Rumblings in Washington, Storm Clouds on the Horizon

The stakes in rewriting telecom laws are so high that these trial balloons cause considerable intestinal distress, there's no doubt of it. As we wait for Congress to get started on the real heavy lifting, the only game in town is to watch what they do, examine the legislation they file, then comment on how it may or may not impact our plans (if it were to pass and be signed into law, often a very big IF). Thank God for blogs!! Our job as responsible observers is to remain a little bit cold-blooded as we watch and wait, resisting the urge to fly off the handle when our buttons are pushed (which is remarkably easy to do without an editor to keep you in check!). Nothing of note is likely to happen in the very near term (but we can be assured of good theater along the way).

That said, some legislative level-setting is in order here. Some years back, I worked for a stretch in the Texas Legislature, and certain legislative truisms sunk in through my thick skull. For one, co-sponsors matter if you want your bill to go anywhere, in Austin or in DC. It's an early warning sign of some signifcant skepticism if members are not willing to put their name on your bill. Also, members seek key committee assignments so they can be there to influence legislation that would happen on their watch - for causes that matter to them. So, if you're not on the key committee that will hear your legislation, the potential of your legislation drops signficantly, because you're once removed from the action, so to speak.

So with those thoughts in mind, I turn to the news I've seen over the past day or so. Senator Ensign today launched a bill to reform telecom, the Free Market Telecommunications Framework Act of 2005, which includes a final provision tacked on the end that attempts to address munciipally owned networks, yet is so loaded with unanswered questions and vague provisions that it can only confuse the issue for those who would seek to "unwire their cities," my pet cause.

So I urge you to read the actual language, then check out the statement of Sen. Ensign and what Senator McCain, his lone co-sponsor, said:

"I am pleased to be an original co-sponsor of Senator Ensign's bill, the "Free Market Telecommunications Framework Act of 2005." I believe this legislation would promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for consumers and encourage the rapid deployment of new technologies. While this legislation does offer an alterative approach from the one I have advocated for addressing the municipal broadband issue, I still felt compelled to sign on as an original co-sponsor because I believe the legislation is an excellent step toward deregulating the industry. If we are serious about providing Americans more choices and better technologies, this deregulatory bill provides the framework to do so. I look forward to working with Senator Ensign and others to replace the fatally flawed Telecommunications Act of 1996 and to move the nation forward toward achieving the President's goal of "universal, affordable access for broadband technology by the year 2007."

Read between the lines and decide for yourself what this means, but keep in mind that there is a long way for this bill to go to get to a signature by President Bush. The curtain has just gone up and we are barely into Act One. Also, the bill explicitly grandfathers all state and local governments providing communications service "as of the date of enactment of this Act." Given the fact that this bill is unlikely to become law for many years, if ever, UnwireMyCity.com readers could well conclude that the sooner they get a network in place, the sooner they will be protected by this grandfather provision. That is, if such municipal ban features even stay in the final bill that becomes law. So I urge you to keep a level head, and not only to watch what is going on, but also to ACT NOW. Get busy on your network planning and deployment, just in case those dark clouds on the horizon prove to be the real deal.