MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Calling the state’s utility regulatory board to complain about home or business phone service could soon come to an end. The Alabama Senate voted 33-0 Thursday to give final approval to a bill that does away with the Public Service Commission’s authority to handle complaints about landline phones. The bill cleared the House two weeks ago 86-5 and now goes to the governor, who has not said whether he will sign it into law.
The PSC doesn’t regulate cellphones and Internet-based phone service. The Legislature had already ended the PSC’s control of rates for landline phones in homes and business. The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Mike Hill of Columbiana, called the discontinuation of the complaint process “the final leg of deregulation.”
