1-1     By:  Whitmire                                         S.B. No. 1185
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 6, 2001; March 8, 2001, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Business and Commerce;
 1-4     April 17, 2001, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 17, 2001,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1185                 By:  Jackson
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the construction of certain telecommunications
1-11     facilities.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Subtitle C, Title 7, Local Government Code, is
1-14     amended by adding Chapter 246 to read as follows:
1-15     CHAPTER 246.  CONSTRUCTION OF CERTAIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES
1-16           Sec. 246.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
1-17                 (1)  "Commission" means the Public Utility Commission
1-18     of Texas.
1-19                 (2)  "Critical facility" means a central office that
1-20     contains:
1-21                       (A)  a switching unit for a telecommunications
1-22     system that provides service to the general public; and
1-23                       (B)  equipment and operating arrangements
1-24     necessary for terminating and interconnecting:
1-25                             (i)  customer lines and trunks; or
1-26                             (ii)  trunks.
1-27                 (3)  "Impervious lot coverage regulation" means an
1-28     ordinance, regulation, rule, or other enactment by a county,
1-29     municipality, or other authority that limits the development of
1-30     real property based on the amount of impervious lot coverage to be
1-31     constructed.
1-32                 (4)  "Regulating authority" means a county,
1-33     municipality, or other political subdivision of this state that has
1-34     adopted an impervious lot coverage regulation or a sedimentation,
1-35     retention, or erosion regulation by ordinance, order, resolution,
1-36     rule, or other enactment.
1-37                 (5)  "Sedimentation, retention, or erosion regulation"
1-38     means an ordinance, regulation, rule, or other enactment by a
1-39     county, municipality, or other authority that limits or regulates
1-40     the development of real property based on the development's effect
1-41     on water quality resulting from sedimentation, retention, or
1-42     erosion.  The term does not include a:
1-43                       (A)  flood control regulation; or
1-44                       (B)  requirement for silt fences, vegetative
1-45     cover, or other similar requirement.
1-46                 (6)  "Telecommunications utility" has the meaning
1-47     assigned by Section 51.002, Utilities Code.
1-48           Sec. 246.002.  APPLICABILITY.  This chapter applies only to a
1-49     critical facility that existed on April 1, 2001.
1-50           Sec. 246.003.  REQUEST PROCESS.  (a)  A regulating authority
1-51     that receives a written request by a telecommunications utility to
1-52     expand a critical facility on real property owned, leased, or
1-53     occupied by the telecommunications utility in an area governed by
1-54     impervious lot coverage regulation or sedimentation, retention, or
1-55     erosion regulation shall approve or deny the request not later than
1-56     the 60th day after the date the request is received.
1-57           (b)  The regulating authority shall approve the request
1-58     unless the regulating authority finds, after a hearing, that:
1-59                 (1)  additional, suitable vacant land contiguous with
1-60     the proposed building site that is sufficient to satisfy the
1-61     impervious lot coverage regulation or sedimentation, retention, or
1-62     erosion regulation is not available, except:
1-63                       (A)  through the use of condemnation; or
1-64                       (B)  at a price that exceeds the average fair
 2-1     market value of vacant land within a one-mile radius of the
 2-2     property that is the subject of the request under Subsection (a);
 2-3     or
 2-4                 (2)  the telecommunications utility did not provide an
 2-5     affidavit containing the statement described in Subdivision (1).
 2-6           (c)  The regulating authority shall provide written notice of
 2-7     a denial.  The notice must specify the findings on which the
 2-8     authority relied in denying the request.
 2-9           (d)  If a regulating authority does not make a decision
2-10     before the deadline prescribed by Subsection (a):
2-11                 (1)  the request is approved; and
2-12                 (2)  the regulating authority may not apply the
2-13     authority's impervious lot coverage regulations or sedimentation,
2-14     retention, or erosion regulations to the property that is the
2-15     subject of the request under Subsection (a).
2-16           Sec. 246.004. COMMISSION JURISDICTION.  The commission has
2-17     jurisdiction to enforce this chapter and to ensure that legal
2-18     requirements are enforced in a competitively neutral,
2-19     nondiscriminatory, and reasonable manner.
2-20           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
2-21                                  * * * * *