Businesses sought California Supreme Court review of a state appeals court’s Feb. 9 decision that the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) may start enforcing California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) regulations. The California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) on Tuesday filed a petition for review (case S283856). California’s 3rd District Court of Appeal had vacated the June decision of the California Superior Court in Sacramento, which had granted a CalChamber petition and stayed any CPPA rules for 12 months after they become final (see 2402090078). At the California Supreme Court, CalChamber argued that the appeals court ruling means businesses will have only one month to prepare for enforcement. “The Agency failed to adopt regulations necessary to implement the initiative by the statutory deadline, and it continues to repudiate the linked requirement … to abstain from commencing regulatory and civil enforcement until one year after issuance of those regulations,” the CalChamber petition said. “The Agency’s conduct threatens substantial harm to thousands of California businesses and the consumers they serve.” CalChamber CEO Jennifer Barrera said she sees “no way the voters envisioned a scenario where enforcement of regulations would begin without those regulations being in place for a reasonable period of time that affords both businesses and consumers with adequate time to prepare and comply.” The state privacy agency declined to comment Wednesday.
The Virginia House Commerce Committee cleared a Senate-passed bill on pole attachments (SB-713) in a 22-0 vote Tuesday. The committee earlier this month approved a similar House bill (HB-800) regulating how public utilities handle attachment requests (see 2402090062). SB-713 can now go to the full House. HB-800 is currently in the Senate Commerce Committee.
The Kentucky House approved a comprehensive privacy bill (HB-15) on a 92-0 vote Tuesday. It will go to the Senate. Also, that day the Colorado House voted 56-3 to send the Senate a bill amending the Colorado Privacy Act to add protections for biometric identifiers and data (HB-1130). In other consumer protection votes, the Maine Senate on Wednesday agreed with the House on passing HB-1932, which would require prorating of broadband bills after a user cancels service. The bill will go to Gov. Janet Mills (D). In Oregon, the Senate voted 25-5 for a consumer electronics right-to-repair bill (SB-1596). It will go to the House.
The Arizona Senate narrowly passed a bill requiring age verification to protect minors from harmful content online. Senators voted 16-12 Monday to send SB-1125 to Arizona's House. The bill would require websites with pornographic content to verify that users are at least 18, including by comparing IP addresses with a blacklist. Parents could request that their kids be added to the blacklist; ISPs “shall not be under any obligation to confirm” that the requesting internet user “has a minor child,” it said. CTIA in a Jan. 29 letter opposed the bill as technically unworkable. The current bill “misunderstands how IP addresses are used within the internet ecosystem and their infeasibility for identification and age verification,” the wireless association wrote. IP addresses change over time and can be “easily overridden through widely available tools like proxy servers and virtual private networks,” it said. “SB 1125 would impose incredible burdens on ISPs to create an unviable blacklist framework. The regulatory onus should instead be on the content providers that knowingly create and distribute the harmful content to use viable commercial age assurance mechanisms." Also Monday, the Arizona House Appropriations Committee voted 12-0 for a kids' privacy bill (HB-2858) that would prohibit minors younger than 16 from using social media platforms without parental consent. In addition, it would prohibit users older than 18 from sending messages on social media to younger users.
Kansas could save money and address short staffing at 911 centers by passing SB-487, said sponsor Sen. Mike Peterson (R) at a Senate Utilities Committee hearing Tuesday. The bill would allow counties to contract with each other to consolidate public safety answering point services and authorize 911 revenue to be distributed to the combined PSAPs. Also, it would require counties to keep geographic information system data up to date. It would take effect July 1. The bill also received support at the hearing from Sen. Marci Francisco (D) and Ed Klumpp, a lobbyist for Kansas sheriff, police chief and peace officer associations.
An anti-robocalls bill made it through the Missouri House Innovation Committee on an 8-0 vote Tuesday. The approved bill (HB-2603) would add business subscribers to the no-call list and make caller ID spoofing a class E felony offense. Spoofed call recipients could recover $5,000 per call in damages under the bill.
The California Public Utilities Commission delayed by four months its deadline to approve applications for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) infrastructure support. Postponing the deadline to June 30 from Feb. 29 “will provide the time necessary to complete coordination with the Federal Funding Account (FFA) and enable the CPUC to award grants for reliable and affordable networks to communities that need it most,” Executive Director Rachel Peterson wrote in an email to the CASF service list Friday. On June 1, the CPUC received 74 applications seeking about $527 million from the CASF infrastructure account, exceeding the $32.8 million available for FY 2023-24, said Peterson. On Sept. 9, the CPUC received 484 FFA applications, with many projects overlapping those in the CASF infrastructure program. Expect the delay to affect the release of a state broadband map and the deadline for 2024 CASF infrastructure account applications, said Peterson. “After new funds have been authorized for the 2024/2025 fiscal year, the CPUC will provide an update on the timing for the Broadband Map and the 2024 CASF Infrastructure application deadline via an email to the CASF Service and Distribution Lists.”
Wireless industry concerns about a Nebraska 911 outage reporting bill irked some state senators during a hearing Tuesday. LB-1256 would add to carriers’ compliance costs, said CTIA Director-State Legislative Affairs Jake Lestock. Also, disclosing confidential wireless outage information to the state could pose privacy and national security risks, he said. The FCC has a good outage reporting system with strong security protection -- and the Nebraska Public Service Commission may access it now, he said. Considering the importance of 911 and several recent Nebraska outages (see 2401230048), Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D) finds CTIA’s opposition “flummoxing and unsettling.” Sponsor Sen. Wendy DeBoer (D) said she hadn’t heard prior to the hearing that industry opposed her bill. “I will continue to work on this and make sure we have all the safeguards we need, but this is important,” she said. Nebraska PSC Chair Dan Watermeier (R) supported LB-1256 as an “important accountability and transparency measure.”
The Utah Public Service Commission officially noted an AT&T restructuring that will merge affiliate AT&T Corp. into the newly formed AT&T Enterprises. “The PSC acknowledges the Restructuring … and amends the [certificate of public convenience and necessity] to reflect the new business name,” said a PSC order Tuesday. AT&T sought South Carolina approval for the restructuring earlier this month (see 2402090041).
The Vermont Public Utility Commission announced a March 7 hearing on Consolidated Communications' transfer of indirect ownership and control of its local subsidiaries to Condor Holdings, a subsidiary of private equity firm Searchlight. Consolidated will present the deal at 6:30 p.m. and a public hearing will follow, said a Thursday notice in docket 23-4353-PET. Under a schedule released Feb. 2, non-petitioners must file direct testimony by May 3 and the company must file a rebuttal by June 14. More briefs will be due three weeks after an evidentiary hearing planned for July 10-11. Reply briefs would be due two weeks after briefs are filed.