On the 27th of February I posted

Internet and Energy at the Bird Supper
and Gretchen and I went to the Bird Supper in Atlanta and discussed
those four bills with legislators.
Our local elected officials were lobbying on the same side of many of
the same bills.
It’s past crossover day now, when bills are supposed to be
approved by one house of the Georgia legislature in order to be
taken up by the other.
How did that come out?
We all beat the mighty telcos and cablecos on two bills!
But Georgia Power is even mightier, and won on two bills.
Plus one legislator’s name is connected with 3 out of 4 of those bills.
And our local delegation cancelled itself out on the one vote
that actually went to the floor.

Internet Access: help stop two telecommunications bills

The local Industrial Authority, Chamber of Commerce, Valdosta City Council,
and Lowndes County Commission have recently realized that
fast Internet access is essential to attract businesses,
for their employees to work at home, for applicants to apply for jobs,
for students to submit assignments, and for general quality of life.
And there’s good news from the legislature!

• 
  HB 282 against muni broadband
  
  This bill would prohibit local governments from providing Internet access
  if any local census block has 1.5Mbps access, thus taking away
  an option that local governments could use at least in bargaining
  with the telcos and the cablecos.

  The
  
  Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) and the
  
  Association of County
  Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) were both against this one.
  We all won!
  
  HB 282 was voted down in the House 7 March 2013.
  Local legislative delegation votes:

  Y :BLACK, 174TH
  
  N :CARTER, 175TH
  
  Y :SHAW, 176TH
  
  N :SHARPER, 177TH

  So Ellis Black and Jason Shaw voted for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and Comcast
  against our local governments and the people.
  Amy Carter and Dexter Sharper voted for us.
  Our local delegations’ votes canceled each other out on HB 282.
  But we won anyway.

  Now, will our local governments actually do something about
  making fast and affordable local Internet access available?

• 
  HB 176 for higher cell towers with less local government oversight
  
  This really bad bill would let cell telephone companies build towers
  wherever they want to at any height, taking away local government
  power to regulate that.

  The rationale the telcos had spread that was being repeated by legislators
  was that some local governments charged tens of thousands of dollars
  to apply to build a cell tower, then sat on the application for years
  and never approved it.
  Nobody had a single example of this ever happening in any specific location.

  I hear (unconfirmed) our Chamber of Commerce backed down on its opposition.
  The
  
  GMA and
  
  ACCG were both against this one.
  
  
  And we all won!

  
  02/28/2013 Withdrawn from the General Calendar and recommitted to Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications

  The mighty telcos didn’t even have enough votes to risk bringing HB 176 to a vote.
  Sorry,
  
  Don “ALEC” Parsons: you lost two this year (HB 176 and HB 282),
  even though
  you got lots of money from the telcos and cablecos
  
  (according to Project Vote Smart):

  Top Sectors

  Communications & Electronics $12,075.00

  Top Industries

  Telecom Services & Equipment $12,075.00

Energy: help pass two energy bills

Solar power can be a
distributed source of jobs in south Georgia.
Antique laws and a subsidized nuclear boondoggle are hobbling solar power.

• 
  GA SB 51, The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed Generation Act
  
  Senator Buddy Carter has introduced a Senate bill for the current session
  of the legislature, SB 51, “The Georgia Cogeneration and Distributed
  Generation Act of 2001”. It attempts to fix
  
  Georgia’s special solar
  financing problem, the antique 1973 Territorial Electric Service Act,
  which says you can only sell power you generate to your one and only
  pre-determined electric utility, at whatever rate that utility sets.

  And Georgia Power won again, as it has for years:
  
  Committee on Regulated Industries and Utilities Chairman Jack Murphy
  wouldn’t bring it to a vote to get it to the full Senate.
  Even the
  Georgia Municipal Association fell for opposing this one,
  claiming that it would require municipalities that generate their
  own power to buy power at a rate set by somebody else from people
  or companies that do their own generation.
  I can’t seem to find that clause in the bill,
  and
  
  this is one I did read quite closely.
  Let’s try again next year, maybe starting in the House this time,
  and first trying to convince GMA and ACCG.

• 
  HB 267 Financing costs; construction of nuclear generating plant
  
  Stop Georgia Power from charging customers for cost overruns for Plant Vogtle,
  already 15 months behind schedule and a billion dollars overbudget for power
  that nobody has received, yet Georgia Power has already billed customers about
  $1.7 billion.
  Bipartisan cosponsors are Jeff Chapman (R—Brunswick) District 167 and
  Karla Drenner (D—Avondale Estates) District 85.
  This boondoggle on the Savannah River is what Georgia Power and Southern Company
  are doing instead of deploying solar inland and wind off the coast.

  And Georgia Power won again: HB 267 never got out of committee.
  That would be the
  
  House Energy, Utilities & Telecommunications Committee
  chaired by
  Don Parsons of ALEC.
  And in his
  campaign finances:

  Top Sectors

  Energy & Natural Resources $13,625.00

  Top Industries

  Electric Utilities $3,250.00

  Evidently Georgia Power’s political clout isn’t measured solely
  in dollars, since that $3,250 from Electric Utilities is less than the
  $12,075 from Telecom Services & Equipment.
  Or maybe the $18,725 from Lawyers & Lobbyists came largely from electric
  utility lawyers and lobbyists, which seems to be how it works
  
  in Georgia PSC elections.

Maybe we could use some real campaign finance reform in Georgia.

-jsq