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Transportation and Communications Resolutions
July 14, 2008
Support for Digital Television (DTV) Transition Outreach and Education calls upon Congress to increase funding to make the transition to DTV as smooth as possible, by ensuring greater public awareness and preparedness including increased federal funding targeted to public broadcast television stations to undertake these activities, and encourages mayors to meet with their local broadcasters and employ local Public, Education and Governmental (PEG) channels to better educate their constituents on this impending deadline.
Calling for Federal Action on a National Broadband Policy urges the Administration, Congress and the FCC to develop a comprehensive national broadband policy that includes high speed broadband deployment to cities as an imperative, that preserves the ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and services within their communities, that ensures high'speed Internet services are ubiquitous in availability to all American households in all neighborhoods and affordable, calls upon the FCC to collect detailed information on broadband coverage and use and make it available to local governments, and urges the FCC to work with local governments to facilitate an expansion of resources to speed the development of affordable globally-competitive infrastructure in American cities.
2008 Communications Policy sets forth the Conference’s broad policy objectives, including preservation of the local cable franchising scheme set out in 1984 federal Cable Act (and affirmed in 1992 and 1996), affirmation of local governments’ ability to control the rights-of-way and regulate the actions of providers who reside in the city’s rights-of-way, assurances that new technologies bear the same social obligations as the services they seek to replace, opposition to preemption of state and local governments’ consumer protection laws and zoning authority, assurances that wireless providers, like their competitors, be subject to local fair business practices and local cell tower siting authority, promotion of competition among IP service providers, preservation of the D-Block of 700 MHz spectrum earmarked for state and local public safety, adoption of national standards for interoperable public safety standards for first responders, treatment of Internet commerce in the same manner as main street vendors, and promotion of these principles in the 110th Congress and in party platforms.
Expansion of Intercity Rail in the U.S. urges the passage of federal legislation recognizing the current Amtrak system, including its Northeast Corridor, as a national asset and encourages the development of higher speed rail corridors throughout the country to enhance our transportation network.
Providing Adequate Funding Sources to Address Capacity Needs in the National Airspace System through FAA Reauthorization calls upon the Congress to act now to reauthorize this vital legislation, including an increase in the cap on Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs) to $7.50 per flight, indexed to inflation in future years, and higher authorizations for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), with at least $3.8 billion initially, with increases of $100 million each year thereafter.
Ensuring Bicycling is Integrated into National Transportation, Climate, Energy and Health Policy Initiatives indicates that bicycling is in the national interest; encourages the development and implementation of a coordinated national bicycling strategy and recognition that increased and safe bicycle usage for transportation is in the national interest, seeks adoption of federal policies and funding mechanisms to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT), seeks improved safety conditions for bicyclists, collection of transportation and safety data to monitor progress, and adoption of incentives to implement Complete Street policies at the state and local level, urges Governors and state-level leadership to embrace Complete Streets policies, calls on signatories to the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement to develop and implement action plans to incorporate bicycling programs and policies in local climate strategies and encourages mayors to strive to make their city a Bicycle Friendly Community.
Rising Gas Prices and the Need for New Funding Commitments to Public Transportation and other Affordable Travel Options calls upon the President and Congress to provide additional financial resources and other tools, including equalizing parking with transit and other commute benefits, to expand public transportation services and other affordable travel options, helping to improve the economic condition of the American family, reduce oil dependency and curb greenhouse gas emissions, calls upon Governors to use the flexibilities now in federal law to direct existing federal resources to increased investment in public transportation and other travel options, and urges the U.S. DOT Secretary, including the modal administrators, to launch a broad public outreach program to advise state, regional and local officials on the flexibilities that exist in current law to deploy existing federal transportation funds for increased investment in public transportation and other affordable travel options.
Surface Transportation Policy Framework for Federal Successor Legislation to SAFETEA-LU outlines principles to guide Congress and the Administration in developing a new federal surface transportation law, including new standards to ensure that existing transportation assets are properly maintained, new provisions that extend full control to local decision-makers in metropolitan areas to decide how available federal transportation resources are invested and that allocate funds for new capacity projects to these metropolitan areas based on the relative share of economic output, new performance measures for the use of federal funds, examination and inclusion as appropriate of new financing tools and options, more uniform federal rules applicable to all surface transportation investments including intercity rail and freight facilities, and that new federal resources be provided only when such reforms are made part of the new federal surface transportation legislation.
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