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City of Eugene Legislative Policies for 2009 Oregon Legislative Session <br /> <br />X. <br />T <br />ELECOMMUNICATIONS <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />?Eugene supports existing City responsibility to manage the public ROW, including <br />opposing the preemption of any portion of Eugene’s telecommunications ordinances, upheld <br /> <br />by the Oregon Supreme Court. <br /> <br /> <br />?Eugene supports the existing City right and duty to collect fair compensation from <br />telecommunications and cable providers for use of public infrastructure and ROW. <br /> <br /> <br />?Eugene supports clear and forthright billing practices between telecommunication providers <br />who use the public ROW and their customers. Providers should treat any costs they incur <br />from using the public ROW as a business operating cost, not as a tax. <br /> <br /> <br />?Eugene supports current City zoning authority for land use decisions regarding the siting of <br />telecommunications towers and other facilities. <br /> <br /> <br />?Eugene supports the existing ability of cities and municipal utilities (i.e., Eugene Water & <br />Electric Board) to own, operate, construct and provide telecommunications services on a <br />level playing field with private providers. <br /> <br /> <br />?Eugene supports existing local authority to make decisions regarding acceptable in-kind <br />services in lieu of franchise fees for use of the public ROW. <br /> <br /> <br />?Eugene supports continued localized telecommunications and cable rights-of-way use <br />agreements. We oppose transition to state franchising if local revenue protections, <br />management authorities, and customer service standards are not maintained or increased. <br /> <br /> <br />?Eugene supports actions that would increase public access to the Internet through wireless <br />access. <br /> <br /> <br />?Eugene opposes actions that would decrease equal access to the Internet through tiered <br />pricing structures or other strategies. <br /> <br />Telecommunications includes cable communications, and broadband use of the public right-of-way <br />including voice-over Internet protocol (VOIP). Under federal, state and local law, cities have the <br />authority, duty and obligation to manage the public to manage the public right-of-ways (ROW) for <br />their citizens and collect fair compensation for its use by private communications providers. As <br /> <br />cities develop, the public ROW represents a substantial public investment and resource. Franchise <br />fees are not taxes. They are business operating costs incurred by providers when they use the public <br />rights-of-way for their commercial endeavors. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />36 <br /> <br /> <br />