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92_HB2900gms
STATE OF ILLINOIS
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
SPRINGFIELD, 62706
GEORGE H. RYAN
GOVERNOR
June 28, 2001
To the Honorable Members of the
Illinois House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly
I am please to sign House Bill 2900, a measure which
returns the State of Illinois to the forefront of cutting
edge regulation of telecommunications technology. Because so
many changes have swept the marketplace since Illinois' last
landmark effort, the importance of the General Assembly's
efforts, and those of industry and consumer organizations,
cannot be overstated.
House Bill 2900 makes broad changes in how Illinois will
govern the rapidly changing telecommunications marketplace.
House and Senate committee members assigned to produce a
comprehensive telecommunications rewrite put in untold hours
fo work and negotiation and should be congratulated for their
efforts.
The policy goals of the legislation are clear:
1. to ensure the widest availability of
telecommunications services at a reasonable cost for
residential users;
2. to encourage competition in the residential market,
and to declare the business market competitive;
3. to help bridge the digital divide;
4. to spur substantial investment in telecommunications
infrastructure in Illinois.
House Bill 2900 contains numerous pro-consumer
provisions, which include:
1. enhancements in the ability to oversee and address
abuses of slamming, jamming and cramming violations;
2. new service quality standards that all
telecommunications companies must abide by;
3. significantly increased enforcement and penalty
powers given to the Illinois Commerce Commission;
4. required deployment of advanced telecommunications
services on a gradual yet consistent basis throughout
Illinois;
5. new provisions which will further enhance the
competitive activity in the residential markets.
To be frank, unless this last goal is achieved, the
others will wither. If we can achieve the greatest possible
telecom investment in Illinois, our residential consumer will
be well served and Illinois will be an attractive place for
businesses to locate and expand. Substantial telecom
investment will mean jobs for Illinoisans in a fast growing
industry.
Some have expressed fears that House Bill 2900 may
encourage new telecom operations to simply buy technology and
services from existing companies and resell them, without
making their own investments in technology and jobs in our
State. I believe the Illinois Commerce Commission should be
vigilant in its enforcement of the Act to ensure substantial
investment by all telecommunication companies desiring to do
business in our State. If entering companies are led to
believe that they can prosper simply by "picking off" prime
services from other carriers, perhaps at or below cost, then
Illinois will have deprived itself of rational telecom
regulation and discouraged, rather than encouraged,
investment in technology and jobs in this State.
I chose to sign House Bill 2900 in Humboldt Park, which
is one of six Illinois Workforce Advantage communities. In
these IWA communities, the State coordinates our financial
and organizational efforts to make measurable, positive
changes in the lives of the people in these communities.
Casa Central, the location for the bill signing, is an
active member of the Humboldt Park Empowerment Partnership,
and will be receiving a State of Illinois "Eliminate the
Digital Divide" grant of $49,824 to replace obsolete
equipment that it now uses in its technology center. One of
the most important parts of House Bill 2900 is an additional
$30 million, available for future digital divide grants that
can help people throughout the State and at programs like
Casa Central.
I believe that House Bill 2900 represents an extremely
positive step forward. As the telecommunications industry
continues to evolve, I would urge both the General Assembly
and the Illinois Commerce Commission to carefully monitor
implementation of this Act. The ICC and GA should also
monitor Federal action coming from either Congress or the
Federal Communications Commission.
The complex goal of House Bill 2900 is to simultaneously
encourage competition in both the business and residential
markets, while continuing to protect consumers in cases where
the market still may not be mature or functioning properly. I
hope to see continued investments, in both new and existing
technologies that will improve the telecommunications
infrastructure in Illinois.
House Bill 2900 also attempts to not get in the way of
new technologies that could emerge in the years ahead. The
sponsors of the bill wisely set a short sunset date for the
new act of July 1, 2005, as I am certain this field will
continue to undergo rapid changes that necessitate further
revisions in how telecommunications are regulated. To
adequately implement this new law, careful attention must be
paid to the real world impact on all parties, including
residential consumers, businesses (large and small), and the
telecommunications companies that ultimately must respond in
the appropriate manner to keep Illinois on the cutting edge
of state telecommunications regulations.
I strongly urge all of the organizations that had some
stake in crafting this bill to pull together and make this
work for all of the citizens in Illinois. As with all
complex, multi-party negotiations, no side got everything it
wanted but the combined result should serve the people of
Illinois well in the four years until the process of
reviewing our laws starts again.
All in all, this legislation is a significant
achievement. It is the nation's most important advance in
telecom regulation for the 21st century and I am pleased to
sign it.
With these comments I have approved House Bill 2900.
Sincerely,
s/GEORGE H. RYAN
Governor