JUDICIARY MAY GET PARTIAL SHOT AT TAUZIN-DINGELL BILL

Referral to House Judiciary Committee of data deregulation bill by House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.) would enable Judiciary to address segments, but not all, of HR-1542, Judiciary spokesman said. Feedback from office of House Speaker Hastert (R-Ill.) to House Judiciary Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) indicated that Speaker would grant Sensenbrenner’s request for shared jurisdiction over Tauzin-Dingell, aide said. Although it remains unclear which segments of HR-1542 will become open to Judiciary’s scrutiny, members are likely to use anticipated 30-day window to tackle provisions that some feared would give Bell companies unfair advantage over competitors, he said.

Judiciary members in 30-day referral period could attempt to amend HR-1542 by incorporating antitrust protections from rival bills by Reps. Conyers (D-Mich.) and Cannon (R-Utah). Conyers- Cannon bills (HR-1697 and HR-1698) would ensure that antitrust laws weren’t superseded by Telecom Act. Judiciary Committee this week (May 22) will hold hearing on Conyers-Cannon and Cannon- Conyers.

Commerce Committee recently marked up Tauzin-Dingell (CD May 11 p4), but hasn’t formally referred bill to full House, staffer said. Under House rules, Speaker can’t enable “sequential referral” as requested by Sensenbrenner until Commerce formally reports bill to House floor. If Speaker by early this week gives thumbs-up to referral, members at May 22 hearing would deal with all 3 bills, he said.

Commerce sees sequential referral as only short-term delay of Tauzin-Dingell. “It may slow us down, but it won’t prevent us from moving it to the House floor,” Commerce spokesman Ken Johnson said. He also questioned whether Judiciary had right to legislate telecom policy outside of its traditional jurisdiction over antitrust issues. HR-1542 is deregulatory bill that doesn’t affect local phone market-opening provisions of Sec. 271 of Act, and therefore doesn’t usurp Justice Dept.’s antitrust authority, Johnson said.

Tauzin-Dingell proponents such as USTA have supported efforts to keep HR-1542 in purview of Commerce Committee. Supporters say that bill, which largely would eliminate restrictions on ability of Bell companies to offer data services across in-region interLATA boundaries, would spur nationwide deployment of high- speed Internet services and help to bridge digital divide.