Newsom Signs More Calif. Broadband, Social Bills

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) cleared a social media bill and multiple broadband measures by Friday’s deadline to sign or veto bills from the state legislature. On Friday, Newsom signed SB-1056 to require social media platforms with at least 1 million monthly users to say if they have a mechanism for reporting violent posts. Also, he approved SB-884 to require the CPUC to establish an electric undergrounding program that requires telecom providers to put non-wireless infrastructure underground and pay proportionate costs; SB-717 to require a report about broadband deployment barriers on government-owned structures, private and public lands and buildings and public rights of way; and AB-1426 to clarify nonprofit religious organizations may get grants from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband adoption account. On Thursday, Newsom signed AB-2752 to clarify what data the California Public Utilities Commission must collect for mapping broadband access. Also last week, Newsom signed bills to make phone calls free for many incarcerated persons and vetoed an industry-supported bill to change the CPUC’s broadband grant review process (see 2209300063).