New Jersey Assembly members supported an inquiry into social media effects on adolescents. The Assembly voted 71-0 Thursday for SB-715 to set up a study commission. The Senate earlier voted 37-0 but must vote again to concur with Assembly amendments. The Arkansas legislature sent the governor a bill (SB-66) Thursday that would create liability for publishing pornography online without performing “reasonable age verification” of the user. The Texas Senate voted 30-1 Wednesday to pass SB-1602 to amend the state’s litigated social media censorship law. It would require that any action under the law against social media platforms be brought in a Texas court and “the law of this state applies to the action.” In Iowa, a House Ways and Means subcommittee voted 2-1 Thursday to advance HB-526, which would ban social media platforms from allowing children under 18 to open accounts. The California Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-0 Tuesday to pass along SB-60 to the Appropriations Committee. The bill would require social media platforms to remove posts on illegal drug sales.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission approved a settlement between Frontier Communications and the state’s Morgan County to resolve the county’s complaint about 911 service. Commissioners agreed Wednesday with staff’s recommendation to adopt the pact as the resolution to case 22-0686-T-C (see 2303240063).

Both Kansas legislative chambers passed a bill to explicitly exempt streaming services and direct broadcast satellite operators from video service provider franchise fees. The House voted 124-0 Wednesday for SB-144, which passed the Senate in late February. The bill still needs a signature from Gov. Laura Kelly (D).

The California Office of Administrative Law approved the California Privacy Protection Agency’s rulemaking package for the California Consumer Privacy Act Thursday (see 2302100032). The regulations are effective immediately. They update existing CCPA regulations to “harmonize them with amendments” adopted under Proposition 24, “operationalize new rights and concepts introduced by the CPRA to provide clarity and specificity to implement the law; and reorganize and consolidate requirements set forth in the law to make the regulations easier to follow and understand.” They allow consumers to “knowingly and freely negotiate with a business over the business’s use of the consumer’s personal information, the CPPA said.

Arizona and Florida legislators advanced social media bills Tuesday. The Arizona Commerce Committee split 6-4 to clear SB-1106, which would prohibit websites from deplatforming candidates and require them to publish and follow standards for censoring users. The Computer and Communications Industry Association opposed the bill. The bill “may raise constitutional concerns, conflict with federal law, and risk impeding digital services companies in their efforts to restrict inappropriate or harmful content on their platforms,” it said in written testimony Tuesday. Florida’s bill (SB-52) to require social media literacy education cleared the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee in a 19-0 vote. It got bipartisan support at an Education Committee hearing last month (see 2302070042). CCIA, which is suing Florida for a 2021 social media law, supported education-focused measures (see 2303010062).

The Florida Senate Governmental Oversight Committee voted 8-0 to make more of the state’s broadband program confidential. SB-552 would exempt from public record inspection requirements information on communications services locations, project proposals and challenges submitted to the Department of Economic Opportunity through state or federal grant programs. The department must still publish on its website descriptions of proposed areas to be served and proposed broadband speeds.

Maryland’s governor must include $12 million for the 988 mental-health line in the FY 2025 budget, said a bill passed Wednesday by the legislature. The House voted 135-0 for SB-3. The Senate passed it 46-0 Jan. 30.

New York state will use $100 million from the U.S. Treasury Capital Projects Fund to connect 100,000 households to affordable broadband, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and other state leaders said Wednesday. "This critical funding to unlock high-speed internet for thousands of New York renters will build on the success of our ConnectALL broadband initiative while supporting the goals our five-year plan to build and preserve more affordable housing,” Hochul said. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) said the money “will go directly towards closing the digital divide.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) is “proud,” she said. “During the pandemic, we saw how important high-quality broadband is for business, health care, school, and more.” The funding is a “key piece” of the Biden administration’s broadband investment, said Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo.

A Georgia bill to ban TikTok on state devices passed the legislature Monday. The Senate agreed to the House’s amended SB-93 (see 2303210047). The bill next needs approval from Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who last year banned the Chinese-owned social media app by executive order. Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) signed a TikTok ban (HB-274) Friday. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed one Wednesday (see 2303230027). Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) Monday recommended a slight wording change to a Virginia bill (SB-1459) passed by the legislature.

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission softened a staff-recommended proposal to require carriers to notify other telecom companies about outages, after receiving AT&T opposition. At a livestreamed meeting Tuesday, OCC members voted 3-0 to approve a package of changes to state telecom rules in docket 2023-000005. Commissioners also agreed in the same matter to adjust directory rules and ban door-to-door Lifeline enrollment. The OCC also voted 3-0 for changes to state USF process rules (docket 2023-000005). All three commissioners opposed an alternative option to automatically approve staff-recommended changes to the contribution factor if the commission doesn’t issue an order within 31 days. AT&T Director-External Affairs Jason Constable said the outage reporting proposal was "extremely onerous and burdensome" and "technically infeasible." The commission instead should require carriers to provide, upon request, 24-hour contact information for discussing possible service outages, he said. Commissioners supported the contact-information approach with a plan to return to the item later. Contact information isn’t enough, said Bill Bullard, attorney for Consolidated Communications and other rural LECs. Bullard supported OCC staff’s original plan. "This is an ongoing problem that has gotten worse over the years." AT&T’s proposed requirement is already a standard part of the carrier’s contracts with CLECs, said Bullard. Commissioners also agreed with AT&T’s suggested change to a proposed rule requiring white pages directories only to areas where at least one person has requested a directory. Chairman Todd Hiett and Commissioner Bob Anthony supported Constable’s suggestion to increase that threshold to at least 10 requests, and to require publication every 18 months. CTIA warned last month that USF changes recommended by OCC staff to streamline the process could exacerbate the fund’s uncontrolled growth (see 2302270054).