AGO 97031.

• Court: Nebraska

Nebraska Attorney General Opinions 1997. AGO 97031. DATE: May 28, 1997SUBJECT: Whether § 253(a) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Which Prohibits State or Local Statutes or Regulations Prohibiting Entities from Providing Interstate or Intrastate "Telecommunications Service", Prevents the Legislature from Barring Public Power Districts from Providing Community Antenna Television Service.REQUESTED BY: Senator Jennie Robak Nebraska State LegislatureWRITTEN BY: Don Stenberg, Attorney General L. Jay Bartel, Assistant Attorney General You have requested our opinion on a question pertaining to the interpretation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (1996) (to be codified in pertinent part at 15 U.S.C. § 792-5c and 47 U.S.C. §§ 151 to 614 [the "Act"]. Your specific question concerns § 253(a) of the Act, which provides that "[n]o State or local statute or regulation, or other local legal requirement, may prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the ability of any entity to provide any interstate or intrastate telecommunications service." Presently, public power districts in Nebraska are prevented from providing community antenna television [i.e. "cable" television] service in areas where cable television service is available from entities holding franchises issued pursuant to Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 18-2201 to 18-2206 (1991) or permits issued under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 23-283 to 23-388 (1991) on April 24, 1987. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 70-625 (1996). You note that you submitted an amendment to LB 660, an act pending before the Legislature "relating to telecommunications", proposing to amend the bill to delete the present statutory restriction which precludes public power districts from engaging in the business of providing cable television service. (AM1650). Your question is whether the preemptory provision contained in § 253(a) of the Act is applicable to providers of cable television service. "Interpretation of a statute must begin with the statute's language." Mallard v. U.S. Dist. Court for the Southern Dist. of Iowa, 490 U.S. 296, 300 (1989); accord Pennsylvania Dept. of Public Welfare v. Davenport, 495 U.S. 552 (1990). In construing statutes, the U. S. Supreme Court has stated that it will "begin with the language of the statute and ask whether Congress has spoken on the subject before [it]; `If...