WILLIAMS PROMOTES TECHNOLOGY IN THE COMMONWEALTH

Harrisburg, Oct. 20, 2003 -- Technology and access to high-speed Internet is moving at speeds unimagined just 10 years ago and state Sen. Connie Williams is working to ensure that Pennsylvania is ready to meet the needs of consumers, businesses and the health-care and education communities.

Williams, Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Communications and High Technology Committee, is working with colleagues and industry leaders to ensure Pennsylvania can provide high-speed Internet capability to every area of the state. The Dec. 31, 2003 sunsetting (expiration) of Chapter 30 – Pennsylvania’s 1993 law that began the process of broadband distribution across the state – is one of the key factors moving along debate on the issue.

“For the past two years, the committee has received an intense education on the technical aspects of telecommunications,” Williams said.

As a result of those debates, Williams and Sen. Jake Corman, Republican chairman of the committee, introduced legislation (S.B. 900 and S.B. 30) that would ensure the Commonwealth is wired with the broadband infrastructure that will serve as the backbone for economic development.

“This legislation does more than just extend the Chapter 30 regulations, it addresses the need to extend high-speed Internet access to rural Pennsylvania and moves up the date,” Williams said.

“When Chapter 30 was first authored, telephone companies were given a 2015 deadline to provide broadband to all consumers. That seemed like a reasonable goal at the time, but today we recognize that broadband distribution needs to take place sooner. It needs to take place to ensure future economic development in the Commonwealth as well as to provide the tools children need to learn and our health-care community needs to provide the highest quality service.”

Senate Bill 30 would set forth an accelerated broadband deployment schedule and would provide a new sunset date for Chapter 30. Senate Bill 900 would allow for the creation of a separate regulatory agency, the Pennsylvania Telecommunications Commission, which would be responsible for establishing regulatory telecommunications policies that would help Pennsylvania stay on the cutting edge of telecommunications. This would be the first such agency in the nation. Additionally the bill would promote competition and other consumer protections.

A public hearing was held on Senate Bill 900 Monday so the committee could gain input and fine-tune the legislation before it is voted out of committee, which could happen as early as next week.