Preempting Local Government

In May 2023, the House Commerce Committee marked up nineteen pieces of telecommunications-related legislation.  One bill in particular, the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023 (H.R. 3557), represents what I’m seeing as a new trend of actions taken by big internet service providers (ISP) to preempt the authority of local governments.  H.R. 3557 would preempt a host of current rights of local governments to manage public rights-of-way for telecom infrastructure. This applies to both wireless infrastructure like towers, but also to landline infrastructure like fiber, huts, and cabinets. The legislation includes a long list of changes aimed at taking local government out of the business of controlling telecom infrastructure deployment. To me, this bill is part of an ongoing effort of cellular carriers, cable companies, and big telecoms to restrict the ability of local governments to affect the construction of infrastructure.