LANSING ? The rewrite of the Michigan Telecommunications Act will hit the Senate floor no later than September 27 under the new schedule laid out Wednesday by Sen. Bruce Patterson (R-Canton), chair of the Technology and Energy Committee.

Patterson had initially set Wednesday as the deadline for reporting a bill – or seeking a discharge of legislation – but he extended the deadline after Wednesday’s meeting in light of the progress being made on developing a new act.

The bill being hashed out (SB 754) changes the basis of telecommunications regulation, essentially eliminating regulation of business services. Instead, the only economic regulation would be on basic service, which is a dial tone and 200 calls per month. Local telephone companies now would be able to offer any service beyond that first 200 calls without Public Service Commission review of its rates.

But the PSC would still have oversight of quality of service and would be able to enforce repair and service change times. The committee rejected an amendment that would have allowed small businesses to also use that basic service.

The committee did, at the behest of the attorney general, expand the definition of local calling, which had included only 50 calls in the bill as introduced. Sen. Patty Birkholz (R-Saugatuck) had argued seniors particularly would stick to the basic service plan but would need more calls.

“It’s important for their mental health and probably for their physical health as well,” Birkholz said of the additional calls.

With the committee’s goal being to further increase competition in the industry, it also adopted an amendment to expand the information required in the annual report from the Public Service Commission on competition. The report would have to include information on competition from services other than land-line phones, any education programs the commission has implemented and any recommendations it would have for legislative changes.

Over Patterson’s objections, the committee also adopted language that would require the PSC to develop an education program on telephone competition aimed particularly at areas where competition is just developing.

The committee moved through 24 of the more than 100 pages of amendments submitted, though most were withdrawn or rejected after discussion, including a series offered by Sen. Virg Bernero (D-Lansing) to regulate the cellular phone industry.

In particular, Bernero was concerned about helping customers get out of long-term contracts when the service does not meet their expectations. But Republicans on the committee were concerned about moving into an area that is currently considered competitive and about harming cell phone companies when those contracts include free equipment that might lose value in the first days of a contract.

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