According to the Fiber to the Home Council, a nonprofit group that advocates for better bandwidth resources, the phrase [“preempt”] provides the FCC with the legal power it needs to preempt the state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina. The group, whose legal submission to the FCC is embedded below, also claims that the agency’s power is even more apparent in cases where there is “a history of federal presence” — such as, the group says, building broadband.

Opposing groups, however, are not so sure. Conservative organizations like the The Free State Foundation claim the 706 argument is a sham, and that states clearly have a right to pass laws limiting municipal utilities without federal preemption. The group also points to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Missouri case to argue that states are only prohibited from restricting private companies, not public ones. – Jeff John Roberts,Gigaom 

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