12-12 Resolution No. 12159RESOLUTION NO. 12159
RESOLUTION OPPOSING H.R. 3557, THE AMERICAN BROADBAND ACT OF 2023
WHEREAS, H.R. 3557, “American Broadband Act of 2023,” was introduced with
little notice and without full text on May 22, 2023, and was approved by the House
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and ordered to be reported following markup only
two days later on May 24, 2023; and
WHEREAS, prior to H.R. 3557’s introduction, only a single hearing was held on
the eventual contents, on April 19, 2023, before the House Communications
Subcommittee, the testimony before which consisted exclusively of that from witnesses
supportive of federal preemption and to which not a single state or local government
representative was invited to testify; and
WHEREAS, H.R. 3557 would pre-empt local governments’ rights-of-way
compensation and management authority, zoning powers, cable franchising authority,
and property rights; and
WHEREAS, the proposed bill would bestow on broadband providers an
unprecedented federal grant of access to state and local public property, but impose no
obligations on those providers to serve “unserved” and “underserved” Americans; and
WHEREAS, H.R. 3557 would mandate that siting decisions be “deemed granted”
if not denied by a local government within sixty (60) days, which is as little as twenty-five
percent (25%) of the time the federal government gives itself to make identical decisions
concerning access to federal property; and
WHEREAS, H.R. 3557 would make virtually any local government decision not to
allow the installation of a proposed wireless facility at a provider’s request a “prohibition”
preempted by federal law, and would require local governments to draft and publicly
release a written explanation for the decision to deny an application on the same day it
votes on the decision-a virtually impossible task because such written decisions typically
require the examination and analysis of evidence presented to local council; and
WHEREAS, the bill would substitute the FCC for the local federal district court as
the reviewing body for challenges to local government decisions regarding wireless
facility applications, thus breaking the promise made by Congress in 1996 that local
governments would not be required to travel to Washington to defend local decisions;
and
WHEREAS, H.R. 3557 would also eliminate cable franchise renewals, thereby
restricting the ability of state or local franchising authorities to enforce franchise
obligations such as public, educational, and government channel capacity and facilities,
customer service requirements, and system build-out requirements; and
WHEREAS, H.R. 3557 would affirmatively grant cable operators the right to use
local rights-of-way to provide non-cable services while prohibiting localities from imposing
any fees on non-cable services for use of those rights-of-way.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City of Richfield, Minnesota
opposes HR 3557 and urges the House and Senate not to pass this legislation.
Mary B. Supple, Mayor
ATTEST
Dustin Leslie, City Clerk