The Nebraska Legislature approved a comprehensive privacy bill as part of a larger package last week. The unicameral legislature voted 47-0 Thursday to approve a legislative omnibus (LB-1074) including the proposal from LB-1294 by Sen. Eliot Bostar (D). The privacy measure goes too easy on businesses, Consumer Reports (CR) said Friday. However, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said differences with other state laws will increase businesses’ burden.

Local and regional crisis call centers around the U.S. are bullish on the FCC's move toward requiring georouting of wireless calls made to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline to the call center nearest the caller. The commissioners will vote on a draft NPRM at their April 25 open meeting that proposes requiring 988 calls be routed to a call center nearest to where the caller is (see 2404030051). The FCC, as well as Health and Human Services, have pushed for georouting of mobile 988 calls (see 2309280085).

The net neutrality draft order on the FCC's April 25 open meeting agenda (see 2404030043) will face much the same legal arguments as the 2015 net neutrality order did, with many of the same parties involved, we're told by legal experts and net neutrality watchers.

The House on Friday voted to renew the intelligence community’s foreign surveillance authority for two years (see 2404100069). The vote was 273-147, with 147 Democrats and 126 Republicans in favor. An amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act narrowly failed 212-212, with 128 Republicans and 84 Democrats voting in favor.

Some Democrats warned they might join Republicans opposing a California digital equity bill when it reaches the Assembly floor. At a livestreamed hearing Wednesday, the Assembly Communications Committee voted 7-3, with one member not voting, to advance AB-2239 to the Judiciary Committee. The bill would codify in state law the FCC’s definition of digital discrimination (see 2402080068).

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Brett Guthrie (Ky.) are highlighting reaching a deal on an expansive spectrum legislative package as a top communications policy priority if they succeed retiring Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) as the panel's lead Republican in the next Congress. Both contenders separately told us their spectrum focus wouldn’t waver if Rodgers and other congressional leaders reach a deal this year that restores the FCC’s lapsed auction authority and other airwaves-related priorities. Talks on spectrum legislation have largely stalled since early 2023, but Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others are shopping new proposals (see 2403210063).

Use of cyber insurance to protect companies against sometimes unexpected digital risks is growing in popularity, experts said Thursday during an FCBA Cybersecurity Committee online panel. Speakers said companies should view cyber insurance as one way of limiting risk from a cyberattack.

House Commerce Committee members on Thursday vowed to find a bipartisan solution for updating Communications Decency Act Section 230.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service (NWS) joined commenters from the broadcast, MVPD and emergency alerting industries in pushing back on an FCC proposal (see 2402150053) requiring multilingual emergency alert system warnings facilitated by scripted templates, according to comments posted this week in docket 15-94. Though nearly every commenter acknowledged the importance of multilingual EAS, they also said the FCC’s proposal is too preliminary, would greatly burden broadcasters and MVPDs, and in some cases isn’t technically feasible. “The use of pre-installed templates may not be an effective approach,” said the FEMA Integrated Public Alert Warning System Program Office.

Many small carriers could be in financial trouble if Congress doesn’t allocate more money to pay for removing unsecure Chinese-made gear from their networks, Summit Ridge Group President Armand Musey said in an interview. Congress has considered, but so far has failed to provide, the $3.08 billion needed to fully fund the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (SCRP).