House Judiciary Committee Approves Internet Nondiscrimination Act, 5/4/00.

(May 4, 2000) The House Judiciary Committee amended and approved a bill to extend the temporary moratorium on new, special, and discriminatory Internet taxes enacted in October 1998. The full House will likely take up the bill next week.

The House Judiciary Committee held a mark up session on HR 3709, the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2000, on Thursday morning, May 4. The bill, as amended, would extend the moratorium for five years, and eliminate grandfathering of discriminatory Internet taxes.

The original version of the bill, introduced by Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) in February, would simply have permanently extended the existing ban. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) was an original cosponsor of that measure. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) sponsored the Senate version of the bill.

At the House Judiciary Committee markup, Rep. Goodlatte and Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) introduced an amendment in the nature of a substitute that limits the extension to five years.

In addition, the Goodlatte-Boucher amendment eliminates the provision of the Internet Tax Freedom Act which provides "grandfather rights" to ten states which already had taxes inconsistent with the moratorium. These ten states are Connecticut, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) then introduced an amendment to the Goodlatte amendment in the nature of a substitute that would have permanently extended the ban, and still eliminated the grandfathering clause. His amendment failed on a roll call vote of 10 to 23.

Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-MA) then introduced an amendment to the Goodlatte amendment in the nature of a substitute that would have extended the moratorium for only two years. It also would have left the the grandfathering clause in effect. His amendment failed on a roll call vote of 15 to 22.

House Judiciary Committee Roll Call Votes HR 3709, Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2000 May 4, 2000
Last Name	First Name	Party	State	Chabot Amend.	Delahunt Amend.	Goodlatte Amend.
Hyde	Henry	R	IL	No	No	Yes
Sensenbrenner	James	R	WI	Yes	No	Yes
McCullom	Bill	R	FL	Yes	No	Yes
Gekas	George	R	PA	Yes	No	Yes
Coble	Howard	R	NC	No	Yes	Yes
Smith	Lamar	R	TX		No	Yes
Gallegly	Elton	R	CA	Yes	No	Yes
Canady	Charles	R	FL	No	No	Yes
Goodlatte	Bob	R	VA	No	No	Yes
Chabot	Steve	R	OH	Yes	No	Yes
Barr	Bob	R	GA	Yes	No	Yes
Jenkins	Bill	R	TN	No	Yes	No
Hutchinson	Asa	R	AR	No	No	Yes
Pease	Ed	R	IN	Yes	No	Yes
Cannon	Chris	R	UT	No	No	Yes
Rogan	James	R	CA	Yes	No	Yes
Graham	Lindsey	R	SC	Yes	No	Yes
Bono	Mary	R	CA	Yes	No	Yes
Bachus	Spencer	R	AL	No	No	Yes
Scarborough	Joe	R	FL		No	Yes
Vitter	David	R	LA	No	No	Yes
Conyers	John	D	MI	No	Yes	No
Frank	Barney	D	MA	No	Yes	No
Berman	Howard	D	CA	No	Yes	Yes
Boucher	Rick	D	VA	No	No	Yes
Nadler	Jerrold	D	NY	No	Yes	Yes
Scott	Robert	D	VA	No	Yes	No
Watt	Mel	D	NC	No	Yes	No
Lofgren	Zoe	D	CA	No	No	Yes
Lee	Sheila	D	TX	No	Yes	No
Waters	Maxine	D	CA	No	Yes	Yes
Meehan	Martin	D	MA	No	No	Yes
Delahunt	William	D	MA	No	Yes	No
Wexlar	Robert	D	FL		Yes	Yes
Rothman	Steve	D	NJ	No	Yes	Yes
Baldwin	Tammy	D	WI	No	Yes	No
Weiner	Anthony	D	NY	No	Yes	Yes
See also, MS Access version (296 KB).

The breakdown of the votes on these two amendments was largely partisan. The Chabot proposal, which would have lengthened the moratorium extension, was supported by a group of 10 Republicans. The Delahunt proposal, which would have shortened the moratorium extension, was supported by 13 Democrats and 2 Republicans. All Republicans voted against the Delahunt amendment except Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) and Rep. Bill Jenkins (R-TN). All Democrats voted for the amendment except Boucher, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA).

Finally, the committee voted on the Goodlatte amendment in the nature of a substitute. It was approved by a vote of 29 to 8.

The Goodlatte-Boucher amendment represented a compromise with some bipartisan support on the Committee.

Opponents of extending the moratorium complained that the Committee had not held hearings. The Committee's Chairman, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL), promised that Rep. George Gekas' (R-PA) Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee would hold a hearing on May 17.

Opponents also claimed that the extension was unnecessary, since the current moratorium is still in effect. "I don't understand the rush to judgment," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). "The Republican leadership wants to put on a show on the floor next week."

Opponents also stated that they wanted to also address the state and local tax collection, and the nexus issue.