[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 33 (Thursday, February 26, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S1166]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. TILLIS:
  S. 597. A bill to amend section 706 of the Telecommunications Act of 
1996 to provide that such section does not authorize the Federal 
Communications Commission to preempt the laws of certain States 
relating to the regulation of municipal broadband, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to announce that along with 
my colleague in the House of Representatives, Representative Marsha 
Blackburn, have introduced legislation that prohibits the Federal 
Communications Commission from pre-empting States with municipal 
broadband laws already on the books, or any other States that 
subsequently adopt such municipal broadband laws. The bill also 
includes a Sense of Congress stating that the FCC should not impose 
municipal broadband regulations on any state.
  Earlier today, the FCC took an unprecedented and legally questionable 
step to allow Wilson, North Carolina, to ignore North Carolina law when 
expanding its municipal broadband network.
  The North Carolina law the FCC preempted is intended to protect 
taxpayers and consumers from the financial risks we have seen many 
municipalities, including Wilson, face when venturing into broadband 
ventures that are best left to the private market to provide.
  After witnessing how some local governments wasted taxpayer dollars 
and accumulated millions in debt through poor decision making, the 
legislatures of states like North Carolina and Tennessee passed 
commonsense, bipartisan laws that protect hardworking taxpayers and 
maintain the fairness of free-market competition. Representative 
Blackburn and I recognize the need for Congress to step in and take 
action to keep unelected bureaucrats from acting contrary to the 
expressed will of the American people through their State legislatures.
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