Blackburn amendment would prohibit FCC interference with state broadband decisions
The Ripon Advance
Friday, July 18, 2014

The House of Representatives approved an amendment on Wednesday that was introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) that would prohibit the FCC from preempting state and municipal broadband laws.

Blackburn, the vice chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced the amendment to the fiscal year 2015 Financial Services Appropriations bill to prevent the FCC from using taxpayer dollars to offset municipal and state broadband laws, according to a press release.

“We don’t need unelected bureaucrats in Washington telling our states what they can and can’t do with respect to protecting their limited taxpayer dollars and private enterprises,” Blackburn said. “As a former state senator in Tennessee, I strongly believe in states’ rights. That’s why I have found it deeply troubling that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has repeatedly stated this past year that he intends to pre-empt states’ rights when it comes to the role of state policy over municipal broadband.”

Blackburn said Wheeler’s comments pose a direct challenge to the constitutionality of states’ rights.

“It seems that the FCC is content to tell our states how they will manage their sovereign economic affairs, but they won’t answer to the Congress who is responsible for exercising oversight over the agency,” Blackburn said. “Inserting the FCC into our states’ economic and fiscal affairs sets a dangerous precedent and violates state sovereignty in a manner that warrants deeper examination.”

Municipal broadband should be handled at the state level, Blackburn said, and any debate on national standards should be had in Congress with participation from the American people.