Rauner won’t sign 911 funding plan that could increase phone taxes

read:http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-bruce-rauner-phone-fees-20170623-story.html

CHICAGO, IL-  (Chicago Tribune Staff Report.  Please click on the link for the full story.  Here is an excerpt below.)

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration said Thursday he would not support legislation that would allow the city to raise telephone fees in order to pay for 911 emergency service.

The measure, which was approved in the final hours of the spring legislative session, contained a provision extending the Emergency Telephone System Act. That law is set to expire on July 1, and allows phone carriers to collect money to support local 911 services.

AT & T filed a motion with the Illinois Commerce Comission to end land line service in the state.   The company bills the effort as a move to modernization that would allow it to invest more resources into its wireless and internet-based phone networks. Critics say the bill would leave behind hundreds of thousands of residents, particularly seniors, who rely on traditional landline telephone service.