A proposed California low-income pilot could be extended beyond the conclusion of the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP), under a revised draft released Monday. The California Public Utilities Commission plans to consider the item in docket R.20-02-008 at Thursday’s meeting. "The assigned Commissioner or assigned ALJ may extend the wireline pilot program beyond the conclusion of ACP to a date no later than two years after the effective date of this decision, regardless of whether the ACP is replaced by a successor federal subsidy program,” said new language by assigned Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma. “An extension ruling may not change the California LifeLine subsidy provided through the pilot program or replace the loss of the ACP discount.” Also, Shiroma revised a draft requirement that wireless pilot providers propose a replacement plan for customers after the pilot ends. "A service provider may propose to modify a replacement wireless service plan through a subsequent Tier 1 advice letter, so long as the replacement plan does not increase customer co-payments or reduce customer benefits,” it said. Apparently in response to Verizon’s concerns (see 2305170034), the revised draft also added an exception for “reasonable network management practices” to a proposed restriction on throttling wireless speeds. Providers may limit free smartphone distribution to one per household every 90 days, said another change to the draft.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted four communications policy resolutions Monday, including one supporting Senate confirmation of FCC nominee Anna Gomez and reconfirmation of sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks. President Joe Biden announced he was picking them in late May (see 2305220065). The mayors group also passed resolutions opposing the House Commerce Committee-cleared American Broadband Deployment Act permitting revamp package (HR-3557), supporting an extension of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and urging NTIA to allocate funding from its broadband equity, access and deployment program with urban areas in mind.

New Hampshire legislators passed a pole-attachments bill requiring a stakeholders' group directed by the energy department’s enforcement division. The Senate concurred Thursday with House changes to SB-16. The group’s charter would end in 2029. The bill will go to the governor.

Rejecting Dish Wireless objections, the California Public Utilities Commission dismissed the company’s complaint against Pacific Gas & Electric, in a Friday order (case 22-08-002). The CPUC said it resolved the matter in September when it issued a stay preventing PG&E from changing its policy for providing electricity to wireless providers (see 2209060042). “DISH has effectively obtained its remedy ‘without a fight,’” said the agency. “PG&E has not implemented the policy changes. DISH is not subject to the complained of harm.” The stay will remain in place until further commission order “as PG&E determines if and how it will proceed with seeking approval for any tariff changes,” the CPUC said. Dish, CTIA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association seem to want the CPUC to address policy concerns raised by the incident, but that isn’t appropriate in a complaint proceeding, the agency said. “Complaints are not the forum to evaluate or decide policy questions that impact others that are not a party to the proceeding and certainly not the forum for addressing industrywide concerns.” It “creates the potential for an inequitable resolution like that of which DISH complains.”

Verizon needs another year to migrate TracFone California customers to its network due to inaction by affected users, Verizon said in a Friday letter to the California Public Utilities Commission. In 2021, the CPUC approved Verizon’s TracFone buy with a condition that it migrate all TraceFone customers to Verizon’s network by Nov. 22 this year. Verizon seeks an extension to Nov. 22, 2024, “to align with federal regulatory obligations and to continue its efforts to persuade TracFone’s California-based customers to migrate through customer-friendly incentives in light of widespread customer inaction despite Verizon and TracFone’s robust outreach to affected customers.” The FCC’s merger approval allowed three-years minimum for customer migration, Verizon said. Saying it can’t force anyone, the carrier said it’s doing everything it can to move customers. “Despite robust outreach and generous incentives, a large number of customers have not migrated,” it said. “These customers have been contacted on a nearly weekly cadence, with some customers having received over 50 communications to date.” The carrier later in the letter described the number of unmoved customers as a “large percentage of the original universe of TracFone customers on non-Verizon networks.” If customers don’t move by the current deadline, Verizon would continue to provide service for the time being but cease to communicate migration offers, it said. “Such customers, assuming they do not switch service providers of their own volition, will remain in this status until TracFone ceases to provide service over the third-party network used to serve the customers.” Verizon would inform customers before they lose service, it said. The carrier asked the CPUC to extend the deadline by June 22.

An Oregon privacy bill cleared the Ways and Means joint committee and may go to the Senate floor. The panel unanimously supported SB-619 with a short amendment. "There are a couple things in the bill I'm not happy about, but ... it is a great step forward,” said co-sponsor Rep. Paul Holvey (D) at a webcast meeting Wednesday. Holvey said he has concerns about how individual consumers will be able to recover remedies for harm caused by violations. The bill initially included a private right of action, but a Senate panel removed it last month, leaving the attorney general as the proposed law’s sole enforcer (see 2304040042).

California digital equity and data broker bills passed in their origin chambers Wednesday. The Assembly voted 48-18 for AB-41, which aims to tighten digital equity requirements in the state’s video franchise law (see 2304200044). The Senate voted 32-8 for SB-362, which would allow consumers to delete data brokers collected on them. The bill would also transfer a data broker registry to the California Privacy Protection Agency from the state Justice Department. “We are one step closer to finally giving consumers the power to control who accesses their most sensitive personal information,” said the data bill’s author, Sen. Josh Becker (D). The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse applauded Senate passage in the same news release.

A Texas children’s privacy bill might shutter some services for everyone under 18, if enacted, said the Computer & Communications Industry Association. In a Thursday letter, CCIA urged Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to veto HB-18, which the legislature passed over the weekend (see 2305300057). When the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) took effect, covering users under 13, “some businesses chose to shut down various services ... due to regulatory complexity -- it became easier to simply not serve this population,” wrote CCIA State Policy Director Khara Boender: If the Texas bill becomes law, users “between 14 and 17 could face a similar fate as HB 18 would implement more complex vetting requirements tied to parental consent for users under 18.” Also, age verification requirements in HB-18 would require companies to collect more data about all users, said Boender: No “commercially reasonable” mechanism exists to check ages. Mandating content filters on devices “could invite significant consumer confusion for adults unaware that such filters aimed for children are set by default,” said the tech industry official, noting filters create "significant liability concerns due to the subjective nature of what may be considered" harmful or obscene. Businesses will have difficulty complying with the bill’s overly broad requirements, Boender added.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) supported exempting streaming and satellite TV from the state video franchise law. Lombardo signed AB-146 Tuesday. A growing number of states are enacting such laws in response to some cities’ litigation against streaming companies like Netflix and Hulu (see 2305190048).

The California Assembly widely supported explicitly authorizing wireless broadband providers to get support from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband infrastructure grant and federal funding accounts. Members voted 79-0 Tuesday to send AB-1065 to the Senate. The Assembly also voted 79-0 for AB-1061, which would require the California Public Utilities Commission to report to the legislature on telcos' performance meeting customer service requirements. The Senate voted 40-0 that day for SB-74 to prohibit high-risk social media apps that are at least partly owned by an entity or “country of concern.”