Washington D.C.- Senate and House conferees finished up work on the Commerce, State Justice appropriations bill last night. Included in the conference report was language relating to an amendment authored by U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., that was accepted in the Senate version of the bill by a 52-47 vote. A similar amendment offered by Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., was attached to the House version by a 374-49 vote.
Enzi's amendment would have simplified local phone company accounting systems, saving money that could be passed on to consumers. It would not have changed reporting requirements as claimed by the FCC and some corporate communication company giants who enjoy a competitive advantage over the smaller companies because they do not have to meet the same accounting requirements.
"The report language missed the mark. I can tell you what the agency 'study' is going to say. The study the report language requires is a waste of taxpayer money and of course the FCC is not in a position to conduct an objective analysis. If the best we could do was another study, the GAO would have been the appropriate agency.
"My proposal won't change the way companies do business, just update it. I wasn't asking for a drastic change with my amendment, but some change is needed. All along we have been talking about modernizing a system. We have not been talking about changing the information being reported or what will be available to the FCC or state utility regulators or about diminishing anyone's authority.
"I appreciate the fact that wording was included in the conference report, but if I would have had more input during the conferencing process we could have had something useful.
"We overcame many of the myths created by the communication giants, but some key people still didn't want to understand the issue. I obviously didn't go far enough with the legislative language in the first instance. The unwillingness of the competitors and the FCC to recognize modern accounting principles will keep local telephone exchanges and their customers in the dark ages."
The final language included in the conference report is as follows:
The FCC shall report to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Committee on Appropriations and the House Committee on Commerce and Committee on Appropriations no later than November 1, 2000, on what, if any, changes can be made to the Uniform System of Accounts to minimize regulatory burdens on telephone companies without adversely affecting universal service, phone and cable rates, competition, and the ability of the FCC to implement and develop communications policy.
