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Illinois Senate Bill 499 to ban CUWiN? |
Current rating: 0 |
by Free Press via gehrig
(No verified email address) |
25 Feb 2005
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"State Senator Steven J. Rauschenberger has introduced legislation in the Illinois General Assembly that would prohibit government entities in that state from deploying municipal broadband access. The bill would prevent government agencies from competing with the private sector in establishing local networks and is similar to a Pennsylvania law established last December granting automatic priority to incumbent broadband service providers in offering wireless broadband access in a municipality."
Could someone in the know comment on how this would effect CUWiN, and what we can do about it?
@%< |
See also:
http://www.freepress.net/news/6857
http://freepress.net/communityinternet/
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This work is in the public domain |
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Hard to Say |
by Dose of Reality
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
26 Feb 2005
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The monopolists certainly will try prevent any other models from becoming established that might undercut their profit-oriented scheme.
Here's a link to the Free Press website's Community Internet page:
http://freepress.net/communityinternet/
Community Internet: Broadband as a Public Utility
Internet access is fast becoming a basic public necessity β just like water, gas or electricity. But far too many Americans, especially in rural and poorer urban areas, are finding themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide, priced out by high monthly fees or stranded by corporate redlining that has deemed their towns and neighborhoods to be unprofitable.
Community Internet could provide citizens everywhere with affordable, universal access to high-speed broadband services. New wireless and wired technologies allow local governments, schools, public-private partnerships, non-profits and community organizations to offer faster, cheaper and more reliable service than ever before. But the biggest telecom and cable companies are fighting these alternatives every step of the way.
Municipal Broadband: Corporate or Local Control?
In the past few years, hundreds of municipal governments have begun exploring how to directly provide high-speed broadband through local networks. In response, major telecom firms have pushed legislation in more than a dozen states that prohibits public entities from entering into the broadband market. A number of additional state legislatures β with more expected soon β are considering similar anti-municipal broadband bills or measures to strengthen existing restrictions.
Community Wireless: Unlicensed Airwaves, Unlimited Access
New wireless networks crop up across the country every day. Clouds of wireless connectivity now cover the business districts in our urban areas. They blanket entire towns and cities in rural America and serve as mobile communications systems for public safety officials in communities nationwide.
Community wireless networks offer wireless Internet access at a fraction of the cost charged by the telephone and cable companies. At present, there are several hundred of these groups operating nationwide using different combinations of software and hardware to provide towns, neighborhoods and campuses with high-speed, low-cost broadband. Taken together, these wireless networks offer the potential to revolutionize Internet access in America.
You can get info at the link above on how to oppose such bad legislation as SB 499.
Here's what they say about SB 499:
Illinois
Senate bill 499 in the Illinois General Assembly carries an amendment that would flatly prohibit any municipality or other local government entity from operating a communications network in the state. Straightforward and to the point, this bill offer no possibility for municipalities to provide broadband, even in cases where no commercial provider is willing to do so. The bill specifically prohibits both wholesale and retail service.
The latest info on SB 499 can be found at this site:
http://www.freepress.net/communityinternet/=ILbill |
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Re: Illinois Senate Bill 499 to ban CUWiN? |
by John Hilty
jhilty (nospam) shout.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
26 Feb 2005
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It's a bad bill regardless of its impact on CUWiN as it will raise the cost of broadband service for a large segment of the public. SB 499 can't have a beneficial impact on the state. The telecommunications lobbyists at Springfield are hard at work in making broadband access more expensive and less accessible to everyone -- particularly the poor. The United States already lags behind several industrialized countries in the percentage of its population that has access to broadband service.
Therefore, if you're concerned about this, I suggest sending a letter or e-mail to the the members of the Senate Environment & Energy Committee, where this bill will be considered during early March. This committee has 8 Democrats and 5 Republicans. Sen. Rauschenberger, a Republican, is the sponsor of this bill, while Senator Clayborne, a democrat, is the chairperson of this committee.
Here is the contact information for these State Senators (democrats, followed by republicans):
Senator James F. Clayborne, Jr.
Room 121C
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-5399
e-mail: clayborne (at) senatedem.state.il.us
Senator Antonio Munoz
Room 124
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-9415
e-mail: munoz (at) senatedem.state.il.us
Senator William R. Haine
Room M120
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-2115
e-mail: senhaine (at) cbnstl.com
Senator Don Harmon
Room 605
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-8176
e-mail: harmon (at) senatedem.state.il.us
Senator Ricky R. Hendon
Room 627A
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-6252
e-mail: hendon (at) senatedem.state.il.us
Senator Denny Jacobs
Room 123
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-5957
e-mail: jacobs (at) senatedem.state.il.us
Martin A. Sandoval
Room 118
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-5340
e-mail: sandoval (at) senatedem.state.il.us
Senator Donne E. Trotter
Room 615
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-3201
e-mail: trotter (at) senatedem.state.il.us
Senator Dave Sullivan
Room 119C
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-3875
e-mail: senatordavesullivan (at) msn.com
Senator Kirk Dillard
Room 119D
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-8148
senator (at) kdillard.com
Senator Steven J. Rauschenberger
Room 309F
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-7746
e-mail: senator (at) srauschenberger.com
Senator Peter Roskam
Room 309H
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-8022
e-mail: peter (at) peterroskam.com
Senator Dan Rutherford
Room 105B
Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
tel: 217-782-6597
e-mail: danrutherford (at) danrutherford.com
You're e-mail or letter will have greater impact if it is sent to ALL members of this committee. It is possible that this bill could fail in the committee as a result. |
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Re: Illinois Senate Bill 499 to ban CUWiN? |
by Joe Futrelle
futrelle (nospam) shout.net (verified) |
Current rating: 0
27 Feb 2005
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Here's email text you can use:
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Senators,
I'm writing to urge you to oppose SB 499, which would prohibit municipalities from providing broadband internet service.
The internet has been successful in large part because of public support and very light regulation. SB 499 is an unnecessary regulation that would have the effect of widening the "digital divide" by raising the cost of internet service for municipalities and public facilities such as libraries, schools, and public transit. Municipal broadband access is a tool that municipalities can use to encourage economic development; taking that tool away is just one more impediment preventing smaller communities from taking advantage of the internet revolution.
The bill is also anti-democratic. The internet is a communications tool, like the public airwaves. The goal should be universal access, not corporate giveaways. Oppose SB 499. |
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Re: Illinois Senate Bill 499 to ban CUWiN? |
by thinker
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
02 Mar 2005
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Will CUWin be funded with tax dollars or user fees? |
