Lawmakers, please don't forget jobs

It's a safe bet that everyone reading this knows someone who is out of work.

Illinois' unemployment rate reached 11.4 percent in February, continuing to leave the national rate of 9.7 percent in its dust. Business leaders recently met at Harper College in Palatine with the House's Bipartisan Job Creation Task Force. Much of the testimony focused on the perception that Illinois has anti-business tendencies.

For instance, Motorola director of government affairs Darcy Davidsmeyer said the company has to pay thousands of dollars for quarterly audits required by22222222222 a state law on safe disposal of electronics - though the company had been voluntarily complying for years before it took effect.

Meanwhile, business lobbyists say taxes and fees are the single most important factor influencing business growth that can be controlled by the legislature. In 2003, a series of business fees and taxes were raised by Democratic powers and then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to help balance the state budget. These deserve serious review.

Companies gravitate to where they have a competitive advantage. According to the 2010 Tax Foundation's comparison of the 50 states' business tax climates, Illinois ranked 30th. At issue are taxes, workers' compensation laws and regulations - among other things.

One of the most talked-about pieces of regulatory legislation in Illinois this year involves the expiring telecommunications act, first passed in 1985 and tweaked in 2001. This law was crafted before mobile phones and the Internet redefined the way we communicate.

It is time to update it.

Right now, its regulations target AT&T, which controls old-fashioned landlines, a market officials say no one else even wants. Meanwhile, AT&T officials say the mobile and broadband market grows because it is largely unregulated.

AT&T wants lawmakers to level the playing field by lifting consumer protections that threaten the company with a $30 million fine if there are too many outages that last too long.

It's a fine the company only paid once, the year it took effect. Company officials say the threat of such a steep fine forces them to spend so much maintaining old technology that they lose ground in the new markets. Lift consumer protections, they say, and trust AT&T to provide good service. Then money could be shifted from copper wires to mobile technology - creating jobs.

The argument is compelling.

But too many homes still do not have mobile phones or home Internet. Some rural areas even lack the broadband service needed for some options. These consumers deserve the kind of reliable phone service that regulations inspire.

We believe lawmakers can find a compromise that will not diminish the expectation for good service, encourage job-creating investment in new technology and treat all phone service providers more equally.

A competitive mobile and Internet phone market is serving consumers well with low prices and a wealth of choices. Lawmakers should not strangle this market with new regulations.