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 * * * * *