California Assembly members voted 60-0 for more telecom outage reporting Wednesday. SB-341 by Sen. Mike McGuire (D) would direct the Office of Emergency Services to adopt rules for public mapping telecom outages and share information with the California Public Utilities Commission. The bill would require telecom providers that provide 911 access to post outage maps on their websites and codify recent CPUC 72-hour backup power requirements for telecom providers. SB-341 next returns to the Senate to concur with Assembly changes. The legislature was expected to have voted later Wednesday on California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) update bills SB-4 and AB-14. A Supporter, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, warned that “several legislators intend to vote no on SB 4/AB 14 this week, potentially dooming the bills.” EFF later blamed legislator defections on cable opposition. CPUC Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves earlier warned that the cable industry might be trying to distract legislators from the CASF bills (see 2109070050). "For those of my colleagues who want to stick with the status quo, multi-billion dollar corporations deciding when they will grace Californians with service, they will have to answer to their constituents and be judged by history," said AB-14 sponsor Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry in a statement emailed to us. SB-4 sponsor Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D) sought to rally legislators’ support, saying that “these bills are critical to ensuring the state can provide greater access to high-speed broadband to Californians, especially in unserved and underserved communities throughout the state.” Tracy Rhine, senior legislative advocate for supporter Rural County Representatives of California, expected a close vote, particularly on SB-4, with details about the CASF surcharge up for contention.

The House Education Committee proposes to more than $41 million for the Bureau of Indian Education to pay for “digital infrastructure to improve access to high-speed broadband sufficient for digital learning and related” BIE “digital infrastructure activities or programs” in its portion of the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation package, it said Wednesday. The committee said it will begin marking up the measure at noon EDT Thursday. The House and Senate Commerce committees are grappling with what money to propose including for telecom priorities in reconciliation. Senate Commerce eyed up to $45 billion for broadband and next-generation 911 (see 2109020072). House Commerce is expected to mark up its reconciliation portion beginning Monday.

FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the several items that she and her colleagues tentatively will vote on Sept. 30. They include public-safety spectrum and 911 issues, plus paving the way for more robust Wi-Fi and cracking down further on some robocalls, she blogged Wednesday afternoon. The drafts will be released Thursday, a spokesperson told us. Our earlier news bulletin is here.

FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced what she and her colleagues will vote on Sept. 30. They include public-safety spectrum and 911 issues, plus paving the way for more robust Wi-Fi and cracking down further on some robocalls, she blogged Wednesday afternoon. The drafts will be released Thursday, a spokesperson told us.

Local 911 officials and broadcasters blamed AT&T for communication problems during Hurricane Ida. Telecom network issues caused public safety answering point (PSAP) outages and kept stations from communicating with staff and viewers as they face power issues, they said.

Senate Commerce Committee Democrats are considering proposing $45 billion of the $83.1 billion the chamber allocated to the panel for its portion of the coming budget reconciliation package (see 2108100062) be used for next-generation 911 and broadband. House Commerce Committee leaders, meanwhile, are gearing up for a planned Sept. 13 markup of the panel’s reconciliation priorities. That measure is likely to draw from broadband and NG-911 language in the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act (HR-1848), lobbyists told us.

Three Louisiana public safety answering points are down and six more are rerouting calls, said Tuesday’s disaster information reporting system on communications systems affected by Tropical Storm Ida. The FCC also extended deadlines, among other actions. New Orleans and nearby Louisiana parishes have faced 911 outages, and landlines have been out of service in some areas (see 2108300054).

New Orleans and nearby Louisiana parishes faced 911 outages Monday after Hurricane Ida hit, local authorities reported. Ida caused “significant impacts” to AT&T's Louisiana network due to “massive power outages and storm damage,” the carrier said Monday. The FCC disaster information reporting system (DIRS) was activated Sunday for affected counties in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Staffers were deployed “to assess the post-landfall impact to communications networks and to assist in efforts to restore service as quickly as possible,” acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Saturday before landfall: “We know the reality of the danger from this kind of hurricane all too well.”

The FCC 911 fee diversion strike force will meet virtually Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. EDT, says Friday's Federal Register. The group will vote on recommendations and a report from its working groups (see 2108020051).

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio lacks discretionary authority to waive payphone rules for AT&T, commissioners decided at a livestreamed meeting Wednesday. Despite one member saying he’s sympathetic to AT&T, commissioners unanimously denied the telco's motion to waive a requirement that it provide a pay telephone access line and local usage to payphone service providers upon request. It makes sense to change policy, with payphone demand dwindling, but the statute doesn’t give PUCO leeway to waive the rule, said Commissioner Daniel Conway. “Our hands seem to be tied.” Other parts of the same law, including on 911 and telecom relay service, remain relevant, he noted. AT&T will determine next steps after reviewing the order, a spokesperson said. The Ohio commission unanimously voted for two other items involving a 2019 telecom deregulation law. Commissioners supported seeking comment by Sept. 1 and replies by Sept. 10 on draft rules on allowing ILECs to forego carrier of last resort obligations. Also, PUCO adopted an order requiring ILECs to file information so the commission can count basic local exchange service lines for a report required by the 2019 law.