II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1766

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to permit Bell operating companies to provide interstate and intrastate telecommunications services within one year after the date of enactment of this Act.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 16, 1998

Mr. MCCAIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to permit Bell

operating companies to provide interstate and intrastate

telecommunications services within one year after the

date of enactment of this Act.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telecommunications

5 Competition Act of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—
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S 1766 IS

1 (1) competition in telecommunications will en2 courage infrastructure development, have beneficial

3 effects on the price, universal availability, variety

4 and quality of telecommunications services, and im5 prove our economy, our culture, and our political

6 system;

7 (2) all telecommunications markets should be

8 open to competition and all providers of tele9 communications services should be able to provide

10 such services and be subject to equivalent regulation

11 when offering such services;

12 (3) all providers of telecommunications should

13 be subject to equivalent regulation;

14 (4) the elimination of the restraints on the lines

15 of business will result in the creation of a substan16 tial number of new jobs;

17 (5) if the removal of the restrictions on the

18 lines of business are delayed, the job creation result19 ing from the removal of these constraints will also

20 be delayed;

21 (6) advanced telecommunications services can

22 enhance the quality of life and promote economic de23 velopment, job creation, and international competi24 tiveness;
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S 1766 IS

1 (7) advancements in the nation’s telecommuni2 cations infrastructure will enhance the public welfare

3 by helping to speed the delivery of services such as

4 telemedicine, distance learning, remote medical serv5 ices, and distribution of health information;

6 (8) improvements in the telecommunications in7 frastructure will be greatly enhanced if all providers

8 of telecommunications services are permitted to offer

9 these services on the same basis and subject to

10 equivalent regulatory requirements;

11 (9) rural and sparsely populated areas will not

12 receive the benefits of advanced telecommunications

13 services unless all providers of telecommunications

14 services have eliminated the restrictions on the lines

15 of business in which they may engage;

16 (10) existing regulatory devices no longer work,

17 and the regulatory asymmetries that exist today are

18 inconsistent with competitive marketplaces; and

19 (11) oversight of the telecommunications indus20 try should be conducted from the perspective of the

21 Antitrust Laws by the Department of Justice and

22 from the regulatory perspective by the Commission

23 for interstate telecommunications services and the

24 States for intrastate telecommunications services.
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S 1766 IS

1 SEC. 3. ONE-YEAR MAXIMUM START DATE FOR BOC INTER2 STATE AND INTRASTATE SERVICES.

3 Part III of title II of the Communications Act of

4 1934 (47 U.S.C. 271 et seq.) is amended by inserting be5 fore section 271 the following:

6 ‘‘SEC. 270. DATE CERTAIN FOR START OF BELL OPERATING

7 COMPANY SERVICES.

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any provision

9 of this Act to the contrary, on the date that is one year

10 after the date of enactment of the Telecommunications

11 Competition Act of 1998, a Bell operating company, and

12 any affiliate of a Bell operating company, may provide

13 interstate and intrastate telecommunications services.

14 ‘‘(b) STATE LAW SUPERSEDED.—No State or local

15 law may prohibit or prevent a Bell operating company, or

16 an affiliate of a Bell operating company, from providing

17 interstate and intrastate telecommunications services after

18 the date specified in subsection (a).

19 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION WITH OTHER PROVISIONS.—Any

20 prerequisite established by any other provision of this Act

21 that conditions the right to provide services regulated

22 under this Act in any area upon the satisfaction by a Bell

23 operating company of any requirement under this Act

24 shall be, for all purposes of this Act, deemed to have been

25 met on the date specified in subsection (a).’’.

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