BILL NUMBER: AB 57 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Quirk
DECEMBER 2, 2014
An act to amend Section 8886 of the Government Code,
relating to communications. An act to add Section
65964.1 to the Government Code, relating to telecommunications.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 57, as amended, Quirk. Broadband communications
infrastructure. Telecommunications: wireless
telecommunication facilities.
Existing law requires a city, including a charter city, or county
to administratively approve an application for a collocation facility
on or immediately adjacent to a wireless telecommunications
collocation facility, as defined, through the issuance of a building
permit or a nondiscretionary permit, as specified. Existing law
prohibits a city or county from taking certain actions as a condition
of approval of an application for a permit for construction or
reconstruction for a development project for a wireless
telecommunications facility.
Under existing federal law, the Federal Communications Commission
issued a ruling establishing reasonable time periods within which a
local government is required to act on a colocation or siting
application for a wireless telecommunications facility.
This bill would provide that a colocation or siting application
for a wireless telecommunications facility is deemed approved, if the
city or county fails to approve or disapprove the application within
the time periods established by the commission and all required
public notices have been provided regarding the application.
The existing federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 preempts any
state or local statute or regulation that may prohibit or have the
effect of prohibiting the ability of any entity to provide any
interstate or intrastate telecommunications service. However, this
provision does not prohibit a state from imposing, on a competitively
neutral basis, requirements necessary to preserve and advance
universal service, protect the public safety and welfare, ensure the
continued quality of telecommunications services, and safeguard the
rights of consumers, nor does it prevent a state or local government
from managing the public rights-of-way or requiring fair and
reasonable compensation from telecommunications providers, on a
competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory basis, for use of public
rights-of-way on a nondiscriminatory basis.
Under existing law, telegraph or telephone corporations may
construct lines of telegraph or telephone lines along and upon any
public road or highway, along or across any of the waters or lands
within the state, and may erect related poles, posts, piers,
abutments, and other necessary fixtures of their lines, but may not
incommode the public use of the road or highway or interrupt the
navigation of the waters. Existing law declares the intent of the
Legislature that, consistent with this authorization, municipalities
have the right to exercise reasonable control as to the time, place,
and manner in which roads, highways, and waterways are accessed, but
that for the control to be reasonable it must, at a minimum, be
applied to all entities in an equivalent manner.
Existing law establishes the California Broadband Council in state
government for the purpose of promoting broadband deployment in
unserved and underserved areas of the state and broadband adoption
throughout the state, imposes specified duties on the council
relating to that purpose, and specifies the membership of the
council.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to promote the deployment of communications
infrastructure by removing barriers to investment. The bill would add
the President of the Board of Directors of the League of California
Cities and the President of the Executive Committee of the California
State Association of Counties, or their respective designees, to the
membership of the council.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes
no . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 65964.1 is added to the
Government Code , to read:
65964.1. (a) A colocation or siting application for a wireless
telecommunications facility, as defined in Section 65850.6, shall be
deemed approved if both of the following occur:
(1) The city or county fails to approve or disapprove the
application within the time periods established by the Federal
Communications Commission in In re Petition for Declaratory Ruling,
24 FCC Rcd. 13994 (2009).
(2) All public notices regarding the application have been
provided consistent with the public notice requirements for the
application.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares that a wireless
telecommunications facility has a significant economic impact in
California and is not a municipal affair as that term is used in
Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution, but is a
matter of statewide concern.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) California consumers and businesses have adopted new,
Internet-based technologies and mobile connections at an
unprecedented rate. Internet-based products and devices, including
smartphones and tablets, are providing consumers everywhere with new
choices to connect, to communicate, and to access information and
entertainment.
(b) The deployment of faster, more robust, and advanced wireless
and wireline broadband infrastructure is essential to ensuring there
is sufficient capacity and coverage to support the increasing
reliance of California residents on broadband services.
(c) State and local review of broadband infrastructure deployment
serves important interests, but at the same time, California must
take steps to ensure that requirements do not hinder investment.
State and local permitting processes should be designed to eliminate
unnecessary barriers and spur deployment of infrastructure. This
includes streamlining permitting requirements to reduce delay and
cost, and the creation of uniform processes.
(d) New and upgraded infrastructure delivers a vast array of
consumer and community benefits, including important improvements to
public safety, education, and healthcare. The power of mobile
communications is a critical tool for first responders in emergency
situations. According to the Federal Communications Commission,
nearly 70 percent of 911 calls are made from mobile telephones, and
that percentage is growing.
(e) As we continue the transition to a knowledge-based,
technology-driven economy, California must invest in students and
provide them with the proper tools and technologies to bolster
academic achievement, starting with expanding access to high-speed
broadband Internet and next-generation Internet Protocol-based
networks.
(f) Facilitating broadband deployment additionally plays a key
role in advancing telemedicine and mobile health applications, which
can help Californians remotely monitor their health while reducing
medical costs.
(g) Wireless broadband is also key to economic development and a
driver for new business and jobs. Businesses increasingly depend on
strong wireless broadband service to carry their employees through
the work day. An estimated 94 percent of small businesses surveyed
use smartphones to conduct business and mobile technologies are
saving the country's small businesses more than sixty-five billion
dollars ($65,000,000,000) a year.
(h) Broadband infrastructure deployment creates jobs. A 2013 study
conducted by the research firm Information Age Economics projects
that wireless infrastructure investment will generate as much as one
trillion two-hundred billion dollars ($1,200,000,000,000) in economic
growth while creating over 1.2 million new jobs, nationally, over
the next five years.
(i) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to
promote the deployment of communications infrastructure by removing
barriers to investment. Removing investment barriers is critical to
meeting the surging demand by California residents for advanced
wireless and wireline broadband technologies and services, supporting
and enhancing critical public safety needs, and bridging the digital
divide by increasing access for more Californians to improved
education, health care, and economic development opportunities.
SEC. 2. Section 8886 of the Government Code is
amended to read:
8886. (a) The membership of the California Broadband Council
shall include all of the following:
(1) The Director of Technology, or his or her designee.
(2) The President of the Public Utilities Commission, or his or
her designee.
(3) The Director of Emergency Services, or his or her designee.
(4) The Superintendent of Public Instruction, or his or her
designee.
(5) The Director of General Services, or his or her designee.
(6) The Secretary of Transportation, or his or her designee.
(7) The President of the California Emerging Technology Fund, or
his or her designee.
(8) A member of the Senate, appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules.
(9) A member of the Assembly, appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly.
(10) The President of the Board of Directors of the League of
California Cities, or his or her designee.
(11) The President of the Executive Committee of the California
State Association of Counties, or his or her designee.
(b) Members of the Legislature appointed to the council shall
participate in the activities of the council to the extent that their
participation is not incompatible with their positions as Members of
the Legislature.