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If you are located in Michigan, you should call your State House Representatives today and tell them to support the positions of the Michigan Municipal League on Bill HB 6456.

from: The Michigan Municipal League

State & Federal Affairs Division
Action Alert

Urgent Message on Telecommunications Legislation:
Your Calls Are Needed on Amendments!!!

House Committee Expected to Vote on HB 6456 this Morning, Entire House May Vote Later Today

September 20, 2006

To: Mayor/President, City Manager, City Council, Public Works & Cable Commission:

The Issue:
The MML continues to work with the Energy and Technology Committee and other House members in an effort to craft desperately needed improvements to HB 6456 before legislators are asked to cast votes on the bill later today. Following marathon like negotiations with AT&T, cable providers and local government representatives that began last Thursday, Committee Chairman Mike Nofs (R-Battle Creek) released the latest version of the bill (H-1) earlier yesterday. This version provides AT&T and the cable providers with several new provisions in an effort to garner their collective support for the bill, not the least of which calls for the immediate elimination of all local cable franchises throughout Michigan. Unfortunately, the principles offered by local governments have not been acted on to date and do not appear in the bill in any meaningful fashion.

Today the MML, working in conjunction with the Michigan Townships Association, has forwarded several amendments to every member of the House of Representatives in our continuing effort to bring balance to the conversation and forward the key principles that we have stood behind throughout the process. We are respectfully requesting that they be adopted before the House takes any vote to pass the legislation onto the Senate.

Highlights of the MML/MTA Amendments Include:

Removal of the hostile and unprecedented provision to eliminate contracts with cable providers that have been bargained at the local level in good faith

Local governments should continue to have clear control and authority over local rights of way

No reduction in revenue (the current draft is an estimated $42 million reduction)

A reasonable and appropriate build-out requirement that would provide some degree of confidence as to where cable services will be offered within a community in the future

Protection for PEG operations, which provide assurances on continuation

Action:
We urge all local officials to contact (or re contact) your House members TODAY and urge them to support the MML amendments BEFORE they take action on the bill. House members are being bombarded with misinformation from lobbyists representing industry about the “local” position, so it is imperative that they hear directly from you today.

Thank you for your efforts!
Contact: Joe Fivas, (517) 908-0303 or jfivas@mml.org