Bharat Ramamurti, National Economic Council deputy director during part of the Biden administration, criticized X owner Elon Musk on Friday for “amplifying” a “deeply misleading clip” of New York Times' Ezra Klein blaming Democrats for NTIA’s evaluation process for state-level applicants to the $42.5 billion BEAD program. Congress mandated the BEAD process in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration are determining how to revamp BEAD after consistently criticizing how the Biden-era NTIA administered the program. Senate Commerce Committee Democrats raised concerns about GOP BEAD plans during a Thursday confirmation hearing for NTIA nominee Arielle Roth (see 2503270065).

California state lawmakers have introduced bills to keep film and TV production jobs from leaving, Sheppard Mullin blogged Tuesday. State senate and assembly bills (SB-630/AB-1138) would diversify the types of productions that qualify for California’s Film and Television Tax Credit program to include animation, as well as game shows and other unscripted programs, it said. The also would increase the tax rebate from 20% for most productions in the state, it said. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has also unveiled plans to raise California's current tax credit cap.

Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.

House Oversight Committee members in both parties appeared not to move from their existing positions on cutting federal CPB funding after a dramatic Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee hearing on perceived public broadcasting bias Wednesday (see 2503210040). GOP lawmakers appeared to still favor zeroing the money, with some telling us they want to push it through via a coming budget reconciliation package rather than wait for the FY 2026 appropriations process. Democrats backed maintaining the CPB appropriation and mocked Republicans for holding the hearing instead of probing perceived Trump administration abuses. CPB funding opponents got a boost when President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he “would love to” see Congress defund public broadcasters.

Despite numerous signs that big changes are ahead for BEAD, states will likely stay the course on their programs and should, broadband consultants and others told us. The only smart play is for states to stay in close contact with NTIA and try to figure out what to expect, several said. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said earlier this month that a review of BEAD rules was underway (see 2503050067), and the former head of the program, Evan Feinman, predicted rules changes were coming from the Trump administration (see 2503170045). Commerce didn't comment.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday turned down requests to stay parts of the FCC’s October order on the 4.9 GHz band. The Bay Area Rapid Transit District, the National Sheriffs' Association and the California State Sheriffs' Association asked for a stay (see 2503070024). But an order by a three-judge panel denied the motions, saying: “Movants have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review.”

Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases since the last update are marked with a *.

Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia are joining a push urging the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hold an en banc rehearing regarding the court's decision on a 2023 FCC robocall and robotext order (see 2501240068). "The FCC’s one-to-one consent rule at issue in this appeal is a critical nationwide enforcement tool" against illegal robocalls, the states said in an amicus brief Monday (docket 24-10277), backing the National Consumer Law Center's proposed petition for rehearing en banc. The 11th Circuit panel’s decision "invalidating this commonsense rule threatens Amici States’ interest in protecting consumers, families, and businesses from the deluge of invasive robocalls," they said. The one-to-one consent rule "provides a critical federal complement to state-level efforts to combat robocalls by creating a nationwide limitation on certain harvesting of consumer contact information." The states signing the amicus brief were: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The failed legal challenge to New York's low-cost broadband law (see 2412160039) provides a route for California to adopt similar laws and policies, the California Public Utilities Commission's Public Advocates Office wrote Tuesday. It said a New York-like affordability requirement of $15 per month for low-income consumers would save such subscribers of the state's four largest providers -- AT&T, Comcast, Cox and Charter Communications -- close to $100 million annually. A low-cost broadband requirement "would effectively cut these broadband bills in half," it said. The financial impact on broadband providers "would be minimal," since low-income consumers represent a small part of their overall revenue, it said, adding that a $15 requirement would reduce the California-based revenue of the four companies by less than 1%.

The FCC’s outage reporting rules and its history of assessing large penalties for violations are leading to public safety answering points (PSAPs) being heavily burdened by notifications, said attorneys, trade groups and public safety associations. New rules that go into effect April 15 are likely to exacerbate the issue, they said during an FCBA virtual panel discussion Monday.