Urge NJ Senate to "Vote NO" on Anti-Consumer Give Away to Telecommunication Giants

Join New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) to speak out against the so-called Market Competition and Consumer Choice Act, which would wipe out consumer protections for both basic cable and single landline telephone consumers and represents a significant shift in state policy.  On February 17, 2011 the Assembly passed its onerous version of the legislation (A3766) but the companion bill was held without being voted on in the Senate (S2664).  Now it is up to all of us to stop this bill once and for all in the Senate. Taxpayers and their consumer protections will be dramatically affected by this deregulation and your Senators need to hear from you.

This radical deregulation bill is being railroaded through the Assembly and Senate and will wipe out current consumer protections that  require telephone and cable companies to provide safe, adequate and proper service and could eliminate such consumer protections as credits for service outages and correction of billing errors and even the requirement to transmit a picture on your screen!  Particularly among low or fixed income individuals – including senior citizens and those with disabilities – these basic phone and cable plans act as a life line.  Calling doctors or pharmacies, reaching out to loved ones for support, contacting a hospital in an emergency – these allow us to retain our independence and stay connected to the world.

Don’t let the deregulation of basic services and the greed of large telecommunications companies trump the basic consumer protections we depend on!