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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 846
January Session, 2019
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 Section 16-233 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1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, provided, if a town, city or borough 11
sells its right to occupy and use to a third party, private, for profit 12
company, such company shall pay any public utility pole 13
administration or attachment fees that would apply if such company 14
were not using the gain pursuant to this section. The location or 15
relocation of any such gain shall be prescribed by the Public Utilities 16
Regulatory Authority. Any such gain shall be reserved for use by the 17
town, city, borough, fire district or the Department of Transportation. 18 Substitute Bill No. 846
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Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) As used in this section: 19
(1) "Make-ready" means the modification or replacement of a utility 20
pole, or of the lines or equipment on the utility pole, to accommodate 21
additional facilities on the pole; 22
(2) "One-touch make-ready" means make-ready in which the person 23
attaching new equipment to a utility pole performs all of the make-24
ready work; and 25
(3) "Overlashing" means placing new attachments over existing 26
public utility pole attachments. 27
(b) On or before December 31, 2019, the Public Utilities Regulatory 28
Authority shall adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54 of the 29
general statutes, setting forth the process for public utility pole 30
attachments, including, but not limited to, 5G and fiber wires for high-31
speed broadband Internet infrastructure. Such regulations shall 32
include the following: (1) Provisions to require one-touch make-ready 33
processes for public utility poles that are consistent with any standards 34
adopted by the Federal Communications Commission and reduce the 35
number of entities that rearrange wires for make-ready in the 36
communication gain on a public utility pole to make room for a new 37
pole attachment to one entity; (2) provisions to require expedited 38
overlashing procedures for adding new wires to existing public utility 39
pole attachments that are consistent with any standards adopted by 40
the Federal Communications Commission and that allow overlashing 41
without first seeking the approval of the owner of the public utility 42
pole but require the public utility pole owner to receive reasonable 43
advance notice of such overlashing; (3) provisions to require the timely 44
development and implementation of a Connecticut Utility Pole 45
Database that is approved by the authority and contains information 46
about the status of and attachments present on each public utility pole 47
in the state; and (4) provisions to require proposed attachments to 48
public utility poles to be installed on a nondiscriminatory basis within 49
ninety days of the filing of an application with a public utility pole 50 Substitute Bill No. 846
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owner, unless there is a demonstrated safety issue on the pole that 51
would be materially exacerbated by a new attachment and provisions 52
for the enforcement of such requirement. 53
Sec. 3. Subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of section 7-148 of the 54
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 55
thereof (Effective October 1, 2019): 56
(2) (A) Establish and maintain a budget system; 57
(B) Assess, levy and collect taxes for general or special purposes on 58
all property, subjects or objects which may be lawfully taxed, and 59
regulate the mode of assessment and collection of taxes and 60
assessments not otherwise provided for, including establishment of a 61
procedure for the withholding of approval of building application 62
when taxes or water or sewer rates, charges or assessments imposed 63
by the municipality are delinquent for the property for which an 64
application was made; 65
(C) Make appropriations for the support of the municipality and 66
pay its debts; 67
(D) Make appropriations for the purpose of meeting a public 68
emergency threatening the lives, health or property of citizens, 69
provided such appropriations shall require a favorable vote of at least 70
two-thirds of the entire membership of the legislative body or, when 71
the legislative body is the town meeting, at least two-thirds of those 72
present and voting; 73
(E) Make appropriations to military organizations, hospitals, health 74
care facilities, public health nursing organizations, nonprofit museums 75
and libraries, organizations providing drug abuse and dependency 76
programs and any other private organization performing a public 77
function; 78
(F) Provide for the manner in which contracts involving unusual 79
expenditures shall be made; 80 Substitute Bill No. 846
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(G) When not specifically prescribed by general statute or by 81
charter, prescribe the form of proceedings and mode of assessing 82
benefits and appraising damages in taking land for public use, or in 83
making public improvements to be paid for, in whole or in part, by 84
special assessments, and prescribe the manner in which all benefits 85
assessed shall be collected; 86
(H) Provide for the bonding of municipal officials or employees by 87
requiring the furnishing of such bond, conditioned upon honesty or 88
faithful performance of duty and determine the amount, form, and 89
sufficiency of the sureties thereof; 90
(I) Regulate the method of borrowing money for any purpose for 91
which taxes may be levied and borrow on the faith and credit of the 92
municipality for such general or special purposes and to such extent as 93
is authorized by general statute; 94
(J) Provide for the temporary borrowing of money; 95
(K) Create a sinking fund or funds or a trust fund or funds or other 96
special funds, including funds which do not lapse at the end of the 97
municipal fiscal year; 98
(L) Provide for the assignment of municipal tax liens on real 99
property to the extent authorized by general statute; 100
(M) Establish and administer a separate nonlapsing enterprise fund 101
to be known as an "Enterprise Fund for Municipal Broadband 102
Services". All revenues received by a municipality with respect to the 103
use, operation and management of municipal broadband services, 104
including any General Fund appropriation or other moneys received 105
from federal, state, municipal and private sources for purposes of 106
providing municipal broadband services, shall be deposited to the 107
credit of such fund. Earnings on investments of amounts on deposit in 108
the Enterprise Fund for Municipal Broadband Services shall be 109
retained in and used for purposes of such fund. A municipality is 110
authorized to pay, and the resources of such fund shall be available for 111 Substitute Bill No. 846
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and applied to, the costs and expenses of providing municipal 112
broadband services; 113
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)
ET Joint Favorable Subst.
FIN Joint Favorable