CWA Says PUCs Should Regulate Broadband, VoIP
Communications Workers of America wants state commissions to regulate broadband and VoIP, union officials said on a Monday webinar. CWA developed a model bill to undo any state deregulatory laws and direct commissions to exercise broadband and VoIP authority in…
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areas including resiliency, public safety, consumer protection and data collection and transparency. State agencies could conduct third-party audits of facilities and infrastructure under the bill. New York state Sen. Sean Ryan (D), now sponsoring such a bill (SB-5117), said broadband is a utility and should be regulated that way. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgency of universal broadband, he said. Ryan’s bill is the first state measure to follow the union’s approach, said CWA Research Director Nell Geiser. Colorado and California have bills that “go some of the way towards our goals,” said Geiser. CWA is active in about 15 other states pushing for similar changes, which the union expects will be a multiyear effort, she said. NARUC advised CWA on the bill, but the state commissioner association doesn’t lobby at the state level, said Geiser. CWA and state legislators are directly engaging with commissions in specific states, she added.