WASHINGTON-The House Judiciary Committee last week passed legislation to simplify taxation of mobile telephone calls by local and state authorities, setting the stage for the Republican House leadership to resolve a nasty jurisdictional dispute over the bill.
The turf fight between the Judiciary Committee and Commerce Committee has been the only major snag in a bill otherwise strongly supported by both parties, local and state officials and tax experts.
While the controversy is over process as opposed to substance, the struggle between Judiciary and Commerce poses a potential threat to passing uniform-sourcing legislation in this abbreviated election year.
“What we do here is preserve the sanctity of jurisdiction we have asserted,” said Rep. George Gekas (R-Pa.), chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law.
The committee on Wednesday approved a Gekas amendment to keep any future litigation from rending a uniform-sourcing law invalid.
In addition to passing a uniform-sourcing-only bill (with the Gekas rider), the Judiciary Committee also approved the Commerce Committee’s version of the bill without the uniform-sourcing language.
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association helped to craft the bill with Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), an up-and-coming House Commerce Committee member, completely ignoring the House Judiciary Committee.
In addition to uniform sourcing, the Pickering bill includes a provision to tighten wireless privacy protection and directs the General Accounting Office to audit the Federal Communications Commission’s regulatory fees.
There is suspicion the privacy and regulatory fee provisions were added so the panel could claim oversight of the bill. The House already passed a wireless privacy bill and GAO recently issued a report on FCC regulatory fees.
Judiciary Committee members-Republicans and Democrats alike-lambasted the Commerce Committee for championing a bill they considered to be under their purview.
The uniform-sourcing measure would streamline the current system of wireless taxation-made complex and difficult for carriers and tax authorities alike-by assigning all taxes to the subscriber’s primary place of use.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), declaring the panel has oversight of interstate commerce taxation, has been outspoken about what he called “another example of the Commerce Committee trying to extend its jurisdiction at the expense of other committees.”
At the same time, Nadler is a big fan of the mobile telephone uniform-sourcing initiative. “This is a good and worthwhile bill,” he said.
The wireless industry appears to have retreated, and likely will not challenge the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction over the bill so long as the legislation moves forward.
The Senate passed companion legislation in April.
