Colorado Legislative Council Staff

NO FISCAL IMPACT

TITLE:            CONCERNING THE ECONOMIC REGULATION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS.

Summary of Assessment

            The bill makes changes to the regulation of telecommunications by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), Department of Regulatory Agencies, including the following:

            •   defines new products and services, so called advanced features offered by telecommunication providers, which are exempt from regulation;

            •   imposes stricter confidentiality requirements of the PUC when it obtains proprietary documents from telecommunication providers;

            •   removes the requirement for site-specific exchange management hearings, involving the PUC and telecommunication providers, prohibits the consideration of the overall rate of return for determining specific product rates under an approved alternative form of regulation, and makes conforming amendments to move public coin telephone service to the group of products and services exempt from economic regulation.

            The bill would become effective upon signature of the Governor.

            The bill changes how the PUC handles certain telecommunication services, but would not increase or decrease their workload. The Office of Consumer Counsel (OCC), Department of Regulatory Agencies, has the statutory responsibility to represent consumers in regulatory matters before the PUC. Under the stricter confidentiality provisions of the bill, the OCC will not be able to access directly from the PUC any information a local exchange provider labels confidential and will be required to obtain this information through other means. This will have a minimal fiscal impact on the OCC. The bill will not affect any other state agency, or unit of local government. Therefore, this bill is assessed as having no fiscal impact.

Departments Contacted

            Regulatory Agencies