Congresswoman defends “states’ rights” to protect ISPs from muni competition

UPDATE: Blackburn’s proposal to strip FCC of authority approved by House.

Jon Brodkin – Jul 16, 2014 3:05 pm | 505

UPDATE: The House today approved Blackburn’s proposal by a vote of 223-200, according to The Hill. It would still need Senate approval to become law.

US Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) wants to make sure the Federal Communications Commission never interferes with “states’ rights” to protect private Internet service providers from having to compete against municipal broadband networks.

Twenty states have passed laws making it difficult for cities and towns to offer their own broadband Internet services, and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has pledged to use his agency’s authority to “preempt state laws that ban competition from community broadband.”

He may get a chance to make good on that promise soon. EPB, a community-owned electric utility in Chattanooga, Tennessee said it is “considering filing a petition to the FCC” to overturn a state law that prevents it from offering Internet and video service outside its electric service area.

“There are vast areas of Tennessee, surrounding EPB’s electric service territory, where citizens and businesses have little or no broadband Internet connectivity,” EPB’s announcement this month said. “For several years EPB has received regular requests to help some of these communities obtain critical broadband Internet infrastructure. However, since 1999, while state law has allowed EPB to provide phone services outside its electric service territory, it has prohibited EPB from offering Internet and video services to any areas outside its electric service area.”

That’s exactly what Blackburn wants to prevent. Yesterday, she proposed an amendment to a general government appropriations bill that would prohibit taxpayer funds from being used by the FCC to preempt state laws governing municipal broadband.

While Blackburn thinks the FCC shouldn’t interfere with states’ rights, she doesn’t seem to be concerned about states interfering with municipalities’ rights to offer their own broadband services. Here’s what she said:

We don’t need unelected federal agency bureaucrats in Washington telling our states what they can and can’t do with respect to protecting their limited taxpayer dollars and private enterprises. As a former state senator from Tennessee, I strongly believe in states’ rights. I found it deeply troubling that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has repeatedly stated that he intends to preempt states’ rights when it comes to the role of state policy over municipal broadband.

…

States have spoken and said we should be careful and deliberate in how we allow public entry into our vibrant communications marketplace, a sector of our economy that invests tens of billions of dollars each year, accounts for tens off thousands of jobs, and serves millions of consumers.

She went on to say that “municipal broadband projects have had a mixed bag of results” including some successes “and also some spectacular failures that have left taxpayers on the hook.”

For an example of a failure, she called out UTOPIA in Utah, where a bill to limit the network’s growth was introduced in the state house this year. Blackburn did not mention EPB from her own state, which has provided much-needed competition to Comcast and AT&T and turned a profit.

Blackburn received $10,000 from the National Cable & Telecommunications Association this year and last year, according to OpenSecrets.org. She received $12,500 in contributions from Verizon, $10,000 from AT&T, $7,500 from Comcast, and $7,000 from representatives of Time Warner Cable. (These donations come from the companies’ political action committees, employees, or owners.)

“Blackburn Works to Prevent FCC from Trampling on States’ Rights.”

The bill—H.R. 5016, the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2015—was left as unfinished business yesterday. A roll call vote on Blackburn’s amendment “was postponed, but it initially appeared to have enough votes for passage,” according to the news site Broadcasting & Cable.

The National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, and National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors yesterday sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to defeat Blackburn’s amendment.

“[S]tate laws that prohibit or restrict public and public/private broadband projects… harm both the public and private sectors, stifle economic growth, prevent the creation or retention of thousands of jobs, and hamper work force development,” the letter said. “The private sector alone cannot enable the United States to take full advantage of the opportunities that advanced communications networks can create in virtually every area of life. As a result, federal, state, and local efforts are taking place across the Nation to deploy both private and public broadband infrastructure to stimulate and support economic development and job creation, especially in economically distressed areas. But such efforts are being thwarted in some areas by State laws that prohibit or restrict municipalities from working with private broadband providers, or developing themselves, if necessary, the advanced broadband infrastructure that will stimulate local businesses development, foster work force retraining, and boost employment in economically underachieving areas.”