Senate bill would reduce state prohibitions on muni deployments
New Jersey Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg and a bi-partisan group of senators yesterday introduced a bill designed to promote universal and affordable broadband access in the U.S. by prohibiting state legislatures from denying local governments the right to offer broadband municipal services to their citizens.New Jersey Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg and a bi-partisan group of senators yesterday introduced a bill designed to promote universal and affordable broadband access in the U.S. by prohibiting state legislatures from denying local governments the right to offer broadband municipal services to their citizens.
The bill, the Community Broadband Act of 2007, protects consumers on two fronts: It prohibits states from adopting legislation, like the bill pending in North Carolina, which denies local governments the right to deploy municipal broadband projects; It also addresses the concerns of private providers by forbidding municipal providers from discriminating against private competition.
The bill also requires municipalities offering broadband services to comply with Federal telecommunications laws and regulations, just as private providers must do. It also encourages public-private partnerships and insists on public notification and hearings before a local government deploys a muni broadband system.
“Towns and cities across the country are offering fast, affordable Internet, and states should be encouraging these initiatives, not hindering them,” said
The bi-partisan nature of this measure is encouraging. It demonstrates what we already know‚Äö?Ñ?Æthat these state-sponsored prohibitions on muni deployments are technologically and politically destructive. Not only do they kow tow to the anti-competitive interests of incumbent providers, they rob local governments of the right to govern locally.
By removing state-sponsored roadblocks to local initiatives and, at the same time, putting assurances in place that local municipalities will not discriminate against private enterprise, the bill seems to be doing what must be done to insure the most competitive environment for all. Consumers can only benefit.
FreePress has posted a copy of the bill.Click here to read it.
Related posts:
Loading ...
