From broadband — a topic of ongoing significance — to the issue of social media usage on state devices to bringing IT to bear on bad weather, state senators and assemblymembers propose laws that would make changes in each area. Among the takeaways:
- Assembly Bill 286 from Assemblymember Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, would require the California Public Utilities Commission’s interactive map of statewide broadband service to identify the broadband provider “for each address in the state” and the maximum speed of the broadband provided, plus “certain features to receive self-reported data” letting people “refute the broadband speed or technology” claimed to be provided.
“The bill would make this self-reported data publicly available by address and would require the commission to make individuals aware that this information will be made publicly available by address, as provided,” according to its text. The bill had its first reading Tuesday. - AB 277 from Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez, D-Pomona, would require the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to “jointly establish and lead the Extreme Weather Forecast and Threat Intelligence Integration Center,” to collect, assess and analyze “extreme weather data and atmospheric conditions.” The center would have to include “representatives from specified organizations,” and the bill would authorize CalOES and DWR to call on other entities to provide “additional representatives, as specified.” Once established, the center would share intelligence and data on “weather threat, forecasting, detection, and prevention activities” from sources including utilities, emergency operations centers, academic institutions and private companies. The bill would mandate the center “develop and disseminate timely and actionable intelligence products” to be used by “emergency managers, public safety officials, and local public and private-sector entities engaged in emergency preparedness efforts.” The center would also be tasked with creating an extreme weather forecast and threat intelligence strategy for the state, to be used by agencies to improve how such threats are handled and reduce the risk to residents, business and government. It would also offer guidance on information sharing to safeguard sensitive data. The bill received its first reading Monday and may be heard in committee Feb. 23, but no assignment has yet been made.
- AB 227, from Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, R-Temecula, would generally prohibit people from installing a social media app on a state-owned or state-issued electronic device, provided certain conditions are met, such as the company that owns the app being headquartered in a “country of concern.” Those countries are China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, the “Russian Federation” and Venezuela; and the bill specifies that apps “owned or controlled” by TikTok or ByteDance cannot be installed on state-issued or -owned devices. The bill had its first reading Jan. 11 and may be heard in committee Feb. 11.
- Similarly, state Senate Bill 74, from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, would bar social media apps from being downloaded or installed on state-owned or -issued devices under certain conditions including that an “entity of concern or a country of concern directly or indirectly owns, directly or indirectly controls, or holds 10 percent or more” of the owner company’s voting shares. It would be an urgency statute and take effect immediately. Entities of concern are defined as being, generally, headquartered in a country of concern; the bill currently doesn’t enumerate countries of concern. It had its first reading Jan. 11 and was referred Jan. 18 to the state Senate Rules Committee for a hearing; no date has been set.
