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The Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006 (H.R. 5252) was a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was part of a major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 being considered by the US Congress. The Act was sponsored by Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Rep. Charles Pickering (R-MS) and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL).
Overview
The last version of the Act (HR 5252) included network neutrality provisions defined by the FCC. An amendment offered by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) would have supplemented these with a prohibition against service tiering, which would have prevented Internet service providers charging consumers more money in exchange for not reducing their Internet speed. The COPE Act was passed by the full House on June 8, 2006; the Markey Amendment failed, leaving the final bill without meaningful network neutrality provisions.
The US Senate was also involved in the issue. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006, and Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) were expected to introduce a bipartisan amendment supporting net neutrality when the Senate took up its own rewrite (the "Communications, Consumer's Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006", aka S. 2686 Archived 2016-07-04 at the Wayback Machine) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 later that year.
The bill would have created a single set of national video franchising rules that permit competitors to enter the market without obtaining thousands of individual city-by-city agreements.
The legislation would have protected fees paid to local authorities, preserved public, educational and government programming, and provided federal consumer protection and customer service standards.
The bill was lobbied for by AT&T and received support from Verizon Communications whilst organizations such as Save the Internet and Common Cause have opposed it.
See also
Notes
- 9/29/2006 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 652. See References.
- Now the Advanced Telecommunications and Opportunities Reform Act or the Act of 2006 -- and has another entry here as the Telecommunications Act of 2005
- Final vote results for Roll Call 239 - XML
- U.S. House of Representatives. Roll no. 239 8 June 2006
- A common notion expressed throughout related pages -- that this Bill is a 'rewrite' of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
- "AT&T Inc Bills Lobbied".
- "Consumer Video Choice Vote in House Bodes Well for Similar Legislation in Senate, Says Verizon Executive". 14 June 2006.
References
- S.Rept. 355 Document, description of the Communications Act of 2006
- Library of Congress. H.R.5252-RS - 29 September 2006 - 109-355 Archived 25 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine Communications Act of 2006 (text of the proposed legislation)
- Library of Congress. H.R.5252 - All Congressional Actions w/Amendments Archived 2016-07-05 at the Wayback Machine All speeches, amendments on the House Floor, 1 May 2006 through 29 September 2006 (ongoing)
External links
- "House Rejects Net Neutrality", by John Nichols, The Nation, June 9, 2006
- "Defeat for Net Neutrality Backers", by Tom Lasseter, BBC, June 9, 2006.
- Full text of COPE 2006 (pdf)
- U.S. House Record of the Roll Call Vote on the Markey Amendment
- WashingtonWatch.com page on H.R. 5252: The Communications Act of 2006
- Communications, Opportunity and Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PDF)