2001 Senate Bill 880 ↩

Senate Roll Call 185: Passed

To create a state telecommunication rights-of-way oversight authority with exclusive power to assess fees for access and use of public rights-of-way within all metropolitan areas for the purpose of installing telecommunication service lines, including lines for telephone, DSL, cable, Internet, etc. Telecommunications providers would be required to pay an annual fee to the authority of five-cents per linear foot of cable right-of-way beginning in 2004, with a two-cent fee until then. Cable providers that provide telecommunications services would be eligible to pay a substitute fee of $0.01 per linear foot of right-of-way, or no fee if the company has already made sufficient investments in broadband. For rural providers with fewer customers-per-foot of line the fee would be capped at the per-customer fee paid by Ameritech, the state’s largest provider. The Senate Fiscal Agency estimates that this would be $4.18 per customer access line. All of the revenue would go to local governments. Municipalities would be preempted from charging right-of-way access fees, except for an initial $500 permit fee, or reimbursement for actual costs, and would be required to grant access permits. The substitute tie-bars the bill to SB 999, which would provide a 100% state utility property tax credit for the fees paid by providers. The bill is part of a package comprised of Senate Bills 880, 881, and 999.