Muni wireless bill passes Public Utilities
The municipal wireless bill passed the House Public Utilities Committee this morning and is on to the Finance Committee.
As expected, the bill was modified somewhat. The referendum requirement was removed and the provision that required municipal systems to turn a profit in four years was softened a bit.
Rep. Pricey Harrison offered an amendment that would have exempted areas where certain levels of service don't exist. It failed on a voice vote.
The bill itself passed on a voice vote, so there's no rollcall to provide, although it looked like Reps. Angela Bryant, Harrison and Lorene Coats, all Democrats, voted against it. Rep. Nelson Cole, a Rockingham Democrat, made the motion to send it to Finance.
Update: Just so I'm not remiss in point out that cable and telephone companies are big election campaign donors down here:
The bill's sponsor is Rep. Drew Saunders of Mecklenburg County. Since 2000, State Board of Elections records show his campaign has received at least $18,000 from telecom-related interests, including:
AT&T CO PAC OF NC, $1,000.00
AT&T PAC, $500.00
BellSouth Empl NC PAC, $12,000.00
BELLSOUTH EMPLOYEES NC PAC, $4,000.00
NC CABLE PAC, $500.00
This is not to campaign donations begat this bill, but that's a pretty healthy chunk of money.
Comments (1)
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Even with these changes, this legislation only removes power from municipalities and gives big telecomms the ability to turn a bigger profit.
Exactly who does the NC General Assembly work for, again?
Posted on June 6, 2007 11:20 AM