press releases
For Immediate Release: March 29, 2017
Contact: Regina L. Davis, 202-898-9382, rdavis@naruc.org
NARUC Responds to FCC Statement on Broadband and Lifeline
Chairman Pai Affirms the Authority of State Regulators
WASHINGTON—The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has issued the following statements endorsing Federal Communications Commission Chair Ajit Pai’s comments on the future of broadband in the Lifeline program.
“NARUC wholeheartedly supports Chairman Pai’s statements. Including states in the ETC-designation process will provide better service quality and eliminate additional abuses of the program, which best serves the public interest.”
—NARUC President Robert F. Powelson of Pennsylvania
“The Chairman’s comments affirm that state regulators remain the vanguard in protecting the integrity of the Lifeline program. NARUC was among the first to endorse the inclusion of broadband service in the Lifeline program. Eliminating the national designation procedure puts more ‘state cops on the beat’ and strengthens both complementary state Lifeline programs and the quality of service provided to customers, as well as deters fraud and abuse of the program.”
—Commissioner Paul Kjellander of Idaho, Chair of the Committee on Telecommunications
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NARUC is a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose members include the governmental agencies that are engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers in the fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NARUC's member agencies regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. NARUC represents the interests of State public utility commissions before the three branches of the Federal government.