The American Public Power Association recently filed reply comments with the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau.
The comments were submitted in response to Public Notice DA-26-579 in WC Docket Nos. 17-84, 10-101.
In the public notice, the FCC “reminds states that regulate pole attachments of their obligation” to issue rules and rates in accordance with section 224 of the Communications Act of 1934.
The FCC states that it has received reports regarding barriers to broadband deployment in reverse preemption states and is seeking to determine the “current status of reverse-preemption state regulation and jurisdiction over pole attachments,” including whether to expand preemption authority to states not in compliance with section 224.
In the reply comments, APPA states that there is no demonstrated need for additional regulation of reverse-preemption states, and that there is no statutory authority to regulate pole attachments in states that have reverse-preempted the federal government. The statutory authority afforded to the FCC relates to ensuring the adoption and promulgation of pole attachment rules by states reverse-preempting the federal government, not the subjective efficacy of those rules.
The comments also correct the record that the legislatures in California in Washington have adopted pole attachment rules that are applicable to public power utilities and that there is no suggestion these rules and processes are not working.
