A District of Columbia Council committee supported confirming Heather McGaffin to direct the Office of Unified Communications. The Judiciary and Public Safety Committee voted 3-0, with Councilmember Christina Henderson (I) voting present, at a livestreamed meeting Tuesday. Committee members said the current OUC deputy director is well-qualified, but they want improvements at the 911 center, where recent audits found problems with incorrect addresses, miscommunication and dispatching delays (see 2303230070 and 2303150071). "OUC has struggled to provide reliable and quality service to residents for over a decade,” said Chairperson Brooke Pinto (D). “Reports of agency mismanagement and struggling performance have raised concerns with the public and create a somewhat strained relationship with” fire and police departments. The committee received more reports about overly long wait times calling 911 in the past few weeks, she added. OUC workers are "counting on the next director to act with urgency to provide staff with the training, support and structure that they need to be successful.” Councilmember Charles Allen (D) wants OUC to release “an actual action plan” with specific and “measurable steps” for implementing audit recommendations, he said. Also, Allen wants “a stronger and more proactive relationship with Council,” including monthly reports to the committee on call-taking and dispatching metrics, he said. Allen noted he remains concerned about problems including unanswered calls, blown addresses and lengthy hold and dispatch times. Councilmember Anita Bonds (D) joined Pinto and Allen in voting yes. A comprehensive plan is “sorely needed,” said Bonds, noting frequent concerns from constituents about dispatches to incorrect addresses. McGaffin has a “bold vision,” but Henderson said she voted present because she’s still waiting for sooner after-action reports and more comprehensive updates about investigations and specific incidents. Henderson said she wants that addressed before the full D.C. Council votes on confirmation. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) nominated McGaffin in February.

Reject incumbent ISPs’ “self-serving recommendations” for California rules on broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program funding, urged Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT). The California Public Utilities Commission received reply comments Monday in its BEAD rulemaking (docket R.23-02-016). Incumbents submitted ideas in opening comments (see 2304180075) that “would only serve to entrench these incumbents’ existing market power and would artificially exclude support for more qualified applicants that are more responsive to the communities they serve,” said CforAT. But BEAD isn't "a government handout to convince incumbents to provide broadband to unserved and underserved communities while reaping the highest possible profits and providing the fewest possible community benefits,” the consumer advocate said. The California Broadband and Video Association countered that the CPUC should reject proposals that exceed Congress’ and NTIA’s guidance. Don't direct funding toward overbuilding or "ignore commercial providers’ expertise in deploying and operating broadband networks in favor of applicants that lack such experience,” the state cable group said. GeoLinks chafed at CforAT and the Electronic Frontier Foundation implying in their opening comments that non-fiber technologies are inferior. NTIA has been clear that multiple technologies can provide reliable service, including wireless, said the CLEC: Don't set the extremely high cost per location threshold (EHCT) "so high as to risk a handful of fiber projects in extremely hard-to-build areas gobbling up most" BEAD funding. The wireless industry continued to urge the CPUC not to preclude fixed wireless. "There is no meaningful downside risk of setting the EHCT ‘too low’ because the Commission retains complete flexibility to prioritize and select broadband projects based on whatever factors it deems appropriate, including speed, capacity, cost, and time to deploy,” said CTIA. Wireless costs less and deploys faster, the Wireless ISP Association wrote. Fiber doesn’t cost more in the long term, disagreed Communications Workers of America. "Although fixed wireless has a lower upfront capital cost, costs are comparable over 30 years because of higher ongoing costs, for example equipment replacement," CWA said. The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California suggested the CPUC wait to set the threshold until NTIA announces California's BEAD allocation.

Electronic Frontier Foundation Senior Legislative Counsel Ernesto Falcon said Monday he’s running for a California state Senate seat covering eastern suburbs of San Francisco and Oakland. Democratic incumbent Sen. Steve Glazer hasn’t said whether he plans to seek reelection. Falcon launched his campaign with a video that cited his commitment to “protect your privacy.” Falcon’s campaign website includes a platform outlining his tech and privacy policy positions, among them opposition “to Congress’s proposed ban on TikTok” and support for “personal ownership rights of digital goods.” He backs “the advancement of new technologies in California while ensuring that new developments empower people and not exploit them or worsen systemic injustices” and would “expand privacy rights to include financial privacy and give people more control over their personal information.”

The California Public Utilities Commission may consider grants for broadband public housing and tribal local agency technical assistance at its June 8 meeting, the agency said Friday. Draft resolution T-17791 would approve about $951,000 in California Advanced Services Fund support for 14 public housing infrastructure projects. Draft resolution T-17790 would award a technical assistance grant worth about $938,000 to Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District. Comments on each draft resolution are due May 25.

The Colorado legislature passed 988 and social media bills last week. The House voted 50-13 Thursday to repass the mental health bill (HB-1236) after voting 51-12 to concur with Senate amendments. It would include continuous appropriations to the mental health crisis hotline (see 2305030067). Also that day, the Senate voted 26-9 for HB-1306. The bill, previously passed by the House, would allow elected officials to bar an individual from using the official’s private social media account for “any reason,” including bullying, harassment or intimidation. Thursday in Hawaii, legislators passed and sent to the governor HB-933. It would appropriate an $150,000 for the next two fiscal years for a program to provide free telecom access “to certain information for persons with a print disability.”

The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission is accepting applications for $14 million in broadband grants through the state rural universal service fund, the agency said Friday. Projects must support at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds. Expanding broadband to rural areas is important, said Commissioner James Ellison.

Florida’s privacy bill passed the legislature and will go to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). In Thursday floor sessions, the Senate voted 40-0 for an amended SB-262 and the House voted 110-2 Thursday to agree with the Senate’s edits. The quick back and forth on the privacy bill occurred after House extensively amended the bill earlier this week (see 2305030040). The House agreed to the Senate’s edit to the House’s edit on the definition of targeted advertising, which was controversial throughout the legislative process. The amended bill would allow consumers to opt out from companies “displaying to a consumer an advertisement selected based on personal data obtained from that consumer’s activities over time across affiliated or unaffiliated websites and online applications used to predict the consumer’s preferences or interests.” The House also agreed to Senate tweaks to House requirements on children’s protections and money recovered by the attorney general.

A California Assembly panel supported extending the statute of limitations for claims brought by the state attorney general under the 2018 California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The Appropriations Committee voted 12-4 Wednesday to clear AB-1546 to extend it to five years from one. CCPA’s sequel, the California Privacy Rights Act, already allows for five years. Appropriations was the third committee to approve the bill and it can now go to the floor.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed telemarketing and 988 funding bills Wednesday. Moore signed the Stop the Spam Calls Act (HB-37/SB-90), modeled on Florida and Oklahoma telemarketing laws that go beyond the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The 988 bill (SB-3/HB-271) requires $12 million for the mental health hotline in the FY 2025 budget.

Kansas and South Dakota will spend millions on broadband expansion, governors said Wednesday. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) announced the $30 million Lasting Infrastructure and Network Connectivity (LINC) program, which will fund networks providing speeds of at least 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, internet exchange point facilities and middle-mile infrastructure. South Dakota awarded $32.5 million in broadband grants, through the ConnectSD program, to 13 projects by nine applicants, said Gov. Kristi Noem (R). The governor expects the winning projects to connect 3,137 homes, farms and businesses. Grant winners included Venture Vision ($8.7 million), Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative ($5.2 million) and Alliance Communications Cooperative ($5.1 million).