A bill that would have allowed telecommunications companies to be relieved of their Carrier of Last Resort obligations in rural areas of the state was pulled just before being heard in committee last week. Regina Costa, the telecommunications policy director for The Utility Reform Network or TURN, says the bill being pulled is due in part to those residents of Mendocino and Humboldt counties who drove far and waited patiently to give testimony as to why those companies should not be allowed to pull out of the state.