Bill deregulating land-line phone service clears Kentucky Senate

A controversial telephone-deregulation bill that opponents say could leave people in rural areas without land-line service cleared the Kentucky state Senate on a 24-13 vote. The measure now goes to the House, where two key lawmakers have said the bill is problematic.

House Tourism Development and Energy Chairman Keith Hall, D-Phelps, has said he expects his committee to get the bill and that he has "a lot of concerns about it." Both Hall and House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said they want to make sure the legislation does not hurt the quality of and access to phone service in rural areas. The sponsor of Senate Bill 88, Republican Sen. Paul Hornback of Shelbyville, said it would not mean loss of telephone service for anyone in the state. The bill is needed, Hornback said, to increase the state's access to high-speed Internet. The bill has a "carve-out" to protect rural areas with fewer than 5,000 land lines from being disconnected. Hornback said major phone carriers would not be able to remove basic service from those areas unless another provider offered a similar service. In areas with more than 5,000 land lines, major phone carriers such as AT&T, Windstream and Cincinnati Bell no longer would have to provide basic phone services for new customers.