Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006

COMMUNICATIONS OPPORTUNITY, PROMOTION, AND ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2006

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Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I make a point of order.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 426 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, I make a point of order against consideration of the rule, H. Res. 850. Page 1, line 7, through page 2, line 1, states: ``All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived.''

The rule makes in order H.R. 5252, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006, which contains a large unfunded mandate on State and local governments in violation of section 425 of the Budget Act. Section 426 of the Budget Act specifically states that the Committee on Rules may not waive section 425; and, therefore, this rule violates section 426.

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Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in January of 1995 in the first few weeks after the Republicans took control of this House for the first time in 40 years, they passed a bill they proudly called the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

The goals of this bill, they argued at the time, were honesty and accountability. It would force the Congress to publicly acknowledge when it passed legislation that imposed large, unreimbursed uncompensated costs known as unfunded mandates on State and local governments.

As our former colleague and current director of the Office of Management and Budget, Rob Portman, said during the debate back in 1995, ``No significant unfunded mandate can now go through Congress without Members having to vote up or down in the public view.''

But here we are 11 years later and the tables have turned. My Republican colleagues are bringing to the floor a bill that imposes hundreds of millions of dollars of unfunded mandates on communities across this country whose local public, educational, and government accessible channels, known as PEG access channels, as well as institutional networks known as I-Nets, over which our police, fire and emergency communications often travel, will be gutted by the legislation we are considering today creating a national cable franchise system.

As provided under the rule, H.R. 5252, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act, also known as the COPE Act, would limit available support for PEG access channels to a maximum of 1 percent of an operator's gross revenue, less than what many communities receive today. This legislation's one-size-fits-all approach fails to keep communities financially whole.

Local cable franchises are long-term contracts signed between a cable operator and a community, and some go as long as 15 years. Yet this bill allows cable operators to walk away from those signed and sealed contracts, causing the city to lose long-term revenue it expected to get under those contracts.

Many communities have made the decision in their local franchises to require more than 1 percent worth of PEG and I-Net support more than would be available under COPE. In those communities that make robust use of these resources, enactment of this bill may result in the loss of up to 67 percent of their budgets for these important and crucial services.

Indeed, according to the Congressional Budget Office's cost estimate for the bill, by prohibiting local franchising authorities from charging cable providers more than 1 percent of their gross revenues to provide PEG programming, enacting COPE would lead to a loss in State and local revenues estimated to be between $150 million and $450 million by 2011. Even with projected offsets from other provisions of the bill, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the net cost of this mandate would likely fall between $100 million and $350 million per year by 2011.

Because of CBO's conclusion that the annual cost of this mandate over the next 5 years will exceed $64 million, which triggers the unfunded mandate law that Republicans so proudly backed in 1995, I am raising this point of order against the rule.

The fact is that the rule waives all points of order against this bill. The Budget Act specifically says that the Committee on Rules cannot waive points of order against unfunded mandates, yet the Republican leadership ignores this. So in the spirit of the debate in 1995, I am raising this point of order that will force us all in the public view to vote up or down this unfunded mandate.

During these really challenging economic times with very tight local and State budgets, how many States and localities can afford this? Local programming and police and fire communications traffic supported by I-Nets should not be allowed to be diminished through the passage of this bill. Yet because of this unfunded mandate, the city of Madison in my own congressional district will see losses in the tens of thousands of dollars per year, while larger franchises such as that in Montgomery County, Maryland, will suffer almost $2 million in losses.

Mr. Speaker, I will submit for the RECORD a chart compiled by the Alliance for Community Media detailing how 45 local franchising authorities in 13 States will lose huge percentages of their annual PEG funding under the COPE Act.

During the committee markup of H.R. 5252, and subsequently at the Committee on Rules, I offered an amendment that would have remedied this problem. In addition to the option of a PEG fee based on 1 percent of the cable operator's gross revenue, my amendment allowed the franchising authority to continue requiring cable operators with a national franchise to pay a fee equivalent to the value on a per subscriber, per month basis of all PEG support currently provided by an incumbent cable operator in a franchise area pursuant to that incumbent's existing franchise agreement.

This hold-harmless approach would have ensured the current level of PEG funding that was in no way diminished by the transition from local to national franchise systems.

Under my amendment, the new national cable franchisee will not pay a single cent more than what the current incumbent cable providers are already paying. More importantly, my amendment would have eliminated this unfunded mandate that will cost local communities hundreds of millions of dollars. Unfortunately, my amendment was not allowed to come to the floor for a vote under this restrictive rule.

Mr. Speaker, if this legislation passes, the diverse and vibrant offerings of public access channels on cable television will face enormous challenges.

I want to talk a little about the importance of PEG access channels as communities' resources. There are over 3,000 PEG access centers across the country today representing 3,000 channels, 250,000 organizations and 1.2 million volunteers.

According to a survey of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, 73 percent of communities with PEG capacity receive financial support from the cable operator under terms of the local franchise over and above the franchise fee. Whether it is in the form of an annual fee, a one-time grant, or use of a building or equipment, or a per subscriber fee, such resources are used to support the needs of local PEG communities in their production of local programming. These resources are used by schools for distance education, by our locally elected officials to improve governmental services and enhance democratic discourse, and by our communities as the last source of free speech over the medium of television.

My congressional district in Wisconsin has one of the most diverse, enriching, and vibrant public access communities in the Nation. For over 30 years, Madison City Channel has helped connect Madison residents with their local government in much the same way C-SPAN allows our constituents to follow our actions here in Congress. Madison City Channel has provided that window into the workings of county and city governments, the levels of government that most directly impact the lives of our constituents on a daily basis.

In addition, the school district operates two channels that feature a variety of school board meetings and forums, as well as interviews with school board members and administrators and sporting events. The channel also features student music events, math and science fairs, and news programming.

PEG channels from the city of Whitewater in my district feature not just local election coverage, meetings of the city council and school board, but also programming produced by the local United Way, the Historical Society, and five local churches, among others.

Overall, the 80-plus PEG access channels in Wisconsin perform invaluable services on a daily basis commercial free, with the sole basis of informing and educating our citizens.

Diversity of programming and coverage are found in communities across the country. I want to note that in addition to coverage of government and educational affairs, different communities adopt various genres of programming to reflect their local interests. For example, religious programming represents 20 to 40 percent of programming in most public access centers, according to a survey of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. And ``Army Newswatch'' is the most-syndicated program on PEG channels, with carriage on over 300 PEG channels nationwide. I know that many Members of Congress host their own public access shows on PEG channels to reach out and connect with their constituents.

Preserving PEG funding is about preserving the local flavor and diversity of community voices. It is about transparency and accountability in our local government, and it is about strengthening the sense of shared neighborhoods and communities.

Mr. Speaker, the House can either choose to consider this rule in spite of COPE's unfunded mandate; or it can send this rule back to committee, make my amendment in order, and eliminate the unfunded mandate upon which this point of order is predicated.

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