AgdaPkt 2005-08-22 - Laserfiche WebLink

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?/1~ TELECOMMUNICATIONS PRINCIPLES from page 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . State and local role in preserving public interest obligations must be respected by the industry. All parties should embrace the goal of meeting public interest obligations with special purpose fees. 8) Special purpose obligations and surcharges, including but not limited to universal service, public, education and government access (PEG) and 911 surcharge and 911 access fees, should be applied on a nondiscriminatory basis between providers of functionally equivalent services. 9) Any company providing video services to a local community should also be required to provideor support public, education and government (PEG) access to new networks including PEG equipment, funding and support. 10) Local communities should provide an equitable regulatory framework for all companies seeking to provide telecommunications services to a community. . Industry must respect the rights of local governments to act in the best interests of their citizens as the owners/trustees of the local rights-of-way. As landlords of the public rights-of-way, the League supports measures that recognize and strengthen local control over the public rights- of-way. Local governments must retain the right to manage their rights-of-way and to receive compensation/rental fees for use of the rights-of-way by any communications providers. 11) Rental payment for the use and occupancy of the public rights-of-way should be applied on a competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory basis among providers of communications services that use the public rights-of-way. 12) Access to the public right-of-way by all companies providing communications services should first require the acquisition of a franchise agreement from the appropriate public agency. 13) Any communications company obtaining a franchise should pay the appropriate franchise fee for the privilege granted by the public entity. 14) Costs incurred by state and local governments associated with communications compa- nies' provision of services should be borne by that company. 15) The rights of local government to provide telecommunication and other communication services to their citizens should be respected. These rights should not be impaired by legislation or regulation that restricts such rights. 16) The League will oppose any legislation or regulation that would adversely affect the right of local government to provide telecommunication or communication services that the local government determines is in the best interest of the local community. Visit the league's Official Websiteuwww.cacities.org PRIORITY FOCUS/PAGE 5