FREE Webinar on the danger of H.R. 3557 to local governments 11/6
Join us on Monday, November 6th at 2:00 pm Eastern to explore how opposition to H.R. 3557 is succeeding, particularly in communities where the incumbent is vulnerable, or your Representative is a former local government elected official.
There is no cost to attend.
Background:
On April 19, 2023, the House E&C’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee held a hearing on a slew of individual bills – many of them attacking local authority. The hearing was held without notice and/or local government input. Ultimately, 19 bills were rolled up into H.R. 3557 and re-packaged as the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023.
Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Cong. Dingell and Cong. Matsui were champions in advocating for local government and opposing preemption and 'deemed grant' language in both the Subcommittee and full Committee hearings, with Ranking Member Pallone and Reps. Ruiz, Dingell, Matsui, and Tonko offering their own amendments to eliminate or reduce these preemptions.
HR 3557 contains concessions and giveaways to broadband providers at the expense of local government rights-of-way management without any commitment to deployment, equity or affordability of service.
H.R. 3557 quickly passed through the Subcommittee and the Energy & Commerce Committee in short order and along partisan lines. At that point, H.R. 3557 was referred to both the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Committee on Natural Resources for further action. Presumably, both Committees are now ‘waiving’ jurisdiction which allows for the bill to move through the Rules Committee.
On Sept. 28, 2023, NATOA, NLC, USCM and NACo signed a joint letter “to express our deep concerns and strong opposition to H.R. 3557, the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023. H.R. 3557 deprives citizens and their local governments of the ability to preserve property rights and maintain public safety.”
City, county, town and all local governments should call their members of Congress and urge them to oppose H.R. 3557. Please reach out yourself and circulate this information within your government and/or your PEG operations to have more folks do the same.
If you’re in a Congressional District where the incumbent is vulnerable,
local advocacy is key.
This bill has progressed solely along partisan lines. If that remains the case, the House GOP may only have a half dozen votes as a cushion. Imagine the impact of a half-dozen House GOP members telling leadership that they are not prepared to vote on this bill without local government having the opportunity to explain why the legislation is not needed and federal overreach on local governance.
Please join us on Monday, November 6th at 2:00 pm Eastern to explore how this important step is succeeding.
Read the correspondence and full article: