Telecom deregulation bill first to pass both chambers, now headed to governor’s desk


Legislation to reform telecommunication regulations passed the state Senate today, making it the first bill to pass both chambers during the 2015 General Assembly.

House Bill 152, sponsored by Rick Rand, D-Bedford, received final passage by a 30-3 vote. It would remove requirements that telephone companies offer basic landline service in urban areas so the money used to maintain that old technology can be spent on Internet and mobile phone expansion, said Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville. He had sponsored similar legislation for the last several years.

Hornback said there are two keys differences with HB 152 and past telecom reform bills that did not pass both chambers. First, HB 152 contains language that represents an agreement struck last year between AT&T and a previous opponent of the legislation, the Kentucky Cable Telecommunication Association.

Second, HB 152 contains stronger language to protect consumers, he said. Among other things, it would give rural customers 60 days – rather than the 30 days outlined in other proposals – to transition back to landline service from a newer technology should they desire to do so.

HB 152 also prevents telecommunication companies from reclassifying rural areas to urban areas in order not to provide basic landline service, Hornback said.

“I think we are doing the right thing here,” he said. “I celebrate this day. It is moving the state in the right direction.”

In explaining why she voted against the bill, Sen. Robin L. Webb, D-Grayson, said the legislation was deregulation being disguised as something else.

“That is what this is all about,” she said, adding the legislation comes at the expense of the consumer.

Earlier in the day, AT&T Kentucky President Hood Harris testified in support of the bill before the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Tourism and Labor.

He said legislation much more comprehensive than HB 152 has been passed in 17 of the other 20 states where AT&T operate as a landline carrier, and no person in an urban or rural area has lost a landline.

From Legislative Research Commission


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