LCO No. 4090 1 of 5
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 846
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4090
Referred to Committee on ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY
Introduced by:
(ET)
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E MUNICIPAL GAIN, THE PREPARATION
OF UTILITY POLES AND ENTERPRISE FUNDS FOR MUNICIPAL
BROADBAND SERVICES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 16-233 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 2
Each town, city, borough, fire district or the Department of 3
Transportation shall have the right to occupy and use for any purpose, 4
including, but not limited to, the provision of broadband Internet 5
service by any town, city or borough to the public in such town, city or 6
borough, either directly or through commercial arrangements with 7
third parties, without payment therefor, one gain upon each public 8
utility pole or in each underground communications duct system 9
installed by a public service company within the limits of any such 10
town, city, borough or district. The location or relocation of any such 11
gain shall be prescribed by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. 12
Any such gain shall be reserved for use by the town, city, borough, fire 13
district or the Department of Transportation. 14 Raised Bill No. 846
LCO No. 4090 2 of 5
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) As used in this section: 15
(1) "Make-ready" means the modification or replacement of a utility 16
pole, or of the lines or equipment on the utility pole, to accommodate 17
additional facilities on the pole; 18
(2) "One-touch make-ready" means make-ready in which the person 19
attaching new equipment to a utility pole performs all of the make-20
ready work; and 21
(3) "Overlashing" means placing new attachments over existing 22
public utility pole attachments. 23
(b) On or before December 31, 2019, the Public Utilities Regulatory 24
Authority shall adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54 of the 25
general statutes, setting forth the process for public utility pole 26
attachments, including, but not limited to, 5G and fiber wires for high-27
speed broadband Internet infrastructure. Such regulations shall 28
include the following: (1) Provisions to require one-touch make-ready 29
processes for public utility poles that are consistent with any standards 30
adopted by the Federal Communications Commission and reduce the 31
number of entities that rearrange wires for make-ready in the 32
communication gain on a public utility pole to make room for a new 33
pole attachment to one entity; (2) provisions to require expedited 34
overlashing procedures for adding new wires to existing public utility 35
pole attachments that are consistent with any standards adopted by 36
the Federal Communications Commission and that allow overlashing 37
without first seeking the approval of the owner of the public utility 38
pole but require the public utility pole owner to receive reasonable 39
advance notice of such overlashing; (3) provisions to require the timely 40
development and implementation of a Connecticut Utility Pole 41
Database that is approved by the authority and contains information 42
about the status of and attachments present on each public utility pole 43
in the state; and (4) provisions to require proposed attachments to 44
public utility poles to be installed on a nondiscriminatory basis within 45
ninety days of the filing of an application with a public utility pole 46 Raised Bill No. 846
LCO No. 4090 3 of 5
owner, unless there is a demonstrated safety issue on the pole that 47
would be materially exacerbated by a new attachment and provisions 48
for the enforcement of such requirement. 49
Sec. 3. Subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of section 7-148 of the 50
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 51
thereof (Effective October 1, 2019): 52
(2) (A) Establish and maintain a budget system; 53
(B) Assess, levy and collect taxes for general or special purposes on 54
all property, subjects or objects which may be lawfully taxed, and 55
regulate the mode of assessment and collection of taxes and 56
assessments not otherwise provided for, including establishment of a 57
procedure for the withholding of approval of building application 58
when taxes or water or sewer rates, charges or assessments imposed 59
by the municipality are delinquent for the property for which an 60
application was made; 61
(C) Make appropriations for the support of the municipality and 62
pay its debts; 63
(D) Make appropriations for the purpose of meeting a public 64
emergency threatening the lives, health or property of citizens, 65
provided such appropriations shall require a favorable vote of at least 66
two-thirds of the entire membership of the legislative body or, when 67
the legislative body is the town meeting, at least two-thirds of those 68
present and voting; 69
(E) Make appropriations to military organizations, hospitals, health 70
care facilities, public health nursing organizations, nonprofit museums 71
and libraries, organizations providing drug abuse and dependency 72
programs and any other private organization performing a public 73
function; 74
(F) Provide for the manner in which contracts involving unusual 75
expenditures shall be made; 76 Raised Bill No. 846
LCO No. 4090 4 of 5
(G) When not specifically prescribed by general statute or by 77
charter, prescribe the form of proceedings and mode of assessing 78
benefits and appraising damages in taking land for public use, or in 79
making public improvements to be paid for, in whole or in part, by 80
special assessments, and prescribe the manner in which all benefits 81
assessed shall be collected; 82
(H) Provide for the bonding of municipal officials or employees by 83
requiring the furnishing of such bond, conditioned upon honesty or 84
faithful performance of duty and determine the amount, form, and 85
sufficiency of the sureties thereof; 86
(I) Regulate the method of borrowing money for any purpose for 87
which taxes may be levied and borrow on the faith and credit of the 88
municipality for such general or special purposes and to such extent as 89
is authorized by general statute; 90
(J) Provide for the temporary borrowing of money; 91
(K) Create a sinking fund or funds or a trust fund or funds or other 92
special funds, including funds which do not lapse at the end of the 93
municipal fiscal year; 94
(L) Provide for the assignment of municipal tax liens on real 95
property to the extent authorized by general statute; 96
(M) Establish and administer a separate nonlapsing enterprise fund 97
to be known as an "Enterprise Fund for Municipal Broadband 98
Services". All revenues received by a municipality with respect to the 99
use, operation and management of municipal broadband services, 100
including any General Fund appropriation or other moneys received 101
from federal, state, municipal and private sources for purposes of 102
providing municipal broadband services, shall be deposited to the 103
credit of such fund. Earnings on investments of amounts on deposit in 104
the Enterprise Fund for Municipal Broadband Services shall be 105
retained in and used for purposes of such fund. A municipality is 106
authorized to pay, and the resources of such fund shall be available for 107 Raised Bill No. 846
LCO No. 4090 5 of 5
and applied to, the costs and expenses of providing municipal 108
broadband services; 109
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 16-233
Sec. 2 from passage New section
Sec. 3 October 1, 2019 7-148(c)(2)
Statement of Purpose:
To specify that the municipal gain may be used to provide broadband
Internet service, to require the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to
adopt regulations for the process for public utility pole attachments
and to allow municipalities to establish and administer enterprise
funds for the use, operation and management of municipal broadband
services.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]