Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I rise today to announce that along with
my colleague in the House of Representatives, Representative Marsha
Blackburn, have introduced legislation that prohibits the Federal
Communications Commission from pre-empting States with municipal
broadband laws already on the books, or any other States that
subsequently adopt such municipal broadband laws. The bill also
includes a Sense of Congress stating that the FCC should not impose
municipal broadband regulations on any state.

Earlier today, the FCC took an unprecedented and legally questionable
step to allow Wilson, North Carolina, to ignore North Carolina law when
expanding its municipal broadband network.

The North Carolina law the FCC preempted is intended to protect
taxpayers and consumers from the financial risks we have seen many
municipalities, including Wilson, face when venturing into broadband
ventures that are best left to the private market to provide.

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. Representative
Blackburn and I recognize the need for Congress to step in and take
action to keep unelected bureaucrats from acting contrary to the
expressed will of the American people through their State legislatures.

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