Florida 2024 2024 Regular Session

Florida Senate Bill S1218 Analysis / Analysis

Filed 01/23/2024

                    The Florida Senate 
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT 
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.) 
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Commerce and Tourism  
 
BILL: SB 1218 
INTRODUCER:  Senator Burgess 
SUBJECT:  Broadband 
DATE: January 22, 2024 
 
 ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR  REFERENCE  	ACTION 
1. Schrader Imhof RI Favorable 
2. Renner McKay CM Favorable 
3.     RC  
 
I. Summary: 
SB 1218 amends s. 288.9963, F.S., regarding a promotional pole attachment rate required to be 
offered by municipal utilities to broadband providers to provide broadband service to unserved 
or underserved areas. The bill extends the date through which municipal electric utilities are 
required to offer to broadband providers a promotional $1 per pole, per year, wireline attachment 
rate for any new pole attachments necessary to make broadband service available to an unserved 
or underserved end user within a municipal electric utility service territory. The date is extended 
from July 1, 2024 to December 31, 2028. 
 
The Revenue Estimating Conference has not reviewed SB 1218. Staff estimates an indeterminate 
impact to municipal utility revenue. 
 
The bill takes effect upon becoming a law. 
II. Present Situation: 
Florida Public Service Commission  
The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) is an arm of the legislative branch of 
government.
1
 The role of the PSC is to ensure Florida’s consumers receive utility services, 
including electric, natural gas, telephone, water, and wastewater, in a safe, affordable, and 
reliable manner.
2
 In order to do so, the PSC exercises authority over public utilities
3
 in one or 
                                                
1
 Section 350.001, F.S. 
2
 See Florida Public Service Commission, Florida Public Service Commission Homepage, http://www.psc.state.fl.us (last 
visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
3
 Under s. 366.02(8), F.S., a “public utility” is defined “as every person, corporation, partnership, association, or other legal 
entity and their lessees, trustees, or receivers supplying electricity or gas (natural, manufactured, or similar gaseous 
substance) to or for the public within this state.” There are, however, several exceptions to this definition, which include, “a 
REVISED:   BILL: SB 1218   	Page 2 
 
more of the following areas: rate base or economic regulation; competitive market oversight; and 
monitoring of safety, reliability, and service issues.
4
 PSC authority over municipal utilities is 
more limited, however. 
 
Electric Utilities 
The PSC monitors the safety and reliability of the electric power grid
5
 and may order the 
addition or repair of infrastructure as necessary.
6
 The PSC has broad jurisdiction over the rates 
and service of investor-owned electric.
7
 However, the PSC does not fully regulate municipal 
electric utilities (utilities owned or operated on behalf of a municipality) or rural electric 
cooperatives. The PSC has jurisdiction over these types of utilities with regard to rate structure, 
territorial boundaries, bulk power supply operations, and planning.
8
 Municipally-owned or 
operated utility rates and revenues are regulated by their respective local governments or local 
utility boards. Rates and revenues for a cooperative utility are regulated by the governing body 
elected by the cooperative’s membership. 
 
Municipal Electric and Gas Utilities, and Special Gas Districts, in Florida  
A municipal electric or gas utility is an electric or gas utility owned and operated by a unit of 
local government. Chapter 366, F.S., provides the majority of electric and gas utility regulations 
for Florida. While ch. 366, F.S., does not provide a definition, per se, for a “municipal utility,” 
variations of this terminology and the concept of these types of utilities appears throughout the 
chapter. Currently, Florida has 33 municipal electric utilities that serve over 14 percent of the 
state’s electric utility customers.
9
 Florida also has 27 municipally-owned gas utilities and four 
special gas districts.
10
 
 
Regulation of Pole Attachments 
Utility poles were first deployed in the U.S. in 1844 to extend telegraph service. While they have 
been in use for over 175 years, utility poles continue to provide the scaffolding for the 
technology of the twenty-first century. In the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many 
states adopted laws granting rights-of-way (ROW) to construct utility poles, wires, and facilities 
to transmit electricity and communications signals. First telegraph, then telephone, electricity, 
                                                
cooperative now or hereafter organized and existing under the Rural Electric Cooperative Law of the state; a municipality or 
any agency thereof; [and] any dependent or independent special natural gas district.” Generally, “public utility” means 
investor-owned utilities. 
4
 Florida Public Service Commission, About the PSC, https://www.psc.state.fl.us/about (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
5
 Section 366.04(5) and (6), F.S. 
6
 Section 366.05(1) and (8), F.S. 
7
 Section 366.05, F.S. 
8
 Florida Public Service Commission, About the PSC, supra note 4. 
9
 Florida Municipal Electric Association, About Us, https://www.flpublicpower.com/about-us (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
10
 Florida Public Service Commission, 2023 Facts and Figures of the Florida Utility Industry, pg. 13, Apr. 2023 (available 
at: https://www.floridapsc.com/pscfiles/website-
files/PDF/Publications/Reports/General/FactsAndFigures/April%202023.pdf) (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). A “special gas 
district” is a dependent or independent special district, setup pursuant to ch. 189, F.S., to provide natural gas service. Section 
189.012(6), F.S., defines a “special district” as “a unit of local government created for a special purpose, as opposed to a 
general purpose, which has jurisdiction to operate within a limited geographic boundary and is created by general law, special 
act, local ordinance, or by rule of the Governor and Cabinet.”  BILL: SB 1218   	Page 3 
 
cable, wireless, and Internet service providers have sought to attach facilities to wooden, and 
later steel or composite, utility poles.
11
  
 
The term “pole attachment” refers to the process by which communications companies colocate 
communications infrastructure on existing electric utility poles. Colocation reduces the number 
of poles that must be built to accommodate utility services, thereby reducing costs to users of 
both services by allowing providers to share costs. Rules governing pole attachments seek to 
balance the desire to maximize value for users of both electric and communications services with 
concerns unique to electric utility poles, such as safety and reliability.
12
 The space requested for a 
pole attachment is typically one foot.
13
 
 
Pole attachments were originally established by mutual agreement. Later, such agreements were 
regulated by federal statute and administrative regulations. Pole attachments provide non-pole-
owning cable and telecommunication service providers (such as cable television providers and 
local exchange carriers) with access to a pole-owning utility’s distribution poles, conduits, and 
right-of-way for: 
 Installing fiber, coaxial cable or wires, and other equipment;  
 Building an interconnected network; and  
 Reaching customers.
14
 
 
In 1978, Congress passed the “Pole Attachment Act,” which added s. 224 to the 
Communications Act of 1934, to require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to 
establish rates, terms, and conditions for pole attachments for the cable television industry.
15
  
 
The “Telecommunications Act of 1996,” which amended 47 U.S.C. s. 244 to add provisions 
making access to utility poles mandatory for telecommunications services providers and 
providing for nondiscriminatory access—unless there is insufficient capacity and for reasons of 
safety, reliability, and generally applicable engineering purposes.
16
 Municipal owned electric 
utilities and rural electric cooperatives are exempt from the provisions of 47 U.S.C. s. 224.
17
 
Specifically, the term “utility” is defined as: 
 
[A]ny person who is a local exchange carrier or an electric, gas, water, steam, 
or other public utility, and who owns or controls poles, ducts, conduits, or 
rights-of-way used, in whole or in part, for any wire communications. Such 
                                                
11
 Catherine J.K. Sandoval, Contested Places, Utility Pole Spaces: A Competition and Safety Framework for Analyzing Utility 
Pole Association Rules, Roles, and Risks, 69 Cath. U. L. Rev. 473, 474–75 (2020), available at 
https://scholarship.law.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3552&context=lawreview (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
12
 American Public Power Association, Issue Brief: Preserving the Municipal Exemption from Federal Pole Attachment 
Regulations (Jan. 2021), available at https://www.publicpower.org/policy/preserving-municipal-exemption-federal-pole-
attachment-regulations (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
13
 Evari GIS Consulting, Joint Use Pole Audit, available at https://www.evarigisconsulting.com/joint-use-pole-audit (last 
visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
14
 Id. 
15
 Pub. L. No. 95-234, codified at 47 U.S.C. s. 224. 
16
 Pub. L. No. 104-104, codified at 47 U.S.C. s. 224(f). 
17
 47 U.S.C. s. 224(a)(1).  BILL: SB 1218   	Page 4 
 
term does not include any railroad, any person who is cooperatively 
organized, or any person owned by the Federal Government or any State.
18
 
 
A state, however, can assume regulation of pole attachment through a process known as “reverse 
preemption.” This requires a state to expressly assert jurisdiction through state legislation, 
followed by certifying to the FCC that “in so regulating such rates, terms, and conditions, the 
state has the authority to consider and does consider the interests of the subscribers of the 
services offered via such attachments, as well as the interests of the consumers of the utility 
services.”
19
 As of June 13, 2022, 23 states and the District of Columbia have reverse preemption, 
including Florida.
20
  
 
Florida assumed regulation of pole attachments for poles owned by a public utility from the FCC 
after the passage and enactment of SB 1944 in 2021, placing the authority to regulate pole 
attachments under the PSC.
21
 In 2023, with the passage and enactment of HB 1221, this authority 
was expanded to the regulation of attachment to poles owned by rural electric cooperatives 
engaged in the provision of broadband services.
22
 Presently, s. 366.04(8), F.S., regulates pole 
attachments for public utilities and such rural electric cooperatives.
23
 The PSC does not, 
however, regulate pole attachments for poles owned by municipal utilities. 
 
Broadband Availability in Rural Areas 
Much like with rural electricity distribution, the primary challenge in deploying broadband in 
rural areas is one of population density. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that 
the average cost of laying fiber is $27,000 per mile.
24
 Many rural areas are remote and have 
geographically dispersed populations, thus more fiber per customer must be laid to serve them. 
Moreover, rural areas often have harsher terrain than urban areas—such as mountain ranges or 
ground that is frozen for substantial portions of the year. These features can make it more 
difficult and costly to serve such areas with fiber.
25
 Cable networks can also face similar density 
and terrain issues. 
 
While rural customers still lag behind urban counterparts, the difference in broadband access 
between these areas is at its lowest ever. In 2015, reflecting advances in technology, the FCC 
raised benchmark speeds to be considered broadband service to 25 megabits per second (Mbps) 
                                                
18
 Id. 
19
 47 U.S.C. s. 224(c)(2). 
20
 Federal Communications Commission, Public Notice: States That Have Certified That They Regulate Pole Attachments, 
June 13, 2022, available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/states-have-certified-they-regulate-pole-attachments-3 (last visited 
Jan. 22, 2024). 
21
 Chapter 2021-191, Laws of Fla. 
22
 Chapter 2023-199, Laws of Fla. 
23
 Section 364.391, F.S., provides that if a rural electric cooperative engages in the provision of broadband, all poles owned 
by that cooperative are subject to regulation under s. 366.04(8), F.S., on the same basis as if such cooperative were a public 
utility under that subsection. Sections 366.04(9) and 366.97, F.S., also provide pole attachment regulations relating to poles 
owned by public utilities. 
24
 Congressional Research Service, Raising the Minimum Fixed Broadband Speed Benchmark: 
Background and Selected Issues, July 12, 2021, available at https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11875/2 (last 
visited Jan. 22, 2024).  
25
 Id.  BILL: SB 1218   	Page 5 
 
for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads (25/3 Mbps service).
26
 Under this benchmark, the FCC 
reported that 53 percent of people living in U.S. rural areas lacked access to broadband—as 
compared to just 8 percent of persons living in U.S. urban areas lacking such access. By 2021, 
the gap for 25/3 Mbps service with at least one provider had essentially vanished.
27
 Rural areas 
still were behind their urban counterparts in choice however; 91 percent of rural customers had 
access to three or more providers, versus 99 percent of urban customers.
28
 
 
In 2021, the FCC considered increasing their standard for broadband to 100 Mbps of download 
and 10 Mbps of upload speed (100/10 Mbps service), but ultimately rejected the change given 
concerns about whether enough providers could meet such a standard.
29
 
 
Florida Office of Broadband 
Section 288.9961, F.S., establishes the Florida Office of Broadband within the Division of 
Community Development within the Florida Department of Commerce (DCM).
30
 The Office of 
Broadband “works with local and state government agencies, community organizations and 
private businesses to increase the availability and effectiveness of broadband internet throughout 
the state, specifically in small and rural communities.”
31
 
 
State and Federal Broadband Growth Programs 
Connect America Fund 
One of the earliest and most significant federal broadband programs is the Connect America 
Fund, which is part of the FCC’s Universal Service Fund (USF). Started in 2011, the purpose of 
the fund is to provide subsidies to telecommunications companies to expand telecommunications 
infrastructure in rural and remote areas of the United States.
32
 The Connect America Fund is a 
“high-cost” program, meaning that it is designed to ensure that consumers in rural, insular, and 
high cost areas have access to modern telecommunications networks and that services through 
those networks, like voice and broadband, are available at a cost comparable to that in more 
developed urban areas.
33
 The Connect America Fund is the largest of the USF’s programs, and 
has an annual budget of $4.5 billion.
34
 
                                                
26
 Federal Communications Commission, Wireline: 2015 Broadband Progress Report, Feb. 14, 2015, available at 
https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/broadband-progress-reports/2015-broadband-progress-report (last visited Jan 
22, 2024).  
27
 USA Facts, How Many Americans have Broadband Internet Access, Oct. 5, 2023, available at 
https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-americans-have-broadband-internet-access/#footnote-3 (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
28
 Id. 
29
 Id. 
30
 Section 288.9963, F.S., actually states that the Florida Office of Broadband is created within the Division of Community 
Development, however, HB 5 from 2023 (enacted as Chapter 2023-173, L.O.F.), changed the name of the Department of 
Economic Opportunity to the Department of Commerce. 
31
 Florida Department of Commerce, Office of Broadband, https://www.floridajobs.org/community-planning-and-
development/broadband/office-of-broadband (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
32
 Federal Communications Commission, Universal Service Monitoring Report, Feb. 13, 2023, available at 
https://www.fcc.gov/general/federal-state-joint-board-monitoring-reports (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
33
 Federal Communications Commission, Universal Service for High Cost Areas-Connect America Fund, available at 
https://www.fcc.gov/general/universal-service-high-cost-areas-connect-america-fund#releases (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
34
 Universal Service Administrative Co., Program Overview, available at https://www.usac.org/high-cost/program-overview/ 
(last visited Jan. 22, 2024).  BILL: SB 1218   	Page 6 
 
Broadband Technology Opportunities Program 
The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is a federal grant program 
administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part 
of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The BTOP is funded by the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111-5), and has an annual budget of $4 billion. The purpose 
of the program is to “bridge the technological divide” and BTOP projects include deploying 
broadband Internet infrastructure, enhancing and expanding public computer centers, and 
encouraging the sustainable adoption of broadband service.
35
 
 
USDA Programs: ReConnect Program and the Rural Broadband Program 
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) operates two programs aimed at 
developing broadband in rural areas—the ReConnect Program and the Rural Broadband 
Program. Though these programs both existed prior to 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and 
Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58), signed into law on November 15, 2021, provided new funding for 
both of these programs (and other broadband initiatives). The ReConnect Program received 
$1.926 billion in funds for grants and loans and the Rural Broadband Program received $74 
million in funds for loans. This new funding level, starting in 2022, exceeded the fiscal year 
2021 levels by $1.291 billion (an increase of 203 percent) for the ReConnect Program and by 
$72 million (an increase of 97 percent) for the Rural Broadband Program.
36
 
 
The purpose of the ReConnect Program is to offer loans, grants, and loan-grant combinations to 
facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas that currently do not have sufficient access to 
broadband. The entities eligible to apply for the Reconnect Program include: 
 Corporations, limited liability companies, and limited liability partnerships; 
 State and local governments; 
 U.S. territories and possessions; and 
 Indian tribes, as defined in Section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education 
Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. §450b).
37
 
 
The purposes for which Reconnect grants may be used are: 
 Construction or improvement of facilities required to provide fixed terrestrial broadband 
services; 
 Funding of reasonable pre-application expenses; and 
 Funding the acquisition of an existing telecommunications system that does not currently 
provide sufficient access to broadband.
38
 
 
                                                
35
 National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, available 
at https://ntia.gov/category/broadband-technology-opportunities-
program#:~:text=The%20Broadband%20Technology%20Opportunities%20Program,in%20communities%20across%20the%
20country (last visited Jan. 22, 2024).  
36
 Congressional Research Service, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Funding for USDA 
Rural Broadband Programs, Nov. 19. 2021, available at https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11918) (last visited 
Jan. 22, 2024).  
37
 United States Department of Agriculture, ReConnect Program, available at https://www.usda.gov/reconnect/program-
overview (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
38
 Id.  BILL: SB 1218   	Page 7 
 
The Rural Broadband Program offers funds to help construct, improve, or acquire facilities and 
equipment needed to provide broadband to rural areas. The entities eligible to apply for the 
program are: 
 Corporations; 
 Limited liability companies; 
 Cooperative or mutual organizations; 
 State and local governments; and 
 Indian tribes and tribal organizations.
39
 
 
For the most recent years prior to 2021, Congress only appropriated funds to the Rural 
Broadband Program for loans. However, with the increase in funding under the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act, funding for grants and loan guarantees is also now available in the 
program.
40
  
 
While the USDA’s Reconnect and Rural programs are similar in their purpose, a key distinction 
lies in the standards for eligible service areas. For the ReConnect Program, eligible service areas 
are areas where at least 90 percent of households lack sufficient access to broadband with at least 
100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload speed (100/20 Mbps service). For the Rural Broadband 
Program, the standard for eligibility is if the area in question does not have at least 50 percent of 
households with at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speed (25/3 Mbps service). 
 
Florida Broadband Opportunity Program 
In 2021, Florida enacted the Florida Broadband Deployment Act of 2021.
41
  As part of that act, 
the Florida Broadband Opportunity Program (BOP) was established under s. 288.9962, F.S. BOP 
is a competitive reimbursement program within the DCM.
42
 The purpose of the program is to 
award grants to applicants who seek to expand broadband Internet service to unserved areas of 
Florida. To operate the program, the Florida Legislature appropriated $400 million in federally 
funded State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to increase Floridians’ access to 
reliable, affordable, and high-speed internet service.
43
 
 
Promotional Rate for Broadband Pole Attachments to Municipal Electric-Owned Poles 
Also as part of the Florida Broadband Deployment Act of 2021, s. 288.9963, F.S., was created to 
increase the availability of broadband Internet access in areas where citizens do not have access 
to acceptable Internet download and upload speeds, or any access at all.
44
 Section 288.9963(3), 
F.S., requires that broadband providers must, beginning July 1, 2021, receive a promotional rate 
of $1 per wireline attachment per pole per year for any new attachment necessary to make 
                                                
39
 United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Broadband Loans, Loan/Grant Combinations, and Loan Guarantees, 
https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/telecommunications-programs/rural-broadband-loans-loangrant-combinations-
and-loan-guarantees (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
40
 Congressional Research Service, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Funding for USDA 
Rural Broadband Programs, supra note 36. 
41
 Chapter 2021-24, Laws of Fla. 
42
 Florida Department of Commerce, Broadband Opportunity Program, available at https://www.floridajobs.org/community-
planning-and-development/broadband/broadband-opportunity-program (last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
43
 Id. 
44
 See s. 288.9963(1), F.S., which provides the Legislative intent for the section.  BILL: SB 1218   	Page 8 
 
broadband service available to an unserved
45
 or underserved
46
 end user within a municipal 
electric utility service territory until July 1, 2024.  
 
Broadband providers wishing to make wireline attachments subject to this promotional rate 
must:
47
 
 Submit an application, including a route map, to the municipal electric utility specifying 
which wireline attachments on which utility poles are necessary to extend broadband service 
to unserved and underserved end users; 
 Include with this application the information necessary to identify which unserved or 
underserved end users within the municipal electric utility’s service territory will gain access 
to broadband service; and  
 Provide a copy of both of the above to the Florida Office of Broadband. 
 
A broadband provider making a wireline attachment application under the promotional rate 
pursuant to s. 288.9963, F.S., must make a reasonable effort to make broadband service available 
to the unserved or underserved customers identified in the application. A provider who fails to do 
so within 12 months may be required to pay the prevailing rate for those attachments that failed 
to make broadband service available to the intended customers to the municipal electric utility. 
 
All wireline attachments made pursuant to s. 288.9963, F.S., must comply with safety and 
reliability standards.
48
 If a municipal electric utility is required to replace a utility pole due to a 
pole attachment under the section, the utility may require, as a condition to said attachment, that 
“the broadband provider reimburse all reasonable and nondiscriminatory costs attributable solely 
to the new attachment”—minus any positive salvage value of the removed pole.
49
 
III. Effect of Proposed Changes: 
Section 1 of the bill amends s. 288.9963, F.S., to extend the date—from July 1, 2024, to 
December 31, 2028—through which municipal electric utilities are to offer to broadband 
providers a promotional $1 per pole, per year, wireline attachment rate for any new attachments 
necessary to make broadband service available to an unserved or underserved end user within a 
municipal electric utility service territory. The bill would also have the effect of extending the $1 
promotional rate for any currently existing wireline attachments made under the existing s. 
288.9963, F.S., from July 1, 2024, to December 31, 2028. 
 
Section 2 of the bill provides that it shall take effect upon becoming a law. 
 
                                                
45
 Section 288.9963(2)(e), F.S., defines “unserved” as “no retail access to the Internet at speeds of at least 10 megabits per 
seconds for downloading and 1 megabits per second for uploading.” 
46
 Section 288.9963(2)(d), F.S., defines “underserved” as “no retail access to the Internet at speeds of at least 25 megabits per 
seconds for downloading and 3 megabits per second for uploading.” 
47
 Section 288.9963(3)(a), F.S. 
48
 Section 288.9963(4), F.S. 
49
 Section 288.9963(5), F.S. With the replacement of such poles, however, “if the replacement is necessary to correct an 
existing violation, to bring the pole into compliance with any changes in applicable standards, or because the pole is at the 
end of its useful life, the replacement cost may not be charged to the broadband provider.”  BILL: SB 1218   	Page 9 
 
IV. Constitutional Issues: 
A. Municipality/County Mandates Restrictions: 
Article VII, s. 18 of the Florida Constitution governs laws that require counties and 
municipalities to spend funds or that limit their ability to raise revenue or receive state tax 
revenues.  
 
Subsection (b) Art. VII, s. 18 of Florida Constitution, provides that except upon approval 
of each house of the Legislature by two-thirds vote of the membership, the Legislature 
may not enact, amend, or repeal any general law if the anticipated effect of doing so 
would be to reduce the authority that municipalities or counties have to raise revenue in 
the aggregate, as such authority existed on February 1, 1989. However, the mandates 
requirements do not apply to laws having an insignificant fiscal impact
50, 51
which for 
Fiscal Year 2024-2025, is forecast at approximately $2.3 million or less.
52
  
 
The Revenue Estimating Conference has not reviewed SB 1218. Staff estimates an 
indeterminate impact to municipal utility revenues. Therefore, the mandate provision may 
apply. 
B. Public Records/Open Meetings Issues: 
None. 
C. Trust Funds Restrictions: 
None. 
D. State Tax or Fee Increases: 
None. 
E. Other Constitutional Issues: 
None. 
                                                
50
 FLA. CONST. art. VII, s. 18(d). 
51
 An insignificant fiscal impact is the amount not greater than the average statewide population for the applicable fiscal year 
multiplied by $0.10. See Florida Senate Committee on Community Affairs, Interim Report 2012-115: Insignificant Impact at 
p. 1, (September 2011), available at http://www.flsenate.gov/PublishedContent/Session/2012/InterimReports/2012-115ca.pdf 
(last visited Jan. 22, 2024). 
52
 Based on the Demographic Estimating Conference’s estimated population adopted on July 11, 2023. The conference 
packet is available at http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/conferences/population/archives/230711demographic.pdf (last visited Jan. 
22, 2024). 
  BILL: SB 1218   	Page 10 
 
V. Fiscal Impact Statement: 
A. Tax/Fee Issues: 
The Revenue Estimating Conference has not reviewed SB 1218. Staff estimates an 
indeterminate impact to municipal utility revenues. 
B. Private Sector Impact: 
Broadband service providers may see an adjustment in the pole attachment fees paid to 
municipal electric utilities for installation of attachments to the utilities’ poles. Broadband 
service providers will be guaranteed access for pole attachment purposes when providing 
service to underserved or unserved broadband Internet users. 
C. Government Sector Impact: 
Municipal utilities may see a reduction in the amount of pole attachment fees received 
from broadband service providers for installation of attachments to the utilities’ poles. 
Municipal utilities will not be able to refuse pole attachments by broadband service 
providers providing service to underserved or unserved broadband Internet users.  
 
Section 288.9963, F.S., does have reporting requirements to the Florida Office of 
Broadband within the Division of Community Development of the DCM. To date, staff 
has not received an analysis of SB 1218 from DCM.  
VI. Technical Deficiencies: 
None. 
VII. Related Issues: 
None. 
VIII. Statutes Affected: 
This bill substantially amends the section 288.9963 of the Florida Statutes.  
IX. Additional Information: 
A. Committee Substitute – Statement of Changes: 
(Summarizing differences between the Committee Substitute and the prior version of the bill.) 
None. 
B. Amendments: 
None. 
This Senate Bill Analysis does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill’s introducer or the Florida Senate.