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To: Chemsync who wrote (9298)	2/5/1998 11:21:00 AM
From: Chemsync	Respond to of 21342

Lawyers Ready to Sue for More Bandwidth By Jon Borland 04-FEB-98 As bandwidth becomes a mainstream issue, some lawmakers are seeing the need-and the opportunity-for using government regulatory powers to widen the pipes. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ "This is the first year that bandwidth has really come into play in the legislative environment," said Bill Myers, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based United States Internet Council, a group that monitors Internet policies in state legislatures. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ Leading the pack is California, where next week a state senator will start hearings to determine if policymakers can push telephone companies to provide affordable high-speed Net connections. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ "We're going to bring together the high-tech types with the telco types," said Randy Chinn, a policy consultant for state Senator Steve Peace (D-El Cajon), who chairs the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee. "These two sides just aren't talking to each other. We want to facilitate this." ÿÿÿÿÿÿ Peace has introduced a bill outlining his broad policy goals and stating that local telephone competition is progressing too slowly. The bill as yet has no specific policy recommendations-Chinn said those will come out of next week's hearings and others like them. But the measure says the state should "encourage the development and deployment of newer technologies that provide high quality, high-speed digital telecommunications services to all Californians." ÿÿÿÿÿÿ "This may be something that the legislature can't affect, other than to jawbone," Chinn said. "But if there is something that can be done, we want to be prepared." ÿÿÿÿÿÿ Some local communities and companies are far ahead of state or federal efforts. The city council in Palo Alto, Calif., recently proposed wiring every home in that city with a high-speed Net connection. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ In Phoenix, Ariz., U S West Communications has rolled out ADSL lines, which can offer service up to 250 times faster than standard modems. The company plans to offer the service in 40 Western cities by June 1998. ÿÿÿÿÿÿ "You're going to see a lot of experiments over the next few years," said Myers. Lawmakers in several other states are looking at big-bandwidth campaigns, he said, citing legislative interest in Colorado, Maryland, and Virginia. "This educating effort really does need to be played out around the country." ÿÿÿÿÿÿ But even in California, opinion is split on whether the government has any role to play in the race to boost bandwidth. "We've been working with Internet folk to figure out how state government can assist, but what we're hearing on most fronts is that Internet policy issues have to be dealt with on the federal level," said Rand Martin, chief of staff for state Senator John Vasconcellos (D-San Jose), who represents much of Silicon Valley. "We want to be responsive to industry, and we want to be responsive to people who use the Internet, but trying to do that like we do with roads and education is a difficult thing." ÿÿÿÿÿÿ Vasconcellos has been working to start a state-level Internet caucus, Martin said. But he and his peers have been hamstrung by a lack of meaningful state-level Net issues. "It's very hard for a state to set Internet policy," Martin said. "We are so used to being able to deal with issues like education or criminal justice in concrete ways. Those who want to apply that same process to the Internet are frustrated that it doesn't work the same way." ÿTotal Telecomÿÿÿÿÿ