Though Congress is not in session this week, TIA is closely monitoring several pieces of legislation with the potential to impact TIA's member companies and the broader ICT industry. In addition to the economic stimulus package signed into law by President Bush last week, which included two key tax incentives for business, TIA staff has interest in two bills in particular.
Key provisions in the farm bill would enhance rural broadband deployment through improved data mapping, robust tax incentives and an expanded broadband loan program. The tax incentive created by an expensing provision in the Senate version of the bill would provide a significant short-term incentive for the deployment of both current and next-generation broadband by creating a temporary, two-tiered, technology and a provider-neutral tax incentive in the form of 50 percent expensing for new investment in “current-generation” technologies that provide 5 megabit downstream and 1 megabit upstream service and 100 percent expensing for investments that provide 50 megabit downstream and 10 megabit upstream service in rural or underserved areas. TIA believes other provisions will have a positive, significant impact on those currently without two-way, high-speed voice, video and data communications and the manufacturers and suppliers of communications equipment and services that play a major role in the U.S. economy. Likewise, TIA supports language in the bill that places a priority on broadband loan applications that serve communities with greatest need. The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Broadband Loan Program, reauthorized by the bill, provides a key incentive for nationwide broadband build-out, particularly in rural and underserved America. Finally, TIA supports broadband mapping language in the Senate version that would authorize a nationwide program similar to the highly successful ConnectKentucky effort. TIA has been a strong advocate of broadband mapping efforts such as those authorized by the provisions in the Senate bill, those passed this summer by the Senate Commerce Committee in S. 1492, the Broadband Data Improvement Act, and in a similar bill, H.R. 3919, the Broadband Census of America Act of 2007, passed by the House this fall.
The Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008 (H.R. 5353), introduced by Congressmen Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chip Pickering (R-Miss.), would call for the FCC to open a proceeding to review a number of questions regarding network management and broadband access. The proceeding would begin within 90 days of the bill's passage, at which point the FCC would hold at least eight public summits across the country within a year and then report back to Congress with recommendations and findings 90 days thereafter. Ultimately the bill would result in a maximum of 18 months of review before a final FCC report would be submitted to Congress.
Other legislation also remains in TIA's sights, though the bills previously discussed are the most immediate and far-reaching. The association will monitor those bills and report back to members on significant developments.
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