2023-2024 Regular Session HB 1619 PN 2086 Bill Text (HTM)

PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 1903

PRINTER'S NO. 2086

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

No.

1619

Session of

2023

INTRODUCED BY RYNCAVAGE, KAUFER, MARSHALL, BOROWSKI, PICKETT,

KENYATTA, PROBST, WATRO, CABELL, FLICK, CIRESI, GREINER,

MAJOR, KUTZ, NEILSON, GAYDOS, McANDREW, STENDER, BURGOS,

MULLINS, HADDOCK AND STAMBAUGH, AUGUST 15, 2023

AS REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION, TECHNOLOGY

AND UTILITIES, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED,

OCTOBER 3, 2023

AN ACT

Amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania

Consolidated Statutes, in powers and duties, providing for

double utility poles.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Title 66 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated

Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:

§ 531. Double utility poles.

(a) Declaration of purpose.--The General Assembly finds and

declares as follows:

(1) The Commonwealth recognizes the temporary use of

double utility poles as an operational necessity, but

disfavors the long-term use of double utility poles on public

rights-of-way due to concerns regarding public safety, the

efficient use of public easements, ratepayer, subscriber or

taxpayer expense and streetscape aesthetics.

(2) The Commonwealth, through the commission, has

exercised reverse preemption over jurisdictional pole

attachments in accordance with 47 U.S.C. § 224 (relating to

pole attachments) as implemented by the commission under 52

Pa. Code Ch. 77 (relating to pole attachments).

(3) The migration of attached electric, telephone, cable

or other infrastructure from jurisdictional damaged or

outmoded utility poles to newly installed replacement utility

poles is within the commission's jurisdiction.

(b) Rulemaking.--The commission shall commence rulemaking to

amend 52 Pa. Code Ch. 77 to provide support for the

coordination and compensation for pole attachment relocation and

removal and establish procedures for compensation,

indemnification and expeditious removal of an abandoned pole

attachment. In commencing the rulemaking, the commission shall,

at a minimum, consider the following:

(1) The duration, place and manner of acceptable use of

a double utility pole.

(2) A requirement that a third-party utility pole

attacher register with the commission annually and provide

and maintain current contact information for a responsible

point of contact and legal service agent in each service

territory of a utility where the third-party utility pole

attacher has facilities.

(3) A procedure to allow a pole owner to provide

reasonable notice to an attached infrastructure owner of the

requirement to migrate facilities to a newly installed

replacement utility pole.

(4) The establishment of a presumptively reasonable

period for an attached infrastructure owner to migrate

20230HB1619PN2086 - 2 -

facilities to a newly installed replacement utility pole.

(5) A procedure for a pole owner and the pole owner's

contractor to be compensated or indemnified for time,

material costs and lost opportunity costs, including

enforcement procedures if a third-party utility pole attacher

fails to act or remit payment in a timely manner, relating to

removing and reattaching infrastructure not migrated:

(i) after the presumptively reasonable period has

elapsed; or

(ii) in accordance with an order by a governing body

that is outside the scope of, or in addition to, a

contractual right of indemnification that the pole owner

may have via license or joint use agreement.

(6) A procedure for a pole owner to determine that

attached facilities have been abandoned and provisions for

compensation of the pole owner for the time, material costs

and lost opportunity costs relating to the transfer or

removal of the abandoned facilities of a third-party utility

pole attacher due to necessity or in accordance with an order

by a governing body.

(7) Authorizing a pole owner to require a surety bond

from a third-party utility pole attacher to reimburse the

pole owner for expenses incurred due to any of the following:

(i) The relocation of the third-party utility pole

attacher's facilities.

(ii) The removal of the third-party utility pole

attacher's facilities.

(iii) The recertification of a pre-existing

violation caused by the third-party utility pole attacher

to accommodate a new attachment.

20230HB1619PN2086 - 3 -

(8) Supporting the expeditious removal of a double

utility pole after the removal of all attached

infrastructure.

effective date of this subsection, the commission shall commence

an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking. No later than 180

days from the date of commencement of the advanced notice of

proposed rulemaking, the commission shall submit a notice of

proposed rulemaking to the Legislative Reference Bureau for

publication in the next available issue of the Pennsylvania

Bulletin in accordance with the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L.769,

No.240), referred to as the Commonwealth Documents Law. No later

than 18 months after publication of the notice of proposed

rulemaking, the commission shall seek approval of the final-form

regulations in accordance with the act of October 15, 1980

(P.L.950, No.164), known as the Commonwealth Attorneys Act, and

the act of June 25, 1982 (P.L.633, No.181), known as the

Regulatory Review Act.

(D) NONRECOVERABLE COSTS.--COSTS INCURRED BY A UTILITY UNDER

THIS SECTION SHALL NOT BE RECOVERABLE FROM RATEPAYERS.

(d) (E) Definitions.--As used in this section, the term

"double utility pole" means an area where a full or remnant part

of a damaged or outmoded utility pole remains present or in

service after the installation of a newly installed replacement

utility pole because the attached electric, telephone, cable or

other infrastructure has not migrated from the damaged or

outmoded utility pole to the newly installed replacement utility

pole.

Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.

20230HB1619PN2086 - 4 -

<--