pole attachment

FCC proposes preempting city ownership of streetlights, caps rent at $270 per year

5 September 2018 by Steve Blum
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I said in this morning’s blog post that the devil will be in the details of the FCC’s draft ruling on small cell rules. It indeed is. The draft released this afternoon limits “fees for the use of government property in the [public right of way], such as light poles, traffic lights, utility poles, and other similar property suitable for hosting Small Wireless Facilities”.

That means that cities and local agencies will not be able to set “market-based charges” for renting out poles and other municipal property to mobile carriers, and would be limited to a maximum annual lease rate of $270.… More

New FCC rules coming for local small cell reviews, permit fees

5 September 2018 by Steve Blum
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Local governments can charge based fees to cover “the costs associated with reviewing small cell deployment”, but the Federal Communications Commission will set “specific fee amounts, below which we presume the local governments’ fees are lawful”. That’s according to a speech made by FCC commissioner Brendan Carr in Indianapolis yesterday. The draft of the new rules will be published shortly, Carr said.

Going by the plain words of Carr’s speech and the subsequent press release, the new rules won’t be about the lease rates that a city can charge for attaching wireless equipment to property that it owns, such as a light pole or traffic signal.… More

No deal on California wildfire liability

19 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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Utility companies will still have to pay the full cost of wildfire damage in California, even if their infrastructure isn’t fully responsible for starting it. A July agreement to revise California’s utility liability law turned into a August stalemate, and the end of the legislative session is coming fast in Sacramento.

According to a story by CapRadio reporter Ben Adler (h/t to Scott Lay at Around the Capitol for the pointer), legislative leaders haven’t come to an agreement on how to change the state’s strict utility liability law, known as inverse condemnation…

“I think it’s safe to say that ‘inverse condemnation’ is off the table,” Sen.

… More

California legislature considers utility fire liability changes

6 August 2018 by Steve Blum
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The fires ravaging California this morning are a stark reminder that last year’s horrific blazes were no fluke. They are the new normal. Figuring out how to live with this reality is the most pressing task in front of the California legislature when it reconvenes later today.

One of the many issues is who pays?

Under California law, if the cause involves an electric utility’s infrastructure, then it has to pay for the full cost of the damage, whether it was fully, or even truly, at fault.… More

Just one touch is all it takes, FCC tells telephone, cable companies

29 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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One of the useful things that’s come out of the Federal Communications Commission’s industry-dominated Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) is a draft rule that would establish a “one touch make ready” (OTMR) process for attaching new cables to utility poles. Assuming the FCC adopts it – pretty much a foregone conclusion – a new wireline competitor that wants to enter a market won’t have to wait around for incumbents to clean up their attachments before adding its own cable.… More

Utility wildfire liability will be settled behind closed doors in Sacramento

8 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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The California legislature took care of one key item of business before it headed out on its month long summer break on Thursday. The senate and the assembly went through the necessary motions to create a conference committee that will decide how liability for California’s continuing epidemic of wildfires will be assigned. Changes to senate bill 901, carried by senator Bill Dodd (D – Napa), will be negotiated largely out of public view over the next few weeks, and then put to a straight up or down vote – no amendments or meaningful debate allowed under normal circumstances.… More

Quick changes to utility wildfire prevention, liability law expected in Sacramento today

5 July 2018 by Steve Blum
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As huge wildfires burn in California and elsewhere in the West, legislative leaders and governor Jerry Brown put changes to the way utility lines are managed on a fast track at the capitol. A bill to allow for shutting off power when fire danger is high and reworking the way electric utilities are held liable for fires and ratepayers are charged for prevention efforts was sent to a conference committee on Monday.

That’s a legislative maneuver that allows legislative leaders – democrats and republicans alike – to negotiate the details of a bill amongst themselves, and then put it to a straight up or down vote in both houses.… More

Northern California fire storm investigation points to PG&E

10 June 2018 by Steve Blum
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Twelve fires began over two days in October last year, killing 18 people, destroying thousands of homes and other buildings, and burning hundreds of thousands of acres of wild land in Mendocino, Humboldt, Butte, Sonoma, Lake and Napa counties. In every instance, electric power lines were at least partly to blame, and those lines were owned by PG&E, according to a Cal Fire press release and investigation reports. There is “evidence of alleged violations of state law” in eight of the twelve fires.… More

PG&E utility poles and power lines blamed for four California wildfires

26 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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PG&E utility poles and power lines blamed for four California wildfires

Four northern California wildfires were “were caused by trees coming into contact with power lines” belonging to Pacific Gas and Electric, according to the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire). It’s the first batch of reports to pinpoint the causes of what Cal Fire calls the “October Fire Siege” in 2017. In three of those incidents, Cal Fire found evidence that a law requiring electric utility to keep trees trimmed was “allegedly” violated, and in one of those cases directly calls out PG&E as the culprit.… More

California’s telecom right of way rules are detailed but not tidy

9 May 2018 by Steve Blum
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I was asked yesterday about California’s public right of way (ROW) rules, as they apply to telecoms companies. There’s no one stop handbook that I know of (but if anyone else does, please chime in). The rules are fluid, and are mostly determined by CPUC decisions, with some court rulings thrown in.

In California, it starts with section 7901 of the public utilities code…

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 this State, and may erect poles, posts, piers, or abutments for supporting the insulators, wires, and other necessary fixtures of their lines, in such manner and at such points as not to incommode the public use of the road or highway or interrupt the navigation of the waters.

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