Resolution 2006-082
RESOLUTION NO. 2006-
82
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA, EXPRESSING ITS OPPOSITION TO SENATE BILL 1504 (THE
"BROADBAND INVESTMENT AND CONSUMER CHOICE ACT" - S, 1504), URGING
CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES TO REFRAIN FROM ANY FORM OF
SUPPORT OR CO-SPONSORSHIP OF S. 1504 AND TO VOTE IN OPPOSITION TO
S, 1504, AND DIRECTING THAT THIS RESOLUTION BE FORWARDED TO THE
COUNTY'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION, TO OTHER MEMBERS OF
CONGRESS AS DEEMED APPROPRIATE BY THE COUNTY MANAGER, AND TO
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
WHEREAS, on August 2, 2005, Senators John Ensign and John McCain
introduced a proposed Federal Statute called the "Broadband Investment and
Consumer Choice Act of 2005" (S. 1504); and
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida,
opposes passage of S. 1504 and any other similar federal legislation because:
. The Bill will preempt all local authority over the provision of cable and video
services within the community, including the ability of local governments to
provide appropriate oversight to entities conducting such business within its
jurisdiction, including local public rights-of-way;
. Collier County's four (4) existing negotiated Franchise Agreement with its
Franchised cable operators will be abrogated by this Bill;
. The Bill will substitute a new compensation methodology lowering the
existing franchise fee and replacing it with a fee, or in the State of Florida,
the cable component of the Communications Services Tax, which must be
justified as being "reasonable" in the eyes of the user, limited to
management costs (which denies the rights of the property owner to obtain
fair and reasonable compensation for such uses of public property for private
gain), and not in excess of 5%;
· These requirements and restrictions will result in the creation of a subsidy to
the cable and telecommunications industries at the expense of the Collier
County's taxpayers;
. The Bill will substantially reduce the amount of capacity which may be
required by local governments to meet their public, educational and
government ("PEG") access needs, while stripping Collier County's ability to
obtain capital support for the use of PEG capacity - part of the bargain
contained within Collier County's negotiated franchise agreements - with the
result that the community's cable-related needs and interests would not be
met;
· The Bill will deprive local citizens of opportunity to address local issues
locally, by removing to the state all customer service issues and by denying
consumers any form of recourse for any actions of a communications
provider;
· The Bill will eliminate any "build-out requirements" for any video service
provider, thereby allowing providers to discriminate based on the wealth of
the local neighborhoods they may choose or not choose to serve;
· The Bill will preempt any state or local law that is not generally applicable to
all businesses, thereby potentially preempting any law applicable to only
certain classes of businesses, such as utilities and rights-of-way users (e.g.,
requiring undergrounding of facilities and ensuring electric code
compliance);
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· The Bill will prohibit local governments, including Collier County, from
imposing any fee for issuance of rights-of-way construction permits yet
would require all local governments to act on requests for permits in a timely
manner as may be determined solely by the FCC, thereby insinuating
inappropriate federal government involvement in the basic day-to-day
management of local rights-of-way;
· The Bill will prohibit municipalities and their utilities from providing
communications services without giving a right of first refusal to private
industry, and will then grant industry unfettered access to all municipal
facilities and financing in the event private industry chooses to provide
services;
· The Bill will deprive Collier County and all other local governments of the
now existing authority to establish and maintain government owned and
operated networks (known as )institutional networks"), that may be utilized
by first responders and other government officials in the day-to-day
management of the respective local government's business;
· The Bill will permit broadened preemption of local zoning decisions relating
to the geographic placement of cell towers, depriving all local governments
of the existing authority to ensure that such towers are safely and
appropriately located in geographic areas to provide the greatest degree of
services without unnecessarily reducing the value of adjacent and nearby
privately owned real property or posing a hazard to the public health, safety
and welfare; and
· The Bill will eliminate the protection that local governments currently have
against liability for damages and attorneys fees in lawsuits brought by
communication service providers against local governments, a type of
litigation that the Bill would seem to invite service providers to bring.
WHEREAS, for the above-stated reasons, the Board of County Commissioners
of Collier County, Florida, hereby finds that it opposes S. 1504 and urges members of
the Congress of the United States, and the President of the United States, to defeat S.
1504; and
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners of Collier County, Florida
hereby finds that this Resolution should be forwarded to its Congressional Delegation,
to other members of Congress as deemed appropriate by the County Manager, and to
the President of the United States.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE ABOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF COLLIER COUNTYM FLORIDA that:
Section 1, For the reasons stated above, the Board declares its opposition to
S. 1504 and urges members of Congress to oppose and defeat S. 1504.
Section 2. The Board hereby directs that this Resolution be forwarded
immediately to the County's Congressional Delegation, to other members of Congress
as deemed appropriate by the County Manager, and to the President of the United
States.
Section 3, This Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its
adoption.
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#-
ADOPTED this Z. ~ day of JYI4ttl-l
majority vote favoring adoption.
,2006 after motion, second and
ATTEST:
DWIGHT E. BROCK, Clerk
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA
BY~.~CBY: ~-.>~/
Deputy Clerk FRANK HALAS, Chairman
Att!st at to Ch f
S1Qnatur~ onJw · ~ I
Approved as to form and legal sufficiency:
By:
lb~ ?J~
Tho as C. Palmer,
Assistant County Attorney
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