A Texas dispute over right-of-way fees between Houston and ExteNet pits Texas Public Utility Commission staff against PUC administrative law judges. Commissioners plan to vote March 30 on the ALJs’ proposed decision supporting ExteNet in the company’s dispute with Houston (see 1702280039). The distributed antenna systems (DAS) provider said it doesn’t have to pay fees to Houston because Chapter 283, a local code for franchise fees, sets rates based on a company’s number of access lines -- but as a DAS provider ExteNet has no access lines. ALJs agreed in a proposed decision last month, saying ExteNet backhaul is covered under the franchise agreements of commercial mobile radio service providers who pay the city. But in exceptions filed Friday, Texas PUC staff disagreed, saying commissioners instead should require ExteNet to negotiate franchise agreements with cities to access the right of way (ROW). “While the ALJs attempt to uphold the Legislature's intent of promoting competition under the statute, the Proposal for Decision (PFD) actually creates an anti-competitive result,” staff said. ALJs took too strict of an interpretation of Chapter 283, allowing ExteNet "to enjoy the absurd result of getting to use the City ROW for free without requiring the provider to offer a qualifying service,” it said. Staff rejected possible remedies suggested by the ALJs. Nothing in the record supports one idea to revoke “service provider certificate of operating authority” for providers without access lines, staff said. A proposed rulemaking to explicitly include ExteNet facilities within the definition of access lines could be “a complicated process with many unanswered issues to address,” it said. Houston also rejected ALJs’ proposed decision, saying the judges improperly read the law and commission rules. ALJs’ conclusion that CMRS providers already pay the city for right of way "is at best an overstatement,” the city said. “Neither Houston nor the State has any franchising authority over CMRS providers.” Houston acknowledged it has a license agreement with Verizon, and ExteNet has a contract with the CMRS provider to install wireless facilitates. "Even as to Verizon, ExteNet's proposal isn't to act as Verizon's contractor, but rather to install facilities as a host provider for Verizon's use and any other CMRS providers irrespective of whether or not those other CMRS providers have an agreement with the City for use of the ROW,” Houston said. "If an entity such as ExteNet serves as a contractor for a CMRS provider to install facilities in the City's ROW, it may do so only under the auspices of that CMRS provider's license agreement.”

Nine small New York ILECs may recover revenue losses resulting from the phase-out of terminating access charges mandated by the FCC’s 2011 Connect America Fund order, the New York Public Service Commission ruled in an order released Friday. The commission decided the companies should receive the full amounts requested, adding up to a $47,490 total, the commission said. Eight of the companies requested additional state USF money to recover the revenue, while the ninth requested accelerated amortization of a deferred credit balance, the commission said.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles proposed regulations that won't require the presence of a human inside a self-driving car being tested, a move Consumer Watchdog said would endanger people's safety. In a Friday notice, the DMV said "the proposed regulations promote the development of autonomous technology that has the potential to increase safety and enhance mobility, while focusing on issues related to roadway safety." It said an automaker would certify the vehicles being tested have a communications link, provide information about the "intended operational design domain," maintain a training program, provide disclosures to passengers and submit a safety assessment letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (see 1609200039). John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog privacy project director, said in a news release that the proposal is "too industry friendly and don't adequately protect consumers." The DMV is also shifting safety enforcement to the federal government, he added. “The NHTSA safety check list is meaningless because it doesn’t set any standards," he said. "It only asks that [manufacturers] voluntarily say, ‘Yeah, we thought about this stuff.’” The proposal would require automakers to notify a municipality of testing plans, not get permission, and would weaken requirements to report testing failures, he said. The DMV plans an April 25 hearing in Sacramento.

The Kentucky Public Service Commission ended Lifeline support for about 149,000 cellphone users, refocusing funds on about 17,000 eligible elderly and rural customers with landlines, the state commission said in a Friday news release. Meanwhile, the Utah legislature passed a bill Thursday that includes making wireless companies eligible for state Lifeline support. Under the Kentucky PSC order, the state on May 1 will no longer give $3.50 monthly for low-income customers’ wireless services, it said. With the FCC phasing out Lifeline subsidies for landline voice services in December 2021, Kentucky will gradually increase its Lifeline subsidy for those services to $7.50 per month, it said. With far fewer customers to be supported by Kentucky Lifeline, the state USF surcharge on customer phone bills will drop to 3 cents from 14 cents on July 1, the PSC said. The commission launched a review of the state USF in February last year after seeing the fund was on the verge of running out, a problem also seen in other states (see 1607010010). The agency decided an increasing number of wireless customers qualifying for Lifeline shrank the USF balance, it said. Last March, the PSC tried increasing the contribution surcharge to 14 cents from 8 cents, but then three more wireless providers with about 85,000 Lifeline customers applied for state Lifeline funds, it said. Supporting them would have required the PSC to increase the surcharge again to 21 cents, but the agency decided that was an unreasonable burden for the public, it said: “What is clear is that the program cannot continue in its current form.” Low-income customers can still get a $9.25 monthly federal subsidy for wireless service and competition should keep wireless rates low even without the state Lifeline subsidy, it said. In Utah, another state with a shrinking USF fund, the legislature passed SB-130, which includes a provision adding wireless Lifeline support. The Senate voted 26-0 Thursday to concur with a House amendment after the House voted 74-0 in support the same day. It says telecom companies providing access lines, connections or wholesale broadband internet access service qualify for state USF distributions. It requires each provider to contribute to the USF and requires the PSC to develop a method for calculating the amount of each contribution. The bill could add revenue to the state USF, said a fiscal note Monday (see 1703060050).

The Missouri House Utilities Committee cleared a small-cells wireless siting bill at a hearing Wednesday. HB-656 pre-empts local authority on small-cell siting, like many other bills now moving through state legislatures (see 1703080011). Under the bill, local authorities wouldn't be able to require an application “for routine maintenance on previously permitted small wireless facility collocations, or the replacement of small wireless facilities with substantially smaller ones,” a summary said. Thursday, North Carolina lawmakers added another small-cells bill to the map. Under HB-310, small cells would not be subject to zoning review, and applications would be deemed granted if not reviewed after 60 days. Localities could charge up to $100 per facility for the first five listed in an application and $50 for each additional facility. As in Missouri, no application would be needed for routine maintenance or replacing facilities with smaller ones. Debate over small-cells siting for 5G networks also is occurring at the FCC in response to a Mobilitie petition (see 1703090013).

Hearings in the New York Public Service Commission probe of Verizon copper start June 26, said commission Administrative Law Judge Sean Mullany in a Thursday ruling. He confirmed that and previously proposed filing dates (see 1703010048).

Rhode Island should stop diverting 911 fees for unrelated purposes, said a Providence Journal editorial Tuesday, to which FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly tweeted he "commend[s] your attention." Rhode Island is one of eight states that the FCC's last report on state 911 fees identified for diverting revenue, and O’Rielly sought punishment for bad states (see 1703020060). “Rhode Island's elected officials should be more honest in budgeting and assigning fees,” the editorial said. “If the 911 money isn't needed for 911 services, it should be raised in another manner and identified as such in the state budget, in a way that reflects the actual use. It's too easy for state officials to tack on fees and surcharges, some of them supposedly temporary, and then continue them indefinitely and mislead people about where the money is going.” A bill (H-5075) before the legislature would repeal all state 911 surcharges levied on wireless telecom services and residential and business phone lines (see 1701170051). It hasn’t advanced since its Jan. 11 introduction.

The Kentucky legislature stripped Public Service Commission of authority over retail phone service in all exchanges. The Kentucky House voted 79-13 to pass SB-10 Tuesday, after the Senate passed it 35-1 Feb. 24. In all exchanges after Sept. 1, the PSC “shall not impose any requirements or otherwise regulate the terms, conditions, rates, or availability of any retail service of the modifying utility.” The legislature previously deregulated exchanges with 15,000 or more housing units. The PSC maintains jurisdiction over wholesale service and complaints about anti-competitive practices under state and federal law, the bill said. The measure still requires signoff by the governor. The Kentucky PSC didn’t take a position on the bill, a commission spokesman said Wednesday. He said the measure deregulates larger carriers but the commission will retain authority over the basic phone services of rural local exchange carriers including small phone companies and cooperatives. Also, the commission will still be able to act on complaints for all types of carriers related to billing, slamming and cramming, he said.

A Tennessee House panel cleared an amended broadband bill by Gov. Bill Haslam (R) providing $45 million in broadband grants and tax credits and allowing nonprofit electric cooperatives to provide retail broadband service. By unanimous voice vote, the House Business and Utilities Subcommittee Tuesday sent that measure to the full committee, as expected (see 1703030054). It punted on other and similar bills, moving them to the subcommittee’s final calendar. The amendment to the Haslam bill (HB-529), sponsored by Rep. David Hawk (R) and Leader Glen Casada (R), allows cooperatives to provide video services, but limits services to their electric footprint, Hawk said at the live-streamed hearing. The amendment also strengthens a prohibition on cooperatives using electric revenue to subsidize internet services, he said. More than a third of Tennessee residents lack broadband, Hawk said. The amendment “makes a very good bill even better,” he said. “We’re bringing a reasonable solution to a complex situation. Not only do we want to make broadband accessible to our residents, but we also want broadband to be adopted by our citizens.” The amended bill doesn’t remove the state restriction on municipal broadband expansion that was challenged by the FCC and upheld last year by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. One of the broadband bills punted by the subcommittee was HB-1410 allowing such expansion (see 1703030054). Bills that also do that by Sen. Janice Bowling (R), SB-1045 and SB-1058, are currently before the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. Institute for Local Self-Reliance Community Broadband Networks Director Christopher Mitchell said he's "disappointed in the refusal thus far to consider the single easiest way to expand high quality Internet access in Tennessee -- simply allowing Chattanooga and other municipal networks to serve the neighbors that are begging them to expand."

The California Public Utilities Commission opened phase two of its rural call completion proceeding, the CPUC said in a Monday scoping memo. It will include review of the data requested of carriers in the CPUC’s December order for phase one (see 1612150062), all of which should be in by June 1, it said. The commission will determine whether to require carriers of last resort or others to report outages to various California state, local and tribal offices, and by June 30 establish a working group to recommend reporting thresholds, requirements and protocols, it said. Also in phase two, the commission will review the phone company data and determine if any other information is required, determine if new requirements on the carriers are required, and develop guidelines to ensure transfer or mergers don’t impair service. Comments are due March 31, replies April 12, the CPUC said. The commission plans to issue a proposed decision in Q4 2017, it said. The new phase begins as ISPs contest CPUC procedure in the first phase (see 1702230014).