The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Briefing.
TELECOM
US Congress
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D) has introduced the FCC Reauthorization Act of 2016, the first reauthorization of the FCC since 1990. The bill authorizes the FCC for FY 2017 and 2018 in the amounts of $361,116,000 for fiscal year 2017 and $348,711,000 for fiscal year 2018, “together with such sums as may be necessary for increases resulting from adjustments in salary, pay, retirement, other employee benefits required by law, and other nondiscretionary costs, for each such fiscal year.” The bill also:
FCC
SADC (aka Business Data Services Data Collection)
The FCC released another list of additional parties that have signed an acknowledgement of confidentiality (AOC) and that seek to review the data gathered through the FCC’s special access data collection (SADC). The list includes persons that signed an AOC since the FCC’s last Public Notice. Companies that submitted confidential or highly confidential information in response to the SADC have until March 14, 2016, to object to the disclosure of their data and information to any of the parties on the list.
Utah
The PSC has requested comment by March 25, 2016, as to whether its affordable base rate for telephone service should be changed in light of changes at the federal level. The PSC notes that, effective July 1, 2016, the FCC will require Utah's rural telecommunications providers to charge a base rate of $18 in order to remain eligible for subsidization through the Universal Service Fund. Accordingly, the PSC asks whether its base rate should be changed and, if so, how the change should be accomplished.
Washington
The House voted 95-0 in support of a bill to develop a cybersecurity plan for IT resources. If signed into law the bill would require that the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) implement a process for detecting and responding to security incidents and to develop plans to ensure continuity of commerce in the event of a security incident. The bill also proposes performance metrics and would require the OCIO to report to the Legislature by December 1, 2020, on its achievement of these metrics.