Minutes 07/24/2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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July 24, 2001 Commonwealth of e-Communities - and erase the digital divide that exists between the technology haves and have-nots - it will be up to local governments to lead the way" and that "local elected governmental bodies should move quickly to create an online community presence, a task that can be carried out by private, public or non-profit entities of the community's choosing;" and WHEREAS, the telecommunications industry has acknowledged that there are substantial economic constraints that effectively place a limit on the ability of private firms to provide service in some areas of the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, in a recent study of the challenge of making available advanced telecommunications to all Americans, the National Telecommunications and Information Service presented data showing that such service was not available to 84 percent of the communities with 25,000 to 50,000 citizens, 92 percent of the communities with a population of 10,000 to 25,000, and smaller communities had even less access; and WHEREAS, despite the express goals of the United States Congress in passing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, to promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and high quality services for American telecommunications consumers and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunication technologies, in the five years since its passage, very limited progress has been achieved in securing the delivery of such important services to many areas of the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, in 1998 the Virginia General Assembly, at the urging of the telecommunications industry, passed legislation prohibiting all but one locality in the Commonwealth from providing these services or partnering with private telecommunications firms to ensure that these critical services were available even when no private firm would provide the service; and WHEREAS, in 1999 the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation that modified its ban slightly but failed to produce any improved service in these areas of the Commonwealth; and WHEREAS, on May 16, 2001, a United States District Court Judge for the Western District of Virginia declared the Virginia statute restricting local government telecommunications activities unenforceable, ruling the State law was preempted by the very clear expression of Congress in the 1996 Telecommunications Act that localities are entities that a State may not prohibit from providing telecommunications services; and WHEREAS, on June 20, 2001, that same federal judge refused to grant a stay of his order, allowing the City of Bristol, Virginia, which initiated the suit, to continue to move forward to meet the community's needs; now, therefore,