Insight and Information on Louisiana Law, Litigation, and Legal Culture
Yes, businesses are allowed to make campaign contributions in Louisiana. The limits vary depending upon the office being sought by the candidate to whom the business wishes to contribute. The limits (as of the date of this article) are set forth below. Individuals are subject to the same contribution limits.
The Limits:…
The Louisiana Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision clearing the way for the City of Lafayette to issue bonds to finance its Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTP) Project. As described by the Court, FTTH technology delivers telecommunications services via fiber optic cables to every home and business in the covered area. In contrast, a more traditional system delivers services to a distant point, with the remaining distance to each home and business being covered by technically inferior and bandwidth-limiting copper (telephone) wires. The decision ends eighteen months of litigation, starting after the citizens of Lafayette voted 62% to 38% in a July 16, 2005 election to issue up to $125 million in bonds for the Project. Project opponents filing suit to block the bond issuance included the incumbent cable and telephone companies, as well as two Lafayette residents. For additional news articles relating to the decision, see http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070223/NEWS01/702230321/1002 and http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/6008236.html…
Continue Reading Louisiana Supreme Court Approves Lafayette’s Fiber-to-the-Home Bond Ordinance
The Louisiana Supreme Court has affirmed an order of the Louisiana Public Service Commission establishing a state universal service fee for telecommunications service providers operating in the state. T-Mobile, a wireless provider operating in Louisiana, appealed the LPSC’s order, arguing that the USF fee constituted a tax and, thus, the LPSC lacked jurisdictional authority to…
Governor Kathleen Blanco has reportedly vetoed the controversial Competitive Cable and Video Services Act, House Bill 699. There has been significant disagreement between BellSouth, the proponent of the bill, cable providers, who appeared to turn neutral as to its passage after the bill was amended, and Parish presidents and mayors, who urged the Governor to…
To say there has been consolidation in the telecom market over the last decade would obviously be an understatement. Competitive telecom companies, which entered the market by the hundreds after passage of the federal Telecommunications Act, have merged with each other (or have been acquired) as a means of survival or market penetration. The (then) giants of the telecom world have also consolidated into mega-regional communications companies. SBC acquired Pacific Telesis, Southern New England Telephone, Ameritech (which itself acquired Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Ohio Bell and Wisconsin Bell), and most recently AT&T. The new AT&T became the largest telecom company in the U.S. Now it is proposing to acquire BellSouth, currently the third largest telecom company in the U.S. (For more information on the history of telecom mergers, visit http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/armis/carrier_filing_history/COSA_History/)…
Continue Reading Deja Vu? — Courts, Telecom and Anti-Trust
