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FRANCHISING BILL from page 4 ...................................... provider through the national franchise to cherry government needs such as fire, police, and other pick which areas it plans to service. The draft is governmental communications. For some juris- silent on the subject of build-out. dictions, these provisions may not be sufficient in Consumer Protection. The bill would require addressing your community and residents' needs. the FCC to adopt national consumer protection E-9-1-1. The draft preserves a city's ability to standards, but appears to prohibit local authorities impose a fee for E-911 and 911 services. from imposing stricter local standards. Local Rights-of-Way. Though the legislation Muni Broadband. Municipalities could continue to provide telecommunications services. would preserve local authority over the manage- ment of rights-of-way, it would fail to provide sufficient enforcement authority to assure compli- ance. While the legislation is silent on the appro- priate forum for resolving local rights-of-way ........................ disputes, by default that task would move to the TELECOM from page 1 Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The unnumbered draft measure, entitled "Com- Franchise Fees. Although the bill would munications, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of retain the current 5 percent gross revenue cap on 2006" (COPE Act) was unveiled by the House franchise fees, the definition of "gross revenues" Energy and Commerce Committee's Republican may be more limited than what is contained in leadership last week after bipartisan negotiations on local franchise agreements. Therefore, depending a federal telecommunications law reform measure on how the local franchise agreement is drafted, broke down. some cities may see revenue reductions. In Sacramento, Assembly Speaker Fabian PEG Channels. The number of public, educa- Nunez and Assemblymember Lloyd Levine held a tional and governmental (PEG) channels would be joint press conference announcing amendments to determined by the number of PEG channels AB 2987 that would create a new statewide fran- provided by the incumbent operator. If the fran- chise for cable and video service providers. Speak- chise area, which would be designated solely by ing in a Capitol hearing room that had been redeco- the cable operator, covers more than one jurisdic- rated to appear as a "stuck in the 19608" living room tion, the number of PEG channels provided would - including a black-and-white TV with "snow" the be determined by the number of channels pro- predominant picture - the Speaker asserted that vided by the incumbent operator in the jurisdiction Californians needed this bill to ensure the expansion with the highest population. A new, additional PEG of video and Internet infrastructure. channel, or 10 percent increase, could be re- quested only every 10 years. The League and other local government organi- zations have significant concerns with both ap- I-Net. The draft provides that existing institu- proaches. tional networks (I-Nets) would be "grandfathered" AS 2987: Concerns for Consumers and in - but there is no allowance for new I-Nets. Essentially, existing I-Nets would continue but Local Control local agencies cannot require cable operators who have national franchises to provide new I-Nets. On April 6, the League issued a press statement PEG and I-Net Support. The draft legislation listing concerns with AB 2987. These included provides one percent of gross revenues for concerns about build out provisions, consumer "support" of PEG channels and I-Nets for local protection and customer service, the loss of video Continued on Page 6 Visit the League's Official Website--www,cacities,org PRIORITY FOCUS - PAGE 5 April 7, 2006 - Issue #14