JEFFERSON CITY, Mo – Chuck Simino is approaching 40 years of working with the cable and telephone industries. Today, Simino works as the president of the Missouri Cable Telecommunication Association.
Recently, his experience has benefited Simino and his association.
“There is more cooperation between cable and telephone than there has ever been,” he said.
Simino worked for Southwestern Bell for more than 31 years, leaving that company in 2000. He then held several other telecommunications jobs including one with Sprint. Eventually Simino found himself at Embarq, which was purchased by Centurytel, now known as CenturyLink. Following the purchase by CenturyLink, Simino found an opening for his current position with the Missouri Cable Telecommunication Association.
“Our goal is to represent the cable companies in front of the Missouri Legislature and the Missouri Public Service Commission on any issues that come up,” Simino said. “We’re here for development as well as making sure the telecommunication companies are aware of what’s going on.”
Simino is also a registered lobbyist at the Capitol and acts as the main advocate for the cable association. In the past, Simino also worked towards introducing legislation.
“When I was with the telephone industry, we passed SB 284,” Simino said. “That was a joint effort by the telecommunication industry and the cable industry.”
Last year, both industries lobbied for new laws. The General Assembly passed HB 331 and 345, which addressed a number of telecomm issues: standardization of fees for municipal pole attachments for cable, wireless cell tower siting issues, deregulatory work, and standardization of crossing fees in which a railroad company owns a crossing.
“Those two bills passed last year and were signed by the governor. There was a lawsuit filed by the municipality and the judge overturned the law saying there was a Hammerschmidt problem,” Simino said. “That was appealed to the (Missouri) Supreme Court – that’s still pending. It’s been given two extensions. Subsequent to that, the two industries got together and decided to split the subject matter into it’s own bills and those are Senate Bills 649-653.”
As for those new bills, Simino said, “All the bills passed out of the Senate by a wide margin. Four of the bills – all but 652 – were debated in the House and passed by wide margins; 653 which is my bill had to go back for changes, but it passed and those four bills were signed into law by the governor just yesterday”.
“One bill, 652, is the railroad land management issue, which is still in debate in the house. We’ll see what happens with the appeal to the Supreme Court,” Simino said.
The Missouri Cable Telecommunication Association is also paying attention to both the “Revenge Porn” bill sponsored by Rep. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, and House Bill 1573, which pertains to 9-1-1 calls.
What troubles Simino about the “Revenge Porn” bill is the possible liability of the ISP providers.
“We’re trying to make sure if that bill passes, it doesn’t affect the ISP providers,” Simino said. “The issue is not making the ISP providers liable.”
On the 9-1-1 call bill, Simino said, “Missouri is the only state in the nation that doesn’t not have a wireless surcharge on wireless phones. If this fee is instituted we can lower the fees on all the other technologies.”
