The California Public Utilities Commission gave the green light Thursday to $237 million in grants for last-mile broadband infrastructure projects across primarily rural areas of the state. The funding comes from 2021's American Rescue Plan Act and the state's general fund. CPUC President Alice Reynolds called the pair of 5-0 votes on resolutions T-17833 and T-17835 awarding the grant applications "a fabulous example of putting these funds to work." Recipients include incumbent providers, communities and tribes. The projects cover more than 30,000 unserved locations in Alpine, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Mateo, Santa Barbara and Tulare counties. The CPUC made $88.5 million worth of similar grant awards in July (see 2407110057).
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Provisions in California’s age-appropriate social media design law likely violate the First Amendment, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday in a victory for NetChoice (docket 23-2969) (see 2407170046). A three-judge panel found the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act’s (AB-2273) impact assessment requirement likely violates the First Amendment because it requires that platforms make judgments about what online content could harm children. The ruling, issued by Judge Milan Smith, affirms a district court decision enjoining enforcement of the law’s Data Protection Impact Assessment requirement. However, the court remanded the case back to the district court for further consideration on other aspects of the law. It’s “unclear from the record” whether other challenged provisions “facially violate the First Amendment,” or the unconstitutional aspects can be separated from valid provisions of the law, the court said. NetChoice is “likely to succeed” in showing that the law’s requirement that “covered businesses opine on and mitigate the risk that children may be exposed to harmful or potentially harmful materials online facially violates the First Amendment,” Smith wrote. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in September granted NetChoice's request for a preliminary injunction. The lower court ruled the state has “no right to enforce obligations that would essentially press private companies into service as government censors, thus violating the First Amendment by proxy.” California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) appealed. NetChoice Litigation Center Director Chris Marchese called the decision a victory for free expression: “The court recognized that California’s government cannot commandeer private businesses to censor lawful content online or to restrict access to it.” Bonta’s office didn’t comment Friday.
California appropriators last week halted multiple telecom-related bills meant to help vulnerable communities. Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D) blamed the broadband industry after the Senate Appropriations Committee held back her bill that would have banned digital discrimination as the FCC defines it (AB-2239). However, that committee and its Assembly counterpart advanced several other telecom and privacy bills to final floor votes.
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the below lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions.
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone of New Jersey, Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui of California and the subpanel’s 10 other Democrats said Wednesday they’re backing the FCC’s proposal that requires disclosures on political ads created with generative AI (see 2407250046). The FCC is facing pushback from congressional Republicans over the AI proposal, as demonstrated during a July House Communications hearing (see 2407090049). NAB and the Motion Picture Association are seeking a 30-day extension for comments on the proceeding in docket 24-211 (see 2408120034). Comments are currently due Sept. 4, replies Sept. 19. “We believe that this action is necessary considering the growing impact of generative AI tools on our electoral process,” the House Communications Democrats said in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “While AI is not new, the speed at which we are witnessing the deployment of generative AI is staggering. During this election season, we have already seen AI deployed to manipulate, confuse and misinform voters.” The Democratic lawmakers pushed back against claims by Republican Federal Election Commission Chairman Sean Cooksey and others that the FEC has sole authority over political reporting requirements and disclaimers (see 2406060051). “Such arguments ignore the relevant statutes and decades of precedent,” the Democrats said: “We also find it worrisome that such a simple, consumer-friendly proposal that imposes minimal burdens has evoked such strong opposition from Republicans -- even well before the full text of the proposal was released to the public” in late July (see 2407250046).
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) urged school districts to restrict smartphones in classrooms this academic year. “Excessive smartphone use among youth is linked to increased anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues,” Newsom said Tuesday in a letter to California schools. “The evidence is clear: reducing phone use in class leads to improved concentration, better academic outcomes, and enhanced social interactions.” Newsom highlighted a 2019 law he signed that authorizes districts to regulate smartphone use during school hours. Also, the governor is working with the state legislature to “further limit student smartphone use on campus,” he said. Multiple states are examining ways of directing their public schools to limit students' mobile phone use (see 2407190012).
A federal court in California should "use its broad power” to end Google’s illegal Play Store monopoly, which has resulted in anticompetitive distribution of video games on Android devices, the FTC said in a filing Monday (docket 3:20-cv-05671-JD). Epic Games sued Google in 2020, challenging the platform’s 30% app store commission fee for downloads of Epic’s Fortnite. A federal jury in December 2023 found Google guilty of maintaining an illegal monopoly, siding with Epic on all counts. Google is appealing. Epic in March asked U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco to force Google to remove barriers to app store competition on Android devices. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California should “use its broad power to order a remedy that stops the illegal conduct, prevents its recurrence, and restores competition,” the FTC said in its amicus brief. Injunctive relief should “restore lost competition in a forward-looking way and should ensure a monopolist is not continuing to reap the advantages and benefits obtained through the antitrust violation,” the agency said. The FTC asked the court to consider structural relief and potential remedies that “address unlawfully acquired scale or unlawfully erected entry barriers, be it in the context of a single product or across lines of business.” The commission voted 3-0 to file the brief, with Commissioners Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson recused. Holyoak was recused due to her work on behalf of Utah in the state’s antitrust case against Google. Ferguson was recused owing to his role as solicitor general of Virginia, which participated in Epic v. Google.
T-Mobile condemned a plan allowing people without social security numbers to seek low-income telephone support in California. In comments this week, T-Mobile subsidiary Assurance Wireless said the California Public Utilities Commission’s July 22 proposed decision "poses a serious threat to the integrity and the functionality of” California LifeLine. Consumer advocates applauded the plan that requires providers to accept applications from those without SSNs, though they raised major privacy concerns with a proposal to use LexisNexis’ TrueID authentication software for identity verification. The CPUC may vote Aug. 22 on the proposal in docket R.20-02-008 (see 2407230040).
Opponents of giving the FirstNet Authority effective control of the 4.9 GHz band, as promoted by AT&T and the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA), have been at the FCC repeatedly in recent weeks, driven in part by rumors that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel may support that plan. But industry officials say how the FCC will come down remains uncertain. With Commissioner Anna Gomez expected to recuse herself, because of work before she joined the commission, Rosenworcel will likely need support from at least one Republican commissioner.