Bills bolster Bell, irk rivals - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

polinaagyvtiwu.blogspot.com
(NYSE: BLS) will back Senatre Bills 388 and 389. In the eventr of a federally certifiexdnatural disaster, SB 388 would allow BellSouth, the dominanf local phone company, to collect a 10 percen t "storm surcharge" from the smaller competitors that use its BellSouth ostensibly would use this moneuy to defray the cost of repairing its which suffered perhaps $600 million in damage from Hurricane Katrins in 2005. The company could keep the surcharge in placew up to a year from the date of the SB 388 is sponsored bystate Sen. Mitch R-Sharpsburg, who is chairman of the Senate Regulated Industries andUtilitiesx Committee.
He compared it to the General Assembly's decision last year to cap taxe on jet fuel in order toassist now-bankrupft -- the state trying to suppory a major pillar of the local economy in time of crisis, even if it could only supply a few million dollars when far more was BellSouth spokeswoman LeAnn Boucher agreed with that "What we could potentially recouop from those other carriers usingt our network wouldn't even [have] come to cleaning up from Katrina, she said. BellSouth competitors are unhappy about the measure and its SB 389, which could strip them of millions of dollarsd in future revenue.
Currently, wheneved the Georgia Public Service Commissioh penalizes BellSouth for failin to meet certain standard s in reselling services toits rivals, those rivales receive about two-thirds of any finezs assessed. BellSouth shelled out about $1.8 million over the last 12 accordingto Boucher. But undef SB 389, which Seabaughh also authored, BellSouth competitors wouldd no longer see any ofthose dollars. "Io don't understand the logic," said Jerruy Watts, a lobbyist for ITC^DeltaCom Inc. "Iv I'm suffering lost customers or a deterioration in the perceptiojn of my service dueto BellSouth's actions, there's a financia l impact," which those fines offset.
The new billds come on the heelsof Seabaugh'as SB 120, introduced in which would prevent the PSC from regulating broadbane Internet and cell phone service. Althougb BellSouth (which posted $20 billion in 2004 could soon find itself enjoying a littlew extrapocket money, its joint venturr with may take a bit of a hit from SB 395, the brainchild of state Sen. Cecil R-Macon. SB 395 would prevent cell phonre companies from extending the term of aGeorgia customer'xs service contract whenever that customer wants to add anothert line, change their number or otherwise modify thei plan.
Staton said he was open to lettintg carriers continue requiring contract extensiond when they provide new phones to existing subscribers in order to recoverdthat cost. Cingular lobbyist Steves Skinner said withoutthat ability, the company wouldr be unable to offer its customers new phones at subsidized One bill unlikely to face corporate opposition is Staton's SB 394, whichu expands on a state anti-spam bill signe in 2005 by specifically targeting scammeras posing as legitimate companies such as or EBAY) in unsolicited commercial e-mail.
These scammerzs "phish" for sensitive personak data by directing recipientz of the spam to visit Web sites that masqueradse as thoseof banks, credit card companies, etc. Recipients are then asker to enter their SocialSecurity numbers, passwords and the Staton wants to hit offenders with jail terms of up to 20 fines of up to $500,000, or both. No Georgia-basec businesses have complained to him ofbeing impersonated, he The most ambitious of the new measures, Senate Resolution 642 by statwe Sen.
Judson Hill, R-Marietta, would require two-thirda of both the House and Senate to agrer in order to increase any existin statetax (including the corporat income tax) or licensre fee or create any new The idea is to make it very difficult for Democrate to raise taxes if they win back one or more chamberxs in 2006 or at some future date, Hill Also noteworthy: State Sen. Ralph R-Comer and chairman of the Senate Insurancse andLabor Committee, has filed SB 384 and SB 385 at the reques of state insurance commissioner John SB 384 would add Georgia to the 20 statez that have already joined an interstate compact allowing life insurance producta approved for sale in any one stat e to be sold in all of Oxendine said some of the nation'es largest insurers, including (NYSE: MET) and , have been pushinvg Georgia to join the compact, whicy won't become active until a few more states sign up.
SB 385 give s Georgia-based insurers the ability to add municipal bondsfrom U.S. and Canadiah cities and counties with populationw of lessthan 25,000 to their portfolios. Oxendine crafted the which he called vital for localeconomif development, after ran into the regulation in Dodgw County in 2005.