ftp.xmission.com/2014.06.ftp.xmission.com.tar/ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/utlegis/archive/utlegis.9803

Internet Message Format | 1998-03-05 | 6KB

From: Sue Ashdown <[e-mail]>
Subject: (utlegis) HB 263 report
Date: 03 Mar 1998 18:42:50 -0700

Thank you for subscribing to utlegis.  Here is the latest news on this
year's legislative folly which could affect YOUR phone rates.

When I left the Capitol at 4 p.m. today, HB 263 (removal of yellow pages
imputation) was still languishing somewhere - rumor had it, in Mel Brown's
lap, but no-one really knew.  This was the bill which asked the Legislature
to mandate another telephone rate increase, by letting US WEST keep all the
excess profits ($30 million annually) from its yellow pages business
instead of having them contribute toward local service.

As an interesting side note, US WEST's competitors came up with a bill of
their own this year; HB 115, which would enforce expedited interconnection
and allow the Public Service Commission to fine US WEST severely when it
willfully violates interconnection agreements.  The fine started out at $1
million a day, and got negotiated down to $10,000 a day and US WEST
continued to work to whittle it - interesting, particularly as US WEST
argued simultaneously that it does not violate these agreements at all, in
which case you might imagine the fine to be irrelevant.

But any victory for the competitors on 115 would be hollow if 263 also
passes; all you have to do is compare the scraps available in theoretical
$10,000 per day fines, which the PSC has already proven reluctant to
impose, to a $30 million guaranteed jackpot.  US WEST was pushing hard to
use this "jackpot" to "improve telecommunications" throughout the state, in
a bizarre scheme which would set up a troika of state officials to figure
out what US WEST should do with ratepayers money.  (I ought to add that
no-one was calling it a jackpot - US WEST's term was the rather
unimaginative "legacy fund".)  I argued hard to anyone who would listen,
including the Governor, that US WEST has the money already to "improve
telecommunications" through its incredibly profitable "features" and second
lines, and if the company openly admits that reinvesting its profits toward
improving telecommunications so it can make even more money is not its
"normal business plan", then everyone ought to be asking why, not figuring
out how to give the company even more.  Today at a meeting of County
Commissioners, a tax assessor from Emery put it even more bluntly - HB 263
is a threat...warmly and fuzzily presented, but a threat nonetheless -
either Utah's citizens give US WEST even more money, or they'll suffer with
a rotting network, antiquated services, the same old story.

The State of Utah's Committee of Consumer Services has also been telling
anyone who will listen that US WEST overearned $7.5 million in the first 3
quarters of 1997. This means $7.5 million on top of a guaranteed 11.5%
profit.  Once upon a time in a regulated market, overearnings were returned
to ratepayers, but not any more - we're in the brave new world of
deregulation, and the sky's the limit for those who are in a position to
get while the getting's good.

Phone calls to legislators urging them to vote NO on House Bill 263, if it
emerges, are still a good idea.  Anything could happen between now and
midnight tomorrow.

Sue Ashdown
General Manager
XMission


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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Sue Ashdown <[e-mail]>
Subject: (utlegis) legislative end
Date: 06 Mar 1998 12:26:07 -0700

As you have probably already read in the newspaper, the 1998 Utah
legislative season came to an end without the re-emergence of US WEST's
Yellow Page bill, HB 263.  Theories abound, but the easiest to explain
suggest that the bill was simply held too long and a last minute
pass-through would have looked incredibly bad.  This is the third year at
least that US WEST has tried to keep excess Yellow Pages profits for itself
through legislative maneuvering, so don't plan for the issue to go away.

The bill brought to the Hill by a coalition of would-be telephone
competitors, HB 115, finally passed after having most of the teeth knocked
out of it by US WEST.  It does increase the fines that the Public Service
Commission COULD levy if it wanted to, when US WEST willfully violates
interconnection agreements - the problem is that in the past the Commission
has shown a certain reluctance to assess fines in the first place.
Originally the bill had language which said the PSC "shall" fine a telco
when certain violations occur - US WEST fought and changed this to a "may",
which leaves us in roughly the same place we started.  However credit
should go where credit is due, and Marty Stephens who sponsored the bill
did manage with its passage, to achieve at least an expedited process and
increased potential fines, should the PSC ever actually impose them.
Stephens is one of the few (possibly the only) legislators I've seen who
demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of telecommunications issues.

Now that the legislature is over, we turn our attention to other issues -
on the Federal level, opposition to the MCI-Worldcom merger which has the
potential to concentrate 60% of the Internet backbone in the hands of one
company - on a local level, ongoing action at the Public Service Commission
to bring about improvements to the local network.

Thanks for your support.


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