California Nears Crunch Time on Broadband Fund Overhaul

California lawmakers tinkered with rival bills on state broadband funding. Eyes are on the clock after the Assembly Communications Committee postponed Tuesday's hearing on SB-1130 to raise the standard to 25 Mbps symmetrical. The delay was due to an unrelated row over the relative volume of bills in the legislature, and it's the second time the committee delayed the hearing. A $100 billion state stimulus bill unveiled Monday included broadband for distance learning.

Commissions in two other states are reviewing USF contributions. Oregon Public Utility Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to open a proposed rulemaking in docket AR-640 to implement a law requiring VoIP and wireless providers pay into the state fund (see 2007090030). The Nebraska Public Service Commission is entering the next phase of its overhaul of USF contribution.

Under the latest changes to SB-1130, California would fund projects providing at least 25 Mbps with low latency in areas eligible for California Advanced Services Fund support, said Monday's Assembly Communications analysis. That’s up from 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload under the current CASF law (AB-1665). The original bill by Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D) would have required projects provide at least 100 Mbps symmetrical, but that was lowered to 25/3 Mbps before passing the Senate. As in earlier versions, areas with less than 25 Mbps symmetrical would be eligible for funding, up from 6/1 Mbps now.

“We expect SB 1130 to be set for hearing in the coming days or weeks,” emailed George Soares, policy consultant for Gonzalez. The delay is due to “larger Senate and Assembly negotiations regarding the bill load in each house,” he said. Assembly policy and appropriations committee deadlines are fluid due to coronavirus, but bills must clear the legislature by Aug. 31, the aide told us: “We are happy with SB 1130 in its current form and the only amendments we could potentially take would at the request of another committee or leadership.”

Lawmakers edited a rival CASF bill (AB-570) Monday to redefine served as 25/3 Mbps. An earlier version kept California’s existing 6/1 (see 2006300058). AB-570 would require the California Public Utilities Commission to follow a prescribed priority list for funding, starting with high-poverty areas with only dial-up. Sixth and last are underserved households in areas with speeds slower than 25/3.

AB-570 “ignores the need for deploying fiber in rural markets and asks Californians to pay a tax to fund a program that would prioritize “cost-effective” 25/3 broadband, which is essentially DSL upgrades or some slow wireless,” Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Legislative Counsel Ernesto Falcon emailed Tuesday. “It does not deliver broadband that is able to handle any current needs people have under COVID-19 and stands for the principle that rural Californians should just accept inferior access rather than expect equivalent services to California cities.” EFF “100%” supports SB-1130, he said.

The California Cable & Telecommunications Association opposed SB-1130 before and didn’t comment now. Frontier Communications declined comment.

Time is tight.

Lawmakers returned to Sacramento after a second COVID-19 shutdown and “have a bit more than a month to get through hundreds of bills,” Tellus Venture Associates President Steve Blum blogged. Tuesday's hearing delay also affected SB-431 to require backup generators at cellsites, though the CPUC required that earlier this month (see 2007160065).

Oregon PUC Chair Megan Decker seeks to rapidly implement the state USF law (SB-1603), so rules are in place “in time for providers to begin collecting the surcharge as of the January 1, 2021, effective date,” a spokesperson emailed after Tuesday’s teleconferenced meeting. Decker expects “strong industry cooperation and information sharing in order to be able to set an appropriate surcharge rate on an expedited timeline,” the spokesperson said.

The Nebraska PSC opened docket NUSF-119 on June 30 to consider whether to extend connections-based contribution to remaining services subject to a revenue-based surcharge. It follows the state in April 2019 shifting from revenue-based contribution for all services to a hybrid mechanism with a $1.75 monthly per connection surcharge for residential wireline, postpaid wireless and interconnected VoIP services and a 6.95% revenue-based surcharge for business, government and other services (see 1808080022). Comments are due Aug. 31, said Telecom Director Cullen Robbins.

There have been no problems with Nebraska USF contributions changes, Robbins told us. Remittances “appear to have stabilized compared to where we were prior to contribution reform,” he said. They dropped 39% between 2010 and 2018, he said: The PSC set the connections-based surcharge to meet a target range of $46 million to $54 million for the fund, which was about the 2014-15 level, and money has come in toward the lower end of that range.