Telecom-related complaints were among the top consumer issues that attorneys general in Illinois and Michigan dealt with in 2014, offices for the AGs said separately Monday. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office said it received 2,162 telecom-related complaints during 2014, its third-most-frequent issue during the year. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office said it received almost 1,000 telecom-related complaints during 2014, again making telecom its third-most-frequent issue. Both offices said telecom-related issues included robocalls, telemarketing and cable/satellite services. Madigan, a Democrat, identified data breaches as a rising threat in Illinois, with her office receiving 2,617 complaints about such breaches and other identity theft problems during 2014. Madigan is pushing legislation from state Sen. Daniel Biss and state Rep. Ann Williams, both Democrats, that's designed to strengthen Illinois’ existing Personal Information Protection Act. Schuette, a Republican, said ransomware and mobile payment systems scams are developing into emerging threats in Michigan.

The New York City Department of Education began allowing students Monday to carry cellphones and other mobile devices into city public schools. The move came after a rulemaking by the Department of Education’s Panel for Educational Policy last week that allowed cellphone use in city schools in accordance with rules set by individual schools. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, announced an end to the city’s ban on in-school cellphone use in early January (see 1501070037).

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to partially approve Verizon’s petition to deregulate the telco’s wireline phone service in its Allentown, Erie, Harrisburg/York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton/Wilkes Barre service areas. The PUC chose not to grant deregulation in 41 of the 194 zones Verizon sought, including in Philadelphia suburbs like Ardmore, Chester and Langhorne. PUC Chairman Robert Powelson, Vice Chairman John Coleman and Commissioner Pamela Witmer voted for the petition. Commissioners Gladys Brown and James Cawley, both Democrats, said they voted against the petition because they were concerned it would result in steep bill hikes for the estimated 100,000-200,000 customers who retain wireline service in the affected areas. Regulated wireline phone service prices in Pennsylvania average $22 per month.

The New York Public Service Commission extended the deadline for its review of the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable (TWC) deal, with Comcast saying in a letter to the PSC that the commission is now expected to issue a final order on the deal by March 19. The PSC had been expected to vote by Thursday and had previously planned to issue a final order by March 3 (see 1501210058).

Comcast and other telcos related to the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable (TWC) deal urged the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Wednesday to approve CPUC Administrative Law Judge Karl Bemesderfer’s proposed decision approving the deal, but asked the commission to modify multiple conditions included in the proposed decision to make them less onerous. Most public interest advocates who spoke at an all-party meeting on the deal Wednesday in San Francisco, including the Greenlining Institute, Media Alliance and The Utility Reform Network, urged the commission to vote against the deal entirely (see 1502190054). One notable exception was the California Emerging Technology Fund, represented by former FCC Commissioner and CPUC Commissioner Rachelle Chong, who said the CPUC should approve the deal with changes that strengthen conditions related to Comcast’s Internet Essentials program and broadband deployment. Several public interest advocates raised concerns about the CPUC’s ability to enforce conditions in the proposed decision, while California Association of Competitive Telecommunications Companies Executive Director Sarah DeYoung said the commission should create a separate proceeding post-deal to specifically monitor that Comcast is abiding by conditions included in the CPUC’s decision.

A coalition of consumer advocates said they collected 90,000 signatures on a petition urging the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to reject the Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable. The entities -- Common Cause, Consumers Union, Courage Campaign, Credo, Daily Kos, Greenlining Institute, Media Alliance, Presente, The Utility Reform Network and Writers Guild of America, West -- said they planned to deliver the signatures to the CPUC San Francisco headquarters Wednesday in advance of an all-party meeting on the deal. The meeting is seen as likely to be crucial to the outcome of the CPUC review given that the commission is now considering a draft decision that would approve Comcast/TWC with significant conditions. Public advocates and the telcos involved in Comcast/TWC appeared likely to criticize portions of the proposed decision during the meeting (see 1502190054).

The Kentucky House passed HB-152 71-25 Tuesday to significantly reduce the Public Service Commission’s oversight of wireline service and completely end its jurisdiction over consumer wireless complaints and consumer broadband complaints. AT&T, Cincinnati Bell and Windstream no longer would be required to provide basic wireline phone service in most cities and major suburbs, including state capitol Frankfort and Lexington. The telcos instead could opt to provide basic service in those areas solely through wireless or VoIP, said the bill's text. Customers in rural areas can seek to retain wireline service, the bill said. HB-152, which requires state Senate approval via SB-3, would retain PSC jurisdiction over wholesale issues, carrier-to-carrier issues and anti-competitive telecom practices. State Rep. Rick Rand, a Democrat who sponsored HB-152, said in a speech prior to the vote that AT&T and other telcos are “asking us to allow them to move from old technology to new technology.” Rep. Chris Harris, a Democrat who voted against the bill, said during debate on the bill that he’s worried “that what we're doing here is leaving behind that section of the state … that our regulations were meant to protect -- poor, rural families who do not have lobbyists here to represent their interests.” Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, endorsed HB-152 in a statement as “an important piece of legislation that strikes a right balance between providing consumer protection and creating economic development opportunities that result from robust broadband accessibility in communities all across the commonwealth.”

The Virginia Cyber Security Commission held the first of a planned series of town hall meetings on the commission’s work and related cybersecurity issues Tuesday in Blacksburg, Virginia, said Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D) office. The next town hall will be March 23 at New College in Martinsville, with additional meetings April 24 at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, May 19 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and June 9 at Norfolk State University. “The cyber security industry is a cornerstone of the new Virginia economy, and these town hall meetings are a great way for our commission members to hear concerns and suggestions from citizens, academia, and industry across the state,” said McAuliffe in a news release. McAuliffe has made cybersecurity one of his administration’s priorities since taking office last year, adopting the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s “Version 1.0” Cybersecurity Framework soon after its release in February 2014 (see 1502230063).

Six state attorneys general said they oppose proposed changes to Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) rules on calls to cellphones sought by the American Bankers Association (ABA) (see 1410140162)` and the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) (see 1411180026). The groups are seeking TCPA exemptions from the FCC that would allow automated calls to alert consumers to fraudulent activity on their accounts and would limit liability for automated calls directed at cellphones unless the company intended to call a consumer who hadn’t given prior consent. The attorneys general, led by Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, a Democrat, and Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, a Republican, told the FCC in a letter posted Friday that they’re concerned the proposed exemptions could make prosecuting violations of the law more difficult because proving intent creates a new hurdle in proving liability. A state attorney general is empowered under TCPA to enforce violations against a state’s consumers, they said. The other attorneys general were Illinois Democrat Lisa Madigan, New York Democrat Eric Schneiderman, Tennessee Republican Herbert Slatery and Utah Republican Sean Reyes. “We are concerned with the slippery-slope that will inevitably occur if one trade association is permitted to start chipping away at the TCPA's protections,” the attorneys general said. CBA’s proposal to limit liability for automated calls to cellphones is a “much more serious attack on consumers’ rights” that would expand the definition of a called party to include any “intended recipient of the call,” the attorneys general said. That “opens the door to abuse by debt collectors and other callers,” the attorneys general said. The proposed change also would allow telemarketers to attempt to avoid prosecution by “claiming that the calls were to the wrong numbers,” the attorneys general said. The proposed changes to TCPA are “not acceptable to Missouri,” Koster said Monday in a news release. “Raising the threshold to prove intent makes it even harder for states to protect their consumers from unwanted telemarketing.”

The FCC should let California use government-issued ID to verify Lifeline eligibility for eligible state citizens who can’t supply the last four digits of a Social Security number (SSN4), said California Public Utilities Commissioner Catherine Sandoval during five meetings Feb. 13. The CPUC said its petition is consistent with the FCC’s waiver that allows the state to administer Lifeline through its own database in lieu of the National Lifeline Accountability Database, in an ex parte filing posted Friday. Sandoval held separate meetings with FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel and members of their staffs. Sandoval also met with FCC Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman and Special Counsel-External Affairs Gigi Sohn in a joint meeting, met with Wireline Bureau Telecom Access Policy Division Chief Ryan Palmer and other bureau staff, and held a fifth meeting with Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc and other bureau staff. California verifies eligibility for 100 percent of federal and state Lifeline applicants, the CPUC filing said. The FCC-mandated use of SSN4 in 2012, but neither the federal government nor California has a similar requirement, the CPUC said. The CPUC’s January 2014 decision that extended the state’s Lifeline program to include wireless services recognized that the FCC’s SSN4 requirement makes the program “inaccessible for many Californians who are income or program eligible, do not have a Lifeline phone in their household, and would be eligible for Lifeline support, but for the lack of a SSN4,” the CPUC said. IDs that could be alternatives include a California driver’s license, a passport or a taxpayer identification number, Sandoval said during each meeting. She also lobbied for states to have access to the network outage reporting system (see 1502200026).