Google Fiber and Webpass are still at loggerheads with the National Diversity Coalition over Google’s acquisition of Webpass’ CLEC license in California, the companies told the California Public Utilities Commission. Google and Webpass last month closed on the rest of the transaction, but the acquisition of the Webpass telecom affiliate remains pending before the CPUC (see 1610030035). The parties "met in constructive conversations" and talks continue, Google and Webpass said in a preconference statement released Wednesday by the CPUC. But the companies framed the acquisition as small and said there’s no good reason to hold it up any longer. “This transaction does not have an impact on customers, does not result in increases in market share, and is of the type that the Commission routinely approves.” But the coalition said in a separate statement the CPUC must hold the deal to a higher merger review standard due to the large size of Google and its parent Alphabet.

Louisville, Kentucky, urged a federal court to dismiss Charter’s complaint against the city’s one-touch, make-ready policy. Charter subsidiary Insight's claim that Kentucky pole attachments law pre-empts Louisville's “should be dismissed because the Louisville Metro ordinance challenged by Insight is an exercise of right-of-way management that does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Kentucky Public Service Commission,” the city said in a Tuesday motion (in Pacer). The city said Charter waived other claims based on the First and 14th amendments when it agreed to a cable franchise agreement with Louisville. The city treats Charter differently from AT&T and Google because Charter is a cable operator and therefore subject to different rules, Louisville said. Also, the city rejected Charter's claim the ordinance violated the Fifth Amendment takings clause, which says private property shall not "be taken for public use, without just compensation.” The court should dismiss that claim because Charter "has not alleged the taking of a legally cognizable property right,” the city said. Last month, the FCC supported the Louisville one-touch ordinance in a separate lawsuit by AT&T (see 1610310053).

The Utah Public Service Commission took a step toward aligning state Lifeline rules with the updated federal program for low-income households. In an order Tuesday, the commission granted a CenturyLink request for waiver to use the same eligibility requirements for federal and state Lifeline programs. The waiver becomes effective on the FCC’s Dec. 2 implementation deadline. To make the change permanent, the commission also proposed amending the Utah rule establishing the state Lifeline program to reflect the waiver decision and to align the rule with FCC regulations on recertification. The PSC said it expects to publish the amended rule Dec. 15 in the Utah State Bulletin, with a potential effective date of Jan. 24. By granting the waiver, the commission added Lifeline eligibility based on participation in the Veterans Pension and Survivors Pension Benefit program and removed eligibility based on participation in the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and National School Free Lunch Program. The PSC said removing those programs “is not likely to disqualify any Utah consumers who are currently participating in the state Lifeline program.” An FCC Wireline Bureau official last week said the FCC will respond soon to USTelecom and state petitions to postpone the Dec. 2 deadline (see 1611140052).

New York state officials made their case to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai's office for a waiver of Connect America Fund rules requiring Phase II broadband-oriented subsidy support to be awarded in the state through a federal reverse auction. The waiver would "dramatically facilitate" the buildout of high-speed networks, "consistent with Commissioner Pai’s goals of quickly removing regulatory impediments to the deployment of broadband services in rural communities," said the Empire State Development filing in docket 10-90. New York wants to tap the federal Phase II funding, which incumbent telco Verizon turned down, for use in its own state reverse auction of broadband subsidies (see 1610130047). Pai is considered likely to be named chairman under President-elect Donald Trump, at least in an acting capacity (see 1611140066).

It shouldn’t be up to the District of Columbia Public Service Commission whether to expand the D.C. Universal Service Trust Fund to support broadband and wireless services, Verizon said Monday. Such an expansion "would represent the type of policy shift best decided by the Mayor and DC Council,” Verizon replied on a PSC notice of inquiry in docket FC988. The D.C. commission lacks jurisdiction to regulate broadband and wireless providers, Verizon said. It's “inequitable” to require local exchange and VoIP providers that fund the USTF to subsidize broadband and wireless services, it said. “It would increase the amount of subsidy necessary to support universal service so that landline providers and customers would have to provide increased funding at a time when customers are increasingly abandoning landline services.” Last week, the PSC aligned eligibility and other rules with the updated federal program (docket RM28-2016-01). “The amendments in the [notice of proposed rulemaking] make the Commission’s telecommunications universal service rules consistent with the FCC’s rules,” the PSC order said. The rules will become effective upon publication in the D.C. Register. That might occur on the FCC deadline of Dec. 2, PSC Chairwoman Betty Ann Kane said last week at the NARUC annual meeting in La Quinta, California (see 1611140052).

California hasn’t decided whether to opt out of FirstNet but wants to keep its options open on how to build a radio access network (RAN) for the national public safety network, a California Office of Emergency Services (OES) spokesman said Monday. OES sought alternative plans by Jan. 2 in a request for information last week posted to the state’s procurement website (Event ID 3563). “An opt-in or opt-out decision has not been made at this point,” the OES spokesman said. “We want to obtain as much information as possible of available options for building out California’s Radio Access Network.” California joined several other states seeking alternative FirstNet RAN plans (see 1611100049). By federal statute, governors will have 90 days to accept or opt out after FirstNet delivers plans to states, then 180 days to submit an alternative plan for FCC approval.

The California Public Utilities Commission proposed extending the deadline again for a rulemaking to revamp the California High Cost Fund-A program, which provides subsidies to 13 small rural LECs for basic phone service. In a draft decision posted Monday, Commissioner Catherine Sandoval proposed extending the deadline by about two months to Feb. 4. “Work has begun on a third revised scoping ruling in this proceeding but has not yet been completed,” said the proposed decision. In September, the agency extended the deadline to Dec. 6 (see 1609290033). The commission next meets for voting on Dec. 1.

Landline declines caused FairPoint to cut 110 jobs in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, a spokeswoman said Monday. “We must take what are often difficult steps to address the reality of a decline in landline usage." Maine and Vermont regulators have been eyeing the company's service quality reports and reporting rules (see 1610040021). The Maine legislature earlier this year passed a law to remove the telco's provider-of-last-resort obligations in phases (see 1609130057).

Maine requested FCC help on issues related to texting to 911 via IP. The state, calling itself an early adopter of texting to 911 via teletypewriter, deployed what it described as an "end-to-end" next-generation 911 system, and began working with carriers and their text control centers (TCC) on moving from 911 via TTY to 911 to text by message session relay protocol. A center responded to the state's request with multiprotocol label switching pricing including "a one-time project charge, monthly recurring charges for a three-year contract period, and recurring monthly costs for dedicated MPLS circuits (price to be determined), all to be paid for by the State of Maine," Emergency Services Communication Bureau Director Maria Jacques wrote the federal commission on Maine Public Utilities Commission letterhead. When Maine sought an alternative to the MPLS plan, asking to use a virtual private network, the TCC proposed monthly "recurring monitoring charges to help compensate for what the company views as a less than reliable service because it traverses the Internet," Jacques said in a filing posted Thursday to docket 10-255. "A different TCC, responding on the behalf of other wireless carriers, expressed a preference for connecting via VPN as opposed to MPLS circuits and thus far has not requested any compensation for the use of VPN. Clearly, there is disagreement." The state official asked in the letter to FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson for clarification on "where the point of demarcation is between wireless providers and Maine's NG911 network in order to appropriately assess costs." A CTIA spokeswoman declined to comment Friday.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers said Thursday that its top priority in 2017 will remain cybersecurity and risk management, rounding out a list that remains largely the same as it did headed into 2016. NASCIO’s other tech and policy priorities for the coming year include cloud services, consolidation, cost control and legacy systems modernization. NASCIO bases its annual priorities on the results of a survey of its members. “No major surprises in the priorities for 2017,” said Executive Director Doug Robinson in a news release. “State CIOs continue to recognize the importance of IT Governance as they address enterprise security, cloud services and drive IT consolidation.”