Today:  California PUC Issues News Release on Wildfires, FCC Issues Statement on Proposed Spectrum Legislation

California PUC Issues News Release on Wildfires

The California PUC (CPUC) released information on automatic protections for  wildfire-impacted customers.   The CPUC would like to let those impacted by the devastating wildfires in our state know that there are customer protections that are automatically available to them as a result of the State of Emergency declared in California.  Home Telephone Service Customer Protections Communication companies in fire-impacted areas must refund their customers who have home phone service for the periods that the customers are without service due to the wildfires. Carriers of Last Resort must waive certain charges, such as connection fees, for affected customers. The CPUC is monitoring the fire conditions throughout the state, in coordination with our partners from CAL FIRE and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES). CAL FIRE determines the sources of ignition of the fires. The CPUC’s staff investigations assess the compliance of electric facilities with applicable rules and regulations in fire-impacted areas.

FCC Issues Statement on Proposed Spectrum Legislation

Senators Lee and Markey introduce the Government Spectrum Valuation Act.  The bill would require annual coordination of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the FCC to determine the value of electromagnetic spectrum assigned or allocated to each federal agency.  It would also require each federal agency to report the value of their electromagnetic spectrum in the President’s budget and each federal agency’s financial statement.

Under the legislation, the valuation would cover the frequencies between 3 kilohertz and 300 gigahertz.  Also, NTIA would be required to base the value determination on the value that the electromagnetic  spectrum would have if the spectrum were reallocated for licensed or unlicensed commercial wireless services. 

FCC Commissioner O’Rielly issued a statement on the proposed legislation.  “I applaud Senators Lee and Markey for introducing the ‘Government Spectrum Valuation Act of 2018.’ As I have previously stated, requiring U.S. Government agencies to put a market price on their spectrum holdings will fix a budgetary anomaly and promote overall spectrum efficiency by incentivizing each agency to release unneeded spectrum. It’s an idea whose time has come and has generated diverse support, including from my colleague, Commissioner Rosenworcel.” 

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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.