By Whitmire                                           S.B. No. 1185
         77R7051 MTB-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the construction of telecommunications facilities.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 7, Local Government Code, is
 1-5     amended by adding Chapter 246 to read as follows:
 1-6         CHAPTER 246.  CONSTRUCTION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES
 1-7           Sec. 246.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
 1-8                 (1)  "Commission" means the Public Utility Commission
 1-9     of Texas.
1-10                 (2)  "Facility" means a building, structure, or other
1-11     device that is used or useful in the provision of public utility or
1-12     telecommunications services.
1-13                 (3)  "Impervious cover regulation" means an ordinance,
1-14     regulation, rule, or other enactment by a county, a municipality,
1-15     or other authority that limits the development of real property
1-16     based on the amount of impervious cover to be constructed.
1-17                 (4)  "Public utility" has the meaning assigned by
1-18     Section 51.002, Utilities Code.
1-19                 (5)  "Regulating authority" means a county,
1-20     municipality, or other political subdivision of this state that has
1-21     adopted an impervious cover regulation by ordinance, order,
1-22     resolution, rule, or other enactment.
1-23                 (6)  "Telecommunications utility" has the meaning
1-24     assigned by Section 51.002, Utilities Code.
 2-1           Sec. 246.002.  REQUEST PROCESS. (a)  A regulating authority
 2-2     that receives a written request by a telecommunications utility or
 2-3     public utility to construct a facility or expand an existing
 2-4     facility on real property owned, leased, or occupied by the
 2-5     telecommunications utility or public utility in an area governed by
 2-6     impervious cover regulation shall approve or deny the request not
 2-7     later than the 30th day after the date the request is received.
 2-8           (b)  The regulating authority shall approve the request
 2-9     unless the regulating authority finds, after a hearing, that:
2-10                 (1)  the request does not meet the standards of the
2-11     regulating authority's impervious cover regulations; and
2-12                 (2)  additional, suitable vacant land contiguous with
2-13     the proposed building site that is sufficient to satisfy the
2-14     impervious cover regulation is available:
2-15                       (A)  without the use of condemnation;
2-16                       (B)  not later than the  60th day after the date
2-17     the request is delivered to the regulating authority; and
2-18                       (C)  for a price that does not exceed the lowest
2-19     fair market value of vacant land within a one-mile radius of the
2-20     property that is the subject of the request under Subsection (a).
2-21           (c)  The regulatory authority shall provide written notice of
2-22     a denial.  The notice must specify the findings on which the
2-23     authority relied in denying the request.
2-24           (d)  If a regulating authority does not make a decision
2-25     before the deadline prescribed by Subsection (a):
2-26                 (1)  the request is approved; and
2-27                 (2)  the regulating authority may not apply the
 3-1     authority's impervious cover regulations to the property that is
 3-2     the subject of the request under Subsection (a).
 3-3           Sec. 246.003. COMMISSION JURISDICTION. The commission has
 3-4     jurisdiction to enforce this chapter and to ensure that legal
 3-5     requirements are enforced in a competitively neutral,
 3-6     nondiscriminatory, and reasonable manner.
 3-7           SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.