VoIP legislation is front and center in new Iowa bill

There is a bill currently on the floor of the Iowa state senate that is specifically geared toward the use of Voice over Internet Protocol services. The legislation involves regulatory authority over the system.

A recent article from the Quad-City Times recapped House Study Bill 590, which has been in the works for over a year. According to the piece, the bill has received little attention from lawmakers but more than 40 lobbyists have registered on the bill.

One lobbyist, Anthony Carroll from the AARP, told the news source that this is only the beginning of the buzz, and while lawmakers may still be unaware, he guarantees that every member has been lobbied to multiple times.

Currently, Iowa and Vermont are the only states that hold regulatory authority over VoIP Protocol. Other states have turned this over to the Federal Communications Commission, being categorized the same as wireless networking. The ultimate goal of the regulations is to improve consumer protection.

"The industry warns, however, that if regulation is left to the Iowa Utilities Board, Iowa could be left behind as telecommunications companies deploy new technologies on a national platform," the article reads. "Implementing new technology in Iowa will be a low priority for those companies if there are additional regulatory hurdles to jump."

The use of business VoIP solutions is growing in popularity, and regulations are needed to ensure quality solutions. With the help of an IT consulting firm that specializes in internet-based solutions, any organization can easily improve its operations through the use of VoIP.