The Kansas Senate introduced a bill last week that would prevent cities from offering broadband Internet services to Kansans. Furthermore, it would prohibit cities and towns from offering tax incentives to companies seeking improvements to broadband infrastructure, like Google’s fiber service.

This legislation, under the guise of “fairness,” does nothing but hurt consumers and demonstrates just how much our politicians are in bed with corporations; this isn’t the first time big business has tried to block broadband growth.

The bill, S.B. 304, was introduced to the Senate’s Commerce Committee by John Federico, lobbyist for and the president of the Kansas Cable Telecommunications Association.

The wording of the bill follows a model cooked up by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a multi-million dollar organization composed of corporate lobbyists and conservative politicians. A similar bill was struck down in Minnesota two years ago.

Kansas Sen. Susan Wagle, vice-chair of the Commerce Committee, also serves as a board member for ALEC. Wagle received more than $30,000 from out-of-state contributions for her 2012 run for office, including a total of $5,500 from KCTA, Cox Cable, Comcast and AT&T.;

It’s easy to understand what is going on here. This bill has nothing to do with fairness, and it certainly isn’t in the best interests of Kansans to have a lobbying firm restrict broadband to the purview of a few corporations.

This bill, written by corporate lobbyists, is only meant to limit consumer choices. Rather than improve their service, raise data speeds and compete openly on the free market, these broadband providers prefer to shut out the competition through unfair regulation.

As reported in the Wichita Eagle on Monday, Sen. Julia Lynn, chairwoman of the committee, said she doesn’t think it’s fair for corporations to compete with cities. Her stance isn’t shocking given that she, herself, received $4,250 from corporate broadband providers in 2012.

In fact, the majority of senators on the committee have previously accepted political donations from the KCTA. Luckily, this story was picked up quickly and spread throughout social media.

The day after the bill was submitted, Federico confirmed to website Ars Technica that his lobbying group will request the hearing on the bill to be postponed while they rewrite the law. Although it may seem like a minor victory for Kansans, it still doesn’t change the fact that our government allows corporations and lobbyists to dictate legislation that affects every day lives of the residents of Kansas.

The incident is indicative of the greater problem, which is how ordinary people lack representation in Topeka. The city of Chanute, Kan. already runs a high-speed broadband network as a public utility, approved by its residents. This bill isn’t about fairness, it’s about taking away freedom of choice.

Until reforms are made to campaign finance laws, the best thing we can continue to do is remain an informed populace. These types of laws only get passed when the public averts its gaze from lawmakers. We have to remind these politicians who they work for, and it isn’t the cable companies.

Jon Parton is a junior in pre-journalism. Please send all comments to opinion@kstatecollegian.com.