Google is unwilling to publicly support a kids’ social media proposal in Pennsylvania, despite the House Children and Youth Committee announcing the company’s backing Wednesday (see 2406050055).

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told us during an exclusive Communications Daily Q&A that evaluating assessments made on consumers' bills as part of funding the Universal Service Fund is her top issue amid calls for contribution reform (see 2404190043). Sworn in in September, Gomez also mentioned concerns about USF's future and the affordable connectivity program. She also urged ISPs to create their digital equity plans with "intentionality."

The NAB Television Board of Directors promised in a policy statement Wednesday to prioritize local broadcasters' interests in NAB’s advocacy, “including on those issues that may be in tension with other NAB member business interests." This was a veiled reference to the networks and their streaming businesses, numerous attorneys and broadcasters told us. The policy statement is widely seen as a reaction to growing conflict between broadcast affiliates and their network partners over content and issues such as virtual MVPD regulation.

The House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee advanced its FY 2025 funding bill Wednesday with language that would couple an increase in the FCC’s annual funding with riders barring the commission from implementing GOP-opposed net neutrality and digital discrimination orders. The subpanel advanced the funding bill on a voice vote, but Democrats vowed to fight the FCC language and other riders when the measure reaches the full House Appropriations Committee. The measure also proposes cutting the FTC’s annual funding for FY25 from what lawmakers allocated the agency via a March FY24 minibus package (see 2403280001).

Congressional leaders haven't reached a consensus on how to resurrect the FCC's expired affordable connectivity program. In interviews this week, lawmakers pointed to a range of options, including an expected third attempt at a Senate Commerce Committee markup next week (see [2405310070]) of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207). The FCC formally shuttered ACP Friday after supporters on Capitol Hill failed numerous times at allocating stopgap funding (see 2403280001).

The FCC has an “affirmative legal obligation” under Sections 552 and 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act “to make its proposed and final rules readily available to the public without charge,” despite the process known as incorporation by reference (IBR), said iFixit, Public Resource and Make Community in their reply brief Tuesday (docket 23-1311) at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Cash-strapped California has many challenges ahead as it seeks to connect everyone to broadband, said state, local and industry officials Wednesday at the livestreamed California Broadband Summit. Assembly Communications Committee Chair Tasha Boerner (D) said she has several concerns with state broadband policy, including that the California Public Utilities Commission is taking too long to distribute last-mile grants.

AI is moving beyond the hype as a technology for telecom providers, Ahmed Hafez, Deutsche Telekom vice president-technology strategy, said during a TelecomTV forum Wednesday on digital support systems. Other executives said carriers continue mulling how they will use AI.

Increased lunar activity is revealing a host of unanswered spectrum and other regulatory questions, space law experts said Tuesday at an American Bar Association space law symposium in Washington. In addition, legal liability questions about space mishaps are another area with more uncertainty than definitive answers, speakers said.

The California Public Utilities Commission should freeze California LifeLine specific support amounts (SSA) until state regulators and stakeholders can find a better way of calculating them, a consumer group and low-income wireless service providers said in comments Monday. The CPUC is considering freezing the SSA at $19 for wireline and wireless providers (see 2405070050). Meanwhile, consumer advocates defended their petition for temporary bridge funding through LifeLine that would help cover the loss of federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) support.