Florida state Rep. Jeff Holcomb (R) on Tuesday introduced HB-451, which extends the medical benefits of first responders to 911 public safety telecommunicators, including coverage of mental health issues arising out of employment. The bill would take effect July 1.
Nuvera Communications said last week that it had reached a milestone of 50,000 fiber passings in its Minnesota and Iowa footprint. Its $200 million fiber rollout was announced in 2021. More than 65% of the company's residential and business customers are now connected to that fiber network, it said.
The National Association of Utility Consumer Advocates, the Utility Reform Network and other state interests protested FCC proposals to speed copper retirements and other network changes (see 2510010031) in reply comments posted Friday in docket 25-208. Also signing the filing were state regulators in Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Oregon.
Only about 10% of the locations being passed through projects funded by New York's Municipal Infrastructure Program are unserved or underserved, meaning the state is financing overbuilding almost 90% of the time, according to an analysis from the New York Law School's Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute. In a blog post Thursday, ACLP Director Michael Santorelli and Senior Fellow Alex Karras said that kind of overbuilding diverts funds from the 61,000 remaining unserved and underserved locations in the state.
A New Jersey Senate committee voted Thursday to advance a bill that would create a telecommunications fee to fund call center and mental health services connected with 988 calls. SB-4502 would add a 40-cent 988 fee to monthly customer bills for commercial mobile service and IP-enabled voice calls but wouldn’t apply to Lifeline customers. The money would be used to fund 988 call services, crisis outreach and response services related to 988 calls, and a public awareness campaign.
A national infrastructure bank could help fund U.S. broadband deployments, new rail and mass transit projects, and repairs of bridges, roads and schools, according to a Michigan House resolution introduced this week by 19 Democratic state lawmakers. HR-216 urges congressional support for the National Infrastructure Bank Act (HR-5356), which would create a public bank that would provide loans for infrastructure projects.
Massachusetts state Rep. Hadley Luddy (D) and Orleans, Massachusetts, Fire Chief Geof Deering urged lawmakers Thursday to support HB-3974, which sets a Jan. 1, 2030, deadline for universal mobile coverage in the state. Cape Cod's unreliable cell service is an issue "I hear about constantly" from district residents, Luddy said as she presented the bill at a Joint Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee hearing. She said the problem worsens in the summer, when Cape Cod's population doubles.
AT&T and Boldyn Networks announced this week the launch of 5G service in the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Crosstown G train line segments, the first to do so. AT&T customers traveling on the G line between Court Square station in Long Island City, Queens, and the Bedford-Nostrand Avenue station in Brooklyn “can now enjoy cellular service in tunnels,” the companies said.
Florida "finds itself at ground zero" on the question of whether do not call registry protections extend to sending text messages, with three different federal courts disagreeing, Bradley lawyers Alexis Buese and Stephen Parsley blogged last week. That raises the odds that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will have to weigh in on the issue, they said. This year saw the Northern and Middle districts of Florida finding in separate decisions that texts aren't calls within the meaning of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act's DNC sections, but the Southern District decided the opposite, the lawyers wrote. Businesses shouldn't assume uniform protection across districts, and compliance strategies "should remain conservative until appellate clarity emerges."
Alabama state Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D) reintroduced legislation Wednesday proposing to create an Ebony Alert System for missing Black youths. Under HB-48, local law enforcement could request that the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency activate an Ebony Alert, with radio, TV, cable, satellite and social media systems "encouraged to cooperate" with disseminating it. The bill was referred to the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. Givan introduced similar legislation in 2024.