Another Victory for Local Internet Choice: Missouri bills fail

CLIC is pleased to report that the proposed new state barriers to community broadband in Missouri – HB 437/SB266 – did not pass this year. CLIC and several other national organizations and high-tech companies had joined together to oppose these bills and had advised the Missouri legislature that these bills were bad for Missouri’s communities, bad for the private sector, particularly the high tech sector, and bad for America’s global competitiveness.

A copy of the group’s joint letter of opposition (drafted by CLIC’s president, Jim Baller), excerpted below, can be found here:

“We, the private-sector companies and associations listed below, urge you not to pass SB266 because the bill, as applied to advanced communications capabilities and services, will harm both the public and private sectors, retard economic growth, prevent the creation or retention of thousands of jobs, hamper work force development, and diminish the quality of life in Missouri….”

“Communities in Missouri and across America are eager to work with willing established carriers, enter into public-private partnerships with new entrants, develop their own networks, if
necessary, or create other innovative means of acquiring affordable access to advanced communications capabilities. These are fundamentally local decisions that should be made by the communities themselves, through the processes that their duly elected and accountable local officials ordinarily use for making comparable decisions…..”

“We support strong, fair, and open competition to ensure that users can enjoy the widest range of choices and opportunities. SB266 and HB437 would take us in the wrong direction…”

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