California had one win, and one loss with the bad telecom bills:
The Governor vetoed Patterson’s bill AB 1065 - He had a veto
message here:
https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AB-1065-Veto.pdf
Newsom returned this bill stating:
"The goal of this last-mile grant program, administered by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), is to expeditiously connect unserved and underserved communities to future-proof broadband service. Unfortunately, this bill would delay this effort by requiring the CPUC to halt the FFA program and modify the rules governing this program through a lengthy
process. This could jeopardize the CPUC's ability to meet federal funding encumbrance deadlines and it could significantly disrupt the review of project grant applications that were recently submitted."
AB 965, the "batching bill," was signed off on. This allows up to 50 telecom permit applications to be submitted at once, if they are
"substantially similar," and local governments will have very little time to respond. This may affect the outcome of the lawsuit FiberFirstLA has against the County of Los Angeles; we are waiting for some legal opinions.
Thank you to all in California who forwarded this information.
