Golden State Connect Authority announced a partnership with Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) Fiber to deploy open-access municipal broadband in rural California, the authority said Wednesday. Under the partnership, UTOPIA will handle network design and engineering, project and construction management, plus ongoing operational support including marketing, billing and customer service, the authority said. The authority is currently identifying project locations to install fiber, it said. The network’s open-access model means that multiple ISPs will use the same network to provide service, it said.

California set 20 planning workshops on NTIA's broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) and digital equity programs, the California Public Utilities Commission said Tuesday. The CPUC and California Department of Technology will partner with local, regional and other state entities to host events around the state from April 14 to June 2, the CPUC said. State officials talked about broadband funding and mapping at a Monday virtual event (see [Ref:2304100048).

Indiana's sweeping privacy bill returned to the Senate Wednesday after an amended bill passed the House unanimously Tuesday. The House voted 98-0 for SB-5. A Tennessee privacy bill also is nearing the finish line (see 2304110031).

The Colorado House passed a mental health bill that would include continuous appropriations to the 988 crisis hotline. The House voted 47-14 Tuesday to send HB-1236 to the Senate. Currently, the General Assembly must agree to an appropriation annually. The same day in Hawaii, the Senate voted 24-0 for an amended HB-933 to appropriate an unspecified amount of funding for a program to provide free telecom access “to certain information for persons with a print disability.” It returns to the House, which last month supported the bill unanimously.

Alaska USF’s last distribution would come in January under a tentative schedule presented Wednesday by the Alaska Universal Service Administrative Co. (AUSAC). The company could dissolve soon after, AUSAC Agent Keegan Bernier told commissioners at a livestreamed Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) meeting. AUSAC is preparing for sunset of Alaska USF regulations June 30. The final AUSF remittance would happen in July. AUSAC would distribute $1 million that month and then $77,000 in January before the company wound down. Some are looking for options to renew AUSF before it ends (see 2304110015), but at Wednesday's meeting Commissioner Robert Pickett sounded pessimistic about saving the fund: "We've been told this program essentially is going to be terminated and there are no ... realistic options." Later in the meeting, Pickett predicted "a series of events in which rural LECs are going to have a difficult time and then it will become a political emergency" that could lead to a legislative response. The problem of keeping rural phone rates low "needs a different mechanism that makes sense," he added. Multiple commissioners said they struggled to see how they could classify the looming AUSF sunset as an emergency, a procedural move that would let them expedite making new rules. Chair Keith Kurber and Commissioner Bob Doyle said they first want to see comments due May 5 on repealing AUSF regulations.

Tennessee's comprehensive privacy bill passed the House with an amendment in a 90-0 vote Monday. As amended, HB-1181 would apply to any company with more than $25 million annual revenue, which controls or processes personal data of at least 25,000 consumers and gets more than half its gross revenue from selling that data, said a fiscal memo. It would also apply if the company controls or processes personal data of at least 175,000 consumers in one year. The attorney general would have exclusive enforcement authority and the bill would take effect July 1, 2025. The Tennessee Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on its version (SB-73).

The Texas Cable Association supports amending a bill about municipal broadband confidentiality to clarify it would cover one entity -- Greenville Electric Utility System -- rather than any municipal broadband provider, said TCA President Walt Baum at a Texas Senate Commerce Committee hearing livestreamed Tuesday. The panel weighed but didn’t vote on SB-983, which would allow the public utility to privately discuss competitive matters involving cable, internet or broadband service. The cable association was opposed to the bill until sponsor Sen. Angela Paxton (R) offered the clarification as a substitute amendment, said Baum. TCA remains concerned about cross-subsidization -- electric revenue supporting the telecom side of the business, said Baum. Lawmakers should further revise the bill to clarify that the utility may not keep private whether it’s keeping its books separate, he said.

State legislators passed bills on broadband and 988 Friday. The Maryland House voted 138-1 to pass HB-551, a broadband tax incentives bill that also passed the Senate last week (see 2304070021). It next needs the governor’s signature. The Washington Senate voted 48-0 for HB-1134 on implementing the mental health hotline, which passed a committee last week and passed the House last month (see 2304040047). The House must vote again because senators amended the bill in committee.

Florida awarded $22 million to eight broadband projects in eight counties under the state’s broadband program, said Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) Monday.

Public advocates objected to AT&T seeking relief of carrier of last resort (COLR) and other obligations last week. Rural counties objected to the carrier’s application earlier that week (see 2304040030). “AT&T seeks wholesale permission to abandon the guarantee of communications services for an unspecified number of its customers in unknowable areas simultaneously, and in bulk,” said the CPUC’s independent Public Advocates Office. AT&T incorrectly argues that COLR obligations require it to maintain copper, diverting resources from fiber, said PAO: But COLR is technology-neutral. And AT&T’s application breaks with California USF rules, it said. “The Application is so unclear, vague, and factually insufficient that the Commission cannot even begin to determine whether AT&T’s request is in the public interest.” The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) jointly agreed with PAO that the CPUC should reject the AT&T application. “AT&T has failed to clearly identify which customers, and which areas of its service territory would lose COLR protections,” TURN and CforAT said. “The Commission should not make a determination based on a minimal showing of customer impact for such an important fundamental obligation.” AT&T "submitted applications with the CPUC to start the process for an orderly transition from outdated, copper-based telephone services and network to broadband communications networks," an AT&T spokesperson said. "The proceeding should not be delayed because Californians will be disadvantaged if the network modernization is hampered by outdated regulations of legacy telephone service." AT&T is "firmly committed to ensuring all its customers will continue to have access to reliable voice service," the spokesperson added.