The Idaho Public Utilities Commission granted Terracom’s application for eligible telecom carrier (ETC) designation, the PUC said Wednesday. Doing business as Maxsip Tel, Terracom may receive reimbursement from the Idaho Telephone Service Assistance Program, said the PUC.order (docket TRA-T-23-01). The company sought ETC designation to allow it to provide Lifeline service.

Kentucky state representatives and senators will consider different comprehensive data privacy bills during the 2024 legislative session, which opened Tuesday. On day one Rep. Phillip Pratt (R) introduced the 22-page HB-24, while Sen. Whitney Westerfield (R) floated SB-15, a 31-page piece of legislation. The House bill would apply to businesses that process personal data of at least 100,000 consumers annually, while the number in the Senate version is 50,000. Both bills would also apply to companies that process data of at least 25,000 consumers while deriving more than 50% of gross revenue from selling personal data. Among the differences, SB-15 would allow consumers to use global privacy controls to opt out, such as through a browser plugin or setting. Both bills allow enforcement solely by the state attorney general, with a 30-day right to cure and no private right of action. In addition, both would take effect Jan. 1, 2026. Going into 2024, 13 states had comprehensive privacy laws.

Missouri legislators introduced a flurry of telecom and internet bills before their 2024 session started Wednesday. Rep. Chad Perkins (R) pitched HB-1995 to delete the Jan. 1, 2025, sunset date for the state’s 2018 small-cells law (see 1806040050), which preempted local governments on right of way in an effort to streamline 5G infrastructure deployment. Rep. Ben Keathley (R) offered HB-2057, clarifying that streaming content is exempted from paying video franchise fees. Two other bills would relieve broadband’s tax obligations. HB-2142 by Rep. Ben Baker (R) would provide a tax deduction for broadband grant funds for 2022 and later tax years. HB-2168 by Rep. Aaron McMullen (R) would provide sales and use-tax exemptions for machinery and equipment that provides broadband, starting Jan. 1, 2025. Another Baker bill would ban Missouri government employees from using or downloading on a state-owned device "any social media application that is owned, in whole or in part, by the Chinese government or any company that shares its user’s data with the Chinese Communist Party.” HB-2141, which would cover TikTok, wouldn’t "apply to military or law enforcement agencies when doing so is in keeping with the fulfillment of their duties." Rep. Josh Hurlbert (R) seeks to ban TikTok on school district-owned devices and district-provided internet access. In addition, the bill would halt use of the specified social media application(s) to "promote any district school, school-sponsored club, extracurricular organization, or athletic team." HB-2157 would also require social media companies to verify users' ages and restrict minors from opening accounts without parental consent. Moreover, it would restrict them from using "a practice, design, or feature" that they know, or reasonably should know, "causes a Missouri minor account holder to have an addiction to the social media platform." The bill includes a private right of action and state attorney general enforcement. It would also require school districts to develop internet safety policies.

Kansas lawmakers might scrap a state 911 audit during the session that opens Monday. The House and Senate Legislative Post Audit committees prefiled similar bills Tuesday (SB-330 and HB-2483). Those bills would eliminate a five-year audit that checks if public safety answering points are appropriately using 911 funding, whether they have enough money, and the status of 911 service implementation. The first audit was required in 2018.

The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission should OK Consolidated Communications' transfer of indirect ownership and control of its northern New England and Maine subsidiaries to Condor Holdings, a subsidiary of private equity firm Searchlight, Condor and Consolidated said last week in a petition at the PUC (docket DT 23-103). The subsidiaries would continue to own their respective New Hampshire franchise, works and system after the deal is complete, it said. The agreement wouldn't “involve the transfer of the [Consolidated subsidiaries] to a new utility but instead is structured as a change of ownership at the holding company level and will not affect any of the operations or legal identities of the [subsidiaries].”

The Office of Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi (BEAM) on Friday unveiled its decisions on an initial round of funding from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund. BEAM asked for public comments or objections through Jan. 22. The office proposed awards of more than $112 million to 66,328 “eligible locations” throughout the state.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Friday vetoed S-6056, which would have added access to high-speed broadband Internet service as a consideration in competitive economic development grant projects, according to New York's Senate. Meanwhile, Hochul the same day approved A-1368, which lets utilities, cable companies and telecos provide notice of bills to third parties at the customer's request, the state's Assembly said. In addition, the governor signed into law S-5410, which requires the state's websites to be mobile friendly, the Senate said.

The Colorado Transportation Commission aims to streamline broadband deployment on state land along roadways with a new fee schedule for accessing the right of way, the department said Dec. 20. Colorado will have lower rates than surrounding southwest states, it said. The schedule charges an annual property use surcharge and a one-time permitting fee, “set as low as possible to only cover some administrative costs,” the department said. The method is akin to what the U.S. Forest Service uses for accessing federal lands, it said. Broadband providers annually will pay 10 cents per foot of fiber optic line in urban counties with populations exceeding 200,000 and 3 cents per foot in rural counties. Also, they will pay a one-time charge of 5 cents per foot to cover permitting costs. “The Transportation Commission has heard the perspectives of local communities throughout the state as well as industry concerns, and the proposal that we approved today offers greater opportunities for broadband development, competes favorably with our neighboring states on costs, and meets the state’s existing legal obligations to care for the public land under our responsibility,” said Transportation Commission Chair Karen Stuart.

Verizon's MCI and AT&T "are working together to ensure a transparent, efficient, and seamless transition for MCI’s customers” in California, the carriers said in a joint brief Thursday before the California Public Utilities Commission. “No additional measures need to be adopted." MCI applied Oct. 2 to discontinue LEC “service and related bundled offerings of local and interexchange voice services to residential and small business customers” across the state (see 2311090046). It would transfer customers to AT&T or a different provider that the customer chooses. MCI meets California requirements for discontinuing local exchange service, the carriers said. The Utility Reform Network seeks to work "with other parties to ensure that all MCI customers receive meaningful advance notice of the migration and information about their telephone service options,” TURN said in another brief (docket A.23-10-002). The CPUC plans a virtual status conference Jan. 8 on the MCI application, Administrative Law Judge Seaneen Wilson said Friday. In a separate proceeding Thursday, the CPUC scheduled a Feb. 9 virtual prehearing conference on possible updates to the state’s deaf and disabled telecommunications program (docket R.23-11-001).

Connecticut is seeking comment on a draft digital equity plan released Friday. Comments on the state's proposal are due Jan. 20, the office of Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont said. The Connecticut Department of Administrative Services’ Commission for Educational Technology aims to finalize the plan by the end of March, the governor’s office said. The plan’s goals include developing and promoting digital skills and technical support programs, providing affordable internet options and expanding state and local digital government services.