Texas Legislature Passes Electric Co-op, ROW bills; EFF Seeks Veto of SLAPP Bill
The Texas Senate concurred Tuesday with House amendments to SB-14 to empower electric cooperatives to provide broadband (see 1905150045), and SB-1152 to stop municipalities from charging telecom providers twice when they use the ROW for phone and video (see 1905090032).…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The bills need the governor's signature. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) should veto a bill (HB-2730) passed earlier this week to scale back a 2011 Texas law against strategic lawsuits against public participation (see 1905200055), the Electronic Frontier Foundation blogged. Amendments fixed some of the biggest problems, but it “leaves big loopholes for parties to allege trade secret or non-compete violations to silence critics or whistleblowers,” and makes it unclear if defendants “can get their legal fees paid, if they use pro bono or contingent-fee counsel,” wrote EFF Policy Counsel Joe Mullin. Abbott didn’t comment Wednesday.