Colorado Senate Panel Weighs Net Neutrality Bill Next Week
Colorado state senators plan to weigh a House-passed net neutrality bill Monday at a State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee hearing, said the panel’s agenda. The House passed HB-1312 Tuesday but sponsor Rep. Chris Hansen (D) predicted it will die…
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in the GOP-controlled Senate (see 1804170057). While not perfect, the bill “is a strong symbolic measure to continue the push Colorado is making with reintroducing local accountability,” emailed Colin Garfield, campaign lead for the Fort Collins Citizens Broadband Committee, which fought ISPs and won exemption from the state’s municipal broadband ban in Fort Collins, Colorado (see 1712110020). “Combined with the 120 opt-outs” of communities from the ban, “this state is becoming one that is quite literally running away from the telecom industry,” he said. The bill’s narrow scope -- restricting state USF support to companies that adhere to net neutrality principles -- may not cover all types of ISPs, Garfield said. “Funding acquired from these sources is generally used for rural projects, which means only certain ISPs will ever be held to these standards. Usually the small ones, but CenturyLink has been known to acquire these funds. Communities in urban corridors will not have the watchdog on duty since urban-ISPs like Comcast aren’t using these funds inside cities.” Comcast is the state’s largest ISP and yet the least likely to apply for the funds, he said.