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Stalled bill pleases AFN Ashland Fiber Network customers may save money down the road By TONY BOOM ASHLAND - Ashland Fiber Network subscribers have dodged a rate increase proposed in the Oregon Legislature. A bill that would make it harder for Oregon cities to develop telecommunications networks and drive up prices for subscribers to systems like AFN appears to be stalled in the Oregon House of Representatives. House Bill 2680 was referred back to the Smart Growth and Commerce Committee for a second time on April 19. Sponsor Rep. Bill Witt, a Salem Republican, said the bill would create a level playing field between private telecommunications companies and city-owned operations such as AFN. "It doesn't bode well for the bill," said Cathy Shaw, former Ashland mayor and now legislative assistant to Rep. Alan Bates, an Eagle Point Democrat who has opposed the bill since its introduction. Shaw said the bill probably had fewer supporters during its second consideration than it did when it was first pulled from the House floor on March 7 for an apparent lack of votes to pass. "There are a lot of people in opposition to the bill," Shaw said. "There isn't an overwhelming swell of city governments wanting to offer telecommunication services. It's a huge undertaking for a community and has some difficulties." Inequities between cities and private companies may give government-run operations unfair advantages, say the legislation's supporters. Cities don't pay property taxes, but under the bill that savings would have to be calculated and included in consumer rates. Supporters could try to give the bill new life in the Senate, according to Shaw. But Oregon Cable Telecommunication Association Executive Director Mike Dewey says that's unlikely. "We haven't decided if there are some ways to move it forward," said Dewey. He will discuss the issue with his board of directors in a meeting Friday. Most cable television operators in the state belong to OCTA. Phone companies Qwest and Verizon have also supported the legislation. "(The opposition) was more on principle than anything else," Dewey said. "The cities were saying 'The state shouldn't impose certain requirements on us.'" Dewey's coalition argues that the state should set parameters because cities can use funding sources other than retail telecommunication revenues to pay off network debts. "I would imagine that the cable TV association will try to move it in some other format or some other bill," said Tom O'Connor, director of Oregon Municipal Electric Utilities. "I would not be surprised to see it pop up somewhere else." OMEU opposes the measure along with a coalition that includes the League of Oregon Cities, the Association of Oregon Counties, the city of Portland and telecommunication consortiums in Southern and Eastern Oregon. "We're just tying to keep an eye out," said O'Connor. "We hope that action ... indicated there's a clear majority on the House side that feel this is a bad idea and hopefully it will not surface again." Reach Ashland bureau reporter Tony Boom at 482-4651, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.