House Judiciary Moves on Barton Bill

HOUSE JUDICIARY MOVES ON BARTON BILL
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
The House Judiciary Committee is asking for authority to review and amend a major telecommunications bill that, among its provisions, would allow new entrants to provide cable-TV service without obtaining local governmental approvals. The request came in a draft letter sent last week to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) from the staff of House Judiciary chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), a House source said Tuesday. The letter, the House source said, explained at length Judiciary’s jurisdiction over the bill and the legitimacy of its claim for a sequential referral. House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) rejected numerous amendments they otherwise considered meritorious because they feared that the additions would trigger a referral to Judiciary and take their telecommunications bill off the fast track. Another concern: Judiciary might add tougher network-neutrality language to the bill. The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over the nation’s antitrust laws. The panel has kept a close eye on the Baby Bell phone companies since the 1984 breakup of AT&T Corp. as a result of the Justice Department antitrust suit against the local and long-distance phone monopoly.
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