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FRANCHISING BILL from page 3 ...................................... ment disputes locally, rather than at the Federal Tips for Effective Advocacy Communications Commission (FCC) as the draft bill prescribes. That amendment was also de- Remember that personal contacts with your feated. Another amendment was offered by representatives are going to carry the most weight Congressman Albert Wynn (D-Md.) that aimed to - a phone call, a visit to the district office, some maintain current local government consumer type of personal meeting. You can use the talking protection mechanisms. points on the League's Advocacy Center to help get the conversation going. Second in the order That amendment was withdrawn with assur- of effectiveness: a faxed letter - on your letter- ance offered by the Committee's Republican head - sent to your member. leadership to work with Congressman Wynn on incorporating similar language into the draft mea- Finally, if you don't have time for the other sure as it moves to markUp at the full committee options, use e-mail. It's available on the Advocacy level. Center to make it easy for you to be an advocate for your city. It's much better than not writing at While these amendments were not successful all. at the Subcommittee markup, another opportunity to present similar amendments during the full Concerns with the 'Communications, Committee markup remains. The League contin- Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006.' ues to work with California Congressional delega- tion members on the Committee (Reps. Waxman, The following summarizes some of the Eshoo, Radanovich, Capps, Bono and Solis) and concerns with the draft measure noted by a the national local govemment groups to refine coalition of national local government groups these amendments and seek their adoption in the including the National League of Cities, U.S. full Committee markup, which is expected to occur Conference of Mayors, National Association of later this month. Counties, National Association of Telecommuni- cations Officers and Advisors and others. What Cities Can Do Franchises. The bill would establish a na- Your members will be in their district offices tional franchise, issued by the Federal Communi- over the next two weeks, as Congress is in recess cations Commission (FCC) for companies that from April 1 0 through April 21. City officials are want to provide cable services. The legislation encouraged to call their members of Congress would allow the incumbent cable operator to and talk to them about cities' concerns with the abandon the existing locally granted franchise as pending telecommunications rewrite bill. To soon as the federally certified national franchise access background materials, a sample letter, holder commences cable service in the talking points and other advocacy tools, please incumbent's service area. visit the League's Telecom page at www.cacities.oraltelecom. You can write letters If a new provider decided to abandon the online at the League's online Advocacy Center attempt to provide service under the national (www.cacities.ora/advocacv). franchise in a service area, the incumbent cable operator would have to negotiate a new local League regional representatives are also franchise. The bill would not require the incum- working to set up district-level meetings with bent operator to resume complying with the members of Congress and legislators. To find out previously-abandoned local franchise. more about this activity, please contact your Build-OutiCherry-Picking. Although the League regional representative. draft would prohibit discrimination based on income, it appears that it would allow a new cable Continued on Page 5 PAGE 4 - PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the League's Official Website--www.cacities.org April 7, 2006 - Issue #14