North Carolina attorney general Roy Cooper has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the FCC's decision to preempt state law limiting a municipal broadband buildout.
According to a copy of the suit, which was filed in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Cooper says the FCC unlawfully inserted itself between the state and its cities and that to do so was unconstitutional, exceeded the FCC's authority, was arbitrary and capricious and otherwise illegal.
The FCC voted Feb. 26 along party lines (a 3-2 Democratic majority) to preempt state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that limit expansion of municipal broadband, citing its authority under the Sec. 706 mandate to insure advance telecommunications services are being deployed in a reasonable and timely manner.
The FCC said it can't preempt laws preventing muni buildouts, but signaled it can, and likely will, preempt ones limiting already authorized builds, though on a case-by-case basis.
The order preempts geographic limitations on the expansion of municipal broadband systems in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Wilson, N.C., though it does not compel any action on either. The decision does not affect laws in other states, but signals how the FCC might act on similar petitions.
