 (see 2305180042), but must vote again to concur with House edits. The bill would require social media companies to verify the age of users, and collect parental approval for minors, before allowing users to get accounts. Friday in Connecticut, the legislature passed a bill (SB-3) to set privacy rules for personal data of children under 18 and for consumer health information. The amendment to last year’s Connecticut Data Privacy Act will go to Gov. Ned Lamont (D).
Florida will apply pole-attachment rules to electric cooperatives under a bill (HB-1221) signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) Monday. Florida reverse-preempted FCC pole-attachment authority last year, allowing the state to regulate attachments and resolve disputes (see Ref:2206070071]). On Friday, DeSantis signed SB-552, which exempts from public record inspection requirements information on communications services locations, project proposals and challenges submitted to the Department of Economic Opportunity through state or federal grant programs. Friday in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB-1238 to update broadband grant rules with a fiber preference (see 2305300057).
Florida became the 10th state to sign a consumer privacy bill Tuesday. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed SB-262, which passed the legislature with wide bipartisan support last month (see 2305050048). “If a multibillion-dollar company is conspiring to take your data and sell it or use it against you, it is your right to be able to protect that data,” said DeSantis. Several red states passed privacy bills this year. Montana’s Greg Gianforte (R) became the ninth governor to sign a privacy bill on May 19. The Texas legislature passed a comprehensive privacy bill last week (see 2305300057). Consumer Reports urged the Florida legislature to amend the privacy law next year. The bill covers only companies with at least $1 billion annual revenue, noted CR policy analyst Matt Schwartz. "While we recognize that big tech companies are usually some of the worst privacy offenders, they are far from the only privacy offenders," he said. "This law should apply to any entity that collects significant amounts of consumer data." Also, lawmakers should allow users to opt out through a global mechanism, said Schwartz.