Utah and Ind. legislatures passed competition and 911 bills, whil...

to determine whether telecom competition in state was meeting procompetition mandates of state and federal law. Five members would be from Senate and 7 from House. Task force would obtain input from incumbent telcos, CLECs, wireless, cable and fiber carriers, plus PSC, Utah. Div. of Public Utilities and Utah Consumer Services Committee, along with business and residential phone customers. Panel would meet at least monthly between April and Nov. and issue report to legislature by Dec. 1. Legislature deleted provisions in original bill that would have required PSC to conduct expedited proceedings on complaints alleging Qwest had engaged in anticompetitive conduct and expanding PSC’s punishment powers. Also dropped was original language that would have required PSC to initiate structural separation proceeding if Qwest were convicted 3 times of anticompetitive conduct. Meanwhile, Ind. legislature passed and sent to Gov. Frank O'Bannon (D) bill allowing state’s E-911 advisory board to invest 911 fees collected from wireless carriers and use earnings to reimburse wireless carriers and local 911 systems for costs of implementing FCC’s Phase II wireless location order that requires wireless systems to be able to pinpoint location within a cell of wireless phone that’s calling 911. Bill (SB-180) would limit wireless 911 fee to $1 monthly per number. It also would reduce board’s size to 7 members from 11, make state treasurer voting member, repeal term limits for board members seeking reelection. Ind. legislature also passed and sent O'Bannon another 911 bill (SB-214) that would make it misdemeanor to prevent another person from making 911 emergency call. In Ill., Senate Judiciary Committee passed bill (SB-1830) that would require Ill. Commerce Commission to maintain and enforce no-call telemarketing list. Consumers would pay $5 to register their number on list while telemarketers would pay $1,000 to obtain copy of list. Violations would be punished by $2,500 fine per offending call. Bill now goes to Senate floor.