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Title: Cities Across US Oppose Trump FCC Plan to Preempt Local Broadband
Rules

Link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/09/23/0144...

Ars Technica reports: Cities and counties around the U.S. are angry at the
Trump administration over a proposal to override local rules that govern the
deployment of wired broadband networks... The Federal Communications
Commission [FCC] argues that too many local governments "excessively delay
approvals and seek to extract exorbitant sums from providers, resulting in
costs that render some deployments infeasible." The FCC plan is supported by
broadband providers, but local governments told the FCC that it would
override rules that protect public safety. Local governments say the plan is
illegal and that the FCC should instead focus on how Internet providers
thwart competition with permit-hoarding and other tactics that prevent
competitors from deploying networks... They object to FCC plans to impose a
120-day deadline for processing permits and to proposed limits on fees and
compensation that local governments can require from providers... Another
filing submitted by the League of California Cities said the FCC has no
authority to adopt the proposal. "Federal preemption of traditional state and
local authority over public property, construction, public safety,
permitting, and rights-of-way management should rest on clear congressional
authorization," the filing said. "The commission should not infer broad
preemptive authority where Congress did not expressly provide it...." A
filing by Minnesota cities said the current FCC is making the same mistake it
made during the first Trump administration, when its attempt to preempt state
net neutrality laws was blocked in court... If the FCC finalizes its new
preemption plan, city and state governments could sue and ask a court to rule
that the agency exceeded its authority... Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez
approved the step of asking the public for input but signaled she would vote
against the final proposal. "I am dubious about the commission's authority
under Section 253 to use rulemaking to preempt states and localities when it
comes to their management of rights of way and fees charged to providers,"
she said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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