Every decade Congressional and state legislative districts are readjusted to reflect changes in the population. Every decade these changes are contested by groups that feel aggrieved by the proposed adjustments. However, the2011 redistricting is a little different in North Carolina because for the first time in a century, the Republicans are in charge.

On the Congressional side, the Republican plan essentially wiped out Congressman Brad Miller’s district. Congressman Miller was a democratic state legislator who was in charge of redistricting in 2000. District 11 will now be in democratic Congressman Heath Shuler’s region under the proposed plan. Avery, Burke, Caldwell, and Mitchell Counties, which are solidly Republican counties, will be included in the 11th Congressional district.

Proposed districts for the General Assembly also favor Republicans. “Elections have consequences,” said North Carolina Senator Jim Davis. “Because Republicans won the legislature in 2010 we got the responsibility to redistrict the state. It does favor the Republican Party, but this is nothing new. There is nothing nefarious about what we have done. But in redrawing the maps we had to follow the United States Constitution and our state’s constitution.”

The Department of Justice approved the proposed plan on November 1, 2011, as required by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was extended in 2006. Now, the plan is being examined in the court room, and primaries could be delayed.

The challengers main argument is that the plan diminishes the political power of minorities by grouping them together, a strategy known as packing. Republicans have responded that the Voting Rights Act requires majority black districts to be drawn wherever feasible, and their plan would create more than 30 black majority districts. Currently, the General Assembly only has 25 minority members.

Another point of criticism has been that the Republican plan splits too many precincts. Precincts are the smallest unit of voting districts. Splitting them is generally avoided because it can logistical issues. In Durham County, one street that formerly consisted of one precinct will now be part of four precincts. Thus, some neighbors could be completing four different ballots!

This fight will continue for many more months, perhaps up to the primary in May. North Carolina has always had some odd shaped political district, and this plan does as well. The last districting had 44 counties that were divided. This plan divided 49 counties.

Another ten years have gone by, and like clockwork the same redistricting fights occur. Only this time, the Republicans are drawing the lines and the Democrats are screaming foul. In 2001, the Democrats drew the lines and the Republicans were screaming foul. Some things never change. At some point, perhaps North Carolina will create a non-partisan commission to redraw the districts. When the Democrats were in power, that’s what the Republicans wanted. Now that the Republican’s are in power, the Democrats apparently see some merit in the approach. However, one can’t blame the Republicans for not jumping on that bandwagon after getting the chance to draw the districts for the first time in more than a century.

Although less numerous than recent sessions, the 2011 Session of the General Assembly addressed a number of bills important to our industry. The four primary issues involved municipal entry into broadband, the E-NC Authority sunset, safety concerns for utility workers on public roads, and Carrier of Last Resort obligations.

Versions of the municipal entry or Level Playing Field Bill (HB 129) were introduced in previous sessions but never passed. The issue emerged following a 2005 decision by the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which greatly expanded the rights of municipalities to engage in businesses traditionally reserved for the private sector. The Level Playing Field proposal attempts to create some rules for how municipalities engaging in broadband services must compete with private providers. Among other rules, a municipality may not cross subsidize its broadband business with revenue from other services, price services below cost, discriminate against private providers in access to right of ways, poles, or conduits, and must hold a public vote before taking on debt to finance the construction of a broadband network. Further, municipal broadband providers must remit to the city’s general fund the amount of taxes a private provider would be taxed by the city. Any network used for government agencies such as police and other emergency networks are exempted from these rules.

The bill also includes exemptions for municipalities that have already begun providing services. Each of these municipalities incurred significant debt to begin their broadband enterprises. Supporters of the bill recognized that these cities entered the business based on the rules that existed at that time. The General Assembly was reluctant to change the rules for these cities after the fact. Further, such changes could violate covenants made in securing loans, conceivably impact repayment of the debt and possibly create serious economic problems for these cities and the State as a whole.

Interesting, proponents of municipal entry into broadband competition with the private sector argue that the move is necessary to assure that unserved areas obtain service. However, the areas in North Carolina that remain unserved are generally located in sparsely populated, rural areas and not within the boundaries of municipal corporations. Municipal entry could result in the private sector spending more to compete within municipal boundaries, leaving fewer funds available to expand into rural areas that truly remain unserved.

The 2011 General Assembly decided not to approve funding to continue the e-NC Authority and thus, the Authority in its current form will sunset and cease to exist at the end of 2011. The e-NC Authority originated from the Rural Prosperity Task Force, which was created in the late 1990s to develop a plan to promote broadband service in North Carolina. Some functions of the e-NC Authority will shift to the Department of Commerce. Those continuing functions include the administration of stimulate grants that it has been awarded and continued work on the North Carolina broadband map.

A bill requiring motorists to move over for telecommunications vehicles and workers and other utilities was also adopted. CarolinaLink, along with other industry members, supported this bill as a way to ensure the safety of its employees as they work to expand, improve, and repair services to customers. The bills primary sponsor was Rep. Shirley Randleman from the area served by Wilkes TMC, a CarolinaLink member company.

Finally, a bill continuing the process to transition the industry to a more competitive market also was approved during the 2011 Session. This legislation removed the Carrier of Last Resort obligations for companies who meet the previous competitive requirements established in earlier legislation and also agree not to accept any funding from any future state universal service fund that might be established. The bill also eliminates the requirement to provide stand-alone residential lines. As the marketplace has evolved, the vast majority of these lines tend to be second or third lines for the provision of fax machines or second phone lines. With the industry moving toward internet protocol and broadband technology, this requirement was outdated and customers receive much higher value from bundled services including broadband and video services.

While the focus of the discussions may have changed, telecommunications and broadband service continue to be significant issues before the Legislature. It is clear these issues remain important to the citizens of North Carolina as we move forward into a more technology based economy.

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