COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland received a letter dated Wednesday from 45 consumer groups, asking him and selected Ohio legislators to oppose two bills, that if passed they say will be harmful to low-income groups across the state because they will permit local telephone companies to skirt regulatory oversight and pricing controls in place by the Ohio Public Utilities Commission.
In a conference call with reporters this morning, Ohio Consumers' Counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander was joined by representatives of other advocacy groups whose clients would be affected by the affects of the bills if passed as they stand today.
Low income consumer groups rally to fight local telephone company modernization bills
The individual groups, who were signatories on the letter sent today to Strickland and legislative leaders, have coalesced into one group, Ohioans Protecting Telephone Consumers (OPTC),
"We are united in our belief that it is not good public policy to pass legislation that gives benefits to the telephone companies at the expense of residential customers," said Consumers' Counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander in a media release. She added, "There are no net benefits in these bills for consumers - there are only take aways."
The key concerns of OPTC, which claims to represent millions of consumers, is that legislators should understand that by passing the proposed bills (Sub.SB162 and HB276) they would allow rate increases for basic telephone services, weaken consumer protections, reduce low-income Lifeline benefits, lower telephone service quality standards and fail to expand broadband access for all Ohioans.
Strickland sees positive points to bills but believes protecting consumers also important
When asked by this Examiner why Strickland would he sign a bill that raises telephone rates on the most vulnerable in Ohio (low-income, the elderly and the jobless looking for a job), Amanda Wurst, a spokesman for Gov. Strickland, said this: "There are positive aspects of the legislation that will modernize Ohio’s telecommunications infrastructure but these bills are still in the early stages of the legislative process." Strickland will take a wait and see attitude toward them, but "believes it is important that consumers are protected in the final bill that emerges through that process."
As to why has he been so silent to date on these bills which effectively allow highly profitable telephone companies to skirt control by the PUCO of their actions and pricing, devolving those duties to the General Assembly who can write laws that directly benefit the companies, Wurst said this: "The governor has been focused, from a legislative standpoint, on getting a budget fix passed by the end of the month that would address the $851 million shortfall without devastating cuts to education or a tax increase." Should the legislature fail to act, as various reports on the dynamics between the executive and legislative branch may foreshadow, Strickland would have no other option than to cut $851 million from the education budget. She said the governor is "doing everything he can to pass a responsible solution to avoid these cuts."
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