California to Hold July Meeting RE Ratepayer Funded Wildfire Fund

The PUC announced it will hold its meeting for July in Sacramento.  This Voting Meeting responds to Assembly Bill (AB) 1054, which requires the CPUC to consider whether utilities should create a ratepayer funded Wildfire Fund. The CPUC typically holds Voting Meetings twice a month in San Francisco, but also schedules Voting Meetings periodically in other cities throughout the state to enhance outreach. 

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The Regulatory Mix Today: California to Hold July Meeting RE Ratepayer Funded Wildfire Fund, FCC Approves E-Rate Funding for Year 2019, FCC Announces Effective Date for MVPD Changes, FCC Reminder on Accessible EAS Alerts

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FCC Approves E-Rate Funding for Year 2019

The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) announced that there is sufficient funding available to fully meet the Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC) estimated demand for category one and category two requests for E-Rate supported services for funding year 2019.  Accordingly, the Chief of the Bureau was delegated authority to determine the proportion of unused funds needed to meet category one demand and to direct USAC to use any remaining funds to provide category two support.  In light of the current funding cap of $4.15 billion and available carry forward funding of $1 billion, there is sufficient funding to fully fund all category one and category two funding requests.  Accordingly, USAC was directed to fully fund eligible category one and category two requests, using the $1 billion in E-Rate funds unused from previous years, and any additional funds needed under the current cap to fully meet demand for such services.

FCC Announces Effective Date for MVPD Rule Changes

The FCC announced that its revised rules for electronic delivery of MVPD communications became effective July 18, 2019.  In November 2018, the FCC adopted a Report and Order in MB Docket Nos. 17-317 and 17-105 modernizing its rules regarding certain information that cable operators were required to provide their subscribers on paper.  The Report and Order permitted these notices to instead be provided electronically via verified e-mail, so long as the cable operator complies with certain consumer safeguards.  In addition, among other things, the Report and Order also permitted electronic delivery of subscriber privacy information that cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) are required to provide, and authorized cable operators to respond to consumer requests and complaints via e-mail in certain circumstances.  

FCC Reminder on Accessible EAS Alerts

The next scheduled nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will take place on August 7, 2019, at 2:20 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), with a backup date of August 21, 2019. In connection with this test, the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) issued a reminder to analog and analog and digital cable systems, wireless cable systems, wireline video systems, digital television broadcast stations, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers of the requirement to provide accessible EAS alerts.  Specifically, Section 11.51 of the FCC’s rules requires that such providers broadcast national-level alerts in a manner that allows individuals with  and without disabilities to access the full content.  EAS Participants should take necessary steps to ensure that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and individuals who are blind or visually impaired have full access to EAS messages during the 2019 nationwide test.

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The Regulatory Mix, Inteserra’s blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of an Inteserra Briefing.