Rural and small ISP officials urged Congress to step in to complement FCC actions aimed at fixing the agency's broadband coverage data collection practices. The appeal came during a House Small Business Committee Infrastructure Subcommittee hearing Tuesday. They cited legislation and the commission's planned August vote on a proposal from Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1906120076). The broadband mapping issue has repeatedly drawn the ire of lawmakers (see 1905150061). The House Rules Committee, meanwhile, cleared for floor consideration three broadband-related amendments to the FY 2020 budget bill (HR-3351) containing funding for the FCC and FTC (see 1906240061).

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly is open to contribution overhaul to support the USF but doesn't support adding a usage fee for broadband services, he said Tuesday in conversation with former Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. Adding a fee to broadband could tip the price of the service beyond the reach of some consumers, O'Rielly said. "Raising the cost could change adoption rates. It does matter." O'Rielly spoke about capping universal broadband funds at the Hudson Institute where Furchtgott-Roth is director of Center for the Economics of the Internet.

Eighty-eight percent of E-rate applicants expect bandwidth needs of schools and libraries to increase over the next three years, and 88 percent called Wi-Fi "extremely important" in fulfilling their mission, found a Funds for Learning survey of 1,763 such USF money seekers. The latter was up from 79 percent last year, and 82 percent said insufficient access to the internet at home is a significant issue in their community. The FCC is expected to release an NPRM this summer on updating Category 2 spending (see 1906190019).

A proposal to impose an overall cap on the USF and a subcap on the E-rate and rural healthcare programs "will hurt schools and libraries and those who depend on them for high-speed broadband access," said the Education and Library Networks Coalition and 19 other education groups Friday in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, in docket 06-122. The groups asked the FCC to not act on its proceeding. Capping funding would lead to some students losing access to the internet if E-rate support goes away, they said, and service providers in rural communities could lose business if the local schools and libraries could no longer afford broadband without the E-rate discounts (see 1906030059).

House lawmakers are seeking to add at least seven broadband, anti-robocall and privacy-related amendments to the FY 2020 budget bill containing funding for the FCC and FTC (HR-3351) before the chamber begins considering the measure later this week. The House Rules Committee was expected to decide Monday night which of the at least 115 filed proposals it will allow to move to the floor. Lawmakers still need to take a final vote on the “minibus” FY 2020 budget bill (HR-3055) that includes funding for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and the Agriculture Department (see 1906190061). The House already approved seven tech and telecom-related amendments to HR-3055 (see 1906210001).

The FCC is expected to take comments this summer on an NPRM on E-rate modernization that would make permanent a 5-year-old budget approach to funding internal broadband connectivity technology, such as Wi-Fi routers. The draft on circulation addresses so-called category 2 funding, officials said. It's expected to follow recommendations from a February Wireline Bureau report recommending the agency renew its approach for equal distribution of funding (see 1902110056). That tack replaced a "two-in-five" budget method that allowed anchor institutions to apply for the category 2 funding two of every five years.

Kentucky Lifeline subscribers may be decreasing partly due to the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co.’s Lifeline national verifier rollout, said a group of RLECs and CLECs. They commented Wednesday in docket 2016-00059 at the Kentucky Public Service Commission about possible changes to state Lifeline support. Kentucky should expand state Lifeline support to include mobile service, revisiting a 2017 decision to limit it to landline carriers with declining enrollments, wireless companies said.

Telehealth could “help states leverage a shrinking and maldistributed workforce, increase access to services and lower costs,” reported the National Conference of State Legislatures Wednesday. Nearly all states cover and reimburse telehealth services through Medicaid in some way, and 39 plus the District of Columbia have a private payer policy, it said. Key topics for state legislatures include reimbursement, licensure and provider practice standards, NCSL said. Broadband is needed to support telehealth, but many rural areas don’t “currently have access to fast internet connections that allow data to be transmitted effectively and efficiently,” it said. Legislators may want to review reimbursement policies for Medicaid and private payers, considering possible barriers or constraints faced by providers and patients, the group said. Examine workforce or access gaps and consider allowing telehealth providers to practice across state lines, “including reciprocity or joining interstate compacts,” the report suggested. Lawmakers should mull ways to clarify informed consent, patient-provider relationship and standard of care policies, and seek stakeholder input on other potential telehealth policies, it said. The FCC soon plans to consider a $100 million USF telehealth pilot, Commissioner Brendan Carr announced Wednesday (see 1906190019).

The FCC proposes to provide an 85 percent discount on qualifying connectivity services to support a three-year study on benefits, costs and savings associated with connected care technologies, it said. The agency released a draft NPRM Wednesday to advance the three-year, $100 million USF telehealth pilot called connected care and commissioners vote on it at the July 10 meeting. Commissioner Brendan Carr spoke during a visit to an Appalachian community healthcare clinic in southwestern Virginia Wednesday to demo how remote patient monitoring technologies including mobile apps used with smartphones, tablets and other devices can help track chronic conditions and improve outcomes.

The national Lifeline eligibility verifier adds soft launches June 25 in Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Eligible telecom carriers get access to the national verifier during the soft launch. Universal Service Administrative Co. will do training, and additional resources are available on the USAC website. The NV program launched last year in six states (see 1811020058) and has continued to roll out in increments. Lifeline advocates are concerned subscribership is decreasing under the current administration, and they want USAC to ensure the verifier can interface with other government databases to confirm eligibility for the low-income USF subsidy program (see 1901230036). Comments on a computer matching program the commission is testing with USAC, Georgia and Iowa are due Monday (see 1905230041).