Puds Don’T Get House Help On Telecommunications Bill

Washington public utility districts that lost the first round of the legislative battle over telecommunications service will meet today and Thursday to decide how badly they want a bill, their government affairs director said.

Lewis McMurran said Tuesday the House of Representatives failed to act on its version of a bill that would give PUDs and port districts authority to become wholesale providers of telecommunications equipment and services.

Tuesday was the deadline for action. The Senate approved its version Friday.

Both originated with Gov. Gary Locke, who was heeding calls from rural residents and businesses who fear economic stagnation without high-speed access to services such as the Internet.

Some PUDs have begun building or leasing fiber-optic networks. In Pacific and Douglas counties, the incumbent telephone companies filed lawsuits last year claiming the local PUDs already sell telecommunications services.

Richard Potter, a Washington, D.C., lobbyist for GTE, said traditional telephone carriers think PUDs will subsidize the costs of their new telecommunications ventures with revenues from their established electric and water utilities.

He said the legislation does not define “service.” PUDs that provide electricity in urban areas like Everett could build the telephone infrastructure for companies entering a market to compete with GTE or another incumbent, he said.

Meanwhile, Potter said, traditional carriers are gradually extending advanced services into the rural areas the PUDs are targeting.

McMurran said the PUDs are prepared to continue their push behind the Senate bill, but with reservations.

PUD officials accustomed to acting without oversight from the Utilities and Transportation Commission are unhappy with provisions that would eliminate some of their autonomy, he said.

McMurran said the Senate bill lacks a “savings clause” that would insulate electrical and water operations from telecommunications policy-making.

Also, there are questions about possible limitations on interconnections between the PUD networks, he said.

McMurran said officials will spend the next two days looking at options.

“We’ve got to figure out what our bottom line will be,” he said.