The Latest: Broadband on Jones St.

As we move into June, there is now a somewhat clearer picture of how North Carolina’s current connectivity-related bills are moving and shaking within the General Assembly. Much remains to be seen, but we understand that about half of the legislation related to connectivity made the crossover deadline on May 14. Baby steps, right?

So, what is crossover, you ask? This is the deadline for when legislation that does not involve money must be passed by one chamber (read: the House or the Senate) and been tossed to the other chamber. If legislation doesn’t pass in one chamber by this deadline, it’s essentially dead-in-the-water for this year. Some exceptions can exist for this rule, but that’s usually only the case if the legislation is being sent to appropriations or revenue committees. Bills that did not meet the crossover deadline can still be considered in some type of study committee after this year’s session. If they are in a study committee, then they can roll their decisions into bills that can be considered next year. All appropriations- and revenue-related bills are still under consideration for this session.

Here are the connectivity-related bills that met the crossover deadline, and still up for consideration by the N.C. General Assembly. (HB refers to House Bill, SB refers to Senate Bill.)

HB135 – Broadband Service Providers
This just passed the Senate Commerce committee, and would allow broadband service providers to also sell voice service in their area.

HB136 – DOT/Fiber-Optic Cable
This legislation is now in the Senate Finance committee. It would allow the N.C. Department of Transportation to acquire right-of-way for fiber optic cable enabling broadband communications.

HB530 / SB889 – Utilities/Carrier of Last Resort
The House version of the bill is now in the Senate Commerce committee and the Senate version is now in the House Public Utilities committee. This legislation would further authorize the N.C. Utilities Commission to designate carriers of last resort.

SB357 – Utilities/Regulation of Pole Attachments by Communications Service Providers
This is now in the House Ways & Means/Broadband Connectivity committee. This bill would require municipalities and membership corporations to allow the use of their poles, ducts and conduits by communications service providers and would also change the handling of related disputes between entities.

SB1004 – Level Playing Field
This is now in the House Public Utilities committee, and authorizes the Revenue Laws Study Committee to research local government owned and operated communications services. The original bill proposed adding restrictions to municipalities providing broadband service to their community. The e-NC Authority’s position on this issue is that local governments should have the right to offer broadband services when the service available does not meet the needs of the local community.

HB1180 – Consumer Choice and Investment Act of 2009
This just passed the Senate Commerce committee, and would decrease regulation on local exchange companies in their provision of voice service.

The e-NC Authority’s funding legislation – HB532 and SB697 – are in appropriations committees, so they are still up for consideration in this session. During the first week of June, the appropriations subcommittees will likely make their funding recommendations to the chairs of the full appropriations committees. At that point, the House budget will quickly take shape. Ultimately, a conference committee will be appointed to work out the differences between the Senate and House budgets.

As everyone knows, there continues to be a budget shortfall for the current fiscal year, and low projected revenues for the upcoming year. In fact, experts are saying that it could be as late as 2013-2014 before the state can expect to generate enough revenue for a $20.8 billion state budget again (this was the initial budget for 2008-2009).

So – for all the broadband advocates in North Carolina, we still need you to talk to your representatives about the need to make such a critical investment, and to continue to provide financial support for the e-NC Authority. Always remember that, for better or worse, legislators are expected to understand and track thousands of bills and different policy issues, so please help with continuing to educate them about the importance of broadband for economic competitiveness through job creation in our state – for every dollar invested in broadband is expected to return ten-fold to North Carolina’s economy.