by Ron Thaniel
May 22, 2006

With the announcement last week that the House Judiciary Committee will not receive a referral to markup the Communications, Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006 (H.R. 5252), a main obstacle to an anticipated Floor vote was removed. H.R. 5252, which cleared the Energy and Commerce Committee on April 26, does significant harm to consumers and cities in three significant ways:

First, the bill strips local governments of their authority to franchise the use of their rights-of-way for video/cable services and gives that authority to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington, D.C.

Second, it gives the FCC the authority to oversee and second-guess all local rights-of-way management practices and all customer service issues.

Third, the bill allows providers of the broadband-video service, through the national franchise, to use the public rights-of-way in a community but pick and choose which neighborhoods they wish to serve while bypassing all others completely.

Please contact your House members and urge them to vote “NO” on the bill. Simply dial the Capitol switchboard at 202/224-3121 and ask for your members’ office.

For more information on H.R. 5252, go to the website at usmayors.org.