Recently questions have arisen as to where we are and where we are headed regarding our original H.Res.230, and whether it is appropriate to continue to ask members to write their representative seeking support for it, or whether we should be seeking member support for Ross’ amendment that was included in the House telecom bill.

Members should still support the H.Res.230 language, and contacting their representative to do so does not hurt one bit.

The board’s original policy, mission and goal that eventually became H.Res. 230 has not changed, nor has our effort. What has changed is that for the first time in a very long time we are having real success on Capitol Hill and we’re continuing to move forward to the next level based on that success.

The concept of what eventually became H.Res 230 dates back to the 2004 Second Meeting in Document #36 where Sumner wrote a confidential memo to the board suggesting that we seek Congressional action to delay the implementation of the BPL rules. It was a long shot at that time because the 108th Congress was winding down, but we did adopt it as one of our “additional BPL strategies” at the meeting. That is what ultimately morphed into H.Res.230, but after the FCC issued their Report & Order on BPL.

The H.Res. draft language was prepared and a meeting was held with Ross’ staff on February 3, 2005. After some negotiating, Ross agreed to introduce the proposal. After a period of time Ross’ staff called Chwat’s office and said the Congressman was having second thoughts about sponsoring this for us. Chwat telephoned me and we were able to immediately place some key Arkansas phone calls to Ross, who two days later advised Chwat he would introduce the H.Res. language, and did so on April 21, 2005.

Since that time, as everyone knows, it has been difficult to obtain co-sponsors. When the Telecom Bill came up on the radar screen a couple of months ago, Chwat recommended we attempt to get H.Res.230 language into the bill and Dave and I gave him the green light to do so. This was reported to the board. Getting this language into HR 5252 (the Telecom Bill) is actually closer to what was envisioned than is H.Res.230. This effort was an additional effort to which if we were not successful would not impact H.Res.230.

On April 27, in arrl-odv 14022, I reported to the board that we were successful in having H.Res.230 language placed in the Telecom bill that was unanimously adopted by the House Commerce Committee. I mentioned at the end that there is still work to be done. Having the Telecom Bill come from the committee with our language in it does not guarantee that it will remain in the final bill. It still has to be voted on by the full House, but it will also have to be reconciled with the Senate’s telecom bill. That is why it is now important that we have H.Res.230 language inserted into the Senate’s bill. The Senate Commerce Committee is working on their version now and that is why we are working with the 22 Senators that are on that committee, as Dave reported to the board in arrl-odv 14050.

So where does that leave us with H.Res.230? Again, as Dave pointed out in arrl-odv-14094, it doesn’t hurt one bit if a member writes a Congressman seeking support for H.Res.230. In fact, today we are up to 8 co-sponsors. If H.Res.230 were passed it would only offer a “sense” of the House. What we have been able to do is greatly exceed that in getting the language into the Telecom Bill that was unanimously adopted by committee because language in the bill doesn’t just provide a “sense” of the Congress, it mandates something to be done! We have great momentum going forward. That same momentum is now moving on the Senate side and we have had a big boost with the support we recently received from Sen. McCain.

We still have work to do and have not won the war, but for the first time in a very long time we have now moved a piece of amateur radio legislation forward.

Here is where we are today and what our future plans are:

1. Chwat & Co. is working on the Senate Commerce Committee to continue to get the Ross HR 5252 language into the Senate version of the telecom bill. That committee is meeting this week. The support voiced by Senator McCain’s office has been previously reported to you.

2. HR 5252, the House Telecom Bill, now goes to the “Rules Committee”. The Rules Committee accepts amendments to the bill from House members. The Rules Committee is meeting today.  We anticipate an amendment concerning our language.  Chwat has assigned Eric’s priority to stay in close contact with this committee and follow the amendments and review them closely. We may call out for support/letters to specific, key legislatures should this actually occur.

3. Once the House version comes from the Rules Committee, it will then go to the “Conference Committee” which takes the House version of the bill and the Senate’s version of the bill and reconciles them. The reconciled bill will then be voted on by the full Senate and the full House.

We currently have specific focus on the Rules Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee. We have previously notified Directors who have one or more of the 22 Senators on the Senate Commerce Committee in their division, just as we did with the House to concentrate specifically on those members. As things develop in the Rules Committee, there may be a need to focus on specific Representatives. If so, we will advise.

73 Joel W5ZN