A West Virginia pole access bill meant to speed broadband deployment cleared the Senate Economic Development Committee at a livestreamed hearing Wednesday. In unanimous voice votes, the panel adopted SB-231 and an amendment by Sen. Eric Tarr (R). Tarr’s amendment put the West Virginia Department of Economic Development instead of the Public Service Commission in charge of carrying out the proposed law. As amended, pole owners would inform the department within 30 days of making a pole ready for telecom facilities. The department would notify other broadband providers within 15 days, then providers would have 30 days to notify the owner they too would make use of the available pole space. Tarr sought to replace the PSC with the Economic Development Department because the commission doesn’t regulate broadband and so it has no ISP list. The department includes a broadband council that would have a list, he said. PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane testified it would be best to remove the PSC from the bill.

The Missouri House Utilities Committee weighed a broadband bill (HB-2052) that would set up a 12-year task force to evaluate the status of access, affordability and speed, monitor deployment and make recommendations. The bill recognizes broadband is a problem in rural, urban and suburban areas, said sponsor Rep. Louis Riggs (R) at a livestreamed hearing Wednesday. The proposed group would have at least 24 members, said Riggs, who chaired a special broadband committee over the summer. Utilities Chair Bill Kidd (R) said his concern about task forces are that they spend a lot of time and effort, “and in the end, nothing happens.” Riggs assured the chair that the task force will be accountable. Missouri Broadband Development Director BJ Tanksley, named to that position last week, said he sees the task force as a tool to get all the “voices into the room,” though it wouldn’t have decision-making power. If the group is formed, Tanksley would try to ensure it works toward concrete goals, he said. Supporting the bill, Missouri Municipal League Executive Director Richard Sheets said the group won’t “kick the can,” but instead will enhance coordination, which the broadband committee heard was a problem. AT&T supports the bill but is concerned the company won’t be adequately represented by a committee makeup allowing the only wireline member to be from a defunct Missouri telecom association, said Regional Vice President-External Affairs Madeline Romious. She suggested adding three broadband industry representatives. The bill also got support at the hearing from municipal utilities, electric cooperatives, small ISPs and farmers.

Articul8 made "millions of fraudulent and illegal telemarketing calls and robocalls" to consumers as a gateway provider, said a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina against the VoIP provider and its owner for allegedly violating the FTC's telemarketing sales rule and the state's Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Owner Paul Talbot's company "knowingly provided assistance and support to U.S.- and foreign-based fraudsters" since "at least 2018," said the complaint filed by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D). The call traffic "shows patterns with the hallmarks of illegal and fraudulent telemarketing and robocall traffic." The complaint said Articul8 was "repeatedly informed" by the USTelecom-led industry traceback group that it was either a gateway or intermediate provider for fraudulent or illegal calls, but it continued to route such calls. “The only way telemarketers can inundate our phones with robocalls is with the complicity of gateway phone companies,” Stein said in a statement: “These phone companies turn a blind eye to illegal robocalls in order to make money on each call. It's wrong. It violates state and federal law, and I won't tolerate it." Talbot didn't comment.

New York will require a Department of Public Service state study about putting all or most telephone, internet and electric lines underground. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed S-7722 Monday.

The Florida Public Service Commission would consider the FCC rate formula as a default standard when assessing pole attachment rate disputes, under changes staff proposed Tuesday to PSC complaints rules in docket 20210137. “When taking action upon such complaints, the commission shall establish just and reasonable cost-based rates, terms, and conditions for pole attachments and shall apply the decisions and orders of the [FCC] and any appellate court decisions” reviewing FCC orders “in determining just and reasonable pole attachment rates, terms, and conditions unless a pole owner or attaching entity establishes by competent substantial evidence … that an alternative cost-based pole attachment rate is just and reasonable and in the public interest.” The PSC said Monday it will consider the change at its 9:30 a.m. Feb. 1 meeting. The change would resolve a challenge by the Florida Internet and Television Association, Atlantic Broadband, Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications, said Tuesday’s staff memo. The PSC unanimously adopted complaint rules on Nov. 2 (see 2111020027).

The California Public Utilities Commission may vote Feb. 24 on setting up a $50 million grant program to provide California Advanced Services Fund technical assistance to local agencies and tribal governments, said a proposed decision posted Friday in docket R.20-08-021. The agency already had a program only for tribes; the new program would expand eligibility to local governments and add more reimbursable activities.

A hypothetical 50-state privacy law patchwork could cost more than $1 trillion over 10 years, estimated an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report Monday. California, Virginia and Colorado have comprehensive privacy laws; 15-plus states are considering bills this year (see 2201120021). ITIF estimated California’s privacy law will cost $78 billion annually. The think tank modeled a scenario where all 50 states enacted privacy laws over 15 years, and the report assumes “not all states would implement identical laws and early adopters would likely favor stricter policies, whereas laggard states would expectedly favor less-stringent consumer privacy laws.” ITIF’s “intention is to estimate the costs if the U.S. continues down this path of state-led privacy laws” and isn’t “trying (or claiming) to predict the future in terms of what states might do,” emailed ITIF Vice President Daniel Castro. Compliance “is almost always a moving target,” he said. “Even similar laws often have some differences and businesses must hire lawyers or other professionals to resolve those differences and ensure they are in compliance.” For example, even though California’s law and Europe’s Global Data Protection Act are similar, “many U.S. businesses will have separate rules (and terms in their privacy policies) for users in California versus those in the European Union,” he said.

A Florida Senate panel unanimously cleared two bills to set up a $500 million program to reimburse broadband ISPs for pole removal and replacement costs in unserved areas. The Florida Senate Commerce Committee supported two linked bills (SB-1800, SB-1802) backed by Charter Communications, at a livestreamed hearing Monday. The legislation would direct the state broadband office to administer the program, which would be funded with $100 million from the U.S. Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund and $400 million in state appropriations for FY 2022-2023. Some Democratic committee members said they want Florida to do more to address broadband adoption gaps. Earlier at the hearing, the committee voted 10-0 for SB-1564 to tweak a 2021 state robocall law. The panel amended the bill to mostly align it with HB-1095 in the House, which cleared a subcommittee last week (see 2201200041).

The Veterans Affairs Department is “encouraged” that California legislators are “considering the needs of Veterans and explicitly exempting VA telehealth applications from its zero rating restrictions,” a spokesperson emailed us Thursday. State Assembly Republicans proposed a bill last week to carve out veterans’ telehealth apps from the state’s net neutrality law (see 2201200057). After the open-internet law took effect last year, the VA talked with California officials and ISPs, the spokesperson said. A California DOJ spokesperson emailed, “We had conversations with the Department of Veterans Affairs when this issue arose.”

Texas must file a brief by March 2 at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the state’s appeal of a preliminary injunction by U.S. District Court in Austin of the state’s social media law, the appeals court said Friday in case 21-51178.