A draft order cutting inmate calling services rate caps and a Further NPRM to revise site commission payments are expected to be approved 4-0 by FCC members Thursday (see 2104280084). The draft order sets interim caps for interstate calls at 12 cents per minute for smaller facilities and 14 cents for larger ones. Commissioner aides held some meetings where minor changes were suggested, so expect some tweaks to the final text, officials said. The draft order is likely to “look quite similar to what it does now,” one said. The FCC declined to comment Wednesday. The commission also takes aim at site commissions in the draft order that would allow providers to collect no more than 2 cents per minute, which means an incarcerated person may be charged either 14 or 16 cents per minute for an interstate call. NCIC Inmate Communications CEO Bill Pope said some providers pushed back on that rate, and he suggested capping rates based on the average daily population of incarcerated individuals (see 2105120031). “We definitely need to cap the rate,” Pope said, but agencies “are paying to support these systems, and some of them … just want to be able to cover the cost of offering the phone service.”

The deadline for comments on possible updates to the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act rules was extended to June 7 and July 6 for replies, said a Tuesday public notice in docket 21-140. Accessibility advocacy fans asked for delay because of the scope of the proceeding, among other reasons.

The FCC should mull transitioning the emergency broadband benefit into permanent Lifeline subsidy increases, and state legislators should remove barriers to utilities providing broadband in unserved and underserved areas, said NARUC broadband task force draft recommendations Monday. It recommended developing a centralized database of carriers that failed to meet obligations from previous state and federal funds. Other draft recommendations covered mapping, adoption and program coordination. The task force scheduled a June 2 virtual meeting at 2 p.m. EDT for feedback. It plans final suggestions at NARUC’s July 18-21 meeting. “Our work is meant to give state utility commissioners tools to hasten broadband availability for everyone,” said task force and South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Chairman Chris Nelson. The panel virtually heard in February its subgroups’ near-final reports (see 2102050053).

An FCC order revising FY 2021 regulatory fees (see 2105120057) takes effect June 16, says Monday's Federal Register.

President Joe Biden revoked former President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at addressing what Trump saw as social media censorship (see 2005280060). Trump’s sought an FCC rulemaking to clarify its interpretation of liability protections under Communications Decency Act Section 230. That proceeding didn't advance during the closing days of Ajit Pai's chairmanship (see 2101050060) and hasn't seen movement. Friday's EO also nixed other Trump presidential directives. The Center for Democracy & Technology praised Biden for killing the social media EO.

Eligible households seeking to apply online for the FCC emergency broadband benefit program may experience “connectivity issues” due to a “high demand,” an alert said on the FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co.'s websites Thursday. The FCC became aware of some users experiencing issues online Wednesday, a spokesperson told us. The problem appears to be “leveling off” now and the alert was posted “out of an abundance of caution,” she said.

The 5-0 November order splitting the 5.9 GHz band between Wi-Fi and auto safety (see 2011180043) will be “the first real test” for the current FCC, Commissioner Brendan Carr said during an Internet Innovation Alliance webinar Thursday. Carr noted concerns raised by the auto industry and some congressional Democrats (see 2104270090). “Do we stick with the hard decision, the right decision, only hard in the sense that there was political pressure, … or are we going to cave to political pressure” on 5.9, he asked. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel stresses her focus on working with other federal agencies on spectrum, Carr said, saying cooperation isn’t enough: “At the end of the day, those of us in leadership at the FCC are called upon to make hard decisions and stick by them.” The FCC didn't comment. Carr said he’s standing his ground on the 3-2 order making broad changes to how the 4.9 GHz band is regulated, giving control to the states. Rosenworcel recently sought a stay (see 2105030062). Carr hasn’t made decisions on 5G in the 12 GHz band, saying he's watching engineering studies. “If we can get a win-win and do all of it, then obviously that’s what we should do,” he said. Carr said the FCC needs to provide more clarity on broadband maps, after Rosenworcel said in March the first would be available this summer (see 2103220050). “We’ve got to clean that up and provide some clarity as to when we’re going to land the mapping process,” he said. The FCC has about $40 billion “sitting in the pipeline” for broadband deployment, he said. “Let’s get that $40 billion out the door,” he said: “Mapping is going to be a big piece.” Carr is a “little worried” about the current pace on making more spectrum available. The U.S. was in danger of falling behind in the race to lead the world on 5G during the last years of the Barack Obama administration, Carr said. That changed under Donald Trump, he said. “We were first to commercial 5G and have the strongest 5G network in the world,” he said. Carr said he hopes that FCC won’t backtrack on the changes to wireless infrastructure rules made under then-Chairman Ajit Pai. The current 2-2 FCC won’t “reverse those wins,” he said. “We’ve made it easier to build and connect people over the four last years,” he said: “I really don’t know why we would make it more expensive and harder.” Short of being in the majority, being at a split commission is “second best,” he joked. “We’ll see what it’s like when I make my eventual move fully into the minority.” There are still lots of discussions between commissioners on various issues, he said.

Comments on FCC assessment and collection of FY 2021 regulatory fees are due in docket 20-105 June 3, replies June 18, says Thursday's Federal Register. An order and NPRM were released earlier this month.

Other states support California in response to ISP associations appealing a ruling denying their preliminary injunction against the net neutrality law, in a case before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2103100029). “Amici have a strong interest in defending the States’ sovereign right to exercise their police powers against unwarranted assertions of federal preemption,” said Wednesday's posting (all URLs in Pacer). “A critical aspect of the States’ sovereignty is the ability to pass laws aimed at ‘guard[ing] the lives and health of their citizens.’” New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, plus Washington, D.C., were on the brief in docket 21-15430. California localities agreed with the states. “Investments in broadband-based communications systems to exchange information with the public underscore their reliance on a neutral Internet,” they said. ISPs “falsely” claim that investment declined when the 2015 federal rules were in place, said Access Now, Mozilla, Public Knowledge, New America's Open Technology Institute and Free Press. Other neutrality supporters, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Humboldt, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and Reddit, also filed in support of the state: “We have seen firsthand that stripping away legal protection for net neutrality would inflict serious harm on Californians and on California nonprofits, educators and businesses.”

Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said she’s an optimist but also “clear-eyed” about the challenge in stopping robocalls. Commissioners vote next week on rule changes to accelerate the secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) (see 2104290082). The problem of cheap, easily deployed robocall tech won’t be fixed without collaboration among the FCC, state attorneys general and other agencies, Rosenworcel told a National Association of Attorneys General 2021 virtual conference Tuesday. She called on state officials to reach out the FCC. “Collectively, we should be able to make a difference,” she said. Acting FTC Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said older rules -- such as the do-not-call list -- no longer prevent robocalls because the primary actors aren’t legitimate businesses. The FTC, FCC and other federal agencies have been “laggard and lacking” in enforcing their rules, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in recorded remarks. If laws aren’t enforced, they're a dead letter, he said. Following the Supreme Court invalidating the FTC’s ability to seek monetary redress for consumers (see 2105040057), the FTC will have to partner with state AGs more frequently, Slaughter said. “They have access to redress authority we no longer have.” The FTC will plead rule violations more frequently to get access to civil penalties, Slaughter said. Separately, Rosenworcel said the FCC will seek information from state and local officials as part of its broadband mapping efforts. The agency has “a lot of lawyers” spending time on making the information gathered in that mapping effort as public as possible in the face of nondisclosure agreements, she said. Rosenworcel praised the New York AG’s office for its report on fraudulent net neutrality comments filed at the FCC under her predecessor, former Chairman Ajit Pai. Government agencies should care about fake public comments and keeping lines of communication to citizens open, Rosenworcel said. See our article on the AG's report here.