Bills Banning State VoIP Regulation Advance in West Virginia, Minnesota
Proposed laws banning regulation of VoIP by state commissions are sailing through two legislatures. Wednesday, the West Virginia Senate voted 33-0 to pass SB-180 prohibiting state regulation of VoIP. Tuesday, the Minnesota House Commerce Committee voted 11-5 to clear a…
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similar bill (HF-1665) to be heard next in the House Job Growth Committee. The West Virginia Public Service Commission hasn’t tried to regulate VoIP, but putting a prohibition into statute would resolve industry uncertainty, Sen. Ed Gaunch (R) said on the Senate floor Wednesday: “The idea here is to give predictability to this industry.” The PSC hasn’t taken a position on the bill, a commission spokeswoman said. In Minnesota, the state Commerce Department opposed HF-1665. “Regardless of technology, if the service is the same, the consumer protections should be the same,” a department spokesman emailed. The Public Utilities Commission, fighting a Charter lawsuit in federal court over the same issue (see 1702160038), declined comment. The bill sets overly broad definitions of VoIP and IP-enabled services and removes important state and local regulatory oversight of the services, said a department fact sheet forwarded by the spokesman. The Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition supported the Minnesota bill in a Feb. 24 letter to the legislative committee that approved the bill Tuesday. “Passage of this legislation would align Minnesota with federal law and promote a competitive VoIP market,” VON Coalition Executive Director Glenn Richards wrote.