Public Power and Revision of the FEDERAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT

1
Public Power and Revision of theFEDERAL
TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT

• Presentation by
• Joe Nipper, Senior Vice President
• for Government Relations
• American Public Power Association
• at the
• APPA COMMUNITY BROADBAND CONFERENCE
• San Francisco, CA
• October 11, 2004

2
Factors Prompting Congress to Act

• Technological Innovation
• Outmoded regulatory structure
• Mired Litigation
• Global competitiveness
• Broadband digital divide

3
Public Power Then and Now

• Our interests are much more diverse now than in
  1996
• Broadband is the new key to economic development
• Several states have erected barriers to entry,
  others likely in wake of Supreme Court decision
  on any entity
• Priority legislative issue for 2005 per APPA
  Board of Directors

4
Legislative Action in the 2nd Session of the
108th Congress

• Hearings have been held on a variety of topics
• Competition in the communication marketplace
• Review of current policies
• Cable competition
• Escalating cable rates
• Consumer choices for cable services (e.g. a la
  carte, theme-tiered offerings)
• VOIP and VOIP regulation

5
Legislative Action (Contd)

• Attempts to move VOIP legislation ahead of a
  comprehensive bill
• SENATE
• S. 2281 (Sununu, R-NH) virtually deregulates
  VOIP services and prohibits state and local
  taxation
• Marked-up on 7/22, but author withdraws support
  after bill gutted by amendments

6
Legislative Action (Contd)

• Attempts to move VOIP legislation ahead of a
  comprehensive bill
• HOUSE
• H.R. 4129 (Pickering, R-MS) similar to Sununu
  bill
• H.R. 4757 (Stearns, R-FL Boucher, D-VA)
  classifies VOIP as an Advanced Internet
  Communication Service, free of state regulation
  and subject to limited FCC regulation does not
  address taxation

7
Key FCC Proceedings

• BPL Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to establish
  technical rules
• IP enabled services NPRM
• 800 MHz Nextels rebanding proposal
• Inquiry on video competition
• Section 706 report released

8
Legislative Outlook for the 109th Congress

• Start with hearings to lay the groundwork
• Likely to see numerous legislative proposals
• Action will start at the subcommittee level
  (particularly in the House), but probably not
  until later in the year

9
Legislative Outlook (contd)

• Election Results may have some impact, but not
  much could impact FCC more than Congress
• Key Players in Congress
• Senate Commerce Committee
• Ted Stevens (R-AK)
• Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
• Conrad Burns (R-MT)
• Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
• John McCain (R-AZ)
• Byron Dorgan (D-ND)

10
Legislative Outlook (contd)

• Key Players in Congress
• House Energy and Commerce Committee
• Joe Barton (R-TX)
• John Dingell (D-MI)
• Fred Upton (R-MI)
• Ed Markey (D-MA)
• Rick Boucher (D-VA)

11
Whats at stake for Public Power?

• Local control
• -Federal preemption of states barriers to
  entry
• -ROW management pole attachments
• -Attacks based on level playing field
• Classification of services
• -VOIP
• -Regulatory treatment (e.g. universal service,
  E911, taxation, etc.)
• Maintaining diversity of technology options

12
Whats at stake for Public Power? (contd)

• Protection against anti-competitive behavior
• Potential transfer to electricity regulation
  issues
• The principle of public enterprise

13
It Will Be a Fight

• Prohibiting or limiting public power deployment
  of services is a high priority for many large
  incumbents
• Public enterprise is not held in high regard by
  many in Congress
• Our opponents are well-financed, politically
  entrenched, and willing to employ ruthless and
  deceptive tactics

14
But We Can Win

• If truly national deployment of broadband is the
  goal public power is a big part of the solution
• Local elected officials and local businesses
  cannot be ignored by Congress
• We are building a record of success

15
Preparations by APPA

• Dedicated staff resources (Ron Lunt, Desmarie
  Mosco, others)
• Member education and outreach
• Congressional education and outreach
• Development of political allies
• Preparation of rebuttals to attack on public
  power
• Opposition research
• Enhancement of grassroots capabilities Public
  Power is Good for Business campaign
• Dedicated PAC resources
• Other activities

16
www.appanet.org