FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated an order Monday for the Nov. 19 commissioners’ meeting that would bar providers from using USF support to buy from suppliers deemed a threat to national security. Pai mentioned Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE (see 1910280021). FCC officials said the order singles out those two. Pai proposes to seek comment on rules requiring eligible telecom carriers remove from their networks existing equipment from the suppliers and on how to provide financial assistance to carriers to help them transition to a trusted supplier.

California public safety power shutoffs left 11,476 cable and wireline subscribers without service, the FCC said Friday in a disaster information reporting system communications status report. “This may include the loss of telephone, television, and/or Internet services.” The power outages caused no 911 outages, but 0.5 percent of cellsites were out of service. Four of 18 reporting FM radio stations were off air. The FCC activated DIRS for 14 California counties Thursday (see 1910240075). Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Friday he launched a $75 million grant program for state and local governments to mitigate shutoff’s impact, including to fund backup emergency communications equipment.

Democratic FCC members joined the majority Friday, begrudgingly approving Charter Communications’ effective competition petition based on the existence of vMVPD AT&T TV Now (formerly DirecTV Now). Both they and the Republican majority said the Cable Act clearly justifies grant of Charter’s petition. Democrats concurred in their votes, citing the near-certitude customers in parts of Massachusetts and Hawaii will face big jumps in the cost of basic cable.

Emergency 911 call takers need at least a floor number or wing specification when getting Z-axis information from wireless carriers, District of Columbia Office of Unified Communications Director Karima Holmes wrote the FCC Thursday in docket 07-114. “The need for a vertical estimate is needed but if the estimate is given in indecipherable terms like XXXX above mean sea level (AMSL), it does not help articulate to the caller, call taker nor the responder of where the emergency is occurring.” Massachusetts State Police asked the same earlier this week (see 1910230041).

DOJ appoints Ryan Shores, ex-Shearman & Sterling, associate deputy attorney general and senior adviser-technology industries ... CenturyLink names Lindsay Solie Jensen, ex-Office of Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, director-federal legislative affairs ... Industry expert Howard Homonoff joins Accenture as senior adviser-communications, media and technology ... Axinn taps Paul Zeineddin, ex-Zeineddin, as partner-intellectual property ... Amanda McMaster, ex-CTA, becomes Software & Information Industry Association's Specialized Information Publishers Association managing director.

The Supreme Court won’t hear Minnesota’s appeal of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision that VoIP is an information service exempt from state regulation (see 1910090048). The high court denied the Public Utilities Commission’s petition for writ of certiorari Monday. Agreeing cert should be denied, Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should, “in an appropriate case ... consider whether a federal agency’s policy can pre-empt state law.” Thomas doubts "a federal policy -- let alone a policy of nonregulation -- is ‘Law’ for purposes of the Supremacy Clause,” he wrote, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch. “Giving pre-emptive effect to a federal agency policy of nonregulation thus expands the power of both the Executive and the Judiciary.” The view of two justices has “no precedential value” but “is nonetheless an indicator of the difficulties of the FCC’s position on preemption of state net neutrality provisions based on its asserted policies of non-regulation,” emailed Benton Institute Senior Counselor Andy Schwartzman. The PUC didn't comment Monday. Charter Communications, which brought the original suit against the agency, declined comment. The telecom industry endorses a draft declaratory ruling, which the FCC will consider at commissioners' meeting Friday, on regulatory parity for 911 fees between VoIP and traditional phone services (see 1910210055).

Industry groups representing telcos, cable companies and telecom service bundlers endorsed an FCC draft declaratory ruling to ensure 911 regulatory fee parity between VoIP and functionally equivalent traditional phone services, in interviews last week. Commissioners will vote on the draft at Friday's meeting (see 1910040053). The ruling, on docket 19-44, is an attempt to answer a referral from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama on litigation between AT&T's BellSouth and some 911 districts (see 1909110027).

Growing use of 5G networks for emergency services raises security issues that must be addressed, stakeholders said in recent interviews. Emergency communications systems are subject to hacking, jamming, human error and poor software development, they said. Policies that encourage reliability and security are key, said National Emergency Number Association (NENA) Technical Issues Director Brandon Abley.

California tapped CenturyLink for next-generation 911 in the southern portion, the telco said Tuesday. It will provide an emergency service IP network, IP-based software and core call routing by late 2020.

Google added its spin on the smartphone camera Tuesday, launching the next-generation Pixel 4 with a dual-lens camera, one a telephoto; a night mode that takes photos of stars; Live HDR Plus to get a preview of photos in tricky lighting; and more control over lighting and detail. Some Twitter users were disappointed an ultrawide lens isn’t included. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor. Pixel 4 has MotionSense, which anticipates what a user wants to do based on movement and responds accordingly. A Recorder app included with the phone simultaneously transcribes speech in real time without an internet connection and identifies sounds such as music or applause, blogged Brian Rakowski, Google vice president-product management. A car crash detection feature can automatically call 911 if it detects the user was in a car crash. Google began taking preorders through AT&T, C Spire, Cellcom, Google Fi, Spectrum Mobile, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, Visible and Xfinity Mobile.