Texas Cable Association Issues Statement Regarding Telecom Legislation Passage in the House and Senate

Texas Cable Association Issues Statement Regarding Telecom Legislation Passage in the House and Senate

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tom Kinney, president of Time Warner Cable-Austin Division and chairman of the board of the Texas Cable & Telecommunications Association (TCTA) issued the following statement today after SB 5 passed in the Texas House and Senate:

"Governor Perry has stated that no other issues would be addressed in special session until key education reforms and property tax reductions were enacted."

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 15, 2005: "Dewhurst Limits Senate to School Bills"

"None of those are going to be addressed until we address the most important issue in front of us, and that is the reforms of our schools [and] the property tax reductions," Perry said then. "We're not going to talk about tuition revenue bonds, we're not going to talk about judicial pay raises, we're not going to talk about a telecom bill. We're not going to talk about anything until this is finished."

Kinney continued, "For months, Texas legislators have been seeking a way to address the crisis in public schools and the rapid increase in property tax rates. And yet, while members' attention was focused on other areas, a telecommunications bill that had failed in the regular session was reintroduced.

"The passage of this special interest legislation seems to clearly violate the spirit of the vow of the Governor.

"While neither school reform nor property tax reform seems close to passage, the SBC-backed legislation has been sent to the Governor's desk. Even if the legislature is able to pass some limited reforms on these important issues, SB 5 is bad for consumers, bad for competition and bad for Texas -- and should not become law.

"While we are disappointed in the actions of the legislature in sending this bill to the Governor, we trust that the Governor will hold to his promise, and therefore are calling on him to veto this ill-considered legislation.

"We trust the Governor will stand by his words, and we look forward to working with the legislature to more fully address these issues in the future.

"Should this special interest legislation actually become law in Texas, we would expect there to be a number of legal challenges. The next step in this process will almost certainly be the courts, where the substantial legal issues contained in this legislation hopefully will be resolved in a more thoughtful way, without the undue influence of hordes of SBC lobbyists trying to sway the outcome in their favor."

Contact: Meg Meo, 512-494-2867 or

mmeo@echristianpr.com

Source: Texas Cable & Telecommunications Association

CONTACT: Meg Meo, +1-512-494-2867, or mmeo@echristianpr.com , for Texas
Cable & Telecommunications Association

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