Friday, May 20, 2011
Telecommunications giants 1. People 0. Perdue lets HB129 become law
Governor Bev Perdue will let House Bill 129, the anti-municipal broadband bill become law today, opting to neither sign nor veto the legislation before the midnight deadline.
She issued a statement (full text below) saying she both wants every North Carolinian to have Internet access and seeks rules to prevent cities from having “an unfair advantage over providers in the private sector.”
- File photo by D.L. Anderson
- Crews in Wilson installed fiber lines in 2008 for the town-run broadband Internet service. Municipalities such as Wilson, where broadband is already in place, received exemptions in the bill.
As we previously reported, the legislation, innocuously titled “Level the Playing Field/Local Gov’t Competition,” will limit local governments from providing broadband service to residents by requiring municipalities to pay a fee to the state equal to what a private provider would pay in taxes, forbidding them from using tax revenue to fund the projects and forcing a referendum to be held before moving forward, effectively allowing the private companies to lobby citizens against municipal broadband without allowing the local government to make its case.
Governor Bev Perdue today issued the following statement on House Bill 129:
I believe that every school, household and business in North Carolina — no matter where they are — should have access to efficient and affordable broadband services.
There is a need to establish rules to prevent cities and towns from having an unfair advantage over providers in the private sector. My concern with House Bill 129 is that the restrictions the General Assembly has imposed on cities and towns who want to offer broadband services may have the effect of decreasing the number of choices available to their citizens.
For these reasons, I will neither sign nor veto this bill. Instead, I call on the General Assembly to revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers.
###
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
This was a reasonable bill -- it passed legislature by overwhelming margines -- no reason for her to veto it.
like
dislike
So now Gov. Bev is the Broadband Broad as well as the Biotech Gov. she should be fixed for life when she retires.
How much did you get on kick backs for this one, future one term governor? The so-called "unfair" businesses are free to charge ridiculous prices and it will only go up. The rural areas need this more than the cities, but I would LOVE to see something cheaper than Time Warner
Latest in Triangulator
-
Womble bill would compensate eugenics victims
Bill would establish $10 million fund to help compensate eugenics victims.
- May 16, 2012
-
State elections board clears Durham Partnership for Progress
Durham Partnership for Progress didn't coordinate with candidates, says state board
- May 7, 2012
-
Woodard: Election paperwork was sent, but not received
Mike Woodard says he learned Friday that the stack of forms he says he sent Feb. 22, within the required 10-day period, had not been received. "I'm going to take care of that today," he said.
- May 1, 2012
- More »
More by Author
-
Sturgeon and caviar farming in Western N.C.
La Paz farm in Caldwell County is the first of its kind in N.C. and only the fifth in the U.S. Sturgeon are being processed now, and the group expects to sell caviar by Christmas.
- Apr 18, 2012
-
Study: Durham voters have reason to be confused
Democracy NC's Voter Confusion Index, which measures the total number of split precincts in each county for the General Assembly and U.S. Congressional seats, lists Durham as the third worst. Wake County is 16th; Orange, 81st.
- Apr 26, 2012
- More »
