Newton Kansan

The plug has been pulled,�at least temporarily,�on a senate bill that would have prohibited city and county governments from building broadband networks.

Senate Bill 304 was postponed indefinitely last week, and the consensus among local officials indicates�they are not sad to�to see it go.

"I don't understand a legislature that professes to say it's anti-government, that Washington runs edicts down them and now they try to do the same thing to us," Newton Mayor Jim Nickel said. "They usurp the home rule philosophy."

That was essentially the same thing Nickel said during Tuesday's Newton City Commission meeting.

In the commissioners' packets, there was a letter from Newton City Attorney Bob Myers to the Senate Commerce Committee that was looking at the bill.

"My greatest concerns, apart from the further erosion of the powers of local government, is that this legislation could have a significant detrimental impact on the ability of local governments to engage in economic development to attract new jobs and industry into the state of Kansas," the letter stated.

There was an instance, the letter said, where an existing Newton business needed to relocate to expand. The business had a choice between an industrial area in Newton or sites in other cities and states. Newton did not have adequate broadband access, "the location being outside of Cox

Communication's declared service boundaries," the letter said. Cox finally agreed to extend service into this area.

"Getting an existing carrier to agree to provide service would always be a first option," Myers' letter said. "But, had Cox not agreed, under this bill we would have been left with no other options than to let this existing company leave town."

Nickel said the bill "would allow them to get by with a minimal amount of service without allowing cities or counties to try to provide service. We'd have our hands tied."

The city commission watched a video from the city of Chanute, which runs an ultra-high-speed broadband network.

"Telecoms wouldn't bring fiber broadband service to our town, so we chose to build it ourselves," text on the screen read. "Now draconian legislation has been brought forth to stop us."

John Torline, city administrator for North Newton, said the city was in talks with a Lawrence company a few years ago about starting a broadband newtwork there. Negotiations fell through, but it is still a possibility, Torline said.

"I think personally the airwaves are in the public domain, not in the private domain," Torline said.

Torline did not buy the argument by the bill's backers that private industry should not have to compete with government to provide services.

"Any service a city provides is potentially in competition with private enterprise," he said. "Based on that premise, it could be required that cities no longer provide service for sewer, water, natural gas or trash collection."

Kurt Friesen, who runs Network Tool and Die, an internet service provider in North Newton, said, "I don't like municipalities competing with private enterprise, but in an area that is underserved and there's not a private business willing or able to provide the service there may be a case for municipalities to look at it."

Kansas 74th District Rep. Don Schroeder-R said, "To my knowledge, everyone from the bill sponsor to the Senate president simply want the bill set aside as there would be nothing good to come of working it at this point. Sometimes bills become tainted and that kills them. That is apparently what has occurred with SB 304."

Larry Gates, Chanute utilities director, said he thinks the bill will be back.

"It continues to do those things across the nation," he said.