A bill to reduce Florida’s communications services tax by 1.44 percentage points cleared the Regulated Industries Committee at a webcast Tuesday hearing. SB-1432 would reduce the Florida CST to 3.48% from 4.92% for communications services. Under an amendment adopted Tuesday, it would reduce by the same amount the tax for direct-to-home satellite service to 7.63% from 9.07%. The bill would also freeze local government CSTs at 2023 rates for three years. Florida TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro applauded the bill. "We're going to reduce one of the most regressive state and local taxes we have.” Florida Association of Counties don’t object to reducing the state tax, but counties use distributions from the tax for local projects and want to be “held harmless” for the reduction, said Deputy Director Bob McKee. He said the tax reduction would reduce state revenue by $19.3 million annually. Sponsor Sen. Jay Trumbull (R) disagreed that his bill would disadvantage counties. “It's just time to reduce the tax on tech.” The House has a similar bill (HB-1153).

The Indiana House voted 94-0 Monday for SB-316 to ask the statewide 911 board to study interoperability of computer-aided dispatch systems used by public safety answering points. The Senate passed it earlier. The bill needs gubernatorial approval.

Bills to ban TikTok on state government devices passed Georgia and Missouri legislative chambers Monday. The Georgia House voted 174-0 for SB-93. It previously passed the Senate but must return there due to House changes. The Missouri House voted 152-0 for HB-919, a broader bill that includes a ban on Chinese-owned social media. It goes to the Senate.

Delaware and several municipalities seek to increase awareness of the federal affordable connectivity program, Gov. John Carney (D) said Tuesday. Local leaders in Dover, Wilmington and other cities and towns plan outreach efforts over the next month, the governor’s office said.

A Maryland children’s privacy bill cleared the House Economic Committee and second reading on the floor Friday, with amendments. The committee heard testimony earlier this month on HB-901, which is based on California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (see 2303010062). Amendments included edits to definitions of sell, consumer, biometric information and targeted advertising. Also, the bill would now cover products sold after April 1, 2025, rather than July 1, 2024, in the original bill.

The New Mexico legislature passed a bill Friday to authorize the state to lease or sell broadband infrastructure. The House voted 62-1 and the Senate voted 32-0 for SB-452.

A Tennessee Senate committee punted to next year a bill that would require smartphone manufacturers to turn on obscenity filters by default. SB-138 is unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment and the commerce clause, said NetChoice Deputy Director-State and Federal Affairs Zach Lilly at a livestreamed Commerce Committee hearing Monday. But the National Decency Coalition said the bill is the “most constitutional” way to protect kids. Sen. Shane Reeves (R) questioned the “logistics” of implementing the bill, including how to turn the filter on by default in only one state. Utah passed a similar law in 2021 (see 2103080044), but it won’t take effect until five other states do the same. That contingency is probably why nobody has sued Utah yet, said Lilly: There likely would be an “avalanche” of litigation otherwise.

The California Public Utilities Commission “admonishes” T-Mobile’s MetroPCS and the agency’s own Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division (CPED) for failing to comply with meet-and-confer procedures in a data request dispute, Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason said in a Monday ruling in docket I.22-04-005. The ALJ ordered MetroPCS and CPED to have that meeting within 14 days. Also, MetroPCS must within 40 days supplement responses to a data request despite the company’s objections related to pending litigation, the ALJ said. CPED had found factually and legally deficient a Nov. 4, 2021, MetroPCS response to a Sept. 27, 2021, CPED data request. “But rather than engage in any meet and confer, CPED chose instead to prepare a lengthy Staff Report that detailed the problems with MetroPCS’ response and asked the Commission to open this Order Instituting Investigation (OII) to order MetroPCS to pay a $10 million penalty for violating” CPUC rules, the ALJ said. MetroPCS is also at fault because it didn’t quickly notify CPED of any concerns the company had with the data request soon after receiving it, the ALJ said. Mason rejected MetroPCS’ objection that the carrier can’t answer CPED’s questions while a related federal lawsuit is pending. “MetroPCS fails to cite any law that the pendency of a federal lawsuit is a legitimate ground for refusing to respond to a data request” and it’s “doubtful that there would be such a law since both the federal government” and California “have concurrent jurisdiction to adopt regulations regarding universal service contributions from prepaid wireless providers,” said Mason: The company “failed to cite to any order from the assigned judge in the MetroPCS Litigation, or any other federal law, enjoining the Commission from executing its duty to gather information from entities subject to the Commission’s jurisdiction.” T-Mobile didn't comment by our deadline.

Washington state should make its own broadband map because the FCC map “still has issues” despite improvement from the past edition, said the state broadband office’s director, Mark Vasconi, at a Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee hearing on HB-1746. The House-passed bill would require the state map by July 1, 2024. With as much as $1 billion possibly coming into the state over the next five years, it's “essential that we know where the infrastructure is and who is being served,” Vasconi said at Friday's livestreamed hearing. The Washington Public Utility Districts Association likes that the bill will allow the broadband office to contract with private entities to physically investigate and verify broadband availability on the ground, said lobbyist Scott Richards. On Thursday, the House voted 95-0 to pass HB-1711, which provides a sales and use tax exemption for internet and telecom infrastructure projects involving a federally recognized tribe. It now goes to the Senate. In Georgia, the legislature passed a broadband mapping bill Thursday. The House voted 167-0 for SB-193. It previously passed in the Senate and next will go to Gov. Brian Kemp (R).

New Mexico lawmakers passed multiple telecom bills Thursday. The House voted 49-4 to pass SB-41, previously passed by the Senate, to require ILECs with at least 50,000 customers to be regulated the same as rural ILECs under New Mexico’s Rural Telecommunications Act. Also, the House voted 53-0 for the Senate-passed SB-155 that would freeze annual reduction support payments for eligible ILECs at 2023 rates through 2026 and then end the payments. The Senate voted 40-0 for the House-passed HB-160 to allow the state transportation commission to waive right-of-way fees for installing infrastructure in unserved or underserved areas. And the Senate voted 31-5 for the House-passed HB-170 to clarify that illegal cramming includes only unauthorized charges for non-telecom services. The House unanimously supported the Senate’s cramming bill earlier that week (see 2303150029). Also Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee urged “do pass” on a bill (SB-452) that would authorize the state to lease or sell broadband infrastructure.