Will CPUC De-Regulate Lifeline Phone Service?

by Paul Hogarth via Beyond Chron

Wed, Jun 3, 2009 7:13AM

Wednesday, June 3, 2009 : In 2001, Tenderloin tenants organized by the Central City SRO Collaborative went to multiple public hearings to demand that the City stop an SRO landlord from converting an 88-room hotel to tourist use. The commissioners at the Board of Appeals didn’t want to uphold a basic zoning law, so they kept delaying the vote – hoping that the low-income people would get tired and just go away.

Today, I’m getting a weird sense of déjà vu – as the California Public Utilities Commission keeps putting off a plan to deregulate the state’s Lifeline Telephone service. Thousands of low-income senior and disabled folks rely on this program for a basic phone line at a flat rate, but the AT&T-backed proposal would link the service cost to a percentage of “market-rate” customers – which the phone companies would be free to increase dramatically. Tomorrow, the item is again on the CPUC’s agenda – which means grassroots senior and disabled residents have to return. Meanwhile, AT&T is pushing an astroturf lobbying effort to assure Commissioners that it’s more than just making money. Will they fall for the ruse?

Read More

For more information: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?...

Add Your Comments

Support Independent Media

We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!