By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
A proposed law that could doom Fibrant if passed as written received a nod Wednesday from a committee in the N.C. State House, but leaders insist the sponsors of the bill will rewrite it to exempt Salisbury.
The city recently launched Fibrant, a fiber to the home network that competes with Time Warner Cable and other companies to provide Internet, phone and cable TV service.
The cable lobby backs the bill, which would restrict the ability of cities to offer municipal broadband.
Mayor Susan Kluttz testified Wednesday before the Public Utilities Committee, which approved the bill on a close voice vote.
Committee Chairman N.C. Rep. Fred Steen, a Republican from Landis who represents Rowan County, said he felt comfortable bringing the bill to the committee despite the unchanged language.
“The language will be worked on,” he said.
Sponsor Rep. Marilyn Avila (R-Wake County) told the Post last week she intends to carve out an exemption for cities like Salisbury that already have a municipal broadband network up and running.
“We want them to survive and be competitive,” Steen said.
Steen said he voted yes on the bill to keep legislation moving and avoid a backlog in what promises to be a busy session of the General Assembly. He’d already postponed the bill once last week, Steen said, and allowing it to move to the Finance Committee will bring the parties to the table for negotiations.
Avila has invited stakeholders, including Salisbury, to meet in her office at 10:30 a.m. today.
“Sometimes you can get both sides at the table when we keep a bill moving,” said Steen, who added that both sides will work “fairly and honestly.”
Rep. Harry Warren, a Republican from Salisbury who represents Rowan County, is a member of the Public Utilities Committee and voted no on the bill.
“Mine was a little bit of a protest vote,” Warren said. “I would have preferred to have seen the bill presented in its final form before we passed it along.”
Warren said he’s confident Salisbury will be receive a full exemption, but he “would have preferred to have it pulled and get the verbiage right.”
Warren also serves on the Finance Committee, the bill’s next stop.
He said he had prepared an amendment that would have exempted Salisbury and four other cities with broadband networks, but Avila talked him out of it.
“She didn’t want me to offer it,” Warren said. “Her preference was to not turn the committee meeting into a debate when she intended to sit down with all parties and work out a compromise.”
The cable lobby has agreed to exempt Salisbury but may want to attach restrictions or conditions to the exemption, Warren said.
He said today’s meeting is a step in the right direction.
“I feel very confident all parties will walk away from there satisfied with whatever agreement or compromise is reached,” Warren said.
Kluttz said Avila and co-sponsor Julia Howard (R-Davie County) have assured her they do not intend to harm any city with an established broadband service. As written, Salisbury has some exemptions in the bill, but Kluttz said she expects full exemption.
“I am concerned but very optimistic,” she said. “There are so many legislators down there that said they will look out for us.”
Opposition to the bill is growing. The city of Raleigh passed a resolution Tuesday opposing the legislation, saying cities must be able to provide high-speed broadband services because private providers have been unwilling or unable to do so in parts of the state.
The N.C. League of Municipalities argues broadband is essential for jobs, economic development and public safety. The bill saddles cities with new rules and auditing, accounting and rate-setting requirements that would prevent communities from deploying broadband networks, the league says.
Private companies would not be subject to the bill’s rate-setting provisions, annual auditing, public disclosure requirements and prohibition on cross-subsidies, according to the league.
Cable companies argue cities have unfair advantages over private providers.
There are no rules that govern how competition between public and private sectors should occur, said Marcus Trathen, a lawyer for the N.C. Cable Telecommunications Association.
Cities can discriminate against private companies by refusing access to public rights-of-way or increasing pole attachment fees, Trathen said.
“Cities can incur massive amounts of debt on risk competitive projects with little to no citizen involvement,” he said in an e-mail to the Post.
Salisbury borrowed $30 million to build Fibrant without voter approval.
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.