Fla. Senate Supports Taking Wireless Lifeline Authority From FCC
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.
The wireless ETC bill will go next to the House, where the similar HB-551 awaits a floor vote after receiving unanimous Commerce Committee approval Jan. 23. “For 12 years, the FCC has failed to consider requests to add any new companies in Florida to become” ETCs to serve low-income consumers, said SB-478 sponsor Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez (R). “This returns to Florida its jurisdictional authority over wireless communications … in the federal Lifeline program.” The Florida PSC “will comply with any legislation that becomes law,” a spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Maine and North Carolina lawmakers are also mulling wireless ETC bills. The Maine Senate Energy Committee plans a hearing Thursday on LD-2193. The Maine Public Utilities Commission didn’t comment on the bill. A similar 2023 bill (HB-658) is pending in the North Carolina legislature, which has a two-year session. The state House passed the bill 115-2 last year. The North Carolina Utilities Commission declined to comment.
The National Lifeline Association supports proposals “in Florida and other states that would empower public service commissions” to grant ETC designations enabling wireless providers to participate in federal Lifeline, said NaLA attorney John Heitmann of Nelson Mullins. “When a state lacks such authority, it becomes the FCC’s responsibility to designate ETCs. For more than a decade, the FCC has failed to meet that responsibility and in so doing has inhibited competition and denied low-income households in Florida and other states the benefits of competition.”
Other jurisdictions that still rely on federal ETC designation for wireless include Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware and New Hampshire, said Heitmann. In addition, Texas designates only facilities-based wireless carriers, said the attorney: Alabama, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia previously took back authority from the FCC to grant wireless ETC designations.
'Coming for Our Kids'
With the social media bill on the floor, Florida senators voted by voice to adopt an amendment by Sen. Erin Grall (R) refining definitions and exemptions. Grall carried the House bill in the Senate. A Senate committee last week merged another House bill (HB-3) requiring age verification to ensure kids younger than 18 can’t access pornography into HB-1 and made other changes (see 2402150039). The House, which last month passed HB-1 in a 106-13 bipartisan vote (see 2401240079), would have to vote again to concur with the Senate’s changes to the bill. Senate debate continued after our deadline Wednesday.
"This bill is very much about empowering parents because the most sophisticated parent would be unable to keep up with the billions-of-dollar corporations that are coming for our kids," said Grall, responding to some Democrats’ concerns about impinging on parental rights. Parents should never be able to consent to something known to be harmful, said Grall, comparing social media to illegal, addictive drugs.
Florida senators voted by voice to reject a Democratic amendment by Sen. Tina Polsky that would allow minors younger than 16 to have accounts if they show “that not having access to the platform will negatively impact [their] professional development, financial well-being, or employment.” Many kids involved in performing arts and athletics need platforms to "showcase their talents," while young entrepreneurs use social media to advertise their businesses. “To say that social media doesn't have a beneficial effort for those people is completely unfair to what we hold dear." Grall said the amendment is “contrary to the underlying goal of the bill” and social media’s “overall harms are much greater.”
The Computer & Communications Industry Association urged senators to vote no on HB-1 as it “may result in shutting down services for all users under 18,” CCIA said. No reasonable age-verification method exists, while collecting more data on users raises privacy concerns, it said in a letter Tuesday. Wait for courts to resolve litigation about age-verification bills in other states, the tech group urged. “CCIA recommends that lawmakers permit this issue to be more fully examined by the judiciary before burdening businesses with legislation that risks being invalidated and passing on expensive litigation costs to taxpayers.”
A Florida Senate panel advanced a different social media bill (SB-1448) Tuesday that would require platforms that foreign adversaries own to disclose how they curate, personalize and target content and how they address misinformation and harmful content. Also, such platforms would have to make the source code of their algorithms publicly available through an open-source license. And they would have to implement a user verification for buyers of ads on social or political issues. The Appropriations Committee on Criminal and Civil Justice voted 7-0 to advance the bill. Florida’s House Commerce Committee plans a hearing Thursday on a similar bill (HB-1541).