California schools must develop a policy limiting smartphones on campuses by July 1, 2026, under a bill signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The governor signed AB-3216 about one month after the legislature passed the measure (see 2408300039). “We know that excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues -- but we have the power to intervene,” Newsom said. “This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not their screens, when they’re in school.” Several states are considering ways to limit smartphone usage by students (see 2407190012).
Cost remains an obstacle for 1.7 million New York state households to get broadband, said a New York Department of Public Service staff report Tuesday. And the end of the federal affordable connectivity program and litigation over the FCC’s reclassification of broadband and New York’s Affordable Broadband Act (see 2409160031) have complicated efforts to connect them, staff said. “To alleviate that uncertainty,” the department included in the report a list of low-cost plans available from ISPs.
Frontier Communications would no longer receive Arizona Universal Service Fund (AUSF) subsidies under a proposed settlement in a ratemaking docket at the Arizona Corporation Commission. Frontier and ACC staff filed the pact Friday in docket T-03214A-23-0250. Frontier is the only company in the state receiving this high-cost support. If the proposal is approved, Frontier will forgo collecting any further AUSF funding as well as about $104,000 it's currently owed. In addition, the agreement would adjust Frontier basic service rates that were last revised in 1989. It would designate certain basic telecom services as competitive and deregulate other tariffed intrastate telecom services. Frontier would offer the basic services through a price-cap rate structure. The agreement said "appropriate ACC oversight of Frontier's regulated services” will continue. In March, Arizona commissioners refused hiking monthly AUSF surcharges because they said they wanted to address the issue in the Frontier ratemaking docket.
New York state recovered $750,000 in stolen wages from Best Wireless, a former certified Verizon retailer that had 29 stores and about 450 employees in New York City and elsewhere in the state, Attorney General Letitia James (D) said Friday. Her office reached the agreement with Best Wireless after an investigation found that the retailer “engaged in numerous labor violations over several years,” said the James office. “The company illegally deducted wages for lost, stolen, and missing merchandise, refused to pay overtime or provide breaks, and charged employees for their uniforms and background checks.” Verizon has terminated its relationship with Best Wireless, which no longer operates as an authorized Verizon retailer, the AG office noted.
A federal judge declared a mistrial in the case of former AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza at U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois. The former telecom executive had pleaded not guilty in October 2022 to bribery and racketeering charges, including allegations that he authorized nine $2,500 monthly payments, totaling $22,500, to a close ally of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D). Madigan in return successfully pushed through legislation backed by La Schiazza making it easier for AT&T to terminate its costly carrier of last resort obligation to continue providing landline services to Illinois residents, said the indictment. The trial began earlier this month. But in a Thursday order, Judge Robert Gettleman said the “jury reported they have reached an impasse and cannot reach a unanimous verdict.” Discharging the jury, Gettleman set a court hearing for Tuesday.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed three more AI bills, bringing the total number to eight this week. The governor’s office said Thursday that Newsom signed SB-942, which requires widely used generative AI systems to add invisible watermarks to content so that it can be easily identified as AI-generated. The governor also signed SB-926, making it illegal to create sexually explicit deepfake images of a real person, and SB-981, requiring social media platforms to establish a way for users to report sexually explicit deepfakes of themselves. On Tuesday, he signed five AI bills related to elections and entertainment (see 2409180024). Newsom has yet to sign a controversial AI bill (SB-1047) that would require large AI developers and those providing computing power to train AI models to implement protections preventing critical harms (see 2409060039). The governor has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills that the legislature passed this year.
Maine opened its prequalification process for NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, the Maine Connectivity Authority said Wednesday. It will remain open through Oct. 18, the MCA said. In this first phase of Maine’s subgrantee selection process, “MCA will evaluate a prospective applicant’s technical, financial, operational and managerial capacity,” it said. NTIA allocated nearly $272 million to Maine for BEAD. North Carolina started prequalifying ISPs earlier this week (see 2409160033).
Android and iPhone users can now add California driver’s licenses or state IDs to their Google or Apple digital wallets under a pilot program, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Thursday. California added support for Apple users Thursday after last month announcing it for Google users. The pilot is limited to 1.5 million participants.
Aiming at curbing deepfakes in elections and entertainment, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed multiple AI bills this week. On elections, the governor supported requiring large websites to remove or label AI-generated deepfakes (AB-2655); expanding a prohibition on knowingly distributing election ads with deceptive AI-based content (AB-2839); and requiring disclosures in electoral ads with AI-generated or -altered content (AB-2355), said a Newsom news release Tuesday. In an earlier announcement that day, the governor’s office said Newsom signed bills requiring actors' and performers’ consent to use their digital likeness (AB-1836 and AB-2602). Newsom has yet to sign a more controversial AI bill (SB-1047) that would require large AI developers and those providing computing power to train AI models to implement protections for preventing critical harms (see 2409060039). The governor has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills that the legislature passed this year.
Vermont launched a fiber optic apprenticeship program with the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA), the Vermont Community Broadband Board said Tuesday. Sertex Broadband Solutions is the first Vermont employer to join, the board said. The state’s apprenticeship program is part of the U.S. Labor Department’s Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program, which WIA sponsors.