DIRECTORY ASSIST. REQ.; MODIFY S.B. 372:
ANALYSIS AS ENACTED
Senate Bill 372 (as enacted) PUBLIC ACT 69 of 2021
Senate Committee: Energy and Technology
House Committee: Communications and Technology
RATIONALE
The Michigan Telecommunications Act previously required basic local exchange service providers, also known as telephone service providers, to provide to each customer an annual printed telephone directory. Public Act 58 of 2011 amended the Act to eliminate that requirement and specify that a basic local exchange service provider instead must provide a printed telephone directory to a customer that requests a directory. Since that time, technology has changed the means by which people access information and the demand for phone directories has decreased. Given the changing technology and decreasing demand, some people believe that basic local exchange service providers should no longer have to provide these services. Accordingly, it was suggested that the requirement that a local exchange service provider provide a printed telephone directory to a customer upon request be eliminated.
CONTENT
The bill amended the Michigan Telecommunications Act to delete provisions allowing a provider of basic local exchange service to distribute a printed telephone directory to each customer and requiring the provider to provide to a customer, at no additional charge, a printed or electronic directory if it does not distribute a printed directory.
The bill took effect July 29, 2021.
Under the Act, a provider of basic local exchange service must provide to each customer local directory assistance. (The Act defines "basic local exchange service" as the provision of an access line and usage within a local calling area for the transmission of high-quality two-way interactive switched voice or data communication. "Local directory assistance" means the provision by telephone of a listed telephone number within the caller's area code.)
Formerly, the Act also allowed a provider of basic local exchange service to distribute a printed telephone directory to each customer. If the provider elected not to do so, a customer could request either a printed telephone directory or an electronic telephone directory from the provider, and it had to provide that directory at no additional charge to the customer. The bill eliminated these provisions.
ARGUMENTS
(Please note: The arguments contained in this analysis originate from sources outside the Senate Fiscal Agency. The Senate Fiscal Agency neither supports nor opposes legislation.)
Supporting Argument
Technology has changed the means by which people access information. Instead of using printed phone directories to find contact information for people, places, and businesses, people can retrieve that information online through various search engines or by calling into directory services by phone. These alternatives have decreased the demand for printed phone directories. According to testimony before the Senate Committee on Energy and Technology, AT&T of Michigan, a phone and internet service provider in the State, received only 1,993 requests for printed directories in 2020. In addition to the decreasing demand, printed phone directories are difficult to compile and wasteful when the hundreds of pages of paper per copy are thrown away. Eliminating the requirement that basic local exchange service providers provide a printed phone directory upon request of a customer will reflect the change in demand and reduce the negative effects associated with printing and shipping the directories.
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