Pa. Senate Republicans Renew Effort to Slash Landline Rules

Pennsylvania lawmakers should reject a plan deregulating incumbent local exchange carriers, the state’s Consumer Advocate Patrick Cicero said Tuesday. Yet with two 7-4 party-line votes, majority Republicans on the Senate Communications Committee advanced a deregulation bill (SB-85) with an amendment that says the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission lacks VoIP and broadband authority. The Democratic minority -- which controls the governor’s office and has a slim House majority -- raised concerns that the bill would harm consumers.

“The amendment makes the bill much, much worse,” emailed Cicero, who was nominated in December 2021 by then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) -- now governor – and confirmed by the Senate in June 2022. “It would completely deregulate incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) and remove any meaningful oversight of change of control. Phase down of ILEC obligations would pivot in part based upon supposed availability of alternatives, but there appears to be little to no accountability for whether there are actually alternatives available, whether they are suitable or affordable, and whether they meet consumer needs.” Also, the bill isn’t needed because the PUC recently updated ILEC rules, said Cicero.

But at the hearing, SB-85 sponsor Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R) said the measure “is not full deregulation.” While it would permanently waive state rules on ILEC tariff filings, paper billing fees and billing practice standards, the Pennsylvania PUC would continue overseeing customer complaints, 911, relay service, slamming, cramming and universal service, she said. However, the bill would require that the commission review its rules every three years “and eliminate all regulations that are no longer necessary or in the public interest,” Phillips-Hill said. The committee cleared a previous version of the Phillips-Hill bill in 2021 (see 2104200059).

Many state landline rules “have been in place for decades,” despite “sweeping changes to the technology and communications landscape” that have made “these costly requirements unnecessary,” Phillips-Hill said. Landlines remain subject to a “strict regulatory framework” despite representing just 10% of voice communications in the state, she said. Also, her bill would support state broadband efforts as large amounts of money come into Pennsylvania, the senator added. “Now more than ever, it is imperative that we make the expansion of broadband infrastructure as streamlined … as possible. We have the funds, and now we must do our parts to ease restrictive and burdensome regulations that will allow companies to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime funding opportunity to provide access to the most rural and needy areas.”

The committee approved a Phillips-Hill amendment that the senator said was the result of talks between Verizon and the Pennsylvania Telephone Association (PTA). Among other changes, the amendment would clarify that the Pennsylvania PUC lacks jurisdiction over VoIP and broadband, she said. The commission “has increasingly been using Pennsylvania Chapter 30 telecom rules to initiate complaints against the incumbent local exchange carriers, the only regulated segment of the broadband industry,” Phillips-Hill said.

Minority Chair Jimmy Dillon voted against the bill and amendment with the committee’s other three Democrats. The amendment failed to address concerns from the governor’s office, state consumer advocate, Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said Dillon. “These concerns focus on reduced oversight, accountability and consumer protections.”

There’s been “a general reticence” to deregulation, acknowledged PTA President Steve Samara in an interview. However, PTA and other SB-85 supporters want to preserve the PUC’s “authority to ensure that this industry is providing adequate, safe and reliable service,” he said. “We’re not stripping that out of any of the regs.” In fact, industry thinks the bill proposes a “more customer-friendly process” that would help consumers get any problems directly in front of the companies, with a shot clock for industry to resolve those complaints, he added.

SB-85 isn’t much different than last session’s bill that passed in the Senate, aside from the amendment, said Samara: It “seems to get hung up in the House.” He said lawmakers will have until the Pennsylvania legislative session ends in November to approve it.

The proposed deregulation law “poses a threat to the individuals responsible for the installation, repair, and upkeep of” Pennsylvania’s telecom networks, CWA wrote to Dillon on Monday. In addition, it would disrupt a five-year-old PUC process for updating state telecom rules, the workers’ union said.