An Act To Ensure Regulatory Parity among Telecommunications Providers
Maine Legislature, Session 125, LD 1466
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Sponsors: FITTS
Amends: 35-A MRSA §7101, 35-A MRSA §7110

Legislative Document 
No. 1466 
H.P. 1075 
House of Representatives, April 12, 2011 
An Act To Ensure Regulatory Parity among Telecommunications 
Providers 
(AFTER DEADLINE) 
Approved for introduction by a majority of the Legislative Council pursuant to Joint Rule 
205. 
Reference to the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology suggested and ordered 
printed. 
HEATHER J.R. PRIEST 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative FITTS of Pittsfield. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  35-A MRSA §7101, sub-§6 is enacted to read: 
6.  Regulatory parity among telecommunications providers.  The Legislature 
further declares and finds that in the current competitive telecommunications 
environment, the public interest is best served by a State telecommunications regulatory 
structure that places equal regulatory obligations and burdens on all telecommunications 
providers, regardless of the mode of the communications. Therefore, it is the ultimate 
goal of the State to revise and reform its regulatory structure to provide equal regulatory 
requirements for all telecommunications providers by January 1, 2013. 
Sec. 2.  35-A MRSA §7110 is enacted to read: 
§7110.  Regulatory parity among telecommunications providers 
1.  Parity among telephone utilities.  Beginning January 1, 2012, the commission 
shall take all actions within its authority to provide that telephone utilities under its 
jurisdiction are not subject to any regulatory requirements of the commission that are 
greater or more burdensome than the regulatory requirements that were applicable to 
competitive telephone utilities as of January 1, 2011, unless the telephone utility consents 
to the requirement. The commission shall amend, waive or adopt rules, issue orders and 
modify its administrative procedures and practices as necessary to achieve this result. 
2.  Exclusions.  This section does not require the commission to take any action that: 
A.  Changes the provisions regarding an obligation to serve as carrier of last resort, 
eligible telecommunications carrier or the wholesale obligations of any incumbent 
local exchange carrier; or 
B.  Prior to January 1, 2013, changes the obligations of a telephone utility imposed by 
a commission order that was in effect on January 1, 2011. 
For the purposes of this subsection, "eligible telecommunications carrier" and "incumbent 
local exchange carrier" have the meanings provided by the commission by rule. 
Sec. 3.  Commission plan.  By December 31, 2011, the Public Utilities 
Commission shall submit a plan to the Legislature describing the actions necessary to be 
implemented by the Legislature and the commission to ensure that, by January 1, 2013, 
all telecommunications providers, whether currently regulated or not, are regulated 
equally. The plan must include drafts of statutory changes necessary to achieve this 
result. The commission shall give due consideration to the preservation of provisions 
regarding an obligation to serve as carrier of last resort, eligible telecommunications 
carrier or the wholesale obligations of incumbent local exchange carriers. The 
commission shall include in the plan provisions that allow a telecommunications provider 
to be subject to regulatory requirements that do not apply to other telecommunications 
providers if it chooses. 
SUMMARY 
This bill sets a state goal of creating a nondiscriminatory regulatory structure for all 
telecommunications providers, for the purpose of fostering continued competition and 
ensuring a free market for telecommunications services. In recognition that the Public 
Utilities Commission has already established a less burdensome regulatory structure for 
competitive telephone utilities regulated by the commission, as a first step this legislation 
requires that regulatory structure to be extended to all telephone utilities regulated by the 
commission by January 1, 2012. The 2nd step directs the commission to submit a plan to 
the Legislature describing the actions necessary to ensure that, by January 1, 2013, all 
telecommunications providers are regulated equally.