Take Action! Kentuckians deserve access to basic, affordable phone service.

Can you call the Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for your Senator?  Tell them, "Vote NO on SB 12. Kentuckians need and deserve access to basic, affordable phone service."

Last week we posted about a bill, drafted by AT&T, that would remove the obligation for phone carriers to provide service to people in Kentucky's rural communities, including 911 services. Then, this bill was SB 135.  (We also sent out an action alert on Monday, asking you to call the Senate committee members and ask them to vote no. Thank you for taking action!)

To give it a "fresh start," the bill number has been changed to SB 12. Yesterday it passed the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, and Labor by 8-1, with Sen. Denise Harper-Angel being the only vote against the bill. (If you'd like to thank Sen. Harper-Angel, you can leave a message for her by calling the Message Line number below, or emailing her from her LRC page.)

The bill is now set to be voted on by the full Senate, and Senators need to hear from you.

Take Action!

Call the Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for your Senator.  Tell them, "Vote NO on SB 12. Kentuckians need and deserve access to basic, affordable phone service." (If your Senator is Sen. Harper-Angel, thank her for voting against the bill.)

For more information:

• Kentucky Resources Council has worked on stopping SB 135/12. You can find information and updates on their website.
  


• This Herald-Leader article has some background about the bill. And one from the Courier-Journal.
  

• Here's a recent letter published in the Herald Leader on March 13, from Letcher County member Mimi Pickering about the AT&T bill:

Cutting phone cord

Senate Bill 135 would force many Kentuckians back to the tin can and string rather than increasing access to affordable high-speed Internet as the industry claims.

Although AT&T Kentucky President Mary Pat Regan wrote on Feb. 28 that SB 135 "is not about abandonment or discontinuing service," the bill states: "After June 30, 2013, unless otherwise extended by the legislature, an electing utility shall have no obligation to provide service under existing state law."

This means that essential, reasonably priced telephone service could disappear for many rural, elderly and low-income households that depend on it for emergency 911, medical care, jobs, education and family contact.

Kentucky's Public Service Commission would lose the power to investigate service complaints on its own, set standards for service quality and reliability, and ensure the utility furnishes safe, adequate and reasonable service on a non-discriminatory basis.

When the major telephone companies asked to be exempt from "provider of last resort" regulations last November, the Federal Communications Commission declined, noting that these corporations receive state and federal subsidies to cover the costs of basic service and reaching remote areas.

In fact, Kentucky received over $100 million in federal Universal Service dollars in 2010; AT&T received almost $500 million nationwide, while Windstream received over $100 million.

Rather than completely deregulating this essential utility, Kentucky lawmakers should study what deregulation has brought us thus far, and give serious consideration to increasing public oversight of these telecommunication giants so eager to cut our lifeline.

Mimi Pickering

Whitesburg

Here's another note from a member in Barren County, Sandi Joiner, about SB 12:

 Before my husband died he wanted to go fishing.  Because his health was so bad he got a cell phone so he could call for help if necessary.  When he told the clerk why he wanted the phone, she asked where he would be fishing.  When he told her Green River, she told him she did not know how well the phone would work since the river normally runs between two hills.
    The clerk gave him a little something to add to the phone for help, but he found he usually couldn't get service.  Actually, one time he called me from a landline at a grocery to tell me he had forgotten his key.
    I was never able to reach him on his cell phone until I could actually see his truck and boat.
    I'm telling this story because I believe that many parts of Kentucky are mostly "hills and hollers." Sometimes people in charge miss obvious things. There are so many things wrong with that bill that it boggles the mind.