The Legal Division of the California Public Utilities Commission opposed...
The Legal Division of the California Public Utilities Commission opposed the state VoIP legislation SB-1161 (CD April 30, p9), said a commission memo released Tuesday. CPUC scheduled a vote on the bill Thursday. The bill could deregulate providers that aren’t…
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considered VoIP providers, the Legal Division said. CPUC should retain flexibility to determine whether and how to regulate VoIP services, the division said (http://xrl.us/bm6ud6). The Communications Division opposed the bill unless it’s amended, it said. The latest version of the bill would retain CPUC’s current general authority over the traditional services. It noted the words “service providers” in the bill text was amended to read “services.” However, other provisions of the bill could prevent adoption of new regulations on non IP-enabled and enforcement of existing regulations of non IP-enabled services, it said. “The result would be endless disputes with industry,” it said. It urged the legislators to amend the bill to enforce federal laws and regulations impact IP-enabled services where authorized to do so by FCC direction. The bill should also be amended to permit the CPUC to monitor the provision of VoIP services, to collect data from interconnected VoIP providers pertaining to the provision of VoIP services, and to make recommendations and reports to the state legislature regarding the provision of VoIP services, the division said. The provision should also require interconnected VoIP service providers to respond to CPUC data requests, it said.