Rick Boucher

Former Congressman Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) served for 28 years in the United States House of Representatives representing Virginia’s Ninth Congressional District. Prior to his service in Congress, he was a member of the Virginia State Senate for seven years.

During his Congressional tenure he served on the House Energy and Commerce and Judiciary Committees and chaired the subcommittees on Communications, Technology and the Internet; and Energy and Air Quality. He carved out a role as a trusted bipartisan leader on telecommunications, energy and environmental issues.

He was a leading participant in every major telecommunications policy debate over the past 25 years. A subcommittee that he chaired oversaw the commercialization of the Internet and its transition from a government-owned R&D project, and he authored the 1992 law that permitted the first commercial use of the Internet. He was one of two co-founders of the Congressional Internet Caucus, and served as co-chairman of the 170 member group for 15 years. His proposals to promote competition among telecommunications service providers across industry lines were at the core of the Communications Act of 1996. He authored the first Satellite Home Viewer Act and was the author of its most recent renewal, known as STELA, which contains his provision that is bringing satellite delivered local television signals to all 210 local television markets nationwide.

Congressman Boucher drafted bipartisan comprehensive universal service fund reform legislation and a bipartisan bill to provide baseline privacy rights for Internet users.

Mr. Boucher is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Sidley Austin and head of the firm’s government strategies practice group. Congressman Boucher is a graduate of Roanoke College and the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to his election to Congress, he practiced law in New York and in Virginia. He is married to the former Amy Hauslohner, and they reside in Abingdon, Virginia.