The Regulatory Mix

The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.

 

  

TELECOM

FCC

The FCC is continuing to move forward to obtain Office of Management and Budget approval for some of the information collection requirements contained in its inmate calling services rate order. In January 2014, the FCC published the initial 60-day notice for both the one-time mandatory data collection and the annual reporting and certification requirements. See the Regulatory Mix dated 1/22/14. On April 17, 2014, it published the 30-day notice on the one-time mandatory data collection only. Comments are due May 19, 2014. The FCC revised the burden estimate to be 90 hours per response (versus 70 in the initial PRA notice) and therefore increased the total annual burden to 2,250 hours (versus 1,750). As of 4/21/14, no 30-day notice was filed for the annual reporting portion of the new rules, which were stayed by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Read the notice here.  TMI Regulatory Bulletin Service subscribers see FCC Bulletins dated 10/9/13 and 1/14/14.

 

The FCC also announced that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved its rules requiring that emergency information provided in video programming be made accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired and that certain apparatus be capable of delivering video description and emergency information to those individuals. The rules that required OMB approval (47 CFR §§79.105(a), 79.105(b)(3), 79.105(b)(4), and 79.2(c)) became effective April 16, 2014. The rules that did not require OMB approval were effective June 24, 2013.

  

Oregon

The PUC declined to open a rulemaking proceeding to amend its rules to include access to broadband in the definition of basic telephone services. Instead, it directed the Administrative Law Judge in its proceeding investigating the Oregon Universal Service Fund (OUSF) to prepare a report on the status of broadband services provided in rural exchanges and to submit that report to the Commission no later than December 1, 2014. TMI Regulatory Bulletin Service subscribers see Oregon Bulletin dated 4/18/14.

Regulatory Briefing

 

Telecom Regulatory Fees and Assessments