AUGUSTA – With public pay telephones disappearing all over the state, Gov. John Baldacci has signed into law a bill aimed at keeping public phones in locations where they’re needed, especially in case of emergencies.

“It’s a good day for public safety and common sense,” the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Herbert Adams, said on Thursday, a day after the governor signed the measure.

Phone companies have removed thousands of unprofitable pay phones from public places in Maine during the last few years, sometimes over the objections of people who see them as a lifeline during emergencies. Pay phones have been removed from some areas that cellular phones can’t reach.

“The public pay phone has gone the way of the passenger pigeon,” said Adams, D-Portland.

His bill, LD 1101, will direct the Public Utilities Commission to set up a process for providing special public interest pay phones, including procedures for people to petition for those public phones.

Providers of intrastate telecommunications services will fund the public interest pay phones, but the amount is capped at $50,000 per year.

Several other states, including New Hampshire, Arkansas and California, have also acknowledged the disappearance of public pay phones and authorized programs for public interest pay phones, according to the Maine Public Advocate’s Office.

The advocate’s office has received complaints about pay phones being removed from some residents of Maine islands, who said cell service was spotty, and from agencies that protect domestic abuse victims, the mentally disabled and the poor. Rural towns have also taken notice.

Verizon Communications Inc., a major player in Maine’s pay phone business, said it’s committed to keeping pay phones available where people need them. The bill takes effect 90 days after the close of the current session.

Another bill signed Wednesday by Baldacci seeks to provide legislators with more information before they pass laws mandating new insurance benefits.

Present law says state insurance officials must provide an analysis of the impact of any new insurance mandate. The law signed by Baldacci expands that by requiring information relating to the rises in consumer prices for medical care.

The bill, LD 767, was scaled back from the original version, which sought to disallow any new mandated benefits unless the rate of increase in the Consumer Price Index for medical care services remains at zero or less than zero for two consecutive years.