Proponents of a Montana ballot initiative (http://1.usa.gov/1kMRWKb), pushed by Charter Communications General Manager - Mountain States Christopher Fulton to lower the company’s state property taxes, have the go-ahead to try to gather enough signatures to put the measure on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot, the Secretary of State’s office ruled Tuesday. The initiative needs 24,175 verified signatures by June 20 to qualify, said a Secretary of State spokeswoman. Charter’s predecessor, Bresnan Communications, had divided its property for tax assessment purposes between being a “cable television system” and “telecommunications services company,” according to a Montana Supreme Court synopsis (http://bit.ly/1g8DoDi) of a dispute between Charter and the state spurring the ballot initiative. In 2008, a Montana Department of Revenue audit found that Bresnan’s voice, cable and Internet operations should be taxed as one entity, as a telecom company, hiking the company’s annual taxes by 329 percent from $1.7 million to $7.3 million, according to the Supreme Court decision. Bresnan argued portions of its operations could not be labeled telecom because it provided one-way signal cable. The state Supreme Court ruled Dec. 2 the state could classify the company’s operations as telecom “because it is capable of delivering telephone, cable and Internet service over the same equipment,” the decision said. Initiative 172 would classify the cable portion of companies that provide bundled voice, cable and high-speed Internet services to a taxing category that includes cable and assesses taxes at a lower rate than telecom. “If this 300 percent tax increase becomes permanent, Montana consumers will suffer if companies are forced to curtail services or diminish high speed Internet and high-definition television expansion in the state,” the initiative said. A Charter spokeswoman said the company is a “supporter of both the effort to repeal the 300 percent retro-active tax increase and the committee organized to spearhead it.” Mike Kadas, director of the Montana Department of Revenue, said in a statement, “We stand by our assertion and the Montana Supreme Court decision that Charter Communications must pay property taxes as a single telecommunications services company.” A Charter spokeswoman said the company is a “supporter of both the effort to repeal the 300 percent retro-active tax increase and the committee organized to spearhead it.” Mike Kadas, director of the Montana Department of Revenue, said in a statement, “We stand by our assertion and the Montana Supreme Court decision that Charter Communications must pay property taxes as a single telecommunications services company."

The Alabama Public Service Commission tentatively approved a staff proposal Tuesday that would reduce inmate phone rates and fees, said a PSC news release (http://bit.ly/1oq5nDE). The PSC extended a comment period through June 12 before deciding whether to issue a final order to implement the changes, it said. According to a PSC fact sheet, the changes would eliminate a $2.25 per call surcharge on each local or intrastate toll call made by inmates. Local calls are now charged an additional 50 cents per local call and 30 cents a minute for intrastate toll calls, on top of the surcharge. The changes would phase down the rates for both types of calls to 25 cents a minute the first year, 23 cents a minute for debit and prepaid calls the second year, and 21 cents a minute for debit and prepaid calls the third year. Collect calls would remain at 25 cents a minute the second and third years. The tentative changes would cap or eliminate a variety of fees charged by phone companies service jails and prisons. The changes are among a number of steps in states to reduce intrastate inmate call costs after FCC action on interstate inmate calls last year (CD May 5 p8).

An increasing number of local governments are building high-speed broadband networks, said New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) and CTC Technology & Energy, a communications and information technology engineering consulting firm, in a report Tuesday. Public broadband networks in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina, “as well as hundreds of others across the U.S., have demonstrated their ability to provide cutting-edge and more affordable broadband access to their communities,” said OTI Policy Program Associate Patrick Lucey in a news release (http://bit.ly/1fMvipc) on the report (http://bit.ly/1kHd04X). The projects signal “an opportunity for other local governments to define a better broadband future, where private sector-only approaches are unwilling or unable to meet a community’s aspirations or needs,” Lucey said. “In light of the current debates about net neutrality and the potential Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, it is more important than ever that communities begin to discuss local broadband options."

Google Fiber is “impressed by the enthusiasm and engagement” of all 34 cities under consideration for Google Fiber, and all of them have or for the most part completed checklists the company is seeking (CD May 1 p5), Google Fiber said on its blog Thursday (http://bit.ly/1pTbDYT). “There’s still a lot of work to do.” Google Fiber said it will now work on tying up loose ends with the checklists, including working with city councils that have yet to act on approving agreements to allow fiber huts. Video franchise agreements still need to be worked out, said the company. “After all of these steps, we'll start drawing up construction blueprints for local fiber networks. These detailed designs will help us see how complex it would be to build in each city, and will be used as we make our final decisions."

Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad is disappointed with the Legislature’s failure to pass Iowa House File 2472 (http://bit.ly/1flQXo6), which would have provided incentives to expand broadband in the state’s underserved areas, before adjourning for the year Wednesday. “We launched the ‘Connect Every Iowan’ initiative to increase access, adoption and use of broadband technology in Iowa,” Branstad said in a written statement Thursday (http://bit.ly/1rIZ8Lf). “Technology is the great equalizer and we know for Iowa to continue to grow and prosper, we must have quality broadband technology all across Iowa. ... We plan to continue working to bring high-speed Internet access to all corners of the state, not just to population and industrial centers.” The House Republican majority “failed to pass the Governor’s broadband bill, one of his top priorities this year,” countered House Democratic Leader Mark Smith. Republican supporters of the bill couldn’t pull enough Democrats to pass it, because “House Democrats firmly believe the bill does not go far enough in expanding broadband access to more homes and small businesses,” Smith said. The Connect Every Iowan Act (CD April 29 p13) would have exempted broadband equipment and infrastructure installed or constructed in unserved or underserved areas from property taxes until Dec. 31, 2018.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is right to shine a spotlight on “anti-competitive and economically stifling” state laws that bar or impede municipal broadband networks, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) said in a statement (http://bit.ly/1o4juOA) Wednesday. “In an era when policymakers throughout the country have recognized that robust broadband networks are necessary to ensure the nation’s economic future, it is imperative that local communities, entrepreneurs, and innovators have the opportunity to develop next generation networks at the local level,” NATOA said.

The nation’s need to invest more in infrastructure “is by no means a justification for turning the Internet over to private parties to derive maximum profits at the expense of consumers,” said Montgomery County, Md., Councilman Hans Riemer Wednesday, responding to comments by NCTA President Michael Powell. “Because the Internet is not regulated as a public utility, it grows and thrives,” Powell said Tuesday at NCTA’s 2014 Cable Show. “The contribution citizens make to ISPs in the form of providing access to their communities’ public assets such as rights-of-way, many times for free or less than market rates, is often forgotten in statements such as Mr. Powell’s,” Riemer said in a statement. “And I find it ironic that Mr. Powell, speaking for an industry that has torn up the nation’s streets on an ongoing basis, would use potholes as an example of why private industry should be unregulated when using public assets."

A bill that would make it easier for Colorado telcos to be excused from carrier-of-last resort (COLR) obligations was among five broadband bills approved by the state House and Senate Monday. Under HB-1331 (http://tinyurl.om/o2fse9x), sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Angela Williams and supported by CenturyLink, the Public Utilities Commission would also no longer have regulatory authority over basic local exchange service in areas deemed competitive, setting the stage for telcos to no longer provide landline service within two years (CD March 19 p12). In areas not deemed competitive, and where the PUC provides support, providers would still be subject to COLR obligations, but could meet the obligation by providing voice service through any technology, not just traditional landlines. Among the other measures passed in Colorado were HB-1329 (http://bit.ly/1kaR4yK), which removes the PUC’s authority over IP services and HB 1328 (http://bit.ly/1rJZz9Q), which shifts the state’s high-cost support mechanism to a new fund for expanding broadband services in underserved areas.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said he was disappointed by the defeat Friday of Iowa House File 2472 (http://bit.ly/1flQXo6), which would have provided incentives to expand broadband in the state’s underserved areas. “Increased access and adoption of broadband would help Iowa businesses grow and bring more jobs to the state, but Iowa House Democrats were more interested in election year politics than they were in passing good public policy,” Branstad said in a statement. The measure could be reconsidered before the legislature adjourns as early as Tuesday. The Connect Every Iowan Act would have exempted broadband equipment and infrastructure installed or constructed in unserved or underserved areas from property taxes until Dec. 31, 2018. It would have also allowed private providers to buy unused Iowa Communications Network bandwidth at wholesale rates in unserved or underserved areas. It would have allowed the private sector to build off of the ICN to serve retail customers, such as homes, businesses and local governments, Branstad’s office said. Democratic leaders were not immediately available for comment.

The sponsor of a California Senate bill that would have required smartphones in the state to come with a theft-deterring “kill switch” said he will try again after SB-962 (http://bit.ly/1puAfHp) failed in a 19-17 floor vote Thursday. The bill could be brought back up for reconsideration by the end of May, said Democratic Sen. Mark Leno in a news release. The measure would have required all smartphones sold in California to come pre-equipped with technology to render the device useless if stolen. It was prompted by concerns about an increase in smartphone thefts. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón in a joint release with Leno called Thursday’s vote “disheartening given the level of victimization.” The vote was praised by the CTIA, which had opposed the measure. Its news release cited an April 15 announcement (http://bit.ly/1mcQOmq) of the “Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment” (CD April 17 p10), in which several companies said new models of smartphones manufactured after July 2015 will have a preloaded or downloadable tool that would wipe out the authorized user’s personal data if reported lost or stolen. It would also render the smartphone inoperable to unauthorized users and prevent reactivation without the user’s permission. Leno criticized the proposal because customers would have to “opt-in” by activating the feature.