HBA-MPM, CBW C.S.H.B. 1148 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1148 By: Cook County Affairs 4/12/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE As the demand for wireless services and seamless coverage grows, wireless providers are constructing new towers at increasing rates. In urban areas, numerous small cellular towers can be positioned on top of a building or other structures. However, in rural areas towers must be taller and spaced farther apart to ensure adequate coverage. In some cases, the towers in rural areas may be taller than 400 feet. However, residents who live in unincorporated portions of a county such as rural areas may have little or no notice when such a tower is constructed. C.S.H.B. 1148 requires a person who wishes to construct a wireless communication facility to inform landowners of the impending construction. The bill also sets forth filing requirements for the construction of a facility and provisions for the transfer of ownership and removal of the facility. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 1148 amends the Business & Commerce Code to require a person wishing to construct a wireless communication facility (facility) to file with the county clerk or other county official before the 30th day before the construction begins: _a statement proposing the construction and the date on or after which the construction will begin; _the correct phone number and address of each entity involved in the construction; _the legal description of the proposed site; and _a phone number that is operational at all times for emergency purposes. The bill requires the person to assign each proposed facility a unique identification and to provide the county clerk or county official with the unique identification. C.S.H.B. 1148 requires a person wishing to construct a facility taller than 100 feet and before the 30th day before construction begins to mail a letter stating the legal description of the proposed site and at minimum the name, phone number, and mailing address of the person proposing the construction, as well as the facility's unique identification and a phone number that is operational at all times to: _a public airport located within three miles of the proposed facility and the Texas Department of Agriculture, who shall notify the boll weevil eradication foundation; and _each landowner within two miles of the proposed location if the location is not within a metropolitan statistical area or a newspaper of general circulation in the county of construction. C.S.H.B. 1148 requires a lessee of real property used for a facility to give written notice to the county clerk or other county official of the construction and the lessor of the real property if a transfer of ownership occurs. The bill provides that a contract between a property owner that conveys property interest to a person to allow the person to construct a facility must contain a provision relating to the removal of the facility and any adjuncts to the facility that prescribes the circumstances under which removal shall be accomplished. The bill specifies that the provisions of this bill are inapplicable to a radio or television reception antenna, a satellite or microwave parabolic antenna not used by a wireless communication service provider, a receive-only antenna, an antenna owned and operated by a federally licensed amateur radio station operator, a cable television company facility if the company holds a valid and current franchise, a radio or television broadcasting facility, a co-location antenna, or any other tower or antenna lawfully in existence on the date the bill takes effect. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1148 differs from the original by modifying the Business & Commerce Code rather than the Local Government Code. The substitute removes provisions from the original bill that authorize a commissioners court of a county to regulate facilities, require a permit for construction, expansion, or removal of a tower or other facility and impose certain fees, and regulate the height, lighting, location, and removal of towers and other facilities. C.S.H.B. 1148 requires a person wishing to construct a wireless communication facility (facility) to mail a letter of notice of construction to certain entities before the 30th day before construction of the facility begins. The substitute also sets forth provisions for transfer of ownership of a facility, removal of the facility, and provides that certain antennae and radio and television broadcasting facilities are exempt from the provisions of the bill. The substitute requires the person to file relevant information with the county clerk or another county official before the 30th day rather than the 180th day before construction of a facility begins and removes the requirement that the person publish a notice of a public hearing in a local newspaper before the 120th day before construction begins. The substitute requires the person to mail notice of construction to certain entities and individuals or publish this information in a local newspaper before the 30th day before construction begins, whereas the original required the person to publish a notice of public hearing and hold the hearing, and mail to each resident and landowner within one mile of the construction site a letter specifying information about the facility. The substitute removes provisions from the original that set forth penalties for a person who violated any provision in the original bill and provisions authorizing the county attorney to enjoin a violation or threatened violation.