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By: Averitt S.B. No. 40
(In the Senate - Filed June 24, 2005; June 24, 2005, read
first time and referred to Committee on Business and Commerce;
July 6, 2005, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; July 6, 2005,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 40 By: Carona
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a comprehensive study of right-of-way use compensation
paid to governmental entities by communications and technology
providers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. JOINT LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ON
COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY. (a) The Joint Legislative
Oversight Committee on Communications and Technology is created.
(b) The committee shall conduct a study on right-of-way use
compensation paid to governmental entities by communications and
technology service providers.
(c) In this Act, "committee" means the Joint Legislative
Oversight Committee on Communications and Technology.
SECTION 2. COMMITTEE COMPOSITION. (a) The committee is
composed of nine members as follows:
(1) the chair of the Senate Committee on Business and
Commerce;
(2) the chair of the House Committee on Regulated
Industries;
(3) three members of the senate appointed by the
lieutenant governor;
(4) three members of the house of representatives
appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives; and
(5) the chief executive of the Office of Public
Utility Counsel.
(b) The appointed members of the committee shall be
appointed not later than November 1, 2005. An appointed member of
the committee serves at the pleasure of the appointing official.
SECTION 3. STUDY; REPORT. (a) The committee shall conduct
a comprehensive study and file a report with the legislature not
later than November 1, 2006, containing the committee's
revenue-neutral, technology-neutral, and competitively neutral
recommendations concerning compensation paid to governmental
entities, including municipalities, by communications and
technology service providers. The report shall address the
following items:
(1) all sources of compensation historically paid to
municipalities and other governmental entities by communications
and technology service providers for the use of the public
rights-of-way;
(2) the types of communications and technology
services available to consumers within municipalities, without
regard to the technology used to deliver such services;
(3) alternative funding mechanisms, including the
possibility of a new communications and technology assessment that
would include all types of communications and technology service
providers and that would be technology-neutral, revenue-neutral to
the municipalities, and competitively neutral in application to the
providers, their services, and consumers;
(4) the mechanism for the assessment, collection, and
payment of any fee, including franchise fees and right-of-way use
compensation paid to municipalities;
(5) the advantages and disadvantages of state-issued
franchises for the provision of cable and video services versus
municipally issued franchises for the provision of those services;
(6) the proper terms and conditions of a state-issued
franchise for the provision of cable and video service if such
franchise is recommended, and how the terms and conditions would be
imposed and enforced;
(7) the proper state agency for issuing a state-issued
franchise for the provision of cable and video service if such
franchise is recommended;
(8) the role of a municipality if the state issues a
franchise authorizing the provision of cable and video service
within the municipality, if franchising by the state is
recommended;
(9) whether any cable and video service provider
should be exempt from the application of a franchise requirement,
and, if so, the reasons for such exemption;
(10) issues with regard to the imposition of state
highway right-of-way charges on communications and technology
service providers; and
(11) a review of how utility relocation costs are
apportioned among communications and technology service providers
when a utility relocation in the public right-of-way is
necessitated by a public improvement project.
(b) The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall:
(1) assist with the collection and compilation of
information necessary to conduct the study under this section;
(2) maintain the confidentiality of information
collected under this section that is claimed to be confidential for
competitive purposes; and
(3) provide a summary of any congressional or federal
agency actions that have an impact on issues reviewed by the
committee.
(c) Information that is claimed to be confidential under
Subsection (b) of this section is exempt from disclosure under
Chapter 552, Government Code.
(d) The committee may request reports and other information
from the Public Utility Commission of Texas, from governmental
entities, and from communications and technology service providers
as necessary to carry out this section.
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect
immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members
elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas
Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for
immediate effect, this Act takes effect on the 91st day after the
last day of the legislative session.
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