FLORIDA TELECOM VICTORY

The Florida House of Representatives introduced and passed a major telecommunications bill (HB 4785) that could have severely curtailed the ability of apartment owners and managers to reasonably provide telecommunications services to their residents. As originally drafted, the bill would have removed the ability of the property owner/manager to determine how their properties would be wired, creating chaos on most properties by requiring almost constant wiring and rewiring as residents chose among various telephone providers. The Florida Apartment Association and NMHC mounted an all-out effort to educate the legislature and even got a prominent story in the Florida version of The Wall Street Journal explaining the difficulties of unfettered resident choice. Thanks to those efforts, instead of automatically granting residents a right to choose their telecommunications provider, the final bill indicates residents might have such a right and refers the matter to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for further study.

'The mistaken notion by telecommunications providers pushing such legislation is that competition and lower rates for consumers can only be achieved by granting the providers mandatory access or by giving residents the right to individually choose,' said Jim Arbury, NAA/NMHC vice president of tax. 'However, this notion is based on an outdated premise. Competition is actually enhanced when individual properties can negotiate exclusive contracts with providers for a given property. Only then can the smaller telephone and cable companies invest the resources to compete against the larger companies. I urge property owners in every state to be on the lookout for so-called 'mandatory access' legislation. The Florida Apartment Association, with its back against the wall, proved that an educational effort refuting the claims of various telecommunications providers can be successful.' U

Information compiled by NAA/NMHC Joint Legislative Staff: Senior Vice President Clarine Nardi Riddle; Vice President of Tax Jim Arbury; Vice President of Property Management Scott Belcher; Vice President of Environment Eileen Lee; Vice President of Housing and Finance Stephen Lefkovits; and Vice President of Building Codes Ron Nickson.