The Georgia General Assembly’s passage of the Telecom Jobs and...
The Georgia General Assembly’s passage of the Telecom Jobs and Investment Act (HB 168) on Wednesday drew praise from non-profit coalition Citizens for a Digital Future. It called the measure “an important step in increasing broadband investment and deployment in…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Georgia.” The bill deregulates telecom rates. As originally written, it would have shrunk the Public Service Commission’s role on utility complaints to accepting them, but a rewrite preserved the agency’s complaint-handling authority. The original also would have abolished the state universal service fund. A compromise preserved the fund, with tighter restrictions on access. Coupled with 1995 state telecom reforms, the reforms will draw business to the state, “strengthening the Georgia economy and promoting innovation for broadband enhancement and digital technologies,” Citizens for a Digital Future said. The General Assembly passed the bill 136-17. Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, is expected to sign it.