Alabama awarded nearly $188.5 million for middle-mile broadband projects, said Gov. Kay Ivey (R) on Monday. The governor’s office said 12 ISPs will install more than 4,000 miles of projects statewide, using federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. “These middle-mile projects will be extremely beneficial to our anchor institutions, and it puts us in a desirable situation where the ‘last mile’ projects that will supply broadband service to businesses and households are more economical and attainable,” said Ivey. Awards included $128.8 million for Alabama Fiber Network, $21.5 million for Farmers Telecom and $7.3 million for Charter Communications.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission set a Feb. 16 prehearing conference in its review of LTD Broadband’s eligible telecom carrier designation. State telecom and electric industry groups asked the Minnesota PUC to revoke the certificate that LTD needs to obtain Rural Digital Opportunities Fund support (see 2311160039). The videoconference starts at 2 p.m. CST, the PUC ordered Monday (docket 22-221).

A Hawaii digital equity bill received a green light from the House Technology Committee Friday. On an 8-0 vote, it approved HB-2359, which seeks “any remaining obstacles to digital equity” across Hawaii. In addition, it would establish a grant program for digital equity projects. Two other House committees must consider the bill before it goes to the floor.

Florida will award $223 million for broadband using $135 million in state and $86 million in federal funding, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Friday. Florida’s broadband opportunity program will support 54 projects in 33 counties, bringing high-speed internet to about 27,000 unserved residential, educational, agricultural, business and community locations, the governor’s office said. Awards through the federally funded multipurpose facility program will support 29 community infrastructure projects, including health clinics, schools and workforce development programs across 18 counties, it said.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) sent more than a dozen violation notices under the state’s comprehensive consumer privacy law in the six months since it took effect July 1, 2023, the AG office reported Thursday. Businesses get 60 days to cure violations upon receiving a notice under the state law. “We have focused on key aspects of the law related to privacy policies, sensitive data and teens’ data,” said the report. “While many companies have taken prompt steps to address issues flagged in cure notices … all matters have resulted in additional follow-up.” The AG office issued 10 cure notices about privacy policy deficiencies, including missing, inadequate or confusing disclosures and missing, burdensome or broken opt-out mechanisms, it said. “Several companies updated privacy policies and/or consumer rights mechanisms quickly upon receiving cure notices.” But some didn’t fully alleviate the AG’s concerns, or their privacy disclosures raised new questions about compliance with other parts of the law, it said. “This process is an iterative one and only time will tell which companies fully satisfy our concerns and which matters will ultimately require more formal enforcement action.” The office received more than 30 consumer complaints, it said. “Many involved consumers’ attempts to exercise new data rights under the CTDPA, and primarily, the ‘right to delete.’” However, about one-third of the complaints involved data or entities exempted by the state privacy law, the AG office said. “A handful of others were exempt for other reasons, including under the CTDPA’s exemption for ‘publicly available information.’” The AG office recommended that legislators revise the law to scale back the number of entity-level exemptions, including one for nonprofits. Also, switch to a data-level rather than entity-level exemption for the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, it said. Among its other recommendations: Enact a “one-stop-shop” deletion mechanism like California’s 2023 Delete Act (see 2309150063); add a right to know specific third parties that receive data from covered businesses; expand biometric data to include data capable of being linked to a consumer like in Oregon’s law; and clarify whether the legislature intended to ban targeted advertising to teens regardless of consent, and review possibly erroneous language on publicly available information.

South Carolina age-verification bills won House approval by wide margins Wednesday. The House voted 105-1 to pass H-4700, which would require parental consent for minors younger than 18 to access social media. The House voted 104-1 to pass H-3424, meant to keep kids off pornographic websites. The Judiciary Committee last week approved the bills (see 2401230062), which go next to the Senate. Rep. Justin Bamberg (D) voted no on both bills. In Utah the same day, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-0 to clear a bill (SB-104) that would require tablet and smartphone makers to automatically turn on content filters for minors.

South Dakota House members voted 60-9 Wednesday for a bill to increase a state 911 fee on monthly phone bllls to $2, from $1.25. HB-1092 cleared a tax committee last week (see 2401240011).

Connecticut regulators will investigate Frontier Communications service quality in response to a Jan. 8 petition by the state Office of Consumer Counsel, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority said in a Tuesday notice (docket 24-01-15). OCC’s petition flagged Frontier problems meeting minimum standards for out-of-service repair and maintenance (see 2401080041).

The Florida House Ways and Means Committee supported a bill extending dollar broadband attachments through 2028. The Commerce Committee will next consider HB-1147, which would extend a promotional rate that the state began offering in 2021. It lets ISPs pay $1 a year per wireline attachment per pole to bring broadband to unserved or underserved areas in municipal electric utility service territories. The promo will expire July 1 unless extended. The Senate Commerce Committee cleared a similar bill (SB-1218) last week (see 2401230042).

The California Public Utilities Commission must ensure a smooth transition from a pilot to a permanent California LifeLine foster youth program, commenters said Tuesday in docket R.20-02-008. The CPUC may consider a Jan. 10 proposed decision to make the program permanent at its Feb. 15 meeting. However, the proposal doesn't address how pilot program participants will receive service after the proposed permanent program replaces it July 31, said T-Mobile, the pilot’s service provider. The permanent program would use other service providers. "Due to confidentiality concerns with foster youth, T-Mobile has no direct contractual relationship with any of the youth nor does it know their identities,” the carrier said. "T-Mobile simply has no way -- or authority -- to continue to provide service after July 31, 2024.” The pilot’s administrator iFoster said the CPUC should allow foster youth to continue receiving pilot program services for a year after the pilot ends “to encourage continuation of service and reimbursement of the current service.” Otherwise, the transition could result in inadvertently cutting off service to the pilot's 11,700 participants, it warned. Also, iFoster raised concerns that the proposed decision wouldn’t require data-sharing agreements with counties before transferring pilot program data to the new administrator. Without them, iFoster can’t transfer pilot data, it said. Also, the CPUC should allow foster youth to participate in the program until they are 26, iFoster said. The CPUC proposal would end benefits at 18, or 21 if the youth is in extended foster care. “Foster youth are extremely vulnerable once they leave the foster youth system” and will need a phone to apply for jobs, college or government benefits, iFoster said. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) urged the CPUC to clarify that it will own all data from the program. Also, establishing that the agency “will enter contracts and data sharing agreements for the permanent program will prevent the need to re-negotiate those agreements any time the [third-party administrator] changes, which would reduce transition time and enhance program continuity,” TURN said. The CPUC should require providers to replace mobile devices at no cost, it added. "Foster youth can change placement frequently, sometimes with little advance notice, so there is a risk of losing devices when they move.”