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Senate committee holds bill that would cede state review of telecom service cutoffs to FCC
Summary
The Senate State Affairs Committee held H 674 after witnesses warned the bill could leave some rural customers and volunteer emergency services without service if state-level review is removed; industry witnesses said the change would speed fiber deployment while preserving FCC safeguards.
Senator Den Hartog introduced H 674, which would remove Idaho's state-level review for discontinuing telecommunication services and rely on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for oversight. She said the change was intended to streamline review and speed infrastructure upgrades.
Opponents at the committee hearing, including Jeffery Fernous of Boise and Brent Duvall, said they feared the bill could leave rural customers and volunteer emergency services without reliable connections if copper facilities were discontinued without equivalent replacement service. Fernous urged caution, saying rural users rely on legacy copper lines for some emergency functions.
Supporters — including Sarah Bettwieser representing Cygnet and Robert Thoms of Lumen Technologies — said H 674 would not reduce customer protections because FCC safeguards remain in place and that removing duplicative state review would accelerate deployment of high-speed fiber to underserved areas. Thoms said he believed the current two-step review was longer than necessary and could slow deployment.
Committee members asked detailed questions about whether the bill would eliminate the Public Utilities Commission's involvement and whether the bill's alternative protection language could create gaps for customers. Senator Shippy suggested using "and" rather than "or" in the statute's protective language to avoid a potential protection gap. Senator Den Hartog said services could not be discontinued unless an equivalent service was available and requested time to address the concerns.
After discussion, Senator Ruchti moved to hold H 674 in committee subject to call of the Chair; Senator Shippy seconded the motion. The motion to hold H 674 carried by voice vote, leaving the bill pending while sponsors and staff work to clarify protective language and the role of state review versus FCC processes.
The committee action does not adopt policy changes; it pauses H 674 so sponsors can return with clarified language addressing rural service protections and the interaction with FCC procedures.
