A Resolution Expressing Strong Opposition to Federal Preemption of Local Authority for the Benefit of the Telecommunications Industry
Adopted at the 94th Annual Meeting in 2026
WHEREAS, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved H.R. 2289 by a vote of 26-24, without providing local elected officials the opportunity to formally testify, voice concerns, nor provide stakeholder input on the bill; and
WHEREAS, H.R. 2289 would:
- Preempt local governments' rights-of-way compensation and management authority, zoning powers, cable franchising authority, and property rights,
- Bestow on broadband providers an unprecedented, uncompensated, unconstitutional, and unnecessary federal grant of access to state and local public property,
- Mandate that telecommunications equipment siting decisions are "deemed granted" if not denied by a local government within 60 days, which is less than 25 % of the time the federal government gives itself (270 days) to make identical decisions concerning access to federal property,
- Impose a new standard for reviewing wireless deployments such that any local government decision not to allow the installation of a proposed wireless facility at a provider's request arises to the level of a "prohibition" preempted by federal law,
- Require local governments to draft and publicly release a written explanation for the decision to deny an application on the same day it votes on the decision, a virtually impossible task because such written decisions typically require the examination and analysis of evidence presented to local council,
- Rewrite Section 253 of the Communications Act to eliminate hard fought protections of state and local government authority to manage public rights-of-way and collect fair market compensation for their use and management (limiting fees to actual, objectively reasonable costs ), which is the equivalent of Congress passing a law that public property can sell for no more than the actual, objectively reasonable costs of the preparation of the closing documents,
- Substitute the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the local federal district court as the reviewing body for challenges to local government decisions regarding wireless facility applications, thus breaking the promise made by Congress in 1996 that local governments would not be required to travel to Washington to defend local decisions,
- Eliminate cable franchise renewals, thereby restricting the ability of state or local franchising authorities to enforce franchise obligations such as public, educational, and government channel capacity and facilities, customer service requirements, and system build-out requirements, and
- Affirmatively grant cable operators the right to use local rights-of-way to provide non-cable services while prohibiting localities from imposing any fees on non-cable services for use of those rights-of-way, and
WHEREAS, Representative Frank Pallone made a statement in support of local control and in strong opposition to H.R. 2289 when the House Committee on Energy and Commerce marked up the bill on December 3, 2025; and
WHEREAS, Representative Pallone included a strong statement outlining the egregious and heavy-handed harm H.R. 2289 would impose on local governments and the people they serve in the Committee Report (House Report 119-614) to accompany the bill; and
WHEREAS, the FCC is seeking its own massive preemptions of local authority on behalf of the industry through two rulemakings:
- Build America: Eliminating Barriers to Wireless Deployments (WT Docket Number 25-276) and
- Eliminating Barriers to Wireline Deployments (WC Docket Number 25-253), which would impose similar harm on local governments as those outlined in H.R. 2289 despite the FCC lacking the authority to do so, as demonstrated by the need of Congress to seek to enact H.R. 2289; and
WHEREAS, H.R. 2289 and the two FCC proceedings are solutions in search of a problem:
- Proponents of H.R. 2889 and the two FCC proceedings cannot and have not demonstrated that preempting local authority will lead to more widespread broadband deployment and
- The most widely deployed form of broadband available to consumers in the nation is provided by traditional cable operators who were required under local franchises to build out their systems to serve all residents in the community, and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Conference of Mayors strongly opposes H.R. 2289 and urges all members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to oppose the legislation or any similar preemption proposal as an unnecessary and unconstitutional taking of local property rights.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Conference of Mayors thanks Representative Pallone for his leadership in support of local control and opposition to H.R. 2289 and all those members, Democrat and Republican, that stood with Mr. Pallone in protecting local governments police powers and property rights.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors reaffirms its opposition to the proposed actions in the FCC s two broadband dockets, and calls on the Commissions to refrain from taking actions, the authority for which was not delegated by Congress to the Commissions, and even were the power delegated, the actions proposed by the Commissions would result in an unconditional taking of local governments rights.