LANSING – A compromise cable TV franchise bill, which boosts public access fees cable companies pay but does not deal with the question of local contract abrogation or of Internet neutrality, passed the Michigan Senate on a 26-12 vote on Tuesday.

The compromise on HB 6456 was then quickly approved by the House and went onto Gov. Jennifer Granholm who will sign it.

“We support the bill. We think it’s good for consumers and for jobs,” said Granholm’s spokesperson, Liz Boyd.

Rep. Mike Nofs (R-Battle Creek) said those that supported the bill over its long controversial road still supported the measure and those that opposed it still opposed the measure.

After nearly a year’s work in the House before the measure passed a week after the November election, the Senate moved the bill through in less than a month after a bipartisan group began discussing provisions that would reach agreement.

Under the bill, cable television providers would now get a statewide agreement instead of individual franchises for each community in the state.

Supporters have argued that the measure would provide greater competition and potentially lower costs to cable television subscribers statewide, but opponents charged that under the bill rural, less populated areas may not get access to service and local governments would lose funding.

AT&T, expected to be the company which would take the greatest advantage of the new franchising system, has said it would add as many 2,000 new employees if the measure passed.

And in a press release, AT&T executives praised passage of the bill, saying it would assure investment of as much as $620 million in the state by 2009.

But supporters of the bill did not win without at least having to debate the different contentious points, especially on the issue of abrogating local contracts.

Sen. Nancy Cassis (R-Novi) supported an amendment, which failed 11-22, which would have barred cable providers from ending local agreements until a competitor has signed up at least 5 percent of the households in the community as subscribers.

That provision would assure that local governments are not left out in the cold in terms of revenues, and probably help hasten the development of competition.

But Sen. Michael Switalski (D-Roseville) said the provision would have cable companies competing on a different basis, which would not be fair.

Two senators, Sen. Patricia Birkholz (R-Saugatuck) and Sen. Gilda Jacobs (D-Huntington Woods) both proposed amendments guaranteeing net neutrality, but withdrew them in favor of standalone legislation that should come in the 94th Legislature.

Net neutrality had not been raised as an issue as part of the bill before Google brought it out late last month. Birkholz said she would prefer the issue be dealt with federally, but Congress adjourned without action so the state should ensure neutrality at some point.

The issue has captured the attention of both liberal and conservative groups who are all concerned without a statutory guarantee that their web content could cost more or be sidetracked in favor of content sponsored by an Internet carrier.

Boyd said Granholm supports the idea of net neutrality but because jobs were at stake, felt the issue should be dealt with separately.

The major difference between the substitute passed by the Senate Tuesday compared to the version of the bill approved by the Government Operations Committee last week is that the fee cable providers would have to pay for public access and educational programs would be 2 percent of a customer’s bill as opposed to 1 percent.

ROLL CALL: Here is the Senate roll call on HB 6456:

REPUBLICANS YES (18): Allen, Birkholz, Bishop, Brown, Cassis, Cropsey, Garcia, Gilbert, Goschka, Hammerstrom, Hardiman, Johnson, Kuipers, McManus, Sanborn, Sikkema, Stamas, Toy.

DEMOCRATS YES (8): Barcia, Cherry, Emerson, Leland, Schauer, Switalski, Thomas, Whitmer.

REPUBLICANS NO (4): George, Jelinek, Patterson, and Van Woerkom.

DEMOCRATS NO (8): Basham, Brater, Clark-Coleman, Clarke, Jacobs, Olshove, Prusi, Scott.

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