Cite as: 525 U. S. 366 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
for rural LECs, the proper procedure for resolving local-competition disputes, and state review of pre-1996 interconnection agreements. Id., at 795-796, 802-806. Indeed, with respect to some of these matters, the Eighth Circuit said that the 1996 Act had affirmatively given exclusive authority to the state commissions. Id., at 795, 802, 805.
The Court of Appeals found support for its holdings in 47 U. S. C. § 152(b) (§ 2(b) of the Communications Act of 1934), which, it said, creates a presumption in favor of preserving state authority over intrastate communications. 120 F. 3d, at 796. It found nothing in the 1996 Act clear enough to overcome this presumption, which it described as a fence that is "hog tight, horse high, and bull strong, preventing the FCC from intruding on the states' intrastate turf." Id., at 800.
Incumbent LECs also made several challenges, only some of which are relevant here, to the rules implementing the 1996 Act's requirement of unbundled access. See 47 U. S. C. § 251(c)(3) (1994 ed., Supp. II). Rule 319, the primary un-bundling rule, sets forth a minimum number of network elements that incumbents must make available to requesting carriers. See 47 CFR § 51.319 (1997). The LECs complained that, in compiling this list, the FCC had virtually ignored the 1996 Act's requirement that it consider whether access to proprietary elements was "necessary" and whether lack of access to nonproprietary elements would "impair" an entrant's ability to provide local service. See 47 U. S. C. § 251(d)(2) (1994 ed., Supp. II). In addition, the LECs thought that the list included items (like directory assistance and caller I. D.) that did not meet the statutory definition of "network element." See § 153(29). The Eighth Circuit rebuffed both arguments, holding that the Commission's in-11 FCC Rcd 19392 (1996). In a separate opinion that is also before us today, the Eighth Circuit vacated this rule insofar as it went beyond the FCC's jurisdiction over interstate calls. People of California v. FCC, 124 F. 3d 934, 943 (1997).
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