Redundant telephone rules repealed

With so many improvements in technology, the Internet and access to cell phones, certain rules regulating telephone companies have become redundant, and in some cases, obsolete. A new law signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty on April 4 repeals some of these rules.

Sponsored by Rep. Sheldon Johnson (DFL-St. Paul) and Sen. Dan Sparks (DFL-Austin), the law takes effect Aug. 1, 2008.

At a meeting of the House Telecommunications Regulation and Infrastructure Division on Feb. 22, Jerry Knickerbocker, Minnesota Telecom Alliance vice-president of government relations, said that some of the regulations on the books were written for another time, and don’t reflect what’s going on in the marketplace today.

Knickerbocker said that in meetings with representatives from the Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Commerce and the Office of the Attorney General, they found that of the 54 regulations currently covering the telephone companies, at least 22 needed to be updated, 14 need to be rewritten, and eight should be repealed.

Some of the older rules include frequent inspection of equipment used to record information that affects a customer’s bill; a requirement that a telephone company furnish information to a contractor working near a utility or telephone line; and, in each incorporated village, at least one coin-operated public telephone, available 24-hours a day and lighted at night.

HF2414/SF2262*/CH173