CALL TO ACTION: Hearing Set for HB 789 (King)

HB 789 (King) has been set for a hearing on Tuesday, February 22, in the Regulated Industries Committee. This bill is the first draft of the massive rewrite of the telecommunications portion of the Public Utility Code.  The bill contains many elements of interest to libraries: 1) language relating to the continuation of telecommunications discounts for libraries, schools, and institutions of higher education; 2) language about the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund; and 3) changes concerning the authority of municipalities in offering certain services.

• The library community supports continuation of the discounts.
   

• While the introduced version of the bill does not overly delete language concerning the use of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund for libraries and schools, it is TLA’s understanding that the intent is to eliminate any statutory language designating libraries, schools, and institutions of higher education as direct beneficiaries of any funding. The library community supports continued use of the TIF assessment to fund technology needs in school and libraries.
   

• The language regarding municipal authority is very broad. Given the current language in the bill, several advocacy groups are concerned that access in any libraries “owned” by municipalities would be prohibited from offering free Internet access as well as other services. See the background statement below. The Association is currently working to determine the legislative intent of this language and to determine if clarifying language has been drafted by the Committee. As soon as additional information becomes available, it will be posted on Texline. However, given the short timeframe, it is imperative that members of the Committee hear from constituents about concerns.

REGULATED INDUSTRIES COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

• Rep. Phil King (Weatherford), Chairman, phil.king@house.state.tx.us
• Rep. Bob Hunter (Abilene), Vice-Chairman, bob.hunter@house.state.tx.us
• Rep. Todd Baxter (Austin), todd.baxter@house.state.tx.us
• Rep. Robert Cook (Eagle Lake), robert.cook@house.state.tx.us
• Rep. Joe Crabb, joe.crabb@house.state.tx.us
• Rep. Will Hartnett (Dallas), will.hartnett@house.state.tx.us
• Rep. Sylvester Turner (Houston), sylvester.turner@house.state.tx.us

CALL TO ACTION:

If your state representative serves on the Regulated Industries Committee, please contact him immediately and let him know that you:

1. support continuation of telecommunications discounts for libraries and schools,
2. would like TIF assessment dollars to continue benefiting libraries; and
3. clarification that the municipal prohibitions do not in any way prohibit any libraries from offering free Internet or other information services.

BACKGROUND

In Sec. 54.201 of the introduced bill, a municipality or municipally owned utility may not, directly or indirectly, on its own or with another entity, offer to the public: (1) a service for which a certificate is required; (2) a service as a network provider; or (3) any telecommunications, or information service, without regard to the technology platform used to provide the service.

The terms in the bill are defined as follow:

Network provider “means an entity, whether or not certificated, that uses any technology to offer voice communication to the public over a wireline network that it or an affiliate own or controls…”

Information service is defined by the Federal Communication Commission as: “the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications, and includes electronic publishing, but does not include any use of any such capability for the management, control, or operation of a telecommunications system or the management of a telecommunications service.”