Subject: [NEXTEL-1] VOIP Bill Gives States a Voice By Michael Grebb]

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 14:48:21 -0400

VOIP Bill Gives States a Voice  By Michael Grebb

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64317,00.html

02:00 AM Jul. 23, 2004 PT

WASHINGTON -- A key Senate committee passed a flurry of legislation on 
Thursday, including bills affecting regulation of voice-over-IP
telephony 
services and simplifying how eligible satellite TV customers watch local 
broadcast stations.

The markup by the Senate Commerce Committee tackled a number of diverse 
bills, most of which passed and are now eligible for votes on the Senate 
floor.

But with Congress about to take its summer recess and an election year
in 
full swing, it's unclear how many bills will make it to the floor this 
session.

In one surprising development, lawmakers passed a significantly altered 
version of SB2281, The VOIP Regulatory Freedom Act of 2004, sponsored by 
Sen. John Sununu (R-New Hampshire). The bill is intended to protect VOIP 
services from overzealous regulation -- especially from the states.

Some lawmakers have worried that excluding states would give VOIP
services 
an unfair advantage over existing phone companies, which must operate
under 
heavy state regulation.

At the markup, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) convinced the
committee 
to pass an amendment that would give states a role in regulating new
VOIP 
services.

Dorgan's amendment would allow states to continue to require VOIP
providers 
to contribute to state universal programs, which help subsidize phone 
service in rural areas, and to pay intrastate "access charges," which
are 
paid by telecommunications companies to terminate calls on each others' 
networks.

VOIP providers argue that they already pay such fees indirectly when
they 
lease the facilities of third parties, which in turn pay fees to
incumbent 
phone companies.

Before passing, the Dorgan amendment spurred some debate at the markup.

"I think you've gone too far," said Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

The committee also passed an amendment by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Montana)
and 
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida) to preserve the ability of states to
require 
VOIP applications to provide 911 and "enhanced" 911 services.

But beyond the specific state roles outlined in those amendments, states 
would be otherwise preempted by the federal government under a
substitute 
amendment offered by bill sponsor Sununu -- along with Stevens and Sen. 
Maria Cantwell (D-Washington).

That amendment, which also passed, still generally preempts states from 
directly regulating VOIP applications.

It's unclear whether the general preemption will have any teeth,
however, 
especially since universal service and access charges are among the top 
issues that VOIP providers wanted out of state hands.

The committee also passed the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Rural 
Consumer Access to Digital Television Act of 2004, SB2644, intended to
let 
satellite companies provide customers who can't receive over-the-air 
digital TV signals with a distant network signal by satellite.

Industry leaders hope the bill will extend the reach of new
high-definition 
television services now offered by the broadcast networks to rural
areas.

In a provision that primarily affects satellite provider EchoStar, the
bill 
also requires the phaseout of any service that requires consumers to buy 
two dishes to receive both satellite paid TV programming as well as
local 
broadcast stations via satellite.

The bill also directs the FCC to develop a method for identifying
unserved 
digital households within two years.

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