Senate File 2300 - Introduced
SENATE FILE 2300
BY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE
(SUCCESSOR TO SSB 3075)
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to public utilities, including energy
2 production, public utility affiliates, and cable and video
3 service.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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1 DIVISION I
2 ENERGY PRODUCTION
3 Section 1. Section 476.42, subsection 1, paragraph a,
4 subparagraph (1), Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
5 (1) A solar, wind turbine, electric storage unit, nuclear,
6 waste management, resource recovery, refuse-derived fuel,
7 agricultural crops or residues, or woodburning facility. For
8 purposes of this definition only, “waste management” includes a
9 facility using plasma gasification to produce synthetic gas,
10 either as a stand-alone fuel or for blending with natural gas,
11 the output of which is used to generate electricity or steam.
12 For purposes of this definition only, “plasma gasification”
13 means the thermal dissociation of carbonaceous material into
14 fragments of compounds in an oxygen-starved environment.
15 Sec. 2. Section 476.48, subsection 6, Code 2024, is amended
16 by striking the subsection.
17 Sec. 3. Section 476A.1, subsection 5, Code 2024, is amended
18 to read as follows:
19 5. “Facility” means any electric power generating plant,
20 electric storage unit, or a combination of plants or units at
21 a single site, owned by any person, with a total capacity of
22 twenty-five megawatts of electricity for plants or twenty-five
23 or more megawatt hours of electricity for electric storage
24 units, and those associated transmission lines connecting the
25 generating plant or electric storage unit to either a power
26 transmission system or an interconnected primary transmission
27 system or both. Transmission lines subject to the provisions
28 of this subchapter shall not require a franchise under chapter
29 478.
30 DIVISION II
31 PUBLIC UTILITY AFFILIATES
32 Sec. 4. Section 476.74, subsection 5, Code 2024, is amended
33 to read as follows:
34 5. Exemption. The provisions of this section requiring
35 filing of contracts or agreements with the board shall not
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1 apply to transactions with an affiliate where the amount of
2 consideration involved is not in excess of fifty thousand
3 dollars or five percent of the capital equity of the utility,
4 whichever is smaller two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
5 However, regularly recurring payments under a general or
6 continuing arrangement which that aggregate a greater annual
7 amount shall not be broken down into a series of transactions
8 to come within this exemption. In any proceeding involving
9 the rates, charges, or practices of the public utility, the
10 board may exclude from the accounts of the public utility
11 any unreasonable payment or compensation made pursuant to
12 any contract or arrangement which that is not required to be
13 filed under this subsection. All contracts or agreements
14 between a public utility and an affiliate are subject to
15 the cross-subsidization prohibition under section 476.78,
16 regardless of whether the filing of information is required by
17 this section.
18 DIVISION III
19 CABLE OR VIDEO SERVICE
20 Sec. 5. Section 474.1, subsection 4, Code 2024, is amended
21 to read as follows:
22 4. As used in this chapter and chapters 475A, 476, 476A,
23 477A, 477C, 478, 479, 479A, and 479B, “board” and “utilities
24 board” mean the Iowa utilities board.
25 Sec. 6. Section 477A.1, Code 2024, is amended by adding the
26 following new subsections:
27 NEW SUBSECTION. 2A. “Cable or video service” includes the
28 terms “cable service”, “cable system”, and “video service”.
29 NEW SUBSECTION. 4A. “Competitive cable or video service
30 provider” includes the terms “competitive cable service provider”
31 and “competitive video service providers”.
32 Sec. 7. Section 477A.1, subsection 7, Code 2024, is amended
33 to read as follows:
34 7. “Franchise” means an initial authorization, or renewal
35 of an authorization, issued by the board or a municipality,
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1 regardless of whether the authorization is designated as a
2 franchise, permit, license, resolution, contract, certificate,
3 agreement, or otherwise, that authorizes the construction and
4 operation of a cable system person to erect, maintain, and
5 operate plants and systems for the provision of a cable or
6 video service provider’s network in a public right-of-way.
7 Sec. 8. Section 477A.1, subsection 9, paragraph a, Code
8 2024, is amended to read as follows:
9 a. “Gross revenues” means all consideration of any kind or
10 nature, including but not limited to cash, credits, property,
11 and in-kind contributions, received from subscribers for the
12 provision of cable service over a cable system by a competitive
13 cable service provider or for the provision of or video service
14 by a competitive cable or video service provider within a
15 municipality’s jurisdiction. Gross revenues are limited to the
16 following:
17 (1) Recurring charges for cable service or video service.
18 (2) Event-based charges for cable service or video service,
19 including but not limited to pay-per-view and video-on-demand
20 charges.
21 (3) Rental of set-top boxes and other cable service or video
22 service equipment.
23 (4) Service charges related to the provision of cable
24 service or video service, including but not limited to
25 activation, installation, and repair charges.
26 (5) Administrative charges related to the provision of
27 cable service or video service, including but not limited to
28 service order and service termination charges.
29 (6) A pro rata portion of all revenue derived, less refunds,
30 rebates, or discounts, by a cable service provider or a video
31 service provider for advertising over the cable service or
32 video service network to subscribers within the franchise area
33 where the numerator is the number of subscribers within the
34 franchise area, and the denominator is the total number of
35 subscribers reached by such advertising. This subparagraph
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1 applies only to municipalities that include this provision in
2 their franchise agreements as of January 1, 2007.
3 Sec. 9. Section 477A.1, subsection 9, paragraph b,
4 subparagraphs (2), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), and (11), Code
5 2024, are amended to read as follows:
6 (2) Revenues received by any affiliate or any other person
7 in exchange for supplying goods or services used by the person
8 providing cable service or video service.
9 (4) Regardless of whether the services are bundled,
10 packaged, or functionally integrated with cable service
11 or video service, any revenues derived by the holder of
12 a certificate of franchise authority from services not
13 classified as cable service or video service, including,
14 without limitation, revenue received from telecommunications
15 services, revenue received from information services, revenue
16 received in connection with home-shopping services, or any
17 other revenues attributed by the competitive cable service
18 provider or competitive video service provider to noncable
19 service or nonvideo service in accordance with the holder’s
20 books and records kept in the regular course of business and
21 any applicable rules, regulations, standards, or orders.
22 (5) Revenues paid by subscribers to home-shopping
23 programmers directly from the sale of merchandise through any
24 home-shopping channel offered as part of the cable services or
25 video services.
26 (6) Revenues from the sale of cable services or video
27 services for resale in which the purchaser is required to
28 collect the franchise fee from the purchaser’s customer.
29 (7) Revenues from any tax of general applicability imposed
30 upon the competitive cable service provider or competitive
31 video service provider or upon subscribers by a city, state,
32 federal, or any other governmental entity and required to
33 be collected by the competitive cable service provider or
34 competitive video service provider and remitted to the taxing
35 entity, including but not limited to sales or use tax, gross
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1 receipts tax, excise tax, utility users tax, public service
2 tax, and communication taxes, and including the franchise fee
3 imposed under section 477A.7.
4 (8) Revenues forgone from the provision of cable services
5 or video services to public institutions, public schools, or
6 governmental entities at no charge.
7 (9) Revenues forgone from the competitive cable service
8 provider’s or competitive video service provider’s provision of
9 free or reduced-cost video service to any person, including,
10 without limitation, any municipality and other public
11 institutions or other institutions.
12 (11) Revenues from reimbursements by programmers of
13 marketing costs incurred by the competitive cable service
14 provider or competitive video service provider for the
15 introduction or promotion of new programming.
16 Sec. 10. Section 477A.2, Code 2024, is amended to read as
17 follows:
18 477A.2 Certificate of franchise authority requirement.
19 1. After July 1, 2007, a person providing cable service
20 or video service in this state shall not provide such service
21 without a franchise. The franchise may be issued by either the
22 board pursuant to section 477A.3 or by a municipality pursuant
23 to section 364.2.
24 2. a. A person providing cable service or video service
25 under a franchise agreement with a municipality prior to July
26 1, 2007, is not subject to this section with respect to such
27 municipality until the franchise agreement expires or is
28 converted pursuant to subsection 6.
29 b. Upon expiration of a franchise, a person may choose to
30 renegotiate a franchise agreement with a municipality or may
31 choose to obtain a certificate of franchise authority under
32 this chapter. An application for a certificate of franchise
33 authority pursuant to this subsection may be filed within
34 sixty days prior to the expiration of a municipal franchise
35 agreement. A certificate of franchise authority obtained
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1 pursuant to an application filed prior to the expiration of
2 a municipal franchise agreement shall take effect upon the
3 expiration date of the municipal franchise agreement.
4 c. A municipal utility that provides cable service or
5 video service in this state is not subject to this section and
6 shall not be required to obtain a certificate of franchise
7 authority pursuant to this chapter in the municipality in
8 which the provision of cable service or video service by that
9 municipality was originally approved.
10 3. For purposes of this section, a person providing
11 cable service or video service is deemed to have executed a
12 franchise agreement to provide cable service or video service
13 with a specific municipality if an affiliate or predecessor
14 of the person providing cable service or video service has
15 or had executed an unexpired franchise agreement with that
16 municipality as of May 29, 2007.
17 4. A competitive cable service provider or competitive
18 video service provider shall provide at least thirty days’
19 notice to each municipality with authority to grant a franchise
20 in the service area, and to the incumbent cable or video
21 service provider, in which the competitive cable service
22 provider or competitive video service provider is granted
23 authority to provide service under a certificate of franchise
24 authority that the competitive cable service provider or
25 competitive video service provider will offer cable services
26 or video services within the jurisdiction of the municipality,
27 and shall not provide service without having provided such
28 thirty days’ notice. A copy of the notice shall be filed with
29 the board on the date that the notice is provided. All notices
30 required by this subsection shall be sent by certified mail.
31 5. As used in this section, “affiliate” includes but is
32 not limited to a person that directly, or indirectly through
33 one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is
34 under common control with a person receiving, obtaining, or
35 operating under a franchise agreement with a municipality to
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1 provide cable service or video service through merger, sale,
2 assignment, restructuring, or any other type of transaction.
3 6. If a competitive cable service provider or a competitive
4 video service provider applies for a certificate of franchise
5 authority to operate within a municipality, the incumbent
6 cable provider may, at its discretion, apply for a certificate
7 of franchise authority for that same municipality. Such
8 application shall be automatically granted on the same day
9 as a competitive cable service provider or competitive video
10 service provider files a thirty days’ notice of offering
11 service as required pursuant to subsection 4. The franchise
12 agreement with the municipality is terminated on the date the
13 board issues the certificate of franchise authority to an
14 incumbent cable provider. The terms and conditions of the
15 certificate of franchise authority shall be the same as the
16 terms and conditions of a competitive cable service provider or
17 a competitive video service provider pursuant to this chapter
18 and shall replace the terms and conditions of the franchise
19 agreement previously granted by the municipality.
20 Sec. 11. Section 477A.3, subsection 1, paragraphs a, c, d,
21 and f, Code 2024, are amended to read as follows:
22 a. That the applicant has filed or will timely file with
23 the federal communications commission all forms required by
24 the commission in advance of offering cable service or video
25 service in this state.
26 c. That the applicant agrees to comply with all applicable
27 state laws and nondiscriminatory municipal ordinances and
28 regulations regarding the use and occupation of a public
29 right-of-way in the delivery of the cable service or video
30 service, to the extent consistent with this chapter, including
31 the police powers of the municipalities in which the service
32 is delivered.
33 d. A description of the service area to be served and the
34 municipalities to be served by the applicant, which may include
35 certain designations of unincorporated areas. This description
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1 shall be updated by the applicant prior to the expansion of
2 cable service or video service to a previously undesignated
3 service area and, upon such expansion, notice shall be given to
4 the board of the service area to be served by the applicant.
5 f. Documentation that the applicant possesses sufficient
6 managerial, technical, and financial capability to provide the
7 cable service or video service proposed in the service area.
8 Sec. 12. Section 477A.3, subsection 1, paragraph g, Code
9 2024, is amended by striking the paragraph.
10 Sec. 13. Section 477A.3, subsections 5 and 9, Code 2024, are
11 amended to read as follows:
12 5. The certificate of franchise authority issued by the
13 board shall contain all of the following:
14 a. A grant of authority to provide cable service or video
15 service in the service area designated in the application.
16 b. A grant of authority to use and occupy the public
17 right-of-way in the delivery for the purpose of erecting,
18 maintaining, and operating plants and systems for the provision
19 of cable service or video service, subject to the laws of this
20 state, including the police powers of the municipalities in
21 which the service is delivered.
22 c. A statement that the grant of authority provided by the
23 certificate is subject to the lawful operation of the cable
24 service or video service by the applicant or the applicant’s
25 successor.
26 d. A statement that the franchise is