DO-NOT-CALL LIST -- H535

House bill 535, passed into law, amended provisions relating to telephone subscriber listings on Idaho's no telephone solicitation contact list; to provide that a national Do-Not-Call Registry established by the Federal Trade Commission may serve as Idaho's no telephone solicitation contact list.  The legislation was necessary to bring Idaho law into conformance with recently enacted federal regulations, and to allow for Idaho's Do-Not-Call List law to continue to be enforced and implemented. The legislation also eliminated all fees previously charged for registering a number on the Idaho Do-Not-Call List.

Telephone Deregulation -- H502

This legislation, written by Qwest Communications, would have allowed any Idaho telephone corporation regulated by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to elect to deregulate its rates, by filing a notice of election with the PUC.  The bill did not remove PUC customer service jurisdiction (but only rate regulation jurisdiction) and required the PUC to file a report with the Governor and the legislature by the end of 2005. The ICTA initially expressed concerns that the legislation did not address statutory provisions that continued to shield a price deregulated telephone corporation from anti-trust liability, and that the bill also struck from statute provisions prohibiting such corporations from pricing services below a statutory minimum floor.  Qwest agreed to address these two concerns in a subsequent bill (H624,discussed below).  H502 passed the House by the narrowest of margins:  one vote.  It also initially passed the Senate by one vote, but upon a request for reconsideration, failed the Senate by the same margin.  Governor Kempthorne strongly supported the Qwest bill and was an active proponent of the measure.

  Deregulated ILECs, Anti-trust Liability and Predatory Pricing -- H624

This bill was a companion bill to H502 and did not become law because H502 failed the Senate.  H624 would have clarified that a telephone corporation electing price deregulation did not also retain blanket antitrust liability exemption.  The bill would have also allowed the Idaho Public Utilities Commission to establish minimum price floor for an otherwise price deregulated incumbent local exchange carrier. 

Sports Pay-Per-View and the Idaho Athletic Commission --H 770

Early in the session a group of legislators proposed legislation that would have imposed a 5% fee on out-of-state boxing and athletic contests viewed by Idaho cable TV and satellite pay-per-view customers.  The money would have funded the Idaho Athletic Commission which regulates similar in-state events. Cable and satellite companies would have had to report their viewership of such events and also remit the proceeds on behalf of the out-of-state promoters. Representatives of the ICTA meet with the concerned legislators early in the session and explained the practical difficulties of using cable as the collection agent and the burden this would place on our industry.  The legislators agreed to remove the fee and collection provisions from the bill and instead seek general fund revenues for the Athletic Commission.  That change resulted in H770 which is passed the legislature and was signed into law.

Idaho General Economic Issues

With the possible exception of the Qwest deregulation bill, the 2004 legislative session was relatively focused on a limited number of issues, with an effort made to avoid controversial topics. It was short and to the point.  This was in contrast to the 2003 session that saw the state facing a significant budget deficit that was finally resolved after the longest legislative session in history and passage of a 1 cent temporary sales tax increase.  That temporary increase expires at the end of 2005. 

Sun-setting of the 1 cent sales tax increase bodes ill for the 2005 legislative session. By then, either state budgets will be brought back in line with revenues, revenues [i.e., tax receipts] will have grown sufficiently to cover modest growth in spending,  or new tax dollars will be required.  A 2003 interim legislative committee studied the “fairness” of Idaho’s sales tax, its exemptions for certain goods, and its failure to address the service economy.  Some within government believe the Idaho sales tax should be significantly broadened to eliminate many exemptions and to include the service economy.  Others believe it should just be extended to include a few new entertainment or information services.  The ICTA is on record before the Committee in expressed concern about the former, and outright opposition to the latter.  State revenues and the sales tax will be important topics for the ICTA for the next several years.