Top Stories
by John Wayne Smith & Kraig Conn
Cable Franchising Agreements
HB 529 (Traviesa) passed the House of Representatives and is now in Senate Messages. SB 998 (Bennett) has been referred to the Senate Community Affairs Committee after the changes made in the previous committee. Sen. Garcia, Chairman of the Community Affairs Committee has indicated that he would like to see all parties sit down and try to reach a compromise. The bills remove municipalities from the franchising process which significantly impacts public, educational and government access channels and their financial support, undermines local customers service standards, allows cherry-picking within communities and restricts the ability of local governments to manage public right-of-way. Please continue to encourage Sen. Garcia to be very deliberative in his approach to this issue.