North Carolina State Lawmakers Support FCC Legislation from Senator Tillis

It usually takes awhile for a new member of Congress (especially a senator) to get comfortable in their job.  This is not the case for Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).  Just six months into his first term in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Tillis (R-NC) has proven to be a strong advocate for federal, state and local taxpayers.

Earlier this year, Sen. Tillis introduced a bill that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from overturning state municipal broadband laws. This is noteworthy because Sen. Tillis is from North Carolina, a state that had its own law on municipal broadband struck down by an FCC ruling in February.  Sen. Tillis argued that his bill – and state municipal broadband laws, in general – are necessary to protect taxpayers. He noted that, “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.”

This is significant because Sen. Tillis was a member of the North Carolina legislature when the state’s municipal broadband law was passed, so he has first hand knowledge of both the importance of and noble motivations behind the legislation.

In support of Sen. Tillis, several North Carolina state lawmakers have rightly spoken out in favor of their former colleague’s efforts to preserve the Tar Heel State’s law. Last month, a bipartisan group of legislators, led by State Rep. Jason Saine (R-Lincoln), the chairman of the lower chamber’s Finance Committee, wrote a letter to Sen. Tillis noting the committee’s support of his bill. The letter said, “[M]unicipal broadband networks don’t make a lot of economic or fiscal sense. …  Several U.S. cities have sold their government-owned networks because deficits grew too enormous for them to bear. Others have raised taxes or fees to cover their deficits. It’s also not been proven that municipal networks add jobs in their local communities.” The letter asked, “Given the fact that many government networks operate in places that private Internet Service Providers already cover, what are we getting for the taxpayer money we pour into GONs?” Their answer was: “Nothing.”

Sen. Tillis’s actions show that he hasn’t forgotten the folks back home. Government-owned broadband networks threaten local taxpayers with higher debt, taxes and utility rates. They threaten state taxpayers because, if these networks fail, states could have to step in to bail out the networks. Sen. Tillis is wise to defend the law he helped pass in North Carolina, and he deserves every note of praise he gets for his efforts.