Thank you for the thoughtful write-up, Forbes. It makes my head hurt. I don't have time to do what needs to be done let alone deal with this kind of stuff. Not to mention the fact that I have zero understanding of how the system works which makes the headache even worse.
*Carlan Wray* Kittitas Broadband Customer Service: 509-925-5494 Cell: 509-929-7473 On Wed, Jan 30, 2019 at 8:12 AM <marlon.scha...@odessaoffice.com> wrote: > My oh my. It's amazing how much time we have to spend defending ourselves > from our elected "leaders". (Wonder when they became leaders instead of > representatives????) > > What do we need to do with this amazing new pile of rules? > > marlon > > > -----Original Message----- > From: washington-boun...@wispa.org <washington-boun...@wispa.org> On > Behalf Of Forbes Mercy > Sent: Monday, January 28, 2019 6:20 PM > To: washington@wispa.org > Subject: [Washington] Wow you won't believe this bill HB 1498 > > This bill is unbelievable, it's essentially Internet legislation by > saturation, 26 pages long, 22 new sections of new law. > > The lowlights are: > > 1) Allowing nothing less than 25/down and 3/up offering funding to anyone > who does it. > > 2) This year's annual attempt to allow Public Agencies/Utilities to sell > retail Internet (How many times do we have to kill this?) > > 3) Reform current universal service mechanisms to support deployment in > high-cost areas, ensuring that low-income Americans can afford broadband, > and supporting efforts to boost adoption and utilization." This is > absolutely written by the phone company who want's to call every small > community high-cost thus subsidies and more taxes. > > 4) "To that end, this act establishes a grant and loan program that will > support the extension of broadband infrastructure to unserved and > underserved areas. To ensure this program primarily serves the public > interest, the legislature intends that any grant or loan provided to a > private entity under this program must be conditioned on a guarantee that > the asset or infrastructure to be developed will be maintained for public > use for a period of at least fifteen years." 15 years, really?! Doesn't > even state transferable with ownership change. > > 5) I have no problem with Tribes being supported by the federal government > but this bill wants to emphasize on tribes for Washington State! I don't > know how they have the authority to do that in addition if your tribe is > anything like mine they are destroying the 5ghz spectrum suffocating the > air with multiple 40mhz radios in an effort to drown out the incumbents and > I have ZERO ability to legally hold them accountable. So no ethics, no > repercussions and higher prices than mine. That's the answer the state has > to make state funding available to tribes that don't pay any taxes to > Washington State, drown out the taxpaying companies with unethical business > practices?! > > 6) "A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:12 > (1) The office has the power and duty to:13 14 (a) Serve as the central > broadband planning body for the state of Washington". Yes another state > agency that simply has the power over everything Internet. > > 7) "By 2028, all Washington businesses and residences have access to at > least one provider of broadband with download speeds of at least one > hundred fifty megabits per second and upload speeds of at least one hundred > fifty megabits per second" And you can guess that was likely written by > Comcast. This entire law is a boondoggle for promoting the large > corporate Internet companies and elimination of all small local providers. > > Honestly I'm only to section 4 of 22. This behemoth of a law will > absolutely give state control over the Internet and buries so many issues > we've fought for years in hopes it passes as easily as the unenforceable > Net Neutrality provision but this time they will not only fund fraudulent > companies to "compete" but also make ANOTHER agency besides UTC to have > power to require studies, and other requirements in their ever growing > desire to have the Internet State owned. > > I'll leave the rest of the interpretation and reaction to you but this is > a horrible bill and must be defeated! > > Forbes Mercy > President - Washington Broadband, Inc. > > > _______________________________________________ > Washington mailing list > Washington@wispa.org > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/washington > > _______________________________________________ > Washington mailing list > Washington@wispa.org > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/washington >
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