Institute for Policy Innovation President Tom Giovanetti urged the FCC to reject the municipal broadband petitions filed by the Electric Power Board in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the city of Wilson, North Carolina, saying in a Thursday blog post that "the power to regulate state affairs belongs to the states" (http://bit.ly/1unQ5CM).
IPI recently filed comments on the Wilson petition, docket 14-115, opposing both petitions because a state has a constitutional right to use its prerogative as a state to restrict municipal broadband (http://bit.ly/1ryXsr6). States "have the power to limit and regulate municipal entry into broadband provision, and their concerns are just and legitimate," Giovanetti said in the blog post. The 10th Amendment gives states "the power to regulate their internal matters, including that of whether the state will allow municipalities to build broadband systems subjecting all citizens of the state to the risk of failure," he said.