West Virginia’s wireless E-911 surcharge will increase to $3.64 from $3.51 monthly per subscriber, the Public Service Commission said Tuesday. The increase takes effect July 1, the PSC ordered.

District of Columbia Council members voted 12-0 to confirm Heather McGaffin as the new director of the Office of Unified Communications. Tuesday’s vote means resolution 25-0115 will be deemed approved June 1 unless another resolution is introduced. The D.C. Council Judiciary and Public Safety Committee supported confirming the current OUC deputy director, at a meeting last week, while saying they want improvements at the 911 center, where recent audits found problems with incorrect addresses, miscommunication and dispatching delays (see 2305090073).

A California bill aimed at streamlining broadband permitting at the local level advanced to the Assembly floor Wednesday. The Assembly Appropriations Committee voted unanimously at a livestreamed meeting for AB-965, which would allow simultaneous processing of multiple broadband permit applications for similar project sites under a single permit, and require local governments to decide applications within a “presumptively reasonable time." Assemblymember Juan Carillo (D), the bill’s sponsor, said localities “will still maintain full control.” The bill would force localities to make a decision, said Dan Schweizer, Crown Castle director-external affairs. "Many local jurisdictions continue to process broadband permits one at a time, limit permit batching or have the permits go through several different departments at various times, which unnecessarily delays an already bureaucratic process." The bill means Californians will get coverage in “months instead of years,” he said. Other supporters include CTIA, USTelecom, Frontier Communications, Consolidated Communications and the California Broadband and Video Association. California city and county groups oppose the bill, which they say will make it more profitable to build in dense markets but won’t spur deployment in unserved areas, noted a committee analysis released Monday.

AT&T isn’t seeking total relief from California carrier of last resort (COLR) obligations “at this time,” the carrier said in an amended application Wednesday at the California Public Utilities Commission. “For the few customers who currently lack an alternative to AT&T California’s basic voice service," it "would continue offering voice service on the same terms as before until an alternative becomes available.” COLR requirements are outdated, AT&T said in docket A.23-03-003. “Like Blockbuster rentals and Kodak film, [plain old telephone service] has fallen from technological primacy to effective obsolescence in the course of a generation.” A CPUC administrative law judge required AT&T to amend its April application due to “substantial incompleteness,” including failing to specify where it wanted relief (see 2305030051).

Washington state awarded $121 million for high-speed internet, the broadband office said Tuesday. It said 19 projects got cash through the federal Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund. Demand exceeded available funding, said the office: It received 50 applications seeking more than $316 million. “These grants will provide initial service availability to 14,794 end users located across the state, in communities as diverse as the San Juan Islands, Kittitas County and the Spokane reservation,” said Broadband Office Director Mark Vasconi.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission reviewed challenges to applications for federal Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund grants Tuesday. Commissioners voted 5-0 for the order in docket CPF-1 at a livestreamed meeting. The commission upheld two and denied four Windstream challenges to Allo Communications projects, while upholding three challenges by Allo to Windstream applications. The PSC upheld three of 10 challenges by Windstream and one by Zito Midwest to Nextlink Internet applications. The agency upheld three of five Windstream challenges, while denying one Nextlink challenge, to Pinpoint Communications projects. The PSC denied three challenges by Nextlink and one by Midstates Data to Lumen projects. It upheld one of three Windstream challenges to Charter Communications projects. The PSC upheld one Windstream challenge to a Vyve Broadband project and denied one Nextlink challenge to a Stealth Broadband application. Also, the PSC said one application by Cox, one by Windstream and six by Great Plains Communications were withdrawn or incomplete and therefore not eligible for funding. Also at the meeting, Nebraska PSC members voted 5-0 for an order to release a 2023 schedule and application materials for the Nebraska Broadband Bridge Program. Applications will be accepted June 16-26. The program provides up to $20 million annually for broadband networks with at least 100 Mbps symmetrical speeds.

An Arizona social media bill passed by a slim margin in the state House Monday. The Arizona House voted 31-27 to return SB-1106 to the Senate, which then recommended a conference committee to work out differences between chambers. The bill would prohibit websites from deplatforming candidates and require them to publish and follow standards for censoring users. The tech industry says the proposed law would be unconstitutional (see 2303290033). Elsewhere, the Louisiana Senate will soon consider a bill to require social media companies to verify the age of users, and collect parental approval for minors, before allowing them to get accounts. SB-162 would also restrict minors from accessing social media between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. The Finance committee cleared the bill at a Monday meeting. The Texas House voted 86-55 Tuesday for SB-1602, which would clarify enforcement of the state’s litigated social media censorship law. The Senate passed the bill March 29 (see 2303310029).

The Computer & Communications Industry Association opposed a Massachusetts bill (S-1896) that would establish a municipal broadband fund using revenue from a proposed tax on personal data. While the current bill doesn’t set the tax, it would require entities that sell personal data to register annually with the Department of Revenue and would direct the department to recommend ways to tax them, CCIA said Tuesday in written comments filed with the legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee. “Determining how to count the number of consumers applicable under this type of tax would pose significant technical difficulties and confusion,” warned the group: Businesses would likely pass through the tax’s costs to customers. Taxes targeting online services raise constitutional concerns under the commerce clause, added CCIA.

Cable customers could seek a prorated refund in New York state if their service was disconnected or downgraded, under a bill cleared unanimously Monday by the legislature’s Senate Telecom Committee. The panel voted unanimously at the webcast hearing to send S-493 by Sen. Leroy Comrie (D) to the floor. Also, the panel cleared a bill that would require the New York Public Service Commission to map mobile coverage and reliability across the state and then make a plan to ensure reliable coverage statewide. No committee member voted against advancing S-6318, though Sen. Thomas O’Mara (R) voted aye without recommendation. Sen. Michelle Hinchey (D) sponsored the bill, which will go next to the Finance Committee. “There are three main cell service providers and the only known coverage maps are created by them,” said the bill’s purpose statement. “Through lived experience, we know these maps to be inadequate.”

A proposed Texas House constitutional amendment on creating a state broadband fund will go to the Senate floor, but senators are making changes that would require House agreement. The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously at a livestreamed hearing Monday on substitutes to HJR-125 and on an accompanying bill (HB-9) that passed the House by wide margins last month (see 2304270056). Substitute text wasn’t immediately available Monday. Sen. Robert Nichols (R) supported the bills but said he wants to work with sponsors on adding language to require a local matching requirement. “People treat money better when they have a little skin in the game,” said Nichols, saying even a 10% local match would help. AT&T supports the proposal to create a "comprehensive funding mechanism that takes a holistic approach,” David Tate, retired vice president-legal affairs, testified at the hearing. State funding now is important, with Texas not due to receive federal money until 2025 from NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, said Texas Cable Association President Walt Baum. But the Taxpayers Protection Alliance thinks making residents pay for a $5 billion fund is a “waste of money and fiscally irresponsible.” Texas 9-1-1 Alliance Chairman Chip VanSteenberg supports the bill including funding for next-generation 911. The existing 50-cent 911 surcharge on phone bills hasn’t kept up with rising costs, he said.