Internet hero
It turns out that no news is good news for Sen. David Hoyle’s anti-competition broadband bill, H.1840 (and formerly S.1209). The bill, which would block North Carolina municipalities from offering a choice of Internet services to their citizens, is stuck in the Broadband Connectivity House committee.
This committee is chaired by Rep. Bill Faison, who appears to be none too keen on letting this bill see the light of day. Rep. Faison learned first-hand the dangers of this scheme when it was pitched last year as H.1252. Faison is also not happy that Hoyle tacked his municipal broadband moratorium language onto one of Faison’s bills.
So, what have I learned about this? It’s good to be the chair of the Senate Rules committee, but it isn’t necessarily successful in getting bad bills passed. Also, it’s good to have two houses of government. Thirdly, don’t let the media hear from only one side. And, finally, sometimes otherwise good people like Josh Stein wind up disappointing you, even after you’ve stood in the rain all afternoon helping to get them elected.