House considers bill to control pay phone rates

Rep. Eileen DeHart (D-Westland) drafted the bill to mirror a recent set of rules on pay phone rate disclosure issued by the Federal Communications Commission.

The bill would require that long distance carriers identify themselves at the beginning of a call. The pay-phone owner must also post information on or near the pay phone telling how consumers can get rate information on the carrier through a toll-free number.

"Michigan consumers are paying as much as $13 for the first minute during some types of calls," DeHart said. "Keeping rates a secret from consumers is an outrageous practice."

Pay phone rate complaints rank third in the types of complaints the FCC receives from consumers about telephone usage.

DeHart said state law allows pay-phone companies to charge up to 300 percent of the average rates consumers pay on their regulated bills with companies like AT&T, Sprint and MCI.

Little major legislation is expected to hit the House floor this week as committees begin meeting to debate Gov. John Engler's proposed $8.8 billion 1998-99 fiscal year budget.

In the Senate, most attention will be focused on a special committee formed to study the future of Sen. Henry Stallings (D-Detroit). The freshman Democrat admitted that he took more than $100 under false pretenses in using a Senate employee to work in his Detroit art gallery.

Under a plea agreement Stallings reached with prosecutors, Wayne County Circuit Judge Sean Cox is to hold Stallings' guilty plea "under advisement" for one year.

If Stallings has no further legal problems, Cox is to reduce the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor of taking money less than $100 under false pretenses.

Meanwhile, a special bipartisan Senate committee has begun weighing whether to censure or expel Stallings. Committee Chair Willis Bullard (R-Milford) has scheduled a second meeting for this week.

"We're creating a precedent for future cases," Bullard said, noting that no senator has ever been booted out of office.

"I don't think anybody in the Senate is interested in expelling a senator," he said. "But it is our job to make a decision and judgment on Senator Stallings' case."

The only state lawmaker ever expelled was Rep. Monte Geralds (D-Madison Heights), who was ousted in 1978 after being convicted of embezzling money from a law client before joining the Legislature.

Last week, Stallings' attorney, Kenneth Hylton, questioned the chamber's power to expel Stallings, which would take a two-thirds vote of the 38-member chamber.

But Senate lawyers said legal precedents give the Senate broad discretion on who can be ousted from office and for what reason.

The Senate has little major legislation before it this week. But it is slated to open discussion soon on bills to give financial incentives to police officers who live in high-crime areas.

"Encouraging police officers to live in areas infested with drugs and crime can provide the extra influence a community needs to create safe neighborhoods," said Sen. Mike Rogers (R-Brighton), who sponsored the bills.

The bills would create state income tax and mortgage interest exemptions for officers buying homes in high-crime areas and grant free auto registrations and license plates for such officers.

"When officers live in the areas where high crime rates exist, they build trust and confidence among neighbors," said Rogers, a former FBI agent.

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