Assessing a 5% fee on streaming TV gross annual revenue is necessary to keep community media thriving, Massachusetts state Rep. Joan Meschino (D) said Thursday at a Joint Advanced Information Technology Committee livestreamed hearing. The committee heard testimony on Meschino’s H-74 and the similar S-34. Community TV officials supported the bill, saying the fee is necessary to restore lost funding from declining cable franchise revenue. The committee’s House Chair Tricia Farley-Bouvier (D) agreed with the goal of saving community media and local news but said she sees “a lot of work to do” to decide how to do it. Senate Chair Michael Moore (D) asked if the proposed law is preempted by an FCC August 2019 order restricting local franchise regulation of non-cable services being delivered by cable networks. Mass Access President Dave Gauthier said it wouldn’t be preempted. Rep. Jeffrey Turco (D) questioned if adding a tax to consumers' streaming bills would be good policy since many people cut cable to save money. Taxing streaming companies through the bills might violate the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, said TechNet Executive Director-Northeast Christopher Gilrein. “Beyond being an ill-timed burden on your constituents, this new tax would be duplicative and administratively burdensome.” Also at the hearing, the committee weighed a bill (H-82) by Rep. Michael Soter (R) to ban TikTok on government devices. If the federal government thinks TikTok is risky, Massachusetts should take the issue seriously, he said. New England Cable and Telecommunications Association President Tim Wilkerson raised concerns that the committee is considering several bills to expand communications regulation. He urged the state legislators to take note that the FCC should soon have five commissioners and is the body that should decide whether to make new rules.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission delayed voting on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to amend state USF rules until the commission’s Aug. 3 meeting. The PUC was scheduled to consider the item in docket L-2023-3040646 at Thursday's meeting.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission approved rules Wednesday to implement a 2020 law updating state emergency wireless telephone rules. The law required commercial mobile radio service providers to collect separate monthly fees from in-state two-way service subscribers for wireless enhanced 911, public safety and wireless towers. The PSC received no comments on proposed rule changes distributed in April, said the final order in docket GO 187.62.

Indiana opened the final round of a broadband grant program for applications, Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) said Wednesday. Indiana will make $80 million in state funds and U.S. Treasury Capital Projects Fund support available for local governments in the Next Level Connections program’s fourth round. The state will award $5 million maximum per grant for projects by telecom providers and utility cooperatives; providers must provide at least a 20% match. Local governments will inform the state about unserved and underserved parts of their communities. “This final round … will be yet another critical component of the transition to the recently announced $868 million of additional funding from” NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment program “to connect more Hoosiers to begin being implemented next year and beyond,” said Holcomb.

Send an update this month on Lumen settlement talks with Oregon Public Utility Commission staff, PUC Administrative Law Judge Sarah Spruce ordered Tuesday (docket UM 1908). In March, the PUC extended a price plan for Lumen’s CenturyLink through Sept. 28 to give parties more time to negotiate an agreement for a successor plan (see 2303280008). Staff said in May it expected to file a stipulation in June, but since then “no party has submitted any other settlement updates or a stipulation,” said Spruce. File an update or the stipulation by July 28, said the ALJ: If they can’t reach settlement, parties must propose a schedule for testimony, hearings and briefs “as soon as possible.”

Expect a California administrative law judge to schedule an initial hearing on AT&T’s request for carrier of last resort (COLR) relief “in the coming weeks,” said a California Public Utilities Commission spokesperson: Expect a prehearing conference in Q3 this year, with a scoping ruling to follow. California consumer and county groups protested AT&T’s June 30 request to shed COLR obligations for most of the state (see 2307070040). AT&T responded Monday that “the world has moved on” from copper networks required by COLR. “The historical regulatory compact is broken, as the Commission’s COLR obligation persists in treating AT&T California as though it were still a monopolist and saddles AT&T alone with the obligation to provide a tariffed standalone voice service to any requesting customer within its service area.” AT&T seeks “tailored relief from this anachronistic barrier to broadband investment and competition,” it said. Protesters’ "arguments are grounded in outdated policies and would slow California’s progress toward universal broadband.”

Florida awarded $247 million in broadband grants for 63 projects in 43 counties, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Friday. The broadband infrastructure program support is expected to connect more than 59,000 unserved and underserved homes, farms, businesses and anchor institutions, the governor’s office said.

The Michigan Public Service Commission seeks comments by Aug. 14 on proposed discontinuance rules for basic local exchange services (BLES), said an order approved 2-0 by commissioners Friday. The commission also scheduled an Aug. 1 in-person public hearing. With existing rules expiring March 21, the PSC “seeks to re-promulgate the same rules with minor changes and to add rules” on what information BLES providers must include in discontinuance notices, said the PSC in case U-21368.

Lumen’s CenturyLink may have to pay $923,000 for illegally disconnecting phone lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission said Thursday. The company has 20 days to ask state commissioners to review an administrative law judge’s initial order, the UTC said. The telco involuntarily disconnected or suspended 923 telephone accounts during an emergency proclamation by Gov. Jay Inslee (D) from March 2020 to October 2021, said the UTC. Lumen argued it shouldn’t be penalized because the disconnections were inadvertent and affected a small percentage of its customers. "As a large portion of the disconnection process is automated and involves different billing systems," Washington state's "extended COVID-19 moratorium posed a challenge," a Lumen spokesperson said. "As a result, a small portion of our customers were disconnected in error." The spokesperson noted Lumen quickly joined the FCC's Keep Americans Connected pledge and extended pandemic policies beyond required dates.

North Carolina awarded $80 million in broadband grants from the state’s Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) program, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said Thursday. The grants are expected to connect nearly 26,000 households and almost 1,000 businesses in 33 counties. With the latest awards, North Carolina has awarded all of the $350 million it received for the GREAT program from the American Rescue Plan Act, the governor’s office said. Applicants had to agree to provide minimum 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speeds, scalable to 100/100 Mbps by Dec. 31, 2026. Charter Communications won awards for eight county projects, Brightspeed for four projects and AT&T for two.