Save Access

from: National Journal

Michigan Lawmakers Send Bill On Video-Franchising To Governor

By Michael Martinez

(Tuesday, December 12) The Michigan legislature cleared to the governor legislation that would streamline the state's video-franchising rules.

The state Senate passed an amended version of the bill by a vote of 26-12, and the state House quickly endorsed the changes on what is expected to be the last day of the legislative session.

The bill would allow new entrants to the state's video services market to bypass localities by negotiating statewide franchises. The state currently requires entrants to separately negotiate franchises with localities.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm is expected to sign the bill. Spokeswoman Liz Boyd said Granholm believes the measure is "good for consumers and good for Michigan."

The measure has been pushed hard by AT&T, which last month promised to invest $620 million and create 2,000 jobs in Michigan over the next three years as it offers video service via the fiber-optic network it has built there.

Should Granholm sign the bill, Michigan would become the latest state to overhaul its franchising rules. California, Indiana, Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia all have enacted similar bills during the past 18 months. The Louisiana Legislature also cleared a bill earlier this year, but Gov. Kathleen Blanco vetoed it.

The franchising debate in Michigan has received more nationwide attention than the debates in other states because of last-minute lobbying by Google and others to add language about how broadband operators treat online content. But the version of the bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday included no language addressing that so-called network neutrality issue.

A net neutrality amendment offered by Democratic state Sen. Gilda Jacobs was withdrawn before the final floor vote.

State Sen. Patricia Birkholz, who also withdrew an amendment with net neutrality safeguards, urged her colleagues to examine the issue next session. She said the state cannot afford to wait for the federal government to act on network neutrality, and consumers will suffer if nothing is done. "This is a huge issue facing us, and we need to address it in the future," she said.

Other lawmakers expressed last-minute concerns on the Senate floor about how the measure would affect public education and governmental programming. The chamber rejected several amendments on that issue.

The bill also survived a floor debate on how it would allow existing providers to abrogate agreements with localities in order to purse new statewide franchises. The Senate rejected an amendment to require companies to provide evidence of competition before abrogating their existing franchises.

Democrat Buzz Thomas said he believes the bill will be beneficial for localities and will encourage companies to invest in the state by removing regulatory barriers. He said concerns that it will do the opposite by stripping regulatory authority away from localities are misguided.