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Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee

MINUTES OF THE

    
PUBLIC UTILITIES AND TECHNOLOGY INTERIM COMMITTEE

Wednesday, August 19, 1998 - 2:00 p.m. - Room 223 - State Capitol


Members Present:
    Sen. Lorin V. Jones, Co-Chair
    Rep. Beverly Ann Evans, Co-Chair
    Sen. Mike Dmitrich
    Sen. John P. Holmgren
    Sen. Alarik Myrin
    Rep. Jeff Alexander
    Rep. Ralph Becker
    Rep. Orville D. Carnahan
    Rep. Gary F. Cox
    Rep. Brent H. Goodfellow
    Rep. Tom Hatch
    Rep. J. Brent Haymond
    Rep. Dennis H. Iverson
    Rep. Swen Nielsen
    Rep. Jack Seitz
    Rep. Daniel H. Tuttle

Members Absent:
    Sen. Craig A. Peterson
    Rep. Christine R. Fox-Finlinson
    Rep. David M. Jones


Staff Present:
    Mr. Richard North,
     Research Analyst
    Ms. Tani Pack Downing,
     Associate General Counsel
    Ms. Junie G. Anderson,

     Legislative Secretary

Note:    A list of others present and a copy of materials distributed in the meeting are on file in the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.

1.    Call to Order - Chair Evans called the meeting to order at 2:12 p.m.

    MOTION: Rep. Iverson moved to approve the minutes of the July 15, 1998 meeting. The motion passed unanimously, with Sen. Holmgren, Rep. Alexander, Rep. Carnahan, Rep. Hatch, Rep. Haymond, and Rep. Tuttle absent for the vote.
                                
2.     Year 2000 Report - Rep. Blake Chard, Co-Chair, Information Technology Commission (ITC), briefed the committee on the current study by the ITC of the Year 2000 (Y2K) issue.         
    Mr. Dave Moon, Chief Information Officer - Utah, distributed a report titled "Year 2000 Briefing," and summarized the report. He said systems, which are becoming compliant at the rate of approximately 3 percent per month, are expected to be 100 percent Y2K compliant by July 1999, as indicated in the report. He said a website (http://y2k.state.ut.us) has been set up to disseminate information to the public in an effort to make people aware of the Year 2000 problems.

    Mr. David Fletcher, Year 2000 Program Coordinator , spoke about the contingency plan in several areas such as power, telecommunications, transportation, public safety, and health care. He said most countries are far behind the U.S. in dealing with these issues. He noted that

Mr. Ed Yardeni, one of the nation's top economists, said there is a 70 percent chance of a major global recession. Mr. Moon explained that state funds used to update the Information Technology systems have been previously budgeted.

    Rep. Chard expressed concern over who would be held responsible for systems going down, loss of business, loss of resources, etc.

    Mr. Richard North, Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, explained that the resolution of the Y2K issue is expected to cost approximately $9 billion at the federal level. He recommended reading a book titled "Year 2000 Time Bomb."

3.    Revisiting the Utah Telecommunications Act of 1995 - Proposed Solutions - Ms. Sue Ashdown, XMission, distributed a section of the Utah Code Annotated titled "Public Telecommunications Law, 54-8b-2.3, Pricing flexibility." She requested assistance from the Public Utilities and Technology Committee to draft legislation that would shift the burden of proof to the incumbent before they are allowed to tariff a product. She said pricing flexibility and deregulation is not a problem, but deregulation is not warranted until there is competition. She also requested assistance with language that would resolve the pricing flexibility problem and the joint marketing provision.

    Chairs Evans and Jones directed staff to assist Ms. Ashdown in putting her proposal into draft legislation.

4.    Building Access For Telecommunication Providers - This item was not heard at this meeting.

5.     Adjournment - The meeting was adjourned at 3:34 p.m.

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