California broadband subsidy vote postponed, perhaps until 2018

10 July 2017 by Steve Blum
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A California senate committee delayed consideration of a bill to rewrite broadband subsidy rules until next week. Assembly bill 1665 was on the agenda for the energy, utilities and communications committee this morning. As the hearing began, the chair, Ben Hueso (D – San Diego) announced that it had been postponed until next Tuesday, 18 July 2017. No reason was given, but it appears that the flurry of opposition that followed last week’s amendments were a factor. One major question to answer is whether or not the delay means that the bill will actually be bumped until next year – there’s a key legislative deadline this Friday, and AB 1665 will miss it. No one is certain right now what that means – the California legislature’s rules can be elastic at times – but it’s very possible the bill will be put on hold until 2018.