Representatives from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the San Francisco Apartment Association and the Building Owners and Managers Association of San Francisco said the legislation should be amended to give property owners more control over their buildings.
Written by Supervisor Mark Farrell, the legislation seeks to close a loophole in federal law governing Internet access.
The federal law says property owners can’t prohibit tenants from signing up with their preferred service provider. However, property owners can refuse to allow providers access to the building to install fiber optic equipment and antennas, effectively preventing them from providing service.
Owners of new, large rental buildings tend to do that because of revenue-share agreements with certain companies, so they don’t want competition from other providers. Owners of small buildings sometimes don’t want the hassle of accommodating new equipment.
The biggest sticking point is whether the legislation should apply to buildings where the property owner has a contract giving an Internet provider exclusive access to the property.
“Absent a major emergency, the contract in place should remain outside the scope of legislative changes until those contracts expire,” testified Jim Lazarus, senior vice president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, at the Budget and Finance committee hearing.
Farrell estimates tens of thousands of residents can’t pick the provider of their choice, but there have been no independent studies done on the issue in San Francisco.
In advance of Wednesday’s meeting, Farrell and business groups negotiated intensely over the legislation. Farrell amended several parts of it to ensure that property owners would be compensated for any damage to their building during installations and that only qualified service providers would be allowed.
Even so, business groups and property owners have concerns. The Chamber of Commerce circulated a letter seeking a number of amendments to the legislation. The most significant change it sought was to exempt buildings with ongoing contracts.
“We would agree not to extend or amend any existing contracts, but we don’t feel like legislation should come in and override an agreement we may have,” said Charley Goss, government and community affairs manager with the San Francisco Apartment Association.
Farrell said he wasn’t going to cede that point.
“I don’t support backdoor ways to deny tenants access to service providers here in San Francisco,” Farrell said. “Our government should be doing everything in its power to increase Internet access across our city.”
The legislation now moves to the full Board of Supervisors.
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