HBA-MPM H.B. 1148 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1148 By: Cook County Affairs 77/20/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE As the demand for wireless services and seamless coverage grows, wireless providers are constructing new towers at increasing rates. In urban areas, numerous small cellular towers can be positioned on top of a building or other structures. However, in rural areas towers must be taller and spaced farther apart to ensure adequate coverage. In some cases, the towers in rural areas may be taller than 400 feet. However, residents who live in unincorporated portions of a county such as rural areas may have little or no notice when such a tower is constructed. House Bill 1148 requires a person who wishes to construct a wireless communication facility that is more than 100 feet tall to inform landowners of the impending construction. The bill also sets forth filing requirements for the construction of a facility and provisions for the transfer of ownership and removal of the facility. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1148 amends the Business & Commerce Code to require a person wishing to construct a wireless communication facility (facility) that is taller than 100 feet to file with the county clerk or other county official before the 30th day before the construction begins: _a statement proposing the construction and the date on or after which the construction will begin; _the correct phone number and address of each entity involved in the construction; _the legal description of the proposed site; and _a phone number that is operational at all times for emergency purposes. The bill requires the person to assign each proposed facility a unique identification and to provide the county clerk or county official with the unique identification. H.B. 1148 requires a person wishing to construct a facility taller than 100 feet to mail a letter 30 days before construction begins stating the legal description of the proposed site and at minimum the name, phone number, and mailing address of the person proposing the construction, as well as the facility's unique identification and a phone number that is operational at all times to: _a public airport located within three miles of the proposed facility and the Texas Department of Agriculture, who shall notify the boll weevil eradication foundation; and _each landowner within two miles of the proposed location if the location is not within a metropolitan statistical area or a newspaper of general circulation in the county of construction. H.B. 1148 requires a lessee of real property used for a facility to give written notice to the county clerk or other county official of the construction and the lessor of the real property if a transfer of ownership occurs. The bill provides that a contract between a property owner that conveys property interest to a person to allow the person to construct a facility must contain a provision relating to the removal of the facility and any adjuncts to the facility that prescribes the circumstances under which removal shall be accomplished. The bill specifies that the provisions of this bill are inapplicable to: _any structure whose main purpose is to provide electric service; _a wireless communication facility used by an entity for internal communications, that is constructed by a municipality, that is used for emergency communications, or that is installed for colocation purposes; _a radio or television reception antenna; _a satellite or microwave parabolic antenna not used by a wireless communication service provider; _a receive-only antenna; _an antenna owned and operated by a federally licensed amateur radio station operator; _a cable television company facility if the company holds a valid and current franchise; _a radio or television broadcasting facility; or _a colocation antenna. The provisions of this bill do not preempt a local ordinance regulating a wireless communication facility. The bill prohibits a wireless communication facility more than 15 feet in height above ground level from being located in certain geographical designations, as governed by the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. H.B. 1148 amends the Transportation Code to require a person who proposes to construct a wireless communication facility between 100 and 200 feet in height above ground level and that is located in a cultivated field or within 100 feet of a cultivated field to mark the highest guy wires on the facility, if any. EFFECTIVE DATE Vetoed.