The Mississippi Senate voted 49-1 Thursday for a bill to establish a state emergency communications authority to develop a statewide public safety network and support next-generation 911. SB-2746 goes to the House.

Utah legislators passed a bill to increase prepaid wireless contributions. The House voted 70-0 Thursday after the Senate voted 27-0 Monday. SB-225 would require prepaid wireless to contribute 1.2% of sales for state USF. It modifies the existing rule that prepaid providers remit 60 cents monthly per access line to the Utah Public Service Commission. It would increase the prepaid wireless 911 surcharge to 3.7% from 3.3%. Rates would take effect Jan. 1.

With the FCC expected in April to tackle order on the 6 GHz band, CTIA remains committed to licensed use of part of the band, Jen Oberhausen, director-regulatory affairs, said during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council teleconference Thursday. CTIA is fighting what some think is a losing battle to get the FCC to reconsider a plan to open all the spectrum for unlicensed use (see 2003050058).

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly praised American Samoa for not diverting 911 fees. His Wednesday letter thanked Gov. Lolo Moliga (D) for responding Feb. 13 to the Republican commissioner’s Feb. 3 letter asking why the territory failed to respond to FCC requests for information about 911 fees (see 2002030019). Moliga sent a 2018 report and partly blamed staff turnover for the delay. “There are no 9-1-1 fees collected in American Samoa and thus no funds to divert,” the governor wrote. “Our 9-1-1 system is fully funded by our general fund and budgeted by the Department of Public Safety.”

House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman Mike Quigley, D-Ill., told us he’s eyeing attaching a rider to the subcommittee’s FY 2021 appropriations bill aimed at allocating proceeds from the FCC’s coming auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Quigley raised concerns about the FCC’s current C-band auction plan during a Wednesday House Appropriations Financial Services hearing on the commission’s FY 2021 budget request. The C-band plan drew criticism from Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., during that subpanel’s Tuesday FCC budget hearing (see 2003100022).

The House Communications Subcommittee advanced the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855) and 10 other measures Tuesday on voice votes, as expected (see 2003090070). The timeline for the House Commerce Committee to mark up any of those measures remains uncertain, because of negotiations aimed at reaching a bipartisan deal on HR-4855 and other measures that have gotten GOP pushback and broader questions about Congress’ schedule given the spread of coronavirus.

Oppositions are due March 25 to the December Boulder (Colorado) Emergency Telephone Service Authority petition asking the FCC to reconsider part of November rules, replies 10 days later in docket 07-114, says Tuesday's Federal Register. The rules require carriers to provide height above ellipsoid data from wireless calls to 911, within 3 meters accuracy for 80 percent of calls, starting in the largest markets in April 2021 (see 1911220034).

House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., expressed some doubt about reaching a deal on legislation to allocate proceeds of a coming FCC auction of spectrum of the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band (see 2002070044), amid ongoing talks with committee Democrats. Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., finalized plans for a hearing on his concerns with the FCC’s plan for the C-band auction.

The FCC has a plan for dealing with a pandemic if necessary, said Chairman Ajit Pai and others answering our queries during news conferences Friday. So far, the main coronavirus effect on the regulator has been cancelation of an annual wireless conference, members told us. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks worries about impacts on 911 systems and about getting more people connected to residential broadband.

Who gets what accelerated relocation incentive payments in the FCC's C-band auction regime went largely unchanged in the band-clearing order approved 3-2 along party lines Friday (see 2002280005), said Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. Big rewrites of the draft order weren't expected (see 2002270048). The meeting was at times contentious, with pointed Republican and Democratic statements. Incumbent small satellite operators (SSO) plan to go to court.