Community Media Advocates Influence California Telco Legislation

AB 2987 (Nunez & Levine) is the Telco legislation pushing to change the way Califonians receive their broadband and cable television services. As initially drafted, it was a blueprint for AT&T to pick their customers despite the massive advertising campaign emphasizing "competition" and "choice". However, the Alliance for Community Media, Western Region working together with other advocacy groups including the League of Cities and Media Alliance have accomplished significant changes in the original draft of the bill and continue to influence the legislative process. The ACM represents the interests of public, education, and government cable access organizations (PEG).

Soon to go before the Senate Appropriations Committee after passing out of Senate Energy & Utilities and the Assembly by unanimous votes, a major and productive meeting was organized July 20, 2006. Meeting in the Willie Brown Room of the State Capitol in Sacramento, the aides for Nunez, Levine, and Senators Perata and Murray and other key legislators assembled representative from the Cities, PEG, phone, and cable to discuss the current wording and suggested amendments.

This was an unprecedented meeting for several reasons: (a) PEG advocates were considered as equals in the discussion and the agenda for the discussion used PEG concerns as the structure for the three hour session. (b) The Senate and Assembly aides started the meeting by explaining the Senators, their "bosses", expected language in the bill to "keep PEG whole" to the best of their ability. (c) Though the final wording may not be 100% supportive of PEG interests, PEG was well represented and debated each point with eloquence and specificity. PEG reps included Randy Van Dalsen and Sue Buske from the Buske Group, Annie Folger from Palo Alto, Todd Thayer from Ventura, Hap Freund from Santa Barbara, Suzanne St. John-Crane from Gilroy, Bill Lowery from Miller & Van Eaton, and Ron Cooper from Sacramento.

The timeline from this point is: (a) input on the drafting of the Senate Bill is now closed. (b) A revised version will be available early next week. (c) Upon review of that document, ACM-West (PEG) will identify specific continuing problems with the language and will send out an alert and post the specifics on the regional web site (http://www.acmwest.org). (d) The web site will target members of the Senate Appropriations Committee who will review the language middle of August and probably pass it out to the full Senate for a vote. (e) Assuming it passes, the bill will then be modified in a conference committee between key Senate and Assembly legislators. (f) Given that Senate and Assembly aides have developed the document in tandem, there will little to change at that point. (g) From there it goes to the Governor.

The ACM-West invites community media activists to support the ACM Amendments to AB 2987. In the next few weeks, AB 2987 will move out of Appropriations, then to the full Senate,and then the Governor. If the similar Federal legislation stalls (currently referred to as the Stevens Bill in the Senate) due to fights over "Net Neutrality", the California document could be the model for other states in the future.

AT&T has taken a beating in CA and this is not the bill they wanted. If the PEG modifications are included, the document could actually "grow" PEG in communities not currently served. It was cited by a Cable representative, Deb Luppold of Comcast, that of the near 600 local franchises in California, 30% have some kind of PEG and 70% do not. PEG has plenty of room to grow.

PEG advocates are cautiously optimistic. State leaders seem to value PEG services and the role played by community media in California communities. "PEG" may help Californians bridge the digital divide and AB 2987 may be successfully amended to accomplish these significant changes. To follow the details of the legislation, go to http://www.acmwest.org.