Post by Logan on Feb 21, 2016 7:37:13 GMT -6
Senate bill on rural telephone subsidy inspires intense debate
Peeling aside layers of a Senate committee’s work on an otherwise boredom-inducing telecommunications bill exposed seeds of political fireworks — millions of dollars in mandatory customer fees, territorial rivalry, skirmishing over government subsidies and a pending election.
Much of the intriguing action on the bill transpired outside public meetings of the Senate Utilities Committee. There were closed-door gatherings among politicians, lobbyists and others about altering state law on the Kansas Universal Service Fund, which was created 20 years ago to help deliver better telephone service to rural areas of the state.
A bizarre warning, revealed through a Kansas Open Records Act request, was issued on behalf of Senate Utilities Chairman Rob Olson, that “somebody is going to get embarrassed” if the Kansas Corporation Commission’s estimate of the original bill’s $17 million cost to consumers wasn’t changed to zero.
An email from Olson’s committee secretary to the KCC said the Olathe Republican was “livid about what he considers inaccuracies and totally false assumptions” about proposed changes to the KUSF.
Read more: cjonline.com/news/state/2016-02-20/senate-bill-rural-telephone-subsidy-inspires-intense-debate
Peeling aside layers of a Senate committee’s work on an otherwise boredom-inducing telecommunications bill exposed seeds of political fireworks — millions of dollars in mandatory customer fees, territorial rivalry, skirmishing over government subsidies and a pending election.
Much of the intriguing action on the bill transpired outside public meetings of the Senate Utilities Committee. There were closed-door gatherings among politicians, lobbyists and others about altering state law on the Kansas Universal Service Fund, which was created 20 years ago to help deliver better telephone service to rural areas of the state.
A bizarre warning, revealed through a Kansas Open Records Act request, was issued on behalf of Senate Utilities Chairman Rob Olson, that “somebody is going to get embarrassed” if the Kansas Corporation Commission’s estimate of the original bill’s $17 million cost to consumers wasn’t changed to zero.
An email from Olson’s committee secretary to the KCC said the Olathe Republican was “livid about what he considers inaccuracies and totally false assumptions” about proposed changes to the KUSF.
Read more: cjonline.com/news/state/2016-02-20/senate-bill-rural-telephone-subsidy-inspires-intense-debate