PA 07-222—HB 5927

Energy and Technology Committee

Planning and Development Committee

Government Administration and Elections Committee

Appropriations Committee

AN ACT CONCERNING THE CONNECTICUT SITING COUNCIL AND CELLULAR TOWERS

SUMMARY: This act requires each telecommunications services provider, by January 1, 2008, to submit to the Siting Council, at its request, all information on (1) locations in a municipality that do not have coverage or have inconsistent coverage and (2) the provider's existing and projected demand for coverage in a municipality. The act requires the Siting Council, by January 1, 2008 (the same date as when it receives the provider information), to develop a telecommunications coverage assessment for a municipality upon the municipality's request. The assessment must (1) identify locations in the municipality that do not have coverage or have inconsistent coverage and (2) analyze existing and projected demands for coverage in the municipality. Information from providers can be used only to prepare the assessment.

The act requires the council to request a municipality that is the proposed site of a telecommunications tower to submit its location preferences or criteria to the council within 30 days after a tower application is filed with the council and the municipality is notified. The council must consider the location criteria and preferences that the municipality submits or those that were in its zoning regulations as of the date of the application when evaluating it.

The act allows the Siting Council to order the restoration of vegetation in overhead transmission line rights-of-way (ROW).

The act (1) modifies how the Siting Council's assessment of telecommunications companies is calculated, (2) increases the maximum assessment on electric retailers from $1 million to $1. 5 million, and (3) imposes penalties on late assessments. It increases the per diem that council members receive for attending council hearings and other council business from $150 to $200 and eliminates the $12,000 annual cap on the per diem.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2007 for the per diem increase; upon passage for the remaining provisions, with the telecommunications assessment calculation changes applicable to assessment period beginning on or after July 1, 2006.

RESTORING TRANSMISSION LINE RIGHTS-OF-WAY

The act allows the Siting Council, as part of its supervision of any transmission line construction project, to order restoration or revegetation of the ROW of an overhead transmission line as it considers necessary to promote the long-term restoration of vegetation in those parts of the ROW in residential areas where there has been a significant and material loss of screening (e. g. , fewer trees blocking the view of the line) as a result of clearing activities. The order must be consistent with all standards for (1) required clearances between the transmission conductors that have been energized and the vegetation and (2) minimum work distances for those working in proximity to conductors.

SITING COUNCIL ASSESSMENTS

By law, the Siting Council receives part of its funding from an assessment on the electric and telecommunications companies over which it has jurisdiction. The act increases, from $1 million to $1. 5 million, the maximum annual assessment on companies that have gross retail electric sales in excess of $100,000.

Under prior law, the assessment applied to telecommunications companies that provide communications services and that have come before the council in the previous calendar year. The act additionally assesses companies that have provided communications service facilities (e. g. , cell tower builders) that have come before the council in the previous calendar year. The act requires the assessment to be based on the share of the council's direct costs they are responsible for, rather than on (1) frequency of appearances, (2) degree of regulation required, and (3) percent of the council's workload.

The act requires the council to charge a 1. 5% late fee each month on any assessment or other council charge that is 30 or more days overdue.

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