STATE TELECOM BILLS FLOODING IN—AND OUT

NO-CALL LISTS

Ariz. bill (HB-2399) would establish state “no-contact” list of phone and fax numbers, e-mail addresses and postal addresses of customers who don’t want phone, fax, e-mail or direct mail solicitations. Violators would face fines up to $500. Exemptions include calls to existing customers, charities and people making fewer than 100 contacts per year. In House committee.

N.J. bill (AB-727) would authorize Consumer Affairs Div. to establish no-call telemarketing list. Businesses calling their customers, debt collection, charities and political organizations exempted. Fine would be $2,000 per offending call. Passed first committee; pending in 2nd Assembly panel.

S.D. bill (HB-1228) would authorize PUC to establish and enforce state no-call list. Violators could be fined up to $500 per call. Tabled in House committee, probably dead.

Mich. bill (HB-4042) would establish official no-call list for Mich. consumers. Bill passed House, was weakened by amendments before passing Senate. House refused to concur. In conference committee.

Ky. bill (HB-47) would toughen state no-call list law by eliminating all but 6 exemptions. Surviving exemptions include telephone and cable companies, businesses calling local numbers, charities, debt collectors and real estate agents. Passed House, in Senate committee.

Wash. bill (SB-6447) would create no-call list administered by Dept. of Licensing. Violations could be prosecuted as deceptive trade practice unless telemarketer could show that it had made every effort to comply with list. Passed first Senate committee, pending in 2nd panel.

Minn. has 2 no-call bills: HF-2474 would authorize attorney gen. office to establish list by Jan. 2003. If federal govt. established national no-call list, AG would hand over numbers it had collected. Second bill (SF-2644) is similar but would have state Commerce Dept. manage list. Both bills are in committee.

Ill. has 2 no-call bills. HB-3954 would authorize Ill. Commerce Commission to establish no-call list, while other bill (HB-4546) calls for creation of state no-call list but doesn’t specify which agency would be responsible for it. Neither bill specifies penalties. Both are in House committee.

Ia. bill (SF-400) would establish state list with $10 fee to join list and $5 for annual renewal. Telecom carriers would be required to notify customers how to sign on to list. Violations could be pursued in state civil courts for greater of $2,000 per call or actual monetary damages. In Senate committee.

R.I. bill (SB-2246) would give state Attorney Gen. authority to establish and enforce state no-call list. Bill is modeled after N.Y. no-call law that took effect last spring. In Senate committee.

OTHER TELEMARKETING & SPAMMING

Utah antispam bill (HB-80) would require “ADV:” in subject line of e-mail ads and inclusion in message of address or phone number for ceasing further solicitations. Also would prohibit false or misleading information on source, nature or transmission path of spam message. Penalties would be lesser of $10 per message or $25,000 per day. Passed House, in Senate committee.

Ill. bill (SB-1637) would prohibit telemarketers from placing sales calls to wireless phone numbers. Passed Senate committee, pending on Senate floor.

S.D. bill (HB-1227) would make it criminal misdemeanor for senders of fax and e-mail advertisements to omit toll- free number or e-mail address to contact for ceasing further solicitations. Tabled in House committee, probably dead.

Minn. junk fax bill (SF-2473) would prohibit unsolicited transmission of faxed ads on pain of maximum $25,000 fine. In Senate committee.

Hawaii antispam bill (HB-2088) would require “ADV:” in e-mail ads’ subject line plus inclusion in message of phone number and e-mail address for notifying sender to cease further mailings. Penalties range from $25-$500 per offense, plus civil actions for up to $25,000 per day. Also would make it criminal misdemeanor to use any Internet domain name without permission to send spam. In House committee.

Maine antispam bill (LD-2041) would require “ADV:” in e- mail ads’ subject line plus inclusion in message of phone number and e-mail address for notifying sender to cease further mailings. Exemption for advertisements sent on request. Violations would be unfair trade practice. In Senate committee.

WIRELESS SERVICES

Md. wireless bill (SB-449) would give new wireless service customers 30 days to cancel service contract without penalty for service coverage or voice quality that’s not up to advertised standards. Bill also would require wireless carriers to implement E-911 and local number portability, and give PSC authority to review wireless carriers’ accounts and records when investigating customer complaints. In Senate committee.

N.M. wireless deregulation bill (SB-3) would remove all aspects of wireless service from jurisdiction of N.M. Public Regulation Commission and exempt wireless carriers from telecom-related consumer protection and infrastructure investment requirements. Passed Senate committee, pending on Senate floor. Parallel N.M. wireless tax bills (HB-299, SB- 278) would conform state tax laws to federal Mobile Telecom Sourcing Act by taxing intrastate wireless services at subscriber’s place of primary use, usually home or workplace, regardless of where call actually occurs. Both bills passed first committee, are pending in 2nd panel. Similar Wash. wireless taxation bill (HB-2404) also passed its first committee, is pending in 2nd House panel.

Ariz. carphone safety bill (SB-1003) would ban use of handheld mobile phones while driving on pain of minimum $50 fine. Passed Senate, defeated in House committee.

Utah carphone safety bill (HB-67) would prohibit driving while distracted by using carphone, other electronic devices, grooming, eating or other activities. It also would prohibit localities from enacting distracted driving penalties greater than $50 state penalty. Passed House committee, defeated on House floor.

Cal. bill (AB-911) would ban use of handheld mobile phones while driving, except to report emergency. Defeated in Assembly committee.

N.Y. carphone safety bill (AB-9650 ) would expand state’s 2001 carphone safety law by barring drivers under age 21 from using any mobile phone while driving, including hands-free models. Similar N.Y. bill (AB-9645) would apply total cellphone use ban just to drivers under age 18. In Assembly committee.

W.Va. carphone safety bill (HB-4266) would ban use of handheld mobile phones while driving, except to report emergency. Fine would be $500. In House committee.

Hawaii wireless deregulation bill (HB-1943) would remove wireless carriers entirely from any jurisdiction of Hawaii PUC. In House committee.

Neb. wireless bill (LB-1286) would empower PSC to arbitrate retail wireless billing disputes and require that wireless providers register their billing operations with PSC. In first committee.

Ill. wireless service bill (HB-3937) would give emergency service providers priority access to mobile phone bandwidth. Priority among different emergency services would be determined by state’s public safety agencies. In House committee.

Cal. wireless bill (AB-878) would allow local school boards to authorize wireless devices for students in public schools for safety as well as health reasons. In Assembly committee.

Ga. wireless bill (SB-336) would repeal state ban on possession of wireless phones by students in school. Bill would authorize local school boards to set policy on students’ use of wireless phones or pagers in schools. In Senate committee.

Alaska wireless taxation bill (HB-355) would conform state tax laws to federal Mobile Telecom Sourcing Act by taxing intrastate wireless services at subscriber’s place of primary use, usually home or workplace, regardless of where call actually occurred. In House committee.

STRUCTURAL SEPARATION

Ill. bill (HB-4199) would require state regulators to structurally separate SBC/Ameritech into independent wholesale and retail operations by end of 2002. In House committee.

Wis. bill (SB-408) would require structural separation of SBC/Ameritech’s wholesale and retail operations, establish mandatory retail and wholesale service quality standards, and change Ameritech price capping system to reflect company separation. In Senate committee.

Utah bill (HB-140) would authorize regulators to order structural separation of Qwest’s retail and wholesale operations or fine carrier up to $900,000 per day for chronic anticompetitive conduct. In House committee.

OTHER REGULATORY MATTERS

Va. bill (SB-375) would increase membership of Va. Corporation Commission to 5 members from 3, effective in Feb. 2003. Passed Senate, sent to House. Va. inmate payphone bill (SB-156) would declare inmate payphone services in state’s prisons to be outside the jurisdiction of Va. Corporation Commission. Passed Senate, sent to House.

S.D. bill (HB-1140) would create state universal fund and require all telecom carriers that access local exchange networks to contribute 3% of intrastate gross receipts to support fund. Tabled in House committee, probably dead.

Ida. bill (SB-1300) would create state utility consumer advocate’s office within attorney gen. office. Defeated in Senate committee.

Parallel Hawaii deregulation bills (HB-2255, SB-2864, SB-2784) would establish indexed price cap system that Verizon Hawaii could elect to replace current rate-of-return regime, without any mandatory tradeoffs. Bills all pending in committee.

Ill. competition bill (HB-4168) would require competitive local exchange carriers to serve residential customers as well as business customers within their service area. In House committee.

Fla. deregulation bill (HB-1519) would remove telecom carriers’ retail directory assistance services from PSC’s jurisdiction. In House committee.

Fla. access charge bill (SB-988) would require BellSouth to reduce its intrastate carrier access charges to interstate level within 5 years while access charges of other incumbent telcos would be capped at 2 cents per minute. Bill would require IXCs to pass access savings on to customers and would prohibit IXCs from billing access recovery fees to their customers. In Senate committee.

N.J. bill (SB-814) would prohibit members of Board of Public Utilities from working as legislative agents for any company for one year after leaving office. In Senate committee.

Minn. bill (HF-2585) would prohibit toll charges on calls to numbers of public schools that originated within the school district. In House committee.

Hawaii’s SB-2272 would shift regulatory jurisdiction over cable TV to counties from state and require cable companies to pay county gross receipts taxes. In Senate committee,

INTERNET

Mo. Internet filter bill (SB-665) would require schools and libraries to install porn filters on Internet computers used by minors or use ISP that provided filtering. Passed Senate committee, pending on Senate floor.

Ga. Internet filter bill (SB-387) would condition state funding for Internet-capable computers at schools and libraries on use of Internet porn filters. Another Ga. filter bill (SB-332) would require schools and libraries to install porn filters on Internet computers used by minors or use ISP that provides filtering. Both bills are in Senate committee.

Mich. broadband stimulus bill (SB-880) would preempt local authority over broadband and narrowband telecom carriers’ use of local rights-of-way (ROW) and centralize ROW administration with state; also would establish state ROW fee in lieu of local fees. Companion Mich. bill (SB-881) would create state broadband development authority to help fund broadband facilities. Both bills are in Senate committee.

N.Y. has 3-bill broadband stimulus package: AB-9663 would require municipalities to grant broadband telecom carriers access to their rights-of-way; AB-9664 would allow local economic development agencies to conduct broadband development studies and seek up to $100,000 in matching economic development funds from state for broadband projects; AB-9665 would provide tax credits of up to 20% for investing in current and new broadband technologies. Bills are in Assembly committee.

N.J. bill (AB-1728) would update state’s 1984 computer crime laws to include unlawful acts perpetrated by means of the Internet and unlawful acts that disrupted Internet service. Bill also would make any computer crime perpetrated against a govt. agency an automatic first-degree felony. In Assembly committee.

R.I. Internet open access bill (HB-6941) would require broadband providers to offer facilities access to all Internet service providers that’s equal to what it provides to itself and its affiliates. In House committee.

W.Va. bill (SB-389) would authorize state attorney gen. to establish security and identity rules for electronic transactions. In Senate committee.

MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES

Utah bill (HB-8) would abolish Local Government Information Technology Review Committee. Panel, composed of police, fire/rescue, 911 and school transportation representatives, reviews local implementation of information and telecom technology in public safety systems. Passed legislature, sent to gov.

Mich. bill (SB-803) would authorize state and local police agencies to conduct wiretaps and monitor wireless and Internet activity of criminal or terrorism suspects under court supervision and subject to many anti-abuse safeguards. Present law denies Mich. police any wiretapping authority. Passed Senate, sent to House. Related Mich. bill (SB-942) would make it felony to use telephone or Internet to threaten or commit acts of terrorism against public safety, educational, commercial or govt. operations. Maximum penalties are $20,000 fine and 20 years in prison. Passed Senate, sent to House.

Cal. bill (SB-500) would require telephone, energy and cable companies to tell customers calling for installations or repairs that they could request a specific 4-hour time window for their service call. Passed Senate, sent to Assembly.

Ind. 911 bill (SB-214) would make it criminal misdemeanor to prevent anyone from making 911 emergency call. Passed Senate, in House committee. Similar S.D. 911 bill (HB-1224) would make it misdemeanor to interfere with or prevent someone from making 911 call. Passed House committee, pending on House floor.

Ind. inmate payphone bill (HB-1225) would cap at 33% the commissions that local govts. could charge on collect payphone calls by county jail inmates and would encourage phone providers to reduce their rates. Passed House, in Senate committee. Ind. Senate bill addressing inmate payphone rates (SB-136) would require counties to accept lowest bid from telecom vendors for inmate payphone services and apply any commissions yielded from deal to capital improvement projects at jails. Passed Senate, in House committee.

Mo. inmate payphone bill (HB-1691) would authorize state Office of Administration to renegotiate existing contracts for prison inmate payphone services to reduce collect call rates. Bill also would require future contracts for inmate payphone services to be awarded to bidder offering lowest cost-based rates. In House committee.

W.Va. 911 bill (HB-4272) would make confidential any recording of 911 calls that reported crimes. It also would require that personal information be deleted from any transcript of a 911 call. In House committee.

Mo. building access bill (HB-1500) would permit competitive telecom or cable carriers to request entry to multitenant building on same terms and conditions offered to incumbent carrier. State courts would resolve disputes if arbitration failed. In House committee.

Md. bill (HB-378) would amend telecom sales tax law to clarify that telecom carriers were not liable for sales taxes on value of goods or services a vendor sold by means of a 900 number, but only on value of pay-per-call service itself. In House committee.