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A group of state House lawmakers representing primarily rural parts of Pennsylvania has introduced six bills aimed at holding telecommunications companies accountable to their customers.
The lawmakers include Reps. Joe Hamm, R-Hepburn Township; Clint Owlett, R-Liberty; Tina Pickett, R-Towanda; Marty Causer, R-Turtlepoint; Jonathan Fritz, R-Honesdale and Alec Ryncavage, R-Plymouth.
"Many people in our rural communities cannot rely on their basic landline telephone service, let alone internet. It's a public safety issue and an economic issue, as well as a basic customer service issue," said Owlett, according to a news release. "It's time to hold these utility companies accountable to the people who are paying for service month after month, never knowing for sure if it's going to work from one day to the next."
House Bill 1624, introduced by Hamm, would require county Emergency Management Coordinators to report to the state Utilities Commission any power outage that takes down a 911 landline system.
In rural Pennsylvania, landlines remain prominent and relevant due to limited cellular coverage.
"The lack of 911 service is a serious public safety issue," the news release said. "The utility companies must be held accountable for its failure to take the steps necessary to keep the system up and running."
House Bill 1619 would direct PUC to develop rules to address the need for utility companies to relocate their facilities onto new poles and to help ensure the removal of unused or "ghost" poles, which are often both unsafe and unsightly while House Bill 1620 would require telecommunication companies to respond within 90 minutes of being notified of downed lines resulting from a motor vehicle accident, according to the news release.
If the company does not have someone actively on the scene within 90 minutes, they would be required to reimburse a volunteer fire company securing the scene $1,000 per hour they have to wait for the telephone company to show up.
"At one of the PUC hearings, we heard about volunteer firefighters spending over 12 hours directing traffic while waiting for Frontier Communications to come remove their lines from traffic," Owlett said, according to the news release. "While our emergency responders are committed to doing whatever they need to do to protect public safety, this is unconscionable. Utility companies must do better."
House Bill 1621 would require a telecommunications company to notify a customer if their service person will not be showing up for a scheduled appointment. If they fail to show up for the scheduled appointment and fail to notify the customer, they will be required to reimburse the customer $25 per hour for the window of time they had the customer stay at home waiting for them.
House Bill 1622 would hold telecommunication utilities financially accountable when they fail to maintain backup infrastructure to keep 911 operating even when there is a telephone service outage. When 911 services fail, firefighters must man their fire stations in case members of the community drive there to seek emergency services.
The bill would require telecommunications companies to compensate the volunteer fire departments at a rate of $1,000 per hour while House Bill 1623 would require a telecommunications company that has a formal complaint brought against it via the PUC to provide both the PUC and the General Assembly with a formal report of all the broken poles, compromised lines or line junction infrastructure that is not currently up to industry and PUC standards, the news release said.
This report would be due six weeks after the formal complaint is made with the PUC, and the information would help the General Assembly in drafting legislation to keep communities safe.