Your garden variety telecom policy issue rarely gets beyond the usual places in Washington, notably Capitol Hill and the main meeting room at the Federal Communications Commission. But a few issues do escape, among them debates about the FCC's broadcast ownership rules, white space devices, and now, net neutrality.

New York's City Council and San Francisco's Board of Supervisors have resolutions before them backing the Commission's efforts to enact tougher Internet non-discrimination measures. Each is currently making its way through the committee process.

Go slow on both coasts

San Francisco considered its measure at a hearing just before Thanksgiving. The resolution urges the FCC to "to codify strong network neutrality principles in order to ensure that the Internet will continue to foster innovation, increase competition, and spur economic growth as well as making the Internet faster and more affordable for all."

In New York, language favoring both the FCC's efforts and Rep. Ed Markey's (D-MA) Internet Freedom Preservation Act (H.R. 3458) received support and criticism at a recent hearing held before the Council's Committee on Technology in Government.

The Markey Bill would make it unlawful for ISPs to "block, interfere with, discriminate against, impair, or degrade the ability of any person to use an Internet access service," and would authorize the FCC to enforce this principle. FCC Chair Julius Genachowski contends the agency already has the authority to take that step, and he has proposed rules that would add an enforcement and transparency mechanism to the Commission's Internet Policy Statement.

The Big Apple's proposed statement smiling upon these efforts is being moved along by council member Gale Brewer, who represents Manhattan's Upper West Side and Clinton neighborhoods. The document is preceded by the usual lengthy pile of whereases, eg: "Whereas, many are concerned that charging for services will lead to a type of Internet 'toll road' where an individual's access to locations on the Internet will be faster to the websites of those content providers who pay a higher price to the network owner," and therefore the City Council calls upon the FCC and Congress to enact these proposals.

But both the east and west coasts seem to be moving somewhat cautiously towards making decisions on these matters. San Francisco's resolution, sponsored by Supervisors Chris Daly and Michela Alioto-Pier, has been referred to the Board's rules committee, which is scheduled to meet twice in December.

Meanwhile, a staffer at Councilmember Brewer's office told us that her text will be voted on by the Technology Committee on December 9; then, if approved, it will move to a full council decision by the end of the month. The language of the statement may be tweaked a bit between now and then, possibly over wireless issues, he said, but "nothing majorly substantive" will change.