ARRL Weekly Update on Hill Visits

Weeks of July 2^nd and 9^th, 2007

Senator John Thune – Monday, July 2

We met with Joshua Shield in Senator Thune (R-SD)’s office, whose member sits on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.  Joshua is the legislative counsel who handles Telecom issues for his boss.  Joshua was not very familiar with amateur radio, so I took the time to explain to him who we are and what we do, as well as our voluntary coordination during emergencies.  I then went on to explain our problems with interference caused by BPL.  Joshua seemed to understand the issue.  He asked if there were other cosponsors, and I informed him that we are just beginning to meet with people, since the bill was only recently introduced.  He also seemed happy to learn of the 1,629 operators in South Dakota – which he seemed to think was a lot (and coincidentally he pointed out the number of operators matches the bill number!).  I will follow up with him on our request. 

Rep. Mike Doyle – Monday, July 9

We met with Kenneth DeGraff of Representative Mike Doyle (D-PA)’s office, whose boss sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee.  Kenneth is the legislative assistant who handles Telecom for his boss.  He was very familiar with amateur radio, and remembered the provision regarding the FCC study that we worked to get included in H.R. 5252, the COPE Act, last year.  I explained that we continue to have interference problems, and are again requesting a study by the FCC.  Kenneth explained that his boss felt like BPL was a “dead issue” and that because the deployment of BPL is slow moving, his boss didn’t want to require the FCC to study something that “wasn’t really an issue.”  It didn’t sound like this would be something his boss would oppose, but I also didn’t feel like his boss would actively pursue cosponsoring. 

Senator DeMint – Monday, July 9

We met with Hap Rigby of Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)’s office, whose boss sits on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.  Hap handles Telecom issues for his boss.  Hap was familiar with amateur radio operators, as his grandfather used to be a ham.  I explained in more detail what we do, as well as our role in emergency communications.  He was very interested in this aspect, and I showed him a list of major events where hams had been helpful (on a voluntary basis).  I think this may have resonated with him because of the potential for severe weather in South Carolina.  I also noted that South Carolina is one of fourteen states whose police use the same “low band VHF.”  Hap seemed concerned about our problems with interference caused by BPL.  He said that he would talk to the Senator about cosponsoring.