Articles

STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Telecom regulation takes center stage at Statehouse

While this session will, necessarily and constitutionally, be all about the budget, you can expect a few interesting stops during the long journey to that point. Even as the House Ways and Means Committee was hearing last week from assorted state agencies about their respective budget needs, other lawmakers were hearing from Hoosiers more interested in altering state policy than what the state’s fiscal bottom line might be. And just like the governor will be distracted this week-as he should…

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Telecom bill would cut power of state regulators:

Legislation backed by SBC Indiana would dial down the state’s authority to regulate telecommunications in the face of new competition from wireless and cable TV providers. House Bill 1518 likely faces static from regulators and consumer interests in its call to block the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission from setting pricing and terms on basic phone service after 2007, and to strip the agency’s leverage over broadband services. As a practical matter, the IURC already lacks authority on broadband, given previous…

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