Manchester Township Council Supports Telecommunications Deregulation Act

A bill introduced in the New Jersey State Senate in September of this year supporting deregulation of the telecommunications industry and encouraging further consumer protection gained the support of the at their meeting last week.

The council’s support was confirmed through the governing body’s approval of the resolution regarding the bill on its consent agenda during their Dec. 12 meeting.

Council President Craig Wallis could not be reached for comment.

The bill, numbered “S-3062” and titled the “Telecommunications-Cable Television Deregulation Ensuring Consumer Protection Act”, seeks to revise state regulation of competitive services provided by telecommunications and cable television companies. This legislation was introduced in the State Senate by Sen. Robert Smith (D-17) and Sen. Ronald Rice (D-28), having been co-sponsored by Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-37) and Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1).

In a statement from the group of senators, the legislators claim that this bill will “ensure that protected telephone service remains affordable and that telephone service “carrier of last resort” obligations remain in place.”

State supporters of the bill argue that this legislation will disallow cable and telephone companies from forcing senior citizens into expensive service packages, and “protect quality of service and rate affordability to those who depend on basic landline phone service to stay connected with the outside world, to reach loved ones, for purposes of home security, medical alert systems, and in times of natural disasters or weather emergencies.”

The senators go on to state that the bill will bring “regulatory symmetry” to telecommunications service carriers and cable television companies in New Jersey, and “will guarantee that the Board of Public Utilities continues to ensure safe, adequate, and proper service to all telecommunications and cable consumers under reasonable terms and conditions, while removing unnecessary regulations and establishes procedures for ongoing review of existing regulations on a bi-annual basis to determine which regulations are unnecessary to maintain safe, adequate, and proper service and would require the board to conduct a cost-benefit analysis in its determination of what regulations are no longer necessary or in the public interest.”