State Telecom, Internet Bills Move Along
State legislators advanced several telecom and internet bills Tuesday. New York state senators voted 42-20 Tuesday for a wireless tower bill that would require cellphone companies and third-party infrastructure companies to submit plans to power all their towers with 100%…
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renewable energy by 2031. S-4305 will go to the Assembly. Republicans raised concerns about the bill at a hearing last month (see 2302280043). Also that day, the Senate advanced to a final floor vote a bill (S-5343) to require telecom companies to report on the quality of copper-wire services (see 2303160053). An Idaho bill to ban TikTok on state government devices passed both legislative chambers. The Senate voted 32-0 Tuesday for HB-274. The House passed it earlier this month 67-3. Similar bills in Georgia and Missouri advanced earlier this week (see 2303210047). In Tennessee, the House and Senate’s Commerce Committee advanced cross-filed privacy bills HB-1811 and SB-73 and cross-filed bills SB-1338 and HB-1211 to update Tennessee’s broadband speed standard to 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. The comprehensive privacy bill would be enforced solely by the attorney general and includes a 60-day right to cure. Among other rule changes, the broadband bill would require grant-eligible projects to provide at least 100/20 Mbps, up from 10/1 Mbps under current law. The state also would have to prioritize locations with less than 100/20Mbps, up from 10/1 Mbps. In Florida, a House panel supported applying state pole-attachment rules to electric cooperatives. The Communications Committee cleared HB-1221 on Tuesday. A Senate panel advanced its similar SB-626 earlier this month with support from Charter Communications (see 2303070073). Florida reverse-preempted FCC pole-attachment authority last year (see 2206070071), allowing the state to regulate attachments and resolve disputes. The House bill still needs approval from two more committees before it can go to the floor.