bill barring electric co-ops from unfair pole treatment

The text as introduced · 469 words

By: Darby
H.B. No. 3445

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the access by a certificated telecommunications

provider to the rights-of-way and pole charges of an electric

cooperative.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sec. 54.204, Utilities Code, is amended to read

as follows:

SUBCHAPTER E. MUNICIPALITIES AND ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES

Sec. 54.204. DISCRIMINATION BY A MUNICIPALITY OR AN

ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE PROHIBITED. (a) Notwithstanding Section

14.008 and Section 41.004 , a municipality or a municipally owned

utility or an electric cooperative may not discriminate against a

certificated telecommunications provider regarding:

(1) the authorization or placement of a facility in a

public right-of-way or an electric cooperative right-of-way ;

(2) access to a building; or

(3) a municipal utility or an electric cooperative

pole attachment rate or term .

(b) In granting consent, a franchise, or a permit for the

use of a public street, alley, or right-of-way within its municipal

boundaries, a municipality or municipally owned utility may not

discriminate in favor of or against a certificated

telecommunications provider regarding:

(1) municipal utility pole attachment or underground

conduit rates or terms; or

(2) the authorization, placement, replacement, or

removal of a facility in a public right-of-way and the reasonable

compensation for the authorization, placement, replacement, or

removal regardless of whether the compensation is in the form of:

(A) money;

(B) services;

(C) use of facilities; or

(D) another kind of consideration.

(c) A municipality or a municipally owned utility or an

electric cooperative may not charge any entity, regardless of the

nature of the services provided by that entity, a pole attachment

rate or underground conduit rate that exceeds :

(1) the existing rate if the attaching entity and the

pole owner already have a contract;

(2) a mutually agreed rate, if the attaching entity

and the pole owner agree to a new rate;

(3) the fee the municipality or municipally owned

utility or the electric cooperative would be permitted to charge

under rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission under

47 U.S.C. Section 224(e) if the municipality's or municipally owned

utility's or the electric cooperative's rates were regulated under

federal law and the rules of the Federal Communications Commission,

or

(4) a rate determined by the commission in a contested

case under Chapter 2001, Government Code .

(d) In addition, not later than September 1, 2006, a

municipality or municipally owned utility shall charge a single,

uniform pole attachment or underground conduit rate to all entities

that are not affiliated with the municipality or municipally owned

utility regardless of the services carried over the networks

attached to the poles or underground conduit.

(e) [ (d) ] Notwithstanding any other law, the commission has

the jurisdiction necessary to enforce this section.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.