tl;d care

FTA: The lobbyist brought back to Lafayette a copy of what would become Senate Bill 877. It named telecommunications as a permitted city utility, then hamstrung municipalities with a list of conditions. It demanded that new projects show positive revenue within the first year. It required a city to calculate and charge itself taxes, as if it were a private company. Cities could not borrow startup costs or secure bonds from any other sources of income. The bill demanded unrealistic accounting arrangements, and it suggested a referendum that would have to pass with an absolute majority. It also, almost word for word, matched a piece of legislation kept in the library of the American Legislative Exchange Council. The council's bill reads, "The people of the State of _______ do enact as follows ... "

I don't see how anyone can advocate for greater state autonomy because there is more control over the local level when shiat like this is common place.

Drew paid for the Duck Sucks 2011 Amendment that way.

You know, I'm so sick of this shiat, I think I'd be better swinging through the trees, naked in the breeze.

/Approves.
//Got nothin.'

Summary: The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a group that brings together private industry giants (who pay large stacks of cash to be members) and state legislators to create "model legislation" that the private companies write and the legislators blindly bless. This draft legislation is then used as a model for actual state laws which are likewise blindly blessed by the Republican members who are getting huge donations from the private companies that wrote the model bills distributed through ALEC.

The case study - Lafayette LA wanted to create a municipal high-speed internet connection using local funds because none of the private providers wanted to serve them. State legislature passed copy-pasta ALEC legislation that essentially made it impossible for localities to use their own money to create local high speed internet owned by the public - purportedly "in the public interest" but in reality "in the interest of protecting the quasi-monopoly of private companies that were paying off state legislators".

Interesting article. Wisconsin has become a testing ground for ALEC legislation. Link (new window) (The linked article is a little out of date, and a significant number of the items mentioned have now become law.)

Wisconsin also has a problem with access to broadband in rural areas. Link (new window) The University of Wisconsin had a grant to provide access, but much like the Louisiana plan discussed in the article, private sector interests complained about unfair competition. They tried to stop it with a lawsuit, but the courts threw out the case. Link (new window)

/Whatever happened to the idea that all politics are local?
//And wouldn't this be fun if this article landed on the Politics tab?

Mistah Scrotie: I don't see how anyone can advocate for greater state autonomy because there is more control over the local level when shiat like this is common place.

That's kind of the point. Many businesses interests want greater state autonomy because bribing a handful of state legislators is cheaper than bribing federal legislators. Besides, the Balkanization of policy can be harder to fight than if it were simply at the federal level.

what a frightening way to subvert democracy. that is some smooth politicking by these extra-legal entities. when corporate people do their social networking, with their wealth and reach, they extend their choices far deeper into the public domain than the disorganized masses of unaware victims. who farking designed this society?

Mistah Scrotie: FTA: The lobbyist brought back to Lafayette a copy of what would become Senate Bill 877. It named telecommunications as a permitted city utility, then hamstrung municipalities with a list of conditions. It demanded that new projects show positive revenue within the first year. It required a city to calculate and charge itself taxes, as if it were a private company. Cities could not borrow startup costs or secure bonds from any other sources of income. The bill demanded unrealistic accounting arrangements, and it suggested a referendum that would have to pass with an absolute majority. It also, almost word for word, matched a piece of legislation kept in the library of the American Legislative Exchange Council. The council's bill reads, "The people of the State of _______ do enact as follows ... "

I don't see how anyone can advocate for greater state autonomy because there is more control over the local level when shiat like this is common place.

That's precisely why some people advocate for state autonomy. When you hear STATES RIGHTS! think I want the right to rip off the states.

Hey. Hey you. Hey buddy. Buddy buddy buddy. Buddy . . . _space.

Anything that is a "monopoly" should be directly run by the government. Privately owned utilities, which are guaranteed profit margins by regulators, are nothing more than parasites who siphon off a fixed % of taxpayers' money into their own pockets (or those of their investors). There is no competition, thus there is no reason for there to be profit in providing the service.

And the fact that this is probably the most important article on Fark today but has one of the fewest responses on this tab is a very sad commentary. This is what the Occupy movements have been protesting.

TFA makes an interesting point: in the Information Age, universal broadband allows telecommuting, teleducation, and telentrepreneurship. It becomes a matter of competitiveness versus other societies, as electricity and roads once were. Therefore, universal broadband ought to be treated as a public utility.

Alas, fiber to the home also makes possible the panopticon, with all that that implies...

Wow. This is eye-popping. Worth the seven page read.