Economic Impact
The onset of free or low-cost municipal broadband access to citizens in competition with commercial broadband services would have economic implications.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on October 30, 2007 estimated enacting the community broadband bill would have no significant impact on the federal budget. Because the act would preempt laws in 15 states that presently ban the provision of broadband services by public entities, including municipalities, it would, however, impose mandates on some state and local governments. In accordance with the act, public providers would be required to publish notice of their intent to offer broadband services. Public providers would also be required to provide details about the types of broadband services they intend to offer in addition to allowing private bids for those services. Since the preemption laws and private bidding requirements would be considered intergovernmental mandates as defined by the UMRA, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation determined that the cost the mandates could not exceed the threshold established by UMRA and adjusted yearly for inflation. In 2007 the UMRA threshold was $66 million USD.
Read more about this topic: Community Broadband Bill
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