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Committee hears bill to remove outdated telecom retail rules and clarify PSC role
Summary
House Bill 45 would repeal certain state telecom statutes that the sponsor and utilities groups say are outdated, narrow retail rate regulation to legacy landline services, and remove an unfunded state universal service fund statute. PSC staff and rural broadband providers supported the changes with caveats about consumer protections.
Representative Braxton Mitchell, sponsor of House Bill 45, told the committee the bill repeals obsolete state statutes governing retail rate regulation and other legacy telecommunications items that predate modern services such as VoIP and broadband.
Mitchell said the 1996 federal Telecommunications Act and market changes make portions of Montana law outdated: “we are repealing statute that relates to VOIP service … and it hasn't been funded since then.” He said the state universal service fund…
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