By Dukes                                              H.B. No. 2977
         77R6671 T                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to prohibitions imposed upon the construction of
 1-3     telecommunications facilities as a result of impervious ground
 1-4     cover requirements.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1. Subtitle A, Title 9, Local Government Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Chapter 284 to read as follows:
 1-8       CHAPTER 284.  CONSTRUCTION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES IN
 1-9                                MUNICIPALITY.
1-10           Sec. 284.001.  DEFINITIONS. (a)  For purposes of this
1-11     Chapter:
1-12                 (1)  "Commission" means the Public Utility Commission
1-13     of Texas.
1-14                 (2)  "Facility" means and includes any building,
1-15     structure, or device that is used or useful in the provision of
1-16     public utility or telecommunications services.
1-17                 (3)  "Impervious cover regulation" means a statute,
1-18     ordinance, regulation or other enactment by the State, a county, a
1-19     municipality, or other authority that limits in any manner the
1-20     development of real property based upon the amount of impervious
1-21     cover to be constructed.
1-22                 (4)  "Regulating authority" means a municipality,
1-23     county, or other authority or political subdivision of the state
1-24     that has adopted an impervious cover regulation by ordinance,
 2-1     resolution, regulation, rule, or other enactment.
 2-2           Sec. 284.010.  PROCESS FOR EVALUATION OF REGULATION. (a)  A
 2-3     regulating authority shall review and grant or deny a written
 2-4     request by a telecommunications utility or public utility to
 2-5     construct a facility or expand an existing facility on real
 2-6     property owned, leased, or occupied by the telecommunications
 2-7     utility or public utility in an area governed by an impervious
 2-8     cover regulation within 30 days of delivery of the request to the
 2-9     regulating authority.
2-10           (b)  The regulating authority shall be deemed to have granted
2-11     the request unless within 30 days of delivery of the request, after
2-12     hearing, the regulating authority determines in writing that:
2-13                 (1)  the request does not meet the standards of the
2-14     applicable impervious cover regulation; and
2-15                 (2)  additional, suitable vacant land contiguous with
2-16     the proposed building site sufficient to satisfy the impervious
2-17     cover regulation is available through purchase or grant without
2-18     condemnation in a reasonable time not to exceed 60 days from the
2-19     date of the request for a price not exceeding the lowest fair
2-20     market value of vacant land within a one-mile radius of the
2-21     facility the subject of the request.
2-22           (c)  The regulating authority's determination of the request
2-23     shall be in writing, and if a denial of the request, the
2-24     determination shall detail the findings upon which the regulating
2-25     authority relies to deny the request.
2-26           Sec. 284.020.  PREEMPTION. Impervious cover regulations are
2-27     preempted and made inapplicable to the real property on which the
 3-1     facility or expanded facility made the basis of a request pursuant
 3-2     to section 284.010 is proposed to be constructed if the regulating
 3-3     authority fails to determine the request as set forth in this
 3-4     Chapter.
 3-5           Sec. 284.030.  ADDITIONAL COMMISSION JURISDICTION. The
 3-6     commission shall have the jurisdiction over regulating authorities
 3-7     necessary to enforce the provisions of this Chapter and to ensure
 3-8     that all other legal requirements are enforced in a competitively
 3-9     neutral, non-discriminatory, and reasonable manner.
3-10           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.