Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Ty Harrell jumps on anti-muni broadband wagon
Update 4/16: A vote on the bill was postponed to next Wednesday, April 22.
N.C. Rep. Ty Harrell, who represents western Wake County in the General Assembly, last week introduced a House companion to a Senate bill that would effectively stop local governments from building their own broadband Internet and other telecommunications services if they compete with private industry.
Harrell is an otherwise progressive legislator. He's a co-sponsor of the comprehensive sex education bill, the Healthy Youth Act and the anti-bullying bill, the School Violence Prevention Act. He has twice received our endorsement. But by sponsoring HB 1252, Harrell has angered a wide grassroots base. Since introducing the bill, he says he's heard from many progressives who oppose it.
"I did not know there would be this type of response, to be honest with you," Harrell said in an interview.
He’s likely to hear more of that response this Wednesday, April 15, when the same coalition that fought the anti-muni broadband bill in 2007 plans to attend the House Science and Technology Committee meeting at 11 a.m. in Legislative Office Building room 425.
Harrell is chairman of that committee (though under House rules he won’t chair discussion of a bill he sponsors.) He says Time Warner Cable is based in his district and approached him about sponsoring the bill, which would require local governments to tack on to the fees they charge consumers the difference in the amount it would cost a private company to provide the service. Also under the bill, a city could not use government funds to “cross-subsidize” the launch or operation of a system, a practice common in private industry.
“You’ve got the municipalities who are more of less being subsidized by private industry in the sense that they don’t pay property tax, they don’t pay income tax, they receive rebates on their sales tax for these services and they have access to tax-free financing,” Harrell said, summarizing the industry’s argument. “I wanted to make sure that I look out for the businesses that are in my district. It was not an intent to rub out or punish municipalities that try to provide this service.”
But the bill’s opponents say that’s precisely the industry’s goal. They say these prohibitions artificially increase the cost of the municipal service and impose obligations that private industry does not have to meet. The cities of Wilson and Salisbury have already beaten a path to Harrell’s door, seeking to explain that building their own telecommunications infrastructure allows them to offer faster speeds and greater capacity than private industry is willing to build for their citizens.
The League of Municipalities, which lobbies for the interests of towns and cities across the state, is circulating a resolution to their members laying out the arguments against the bill (PDF).
Among the League’s concerns is the fact that North Carolina would be ineligible for $4.7 billion in federal stimulus grants set aside for local and state governments to provide broadband Internet service to unserved and underserved areas.
The timing of the bill is made worse by Time Warner Cable’s recent announcement that it would institute bandwidth caps for its customers in Greensboro and other cities nationwide. Customers who use more than their capped allotment (40 GB being the highest tier) will have to pay $1 per extra GB. Those customers are not happy and they're fighting back with help from national groups like Free Press.
This year's legislative effort is very similar to one the phone and cable industries unsuccessfully pushed in 2007. Harrell says he was unaware of the widespread opposition and heated debate that legislation inspired until after he filed HB 1252. “I was unaware of this being a hornet’s nest last time,” he said.
The main difference is that this year's legislation applies to "underserved" areas but leaves "unserved" areas--the ones private industry has no interest in providing services--up for grabs. In other words, it applies only in places where local governments would compete with private industry, even if, as in the municipal system provides much faster speeds and higher capacity than anything private phone and cable companies are willing to offer–and even if the private services are not available to all citizens.
Harrell says he tried to find a compromise. Opponents suggested a study bill, but Harrell says the industry representatives refused to consider it. “Having gone through those battles last time, the proponents of this bill were basically saying, ‘We’ve gone down that road before and we want to have it heard in committee. I said, ‘OK, since my name is on it and you’re in my district.’”
“From the standpoint of the parties that will be lined up against this thing again,” Harrell said, “many are friends of mine, people that I know personally and people that are politically supportive of me – or were. They’re going to voice their concerns. But I think this is worthy of at least having the discussion.”
Comments (11)
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[...] 6, 2009 Is it the plucky little town going up against the evil corporate behemoth? Or is the government unfairly undercutting private enterprise using taxpayer money and tax-free borrowing? Where should someone who is interested in freedom [...]
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[...] Harrell said he introduced the legislation, which amazingly channels industry wishes word for word, because ‘Time Warner approached him and asked for it,’ and even worse: Opponents suggested a study bill, but Harrell says the industry representatives refused to consider it. “Having gone through those battles last time, the proponents of this bill were basically saying, ‘We’ve gone down that road before and we want to have it heard in committee. I said, ‘OK, since my name is on it and you’re in my district.’” [...]
Call and email all of the sponsors of HB1252: Ty Harrell (D-Wake) ty.harrell@ncleg.net 919 733 5602 Earl Jones (D-Guilford) Earl.Jones@ncleg.net 919-733-5825 Marilyn Avila (R-Wake) 919-733-5530 Marilyn.Avila@ncleg.net Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenberg) 919-733-5828 Thom.Tillis@ncleg.net As well as the members of the House Committee on Science and Technology, where the bill is under consideration, as well as your own Representative, who can be found here: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/GIS/RandR07/Home.html Might as well also contact the sponsors of Senate Bill 1004: David Hoyle (D-Gaston) (919) 733-5734 David.Hoyle@ncleg.net Debbie Clary (R-Cleveland/Rutherford) (919) 715-3038 Debbie.Clary@ncleg.net I've emailed all of the above, in addition to my reps, Senator Floyd McKissick and Representative Paul Luebke; and I've called Harrell's office and the office of Sen. McKissick. I've not received a single response -- which leaves me less than thrilled.
I went to today's committee meeting. Ty Harrell was a strong advocate for this bill that will deny North Carolina the level of BBND we need to compete worldwide. Ty wanted it voted on it today but now he will schedule the vote next Wednesday at 11:00. (425 LOB) We have 11% unemployment in this state and this bill will deny our local communities the ability to apply for (because they won't be able to use) the OBama BBND stimulus funds to build bbnd infrastructure and create jobs. If you guys want to stop Ty from his mindless act, please call and leave him a message 919 733 5602 or EMAIL him at ty.harrell@ncleg.net and tell him to withdraw his support for H1252 and let NC local communities build the bbnd infrastructure that the industry won't. What kind of crap to suggest that NC communities need to be strapped down so they don't compete unfairly with multi-national corporations like AT&T and TWC!
I've known Ty a long time, although only as an acquaintance, both personally and politically. Knowing Ty, when he hears the backlash of strong opposition, he will either pull his support or at least stop actively pushing it. This is not an issue where a candidate would intrinsically understand how strong and vocal the opposition would be. I truly hope he reconsiders.
A once promising state legislator does the bidding of big corporate interests. What a disappointment. Ty Harrell's apparent rationale for supporting this travesty of a bill is that a Time Warner Cable facility is located in his district!! So is that all it takes to justify running roughshod over the rights of regular citizens to make decisions through their local governments as to what services they want government to provide? Last time I checked that was the essence of democracy and the state legislature should not be in the business of interfering with democracy at the local level. It's time to take control of our government and speak out against state legislators who do the bidding of unaccountable and unregulated corporations for such specious reasons. After all, anyone with half a brain knows that the Time Warner Cables of the world take money out of North Carolina and transfer it to New York and other distant places to subsidize higher cost operations and better technology in their favorite markets. Surely the North Carolina legislature has more important things to do than to enact bills such as H1252 that protect the price gougers of the world from competition.
I don't see Representative Harrell endorsing anti-muni garbage pickup, though it doubtlessly hurts the garbage industry. Municipal governments buy their broadband from somebody - it doesn't grow on tress - so the telecom companies ultimately get their dime and the business.
To me, a study bill suggests discussion. But Harrell's handlers have refused that path. This legislation has ramrod written all over it. I'd like to think that Harrell believes he's truly representing his constituents. But his ignorance of the background on these two bills and the prior bill reflects a myopia caused by telecom-prescribed glasses.
Local geeks who are generally supportive of Ty are up in arms about his sponsorship of this bill. With Time Warner Cable planning to sock its video-streaming customers with outrageous usage fees, North Carolinians needs more broadband alternatives, not fewer.
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