Assembly Bill 2758 adds two years to the sunset date of the state's Rural Telecommunications Grant Program, giving the program until 2008 to do its important work.

The $10 million annual program, funded by a portion of a statewide surcharge on telephone service, provides money to bring telecommunications infrastructure to low-income residents of remote, rural areas.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to bring basic phone service to people who would otherwise be cut off from the outside world," said Berg, D-Eureka. "There are too many people who need this help to let the program shut down in a year and a half."

In 2001, when the grant program was established, the state auditor estimated that 112,000 people lived in areas without any access to telephone service. The program got off to a rocky start the following year, however, when funding for administration was stripped from that year's cash-strapped budget.

Counties that would benefit from a sunset extension include Mendocino, Mono, Inyo, Humboldt, Riverside, Lake, Plumas and Tulare. Local officials were happy the program was extended.

"Isolated rural reaches of Humboldt County have been desperately needing these services for years," said Humboldt County Supervisor John Woolley. "Patty is to be congratulated for insuring that the modern world reaches to the farthest corners of Humboldt County."

In June, the Public Utility Commission awarded grants to Trinity, Humboldt and Placer counties to bring wires or cellular phone towers to areas where citizens had never before received telephone service. The commission is currently working on the next round of grants, which are awarded only to communities with below-average incomes.