Governor signs broadband and cybersecurity bills before deadline

The legislative session officially ended on Sunday, the last day for Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign or veto bills sent to his office by elected officials.

And as expected, Newsom signed several important pieces of legislation related to technology and innovation. This year’s series of new laws aims to sharpen existing cybersecurity and data legislation and pave the way for providing more and better broadband to residents. Among the takeaways:

• Newsom signed State Senate Bill 4, State Senator Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, the Broadband for All Act; and Assembly Bill 14, by Assembly Member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters, Internet for All Act. Bills were designed to be passed conditionally. SB 4 requires the Governor’s Office for Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to work with state, local and national entities to find “ways to facilitate the streamlining of local land use approvals and permitting processes. de construction ”for the deployment of broadband infrastructure and projects around connectivity. It also sets a target for the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) broadband infrastructure grant account to approve funding for infrastructure projects that “provide broadband access to as many as 98% of the population. Californian households ”by December 31, 2032. This extends the deadline by six years; the bill takes effect immediately. AB 14 extends a CASF funding mechanism for a decade until 2032 and authorizes the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to impose a surtax to raise $ 330,000 for the CASF until December 31, 2032. It also authorizes CPUC to require Internet service providers to report the “free, low cost, revenue or affordable” Internet service packages they advertise. This bill also comes into force immediately.
• AB 537, by Assembly Member Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, standardizes a “co-location or location application” for “certain wireless communications facilities” to Federal Communications Commission rules and requires that a city or a county “not to prohibit or unreasonably discriminate” for or against “any particular wireless technology” – ensuring, the Little Hoover Commission recently said, that local jurisdictions approve telecommunications projects within “reasonable” timeframes and via “the authorization of best practices”.
• SB 378, also from Gonzalez, requires that all cities generally allow “micro-trench for the installation of underground fiber if the installation in the micro-trench is limited to fiber”. The bill also concerns, where appropriate, “a local agency competent to approve the excavations”. This, the commission said, would reduce the costs of installing broadband and speed up deployment.
• AB 1352, of Assembly member Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park, expands the reach of the existing law on independent safety assessments – but also strengthens the powers of residents. It authorizes the California Military Department to conduct an independent security assessment of a local education agency or even a school site “at the request of a local education agency and in consultation with the California Cybersecurity Integration Center,” the cost of the assessment to be paid. by the local entity.
• AB 825, by Assembly Member Marc Levine D-San Rafael, refines the 1977 Information Practices Act, which already required agencies that own or authorize “computerized data” to disclose loopholes. system security to residents if their personal information is compromised. The bill clarifies that personal information in these situations includes genetic data – and defines it as “any data, regardless of its format, that results from the analysis of a biological sample of an individual, or of another source, and relates to genetic material, as specified. “