SENATE MEMORIAL 44

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005

INTRODUCED BY

Phil A. Griego

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE APPROPRIATE INTERIM LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE TO REVIEW AND DETERMINE APPROPRIATE TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION IN AN INCREASINGLY COMPETITIVE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENVIRONMENT AND TO MONITOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ALTERNATIVE FORM OF REGULATION PLAN.

     WHEREAS, telecommunications competition among wireless, wireline and reseller providers is spreading throughout urban and rural New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, telecommunications providers who operate in New Mexico are regulated unequally by the public regulation commission; and

     WHEREAS, other states, including Utah, Iowa and South Dakota, have lessened regulation in response to telecommunications competition; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico consumers benefit from a competitive marketplace; and

     WHEREAS, the public regulation commission is charged by statute to promote competition, and it has been the expressed intent of the legislature, since 1985, to transition from a regulated telecommunications industry to a competitive market environment; and

     WHEREAS, the public regulation commission and Qwest will be negotiating a new alternative form of regulation plan in 2005;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the appropriate interim legislative committee be requested to work with the public regulation commission, the attorney general and the telecommunications industry to review and determine appropriate requirements for telecommunications providers that would allow them to conduct business in a competitively neutral telecommunications marketplace in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the appropriate interim legislative committee require regular updates from the public regulation commission and Qwest on the negotiation of Qwest's new alternative form of regulation plan and assist in finding middle ground on issues that may be at an impasse; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the appropriate interim New Mexico legislative committee report its findings to the senate leadership, the house leadership and the governor prior to the second session of the forty-seventh legislature; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be sent to the president of Qwest New Mexico, the chairman of the public regulation commission and the co-chairs of the New Mexico legislative council.

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