Adam Bender

An Ohio court can and should call Google Search a common carrier, the state argued Friday. "Ohio common carrier law needs no expansion … Google Search meets each and every criterion with no need to resort to the creative interpretation that Google proposes." In a separate opposition brief, Google protested that it’s nothing like a common carrier: "Google is not a 'dumb pipe' or 'mere conduit.' Ohio and Google responded to each other’s January cross-motions for summary judgment in case 21-CV-H-06-0274 at the Ohio Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County (see 2401260074). Reply briefs are due March 15 and trial is set for Sept. 3 under the court’s schedule. Judge James Schuck refused to dismiss Ohio’s lawsuit in May 2022, ruling that Ohio “stated a cognizable claim” that Google could be a common carrier (see 2205260057). The Ohio Chamber of Commerce supported the company in a Thursday amicus brief, arguing that Ohio’s attempt to regulate the search company would be “anti-business.” Concerns about how a big tech company participates in public discourse "provide no basis for making a novel exception to well-established common carrier tenets,” wrote the chamber.

AT&T’s nationwide wireless outage last week shows why California regulators shouldn’t relieve the company of carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations, Communications Workers of America said. COLR requires AT&T to make landlines available to anyone who requests them across the state. The hourslong wireless outage (see 2402220058) showed that landlines remain important, CWA District 9 Vice President Frank Arce said Thursday. As such, the California Public Utilities Commission should reject “AT&T’s attempt to cut service to our most vulnerable residents,” he said. An AT&T spokesperson responded Friday, “We are not canceling landline service in California, and none of our California customers will lose access to voice service or 911 service.” The carrier said it's focused on upgrading customers to fiber and wireless technologies that consumers increasingly demand. “No customer will be disconnected, and we’re working with the remaining consumers who use traditional landline service to upgrade to newer technologies.” AT&T is pushing for quick CPUC action on its COLR relief petition (see 2402210038). The carrier disclosed in a Thursday ex parte notice that it plans to meet virtually Tuesday with aides to Commissioner Karen Douglas.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) isn’t ready to ban children younger than 16 from using social media without an opportunity for parental override, he said Thursday. This puts him at odds with many of his state's Republican lawmakers. Earlier in the day, Florida's Senate voted 23-14 to approve HB-1, which would require that websites verify potential users' ages, preventing kids younger than 16 from using social media and stop those younger than 18 from accessing pornography. Many, but not all, Democratic state senators opposed the bill. Later on the floor, senators joined House members in unanimously supporting another measure extending a $1 promotion for broadband attachments through 2028.

Florida senators unanimously supported joining other states that designate mobile phone providers as eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) for the federal Lifeline program. On the floor Wednesday, senators voted 37-0 to pass a bill (SB-478) that would transfer wireless ETC designation powers from the FCC to the Florida Public Service Commission. Later, senators debated a bill (HB-1) that would override parents and ban all kids younger than 16 from getting social media accounts.

Mitigating practices that could speed the country toward phone number exhaustion is a priority item for state officials ahead of NARUC’s Feb. 25-28 meeting in Washington, commission officials told us. The state utility regulator association is planning a vote during the meeting on a proposed resolution from Telecom Committee Chair Tim Schram. It urges the FCC “to provide updated guidance on how states should bring forward cases of telephone number resource mismanagement or suspected robocalling using rented telephone numbers to the Commission using the audit process” from Section 52.15(k) of the Telecom Act.

Wireless industry concerns about a Nebraska 911 outage reporting bill irked some state senators during a hearing Tuesday. LB-1256 would add to carriers’ compliance costs, said CTIA Director-State Legislative Affairs Jake Lestock. Also, disclosing confidential wireless outage information to the state could pose privacy and national security risks, he said. The FCC has a good outage reporting system with strong security protection -- and the Nebraska Public Service Commission may access it now, he said. Considering the importance of 911 and several recent Nebraska outages (see 2401230048), Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D) finds CTIA’s opposition “flummoxing and unsettling.” Sponsor Sen. Wendy DeBoer (D) said she hadn’t heard prior to the hearing that industry opposed her bill. “I will continue to work on this and make sure we have all the safeguards we need, but this is important,” she said. Nebraska PSC Chair Dan Watermeier (R) supported LB-1256 as an “important accountability and transparency measure.”

A Florida Senate committee combined House bills requiring age verification for those accessing social media (HB-1) and pornography (HB-3). At a Thursday hearing, the Fiscal Policy Committee on a voice vote approved an amendment that inserts the text of HB-3 into HB-1 and makes other changes. Then the panel cleared the amended bill. The Senate could vote on the bill Wednesday. Opposing the bill in committee, Sen. Geri Thompson (D) said legislators’ role is education, not censorship. Sen. Shev Johnson (D) said it’s not lawmakers’ role to parent the parents, and the bill doesn’t pass legal muster. Added Sen. Lori Berman (D), HB-1 has many practical problems, including that it would force adults to verify their age on many websites and its breadth could bar children from accessing educational sites. Yet Sen. Erin Grall (R), who is shepherding HB-1 in the Senate, said Florida isn’t suggesting it knows better than parents. The state is narrowly responding to an identified harm, she said. "This is a bill about not targeting our children in order to manipulate them." The new version of HB-1 continues to propose prohibiting children younger than 16 from having social media accounts regardless of parental consent but no longer would require social websites to disclose social media's possible mental health problems to those 16-18. The amended bill allows enforcement by the attorney general and through a private right of action. Other changes to bill definitions could mean that young people will also be banned from Amazon, LinkedIn and news websites, said Maxx Fenning, executive director of PRISM, an LGBTQ rights group in Florida. In addition, the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the bill. Banning kids younger than 16 even with their parents' consent "shows that the claim of parental rights of the last two legislative sessions had nothing to do with parental rights and everything to do with government censorship of viewpoints and information that government doesn't like,” ACLU-Florida Legislative Director Kara Gross said.

The South Dakota Senate will vote again on a 911 bill that failed to pass the chamber Wednesday. Senators voted 28-3 on Thursday to reconsider Wednesday's vote, which HB-1092 lost. Then the Senate voted by voice for a motion to reconsider the bill Feb. 26. The House-approved bill would increase South Dakota’s 911 fee on monthly phone bills to $2, from $1.25 (see 2402090055). But on the floor Wednesday, the bill failed to get a two-thirds majority necessary to pass the Senate, with 21 senators voting yes and 11 voting no. Sen. Jean Hunhoff (R) raised a procedural concern that the state’s 911 coordination board didn’t recommend the increase. Sen. Ryan Maher (R) objected to rewarding problems at the board with a $7.5 million tax increase for South Dakotans. The proposed fee increase won’t cover 911 centers' shortfall, said Sen. Brent Hoffman (R). He questioned why prepaid wireless wouldn’t face an increase under the bill. Sen. Jim Mehlhaff (R), carrying the bill in the Senate, said the surcharge hasn’t kept up with rising 911 costs. Don’t punish local public safety answering points for problems at the state 911 board, he said. In addition, Mehlhaff argued that prepaid wireless appropriately pays 2% of the point-of-sale cost. On the floor Thursday, Sen. Casey Crabtree (R) said the extension will give legislators time to work through the concerns raised in Wednesday's debate.

The California Public Utilities Commission will release more than $7 million in California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) support for broadband, commissioners decided Thursday. They voted 3-0 on three separate items that clear the way for projects by fixed wireless ISPs Cruzio and Kwikbit and the Anza Electric Cooperative. The CPUC delayed voting on an AT&T service quality enforcement item and a plan making the California LifeLine foster youth program permanent.

Nebraska legislators were skeptical during a livestreamed hearing Monday about a bill transferring state broadband grant duties to the Nebraska Broadband Office from the Public Service Commission (see 2401180020). The legislature’s Telecom Committee heard testimony on LB-1336. “I do not expect this bill to go anywhere," conceded sponsor Sen. Barry DeKay (R). But he said he wanted to start a discussion about whether there could be efficiencies moving the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program to the office that is handling the broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, he said. Legislators last year required the PSC to transfer BEAD authority to the broadband office, which was created in January 2023. Sen. Michaela Cavanaugh (D) is concerned that LB-1336 would erode the PSC, an agency that is far more transparent than the broadband office, she said. Sen. Tom Brandt (R) asked, "What do we as a state gain by moving this over to the broadband office?" While officially neutral on the bill, Nebraska PSC Commissioner Tim Schram (R) said his agency has “a proven record of three grant cycles” administering the broadband bridge program transparently and at a low cost. The bill isn’t clear on how the transition would occur, added Schram. The Nebraska Telecommunications Association opposed the bill since it is “generally pleased” with PSC administration of the bridge program, said President Tip O’Neill: And the broadband office is busy getting BEAD off the ground. The Nebraska Association of County Officials thinks it’s a good idea to eliminate redundancies, said Elaine Menzel, Nebraska Association of County Officials legal counsel. Also at the hearing, county and municipal officials opposed a bill that would expand state preemption of local government authority. The state already has a law limiting local fees and timelines for small-cell wireless deployments; LB-1112 would cover other broadband equipment on poles and towers. A single state policy isn’t appropriate for circumstances that vary locality by locality, said Lash Chaffin, League of Nebraska Municipalities utilities section director. The bill would restrict cities’ ability to ensure equipment and installations don’t harm health and safety, said Valerie Grimes, planning and development director for Norfolk, Nebraska. LB-1112 sponsor Sen. Robert Clements (R) said his bill would speed broadband deployment by lowering fees and delays.