Today's Regulatory Mix:  California Announces New Online Comment Portal for the Public, USDA Announces Georgia Broadband Grant, FCC February Open Meeting Agenda

California Announces New Online Comment Portal for the Public 

The PUC issues a press release announcing that the public can now submit comments on CPUC matters electronically, as well as review the comments of others.  Importantly, the PUC noted that the new format is only for public comments on proceedings.  Parties to proceedings must still formally file comments.  Information about becoming a party to a proceeding is available at http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/Party_to_a_Proceeding. 

Members of the public can already make their voices heard at the CPUC in a variety of ways, such as emailing or mailing comments to the CPUC, speaking at a CPUC Voting Meeting, or attending public hearings and workshops. 

With the release of the new online comment feature, members of the public can now read comments submitted to the CPUC through the new online portal and can submit their comments directly through a proceeding’s docket card at http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/Docket.  

USDA Announces Georgia Broadband Grant 

The USDA announced a $5 million investment in two, high-speed broadband infrastructure projects that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for 1,221 rural households, 32 pre-subscribed businesses and 20 pre-subscribed farms in McIntosh and Evans counties in Georgia. Specifically: 

• The Darien Telephone Company will use a $1 million ReConnect Program grant to expand high-speed internet service to underserved households and businesses in McIntosh County, using Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology. The project’s service area includes 257 households, 17 pre-subscribed businesses and a critical community facility.   
• The Pembroke Telephone Company will use a $2 million ReConnect Program grant and a $2 million ReConnect Program loan to build an FTTP network to provide high-speed internet to residents, businesses and farms in Evans County. The project’s service area includes 964 households, 20 pre-subscribed farms and 15 pre-subscribed businesses. 

FCC February Open Meeting Agenda 

The FCC announced the final agenda for its February 28, 2020 Open Meeting. 

The following items will be considered:  

• Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Bidding Procedures – A Public Notice that would launch the process of establishing pre- and post-auction application procedures and competitive bidding procedures to allocate up to $16 billion to support the deployment of fixed broadband networks in rural America in Phase I of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.  
• Promoting Public Safety Through Information Sharing – The Commission will consider a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would provide state and federal agencies with read-only access to communications outage data for public safety purposes while also preserving the confidentiality of that data.  

• Expanding Flexible Use of the C-band – A Report and Order and Proposed Order of Modification that would reform the use of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band, also known as the C-band, to promote U.S. leadership in the next generation of wireless services, including fifth-generation (5G) wireless and other advanced spectrum-based services, and close the digital divide.  
• C-band Auction Bidding Procedures – A Public Notice that would seek comment on procedures for the auction of new flexible-use overlay licenses in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band (Auction 107) for Next Generation Wireless Services.  
• Auction of Priority Access Licenses for the 3.5 GHz Band – A Public Notice that would establish application and bidding procedures for Auction 105, the auction of Priority Access Licenses in the Citizens Broadband Radio Service in the 3550-3650 MHz band.  
• TV White Spaces – A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would propose targeted changes to the white space device rules in the TV bands (channels 2-35) to provide improved broadband coverage that would benefit American consumers in rural and underserved areas.  
• Electronic Delivery of Carriage Election Notices – A Report and Order that would modernize the carriage election notice provisions in the FCC’s Rules for low-power TV and noncommercial educational translator stations, which are not required to maintain online public inspection files.  
• Amending Record Requirements on Cable Operator Interests in Video Programming –A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would seek comment on whether to eliminate or modify the requirement in the FCC’s Rules that cable operators’ attributable interests in video programming services.  

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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.