Hello ODV

Chris Imlay, Frank McCarthy and I met on Tuesday morning with Senator Nelson's Chief of Staff along with two Commerce Committee senior attorneys who work for Nelson as he is the ranking minority member of the Committee) We have met with both of the two staff attorneys repeatedly before). We were attempting to persuade Nelson to release the hold he (and apparently he alone) has placed on H.R. 1301 or the composite Senate Bill that includes a number of minor telecom bills that passed the House.

I am sorry to have to report that the Amateur Radio Parity Act will not pass this Session. Nelson's Chief of Staff claims in effect that Nelson has heard from an unspecified number of HOAs in Florida who are opposed to the Bill. They can't tell us why there is this alleged opposition to the modified Bill; whether the opposition is based on a reasonable argument; and we have never been told before Tuesday that this alleged opposition exists. Nelson's Chief of Staff could articulate no reason why the current Bill does not accommodate HOAs, protect "contracts" or requires further modification. 

Quite frankly, it is apparent to both Chris and myself that Senator Nelson had no intention whatsoever of changing his position. We believe that we were sandbagged from the start of the meeting. This despite the fact that Nelson has sent responses to the hams who have contacted him that he appreciates the value of ham radio and the services we provide and that he is open to a reasonable compromise that takes into account the concerns of hams and HOAs. 

Instead of coming out and saying to our face at the get-go that they wouldn’t let the bill move forward, they first implied that since we’ve only had this bill moving through one Congressional term, that we essentially haven’t been around long enough  --  we haven’t paid our dues so to speak.

They broached the subject of The Villages, the largest HOA in Florida. We were ready for that.  When we informed them that The Villages has a large and very active Amateur Radio club that provides much service to the community, they changed tactics and instead asked if we had contacted any local Florida HOAs, as they were receiving some letters from local Homeowners' Associations.   We asked if they had also received the thousands of emails, letters, and phone calls from our members.  They said yes and then they quickly changed tactics. They asked if we had contacted all the Florida HOAs and the "Association of Florida Homeowners' Associations" Of course we hadn't; we negotiated a compromise with the only national organization representing HOAs nationwide. We also noted that we had never heard of a Florida Assocation of HOAs. As it turns out, there is no such organization. We asked for contacts for all of the opponents of the current bill. That evening, one of the Commerce Committee attorneys referred us to a lobbyist for the local Florida CAI chapter. This is ludicrous, since we already have an agreement with CAI and a letter from the organization supporting the modified Bill. 

The bottom line is that they delayed agreeing to meet with us until a time in which we were boxed in with nowhere to go for this year.  We are so very close.  There are options for us for next year, which the Keelen Group will brief the Board about in January, and we need to continue on our pursuit of this bill, as well as maintain a presence on Capitol Hill as we have developed a brand in Congress.

I ask that the Board continue its support of our legislative advocacy for the upcoming year.

73 de Mike