Anti-municipal broadband budget amendment gets nixed in New York

Role of Lobbyists and Legislative Process

• Commenters note the amendment was reportedly pushed by Charter/Spectrum lobbyists but are frustrated that the specific elected sponsor isn’t named; they see this anonymity as enabling unaccountability.
• Several describe a common pattern: corporations draft bill text and find a willing legislator to introduce it.
• Suggested remedies include a stronger, default-involved legislative counsel (like the Congressional Budget Office or Congressional Research Service) to provide expert, less‑captured drafting support.
• Some argue lobbying itself isn’t the core problem; rather, it is corrupt or weak politicians and a press that doesn’t expose them.

Municipal Broadband vs Private ISPs

• Many participants strongly favor municipal or co‑op broadband, citing experiences with terrible service, outages, and high prices from monopoly ISPs (e.g., Spectrum), and successful public/co‑op fiber builds with faster, cheaper, symmetric connections.
• Others are skeptical, arguing local or state governments (with examples from New York) run many services poorly, and fear graft, crony hiring, and tax burdens for non‑users.
• A middle position: government builds/owns physical infrastructure (fiber, poles, trenches) and leases it at regulated cost to competing private ISPs.

Economics and Market Structure

• Debate over whether broadband is effectively a natural monopoly: fixed infrastructure is expensive and geographically fixed, which undermines efficient competition.
• Some emphasize ISPs’ significant profits and past subsidies, arguing they could serve better but choose not to. Others point to high capital costs, debt loads, and modest net margins to argue it’s not an easy “money machine.”
• Multiple anecdotes describe rural power co‑ops successfully deploying fiber when private telcos failed to deliver despite subsidies.

Regulatory Capture and Corruption

• Commenters see the amendment as part of broader regulatory capture where corporate interests shape laws to block public networks or competitors (examples from North Carolina and California solar policy).
• There is pessimism about reform: suggestions include independent redistricting, public campaign finance, and ranked-choice voting, but many doubt captured legislatures will adopt such changes.
• Some advocate drastically limiting state power so corporations cannot weaponize it; others respond that corruption then simply appears in a different form.