STATE LEGISLATORS TACKLE PSC REFORM, WIRELESS E-911, SPAM CURBS

The S.C. House and Senate broke a 2-year stalemate on how to reform the legislative election process for PSC commissioners, coming up with a compromise proposal. The 2 chambers had sharply differing views on how to deal with issues relating to member qualifications and nepotism, stemming from a review in 2001 of candidates for election to the PSC, whose members are elected by the state legislature from a list of screened candidates. The lawmakers on the screening committee in 2001 raised questions about the lack of any minimum education standards or any barriers against close family members of legislators seeking a PSC seat. But the 2 chambers differed on the details of reform, with the Senate wanting much stricter standards than the House. The resulting stalemate left incumbents in their seats long after their terms ended.

Under the compromise, candidates for the S.C. PSC must be college graduates with some work experience relevant to regulation. They also can’t be living in the same household as a state lawmaker, nor be a lawmaker’s dependent, unless that lawmaker had been out of office for at least 4 years. The compromise requires a 2/3 majority in both chambers in order to take effect, with elections to be held within 30 days after approval. The compromise specifically exempts from the new standards the 23 candidates currently on the nominee list for the 7 available PSC seats. Those elected from that list will be grandfathered from the new standards for as long as they serve on the PSC.

The Wis. Senate approved an amended version of an Assembly-passed bill (AB-729) that would impose time limits on the Wis. PSC for deciding matters related to wholesale rates and terms for UNEs and related services. The Assembly bill would impose an absolute 180-day deadline, with automatic approval if the PSC failed to act by the deadline. The Senate’s version would allow the agency to seek extensions of the 180-day deadline. The bill was returned to the Assembly for concurrence with the Senate’s changes. Under the Senate version, the PSC could ask the state courts for a 60-day extension on small-scale cases and a 180-day extension on large-scale cases, as defined in the bill. CLECs and some business users have opposed the bill on the ground that it would impair the PSC’s ability to fully consider wholesale rate matters.

A Utah House committee advanced a bill (HB-36) that would impose a 14-cent monthly surcharge per access line or wireless number to finance a statewide wireless E911 location system. Under the bill advanced by the House Public Utilities & Technology Committee, collections would go into a dedicated E911 emergency service fund that would make grants or loans to state and local agencies for integrating wireless phones into current landline E911 systems and to reimburse wireless carriers for expenses incurred in complying with wireless E911 mandates. The bill also would create a 13- member Utah 911 Committee to administer the fund and make technical recommendations.

A Colo. Senate committee advanced SB-76 that would declare false or misleading statements in advertising e-mails to be a deceptive trade practice. That would include any false or misleading addresses, subject lines or domain names. The bill passed by the Senate Business Affairs & Labor Committee would shield from prosecution e-mail networks that transmitted an unlawful message. The bill was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Vt. House Commerce Committee advanced a measure (HB-657) that would abolish the state’s no-call telemarketing list. Instead, the state would make the federal no-call registry the official state list.

The Tenn. Senate Commerce Committee put a temporary hold, until March 23, on a bill that would broaden the legal definition of telephone services subject to state regulatory jurisdiction. The language in SB-2757 could be interpreted to cover VoIP, power line broadband and any other 2-way communications service that employed electricity over wires. The panel decided it needed more time to study the implications of the legislation.

The Va. House Science & Technology Committee in an 11-7 vote defeated a bill (HB-475) that would have required all public libraries in the state to install porn filters on any computer used by the public to access the Internet, and to create policies for selecting filtering software. The bill had cleared the House General Laws Committee before hitting the roadblock.

A Wash. Senate Committee advanced SB-6557 that would overturn a recent decision by state regulators to require that the state’s larger CLECs file the same service quality reports as incumbent telcos. The bill approved by the Senate Technology & Communications Committee would specifically exempt CLECs from service quality reporting requirements. CLECs have been lobbying in support of the bill, saying competition made the reports superfluous.

In new legislation, a carphone safety bill in Miss. would make it a misdemeanor to drive while talking on a handheld mobile phone. Under SB-2418, offenders would face a minimum $500 fine. A similar bill (HB-1157) would make it a misdemeanor to cause an auto accident while talking on a handheld mobile phone. Offenders would face a minimum $1,000 fine in addition to any other penalties stemming from the accident. A new telemarketing bill in the Mo. Senate (SB- 1116) would add wireless and business phone numbers to the state’s no-call telemarketing list. Currently, the list allows only residential phone numbers.