SCN: WAISP Legislative Report 03/04/01 (fwd)

[Joel Ware IV]

SCN is a founding member of WAISP, the Washington Association of Internet
Service Providers.
Attached is the latest Legislative Report from WAISP, for your info.

Joel Ware, IV           jw4 at scn.org
Volunteer Coordinator Emeritus, Member of Governance, HR, Ops, Board

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2001 11:29:29 -0800
From: Gary Gardner--Executive Director <exec-director at waisp.org>
To: announcements at waisp.org
Subject: WAISP Legislative Report 03/04/01

We trust the earthquake on Wednesday did no significant damage to your
operation -- our office sustained minor damage, mostly overturned bookcases
and files, as well as a broken computer monitor -- but throughout the quake
and the aftermath, our Qwest ISDN connection to Northwest Link stayed up
and running -- surprise surprise!

The earthquake caused the legislature to grind to a halt shortly before
noon on Wednesday, and there has been no legislative activity except for a
brief "pro-forma" House and Senate sessions where they meet and immediately
adjourn until three day's hence.  The pro-forma sessions were held in the
Senate office buildings, as the Capitol itself is still unsafe and quite
damaged.

It was cut-off week prior to the quake -- the last days to hear bills in
committee if those bills were to be able to continue in the process.
Wednesday was supposed to be the cut-off for Senate bills - that has now
been extended until Monday afternoon.  The House cut-off was Tuesday.

The Senate is expected to convene at 8am on Tuesday to vote on bills - most
likely in the large committee hearing rooms in the Senate Office Building.
They are scheduled to work the rest of the week as well as Saturday and
Sunday to make up for lost time.

The House is set to convene on Wednesday as well - location unknown at this
time.  Their cut-off was on Tuesday before the earthquake, so their
committees are not meeting, and they will spend the first part of the week
cleaning up offices.

There is significant damage to both of the Legislative Chambers, with
decorative plaster castings in danger of falling, and a lot of clean-up to
do.  The cost of the damage is going to put a bigger crimp in an already
tight state budget, and will likely extend the session even further into
the summer.

Because of the cut-off a number of bills are now dead -- among them are:

HB 1077 -- Cable Access
HB 1284 and SB 5410-- PUD Telecom Restrictions
HB 1316 -- Material Harmful to Minors
SB 5124 -- CLEC Tariff change notice
SB 5233 -- Requiring filtered Internet Access at Libraries

Right now there are only a handful of bills WAISP is working with and
monitoring:

SB 5510 and HB 1287 -- Prohibiting Mandatory Measured Service
SB 5380 -- CLEC Regulations

The CLEC regulation bill is at:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2001-02/Senate/5375-5399/5380-s.pdf

The bill says the WUTC may waive all but minimal regulatory requirements
for competitive
telecommunications services if it determines that competition serves the
same purpose as
public interest regulation.  Different companies and services may be
subject to different
regulations if such treatment is in the public interest and does not result
in unfair competitive
advantage.

The WUTC is given discretion to either permit or require telecommunications
companies to
file price lists with the commission.  The commission may also permit or
require companies
to maintain publicly accessible price lists.  In no case may this
flexibility be used to allow
a telecommunications company to impose mandatory local measured service that is
inconsistent with state law.

Companies offering competitive telecommunications services must notify
customers of any
change in the price, terms, or conditions related to those services.  The
commission may
determine the form, manner, and timing of the notice, except that for price
increases in pre-
subscribed local exchange, local toll, and long-distance services,
companies must provide at
least ten days' written notice to their customers.



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