California launched an earthquake early warning system combining a smartphone app with wireless emergency alerts, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Thursday. It uses ground motion sensors to detect earthquakes, then sends alerts through the app to provide “seconds of warning,” which is “enough time to drop, cover and hold on to help prevent injury,” the governor’s office said. The app will deliver alerts for earthquakes exceeding magnitude 4.5.
The FAA should “focus on better educating and communicating with local law enforcement” on drone investigations, GAO recommended Thursday. Because they haven’t been informed, local officials mightn't have knowledge necessary to helps, it said, citing interviews with FAA inspectors. That’s despite inspectors saying “reports from state and local law enforcement generally provide the most useful and actionable information.”
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.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) signed a broadband bill updating a state grant program for rural broadband. HB-387 makes definitional and procedural changes, expands the grant program to tier-two counties starting July 1, and directs the Department of Administration, broadband office and others to develop a streamlined approval process for collocation of broadband equipment on state property. A House-OK'd version removed broadband restrictions on rural electric cooperatives (see 1905080025), but that language was replaced.
Montana should condition Northwest Fiber’s buy of Frontier Communications' northwest region properties on Northwest's upgrading the network to match the FCC’s broadband standard, the Montana Consumer Counsel testified Thursday at the Montana Public Service Commission in docket 2019.06.039. Northwest is buying Frontier wireline, video and long-distance operations in Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington state, and competitors and consumer advocates hope the deal leads to better rural broadband (see 1910040023). Within five years of closing, Northwest should upgrade core network links to at least 1 Gbps, and in 10 years, the company should provide at least 90 percent of locations with minimum 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds, the Montana Consumer Counsel said. The counsel sought several other conditions, including that the acquirer continue to provide stand-alone voice service and meet state service quality standards, it said.
As the FCC presses on with Lifeline national verifier rollout, some state officials voice concerns about incomplete access to state databases. Other state commissioners told us they haven’t heard any complaints, though one said his agency mightn't get any even amid problems. The NV is midway through a state-by-state launch and is designed to make signup and reverification more automatic. Those on the front lines see growing pains and worry the poor could be incorrectly excluded (see 190726004). Concerns involve incomplete access to databases of government programs for low-income Americans that would quickly confirm eligibility, plus kinks in a new test application programming interface. Vermont asked the FCC for a six-month extension of its scheduled Oct. 23 hard launch. The state and Universal Service Administrative Co. “have been diligently negotiating a data-sharing agreement” to automatically process Lifeline applications, nonpartisan Vermont Public Utility Commissioners Sarah Hofmann and June Tierney wrote in Thursday's waiver request in FCC docket 17-287. “Unfortunately, the agreement is not in place yet, and without it, Vermont's Lifeline-eligible applicants risk having to verify their eligibility for Lifeline manually, a process more labor-intensive and prone to error than an automated one.” The New York Public Service Commission sought waiver of the state’s Oct. 23 hard launch deadline earlier last week (see 1910070068). The Public Utility Law Project worries the FCC will look at the request and decide that granting waivers “will derail their progress," said PULP Executive Director Richard Berkley. FCC goals “shouldn’t override facts on the ground, but this agency doesn’t seem too concerned about that stuff.” California Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma has “concerns with a federal administrator given the sharp decreases in participation that have resulted from the National Verifier in the states that have moved to the system so far,” emailed Shiroma, appointed this year by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The FCC hasn’t set launch dates there. California PUC Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves told the FCC the NV shouldn’t come until it has Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program database access. Continued rollout "is critical to reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in the Lifeline program," an FCC spokesperson emailed Thursday. "Establishing automated connections to federal and state eligibility databases is key to the efficient and effective operation of the Verifier, and the FCC has been actively pursuing these connections." An automated connection to national Medicaid, announced last month (see 1909180026), means up to 60 percent of Lifeline-eligible customers can be quickly verified, she said. "The FCC has also established automated connections with 12 states so far, with more on the way. We have long been, and continue to be, open to working with any state that seeks to establish such a connection." USAC declined to comment.
Massachusetts lawmakers plan to weigh multiple net neutrality bills at a Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Joint Committee hearing Tuesday, said an agenda last week. Net neutrality bills include H-2921, H-2927, S-1936 and S-1960. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently ruled state net neutrality policies aren't pre-empted by an FCC order (see 1910010018). The hearing also includes bills on double poles, prepaid wireless 911 fees, cable payments, telemarketing, truth in internet ads, RF safety, studying broadband competition and wireless infrastructure along rail lines. It starts at 1 p.m.
Verizon resisted allowing the use of Oklahoma USF money for broadband, in comments posted Thursday at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in docket 201800066-PUD. “Using the OUSF to support broadband would raise potential legal concerns over assessing intrastate services to fund interstate information services over which the Commission has no regulatory authority,” the carrier said. “And before the Legislature even considers expanding the OUSF to fund broadband, it should wait until the FCC fully implements its [Connect America Fund] and revised Lifeline programs, as well as the new Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, all of which are intended to support broadband deployment and adoption in states including Oklahoma.” A better idea would be to use appropriated state general funds for broadband, like New York and Massachusetts did, Verizon said. Increasing state Lifeline contributions from 2 cents per month per subscriber to $10 per month in areas that don’t qualify for federal enhanced support, and $1 per month per subscriber in tribal areas that do qualify, could “substantially increase the size of OUSF,” so the Oklahoma agency should first study the possible fiscal impact, Verizon said.
Nebraska phone companies and others supported state broadband grants and improved maps, but disagreed on details, in comments due last week on a Nebraska Rural Broadband Task Force draft report. The task force, planning to approve the report Friday, found Nebraska residents falling behind other Americans on broadband (see 1909270008). Government assistance is needed but no “unfair government subsidies” that create an "unlevel playing field,” CenturyLink commented Thursday. The state should develop a challenge process for state grants to ensure subsidies don't go to areas that already have broadband, it said. Broadband needs funding, but “reallocating funding from traditional voice support to broadband grants is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul,” the incumbent said. Windstream supported broadband grants that prioritize areas with less than 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds, the FCC’s definition of broadband. The Nebraska Farm Bureau disagreed with the task force proposal to define unserved as areas with less than 10/1 Mbps, and underserved as between that and 25/3 Mbps, saying the FCC definition should be the minimum everywhere. “While slow speeds are better than nothing, many next generation precision agriculture tools will require a more reliable and high-speed Internet connection as a minimum requirement,” the bureau commented Oct. 3. FCC maps likely overstate broadband coverage, agreed CenturyLink, Windstream and others. The Center for Rural Affairs suggested Nebraska establish a "Broadband Data Validation Program" to "empirically validate the accuracy of fixed broadband data collected by the FCC, and challenge the validity of such data on behalf of the State of Nebraska at least once per year.” The Nebraska Power Association urged Nebraska to update dark fiber leasing statutes. “Drafted at a time when there were fewer emerging technologies, the language and the process set forth is cumbersome and a hindrance to creative partnerships. Only one lease is in place and in 18 years, the Internet Enhancement Fund has only awarded 14 grants."
The FCC authorized more than $61.8 million in USF support for its sixth round Connect America Fund auctions. Providers in California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming will begin receiving funds later this month to help expand broadband access to nearly 22,000 unserved homes and businesses, said Thursday's public notice on docket 10-90.