NCCCMC

Friends -- Senate Bill 1068 passed the NC Senate last week by a 49-0 vote! But
we face an uphill battle in the NC House. This is the bill that will help fund
public access TV statewide. It also provides funding for rural broadband
build-out.

Please forward this to your friends in the Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte,
Winston-Salem and Wilmington areas. The bill will be heard as early as
Thursday afternoon or Friday in the House Finance Committee. The chairs of
that committee come from the aforementioned areas of North Carolina (Becky
Carney of Charlotte is not a chair, but a key committee member.)

Ask your friends to phone or email asap! Contact info for their legislators
can be found at:
http://www.ncleg.net/GIS/Representation/Who_Represents_Me/Who_Represents_Me.html

Here's the committee line-up:

Senior Chairman Rep. Paul Luebke (Durham) email: Paull@ncleg.net
Chairman Rep. Pryor Gibson
Chairman Rep. William Wainwright
Chairman Rep. Jennifer Weiss (Raleigh) email: Jenniferw@ncleg.net
Vice Chairman Rep. Dewey Hill
Vice Chairman Rep. Hugh Holliman
Vice Chairman Rep. Julia Howard
Vice Chairman Rep. Dan McComas (Wilmington) email: Dannym@ncleg.net
Vice Chairman Rep. Larry Womble (Winston-Salem) email: Larryw@ncleg.net

Members: Rep. Blackwood, Rep. Blust, Rep. Carney, Rep. Cotham, Rep.
Cunningham, Rep. Daughtridge, Rep. Faison, Rep. Farmer-Butterfield, Rep.
Folwell, Rep. Hall, Rep. J. Harrell, Rep. Jones, Rep. Lewis, Rep. McGee, Rep.
Owens, Rep. Ross, Rep. Setzer, Rep. Stam, Rep. Starnes, Rep. Tillis, Rep.
Walend.

Luebke, Wainright, Carney and McComas were sponsors of the video franchise law,
so they should be especially OPEN to fixing its flaws. We can also state that
the League of Municipalities supports 1068.

Here's the talking points:

S-1068 ensures that revenue from the statewide video franchise law last summer
is returned to local governments to support two things:

1. Broadband buildout for rural and low-income communities

2. Community Media Centers (derived from PEG Channels) to provide digital
media training for our young people and small-business incubation for our
digital entrepreneurs.

Both of the above were overlooked and underfunded in the video franchise law
last summer. S-1068 corrects these oversights.

Many thanks for your support of S-1068 and for ensuring a stronger digital
media economy in North Carolina!

[your name]