Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

BILL AS INTRODUCED                                                        H.575
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                                      H.575
 Introduced by Representatives Patt of Worcester, Andrews of Westford,
                Austin of Colchester, Bongartz of Manchester, Burke of
                Brattleboro, Clifford of Rutland City, Dodge of Essex, Dolan of
                Waitsfield, Farlice-Rubio of Barnet, Krasnow of South
                Burlington, Morris of Springfield, Ode of Burlington,
                Rachelson of Burlington, Rice of Dorset, Satcowitz of
                Randolph, Stebbins of Burlington, and Stone of Burlington
 Referred to Committee on
 Date:
 Subject: Communications; utility poles; attachment charge; Community Media
          Public Benefit Fund
 Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to establish the
 Community Media Public Benefit Fund to support the operational costs of
 Vermont’s 24 access management organizations. Revenue for the Fund shall
 be generated by an annual utility pole attachment charge imposed on
 communications service providers.
    An act relating to the Community Media Public Benefit Fund VT LEG #372587 v.1
     BILL AS INTRODUCED                                                       H.575
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 It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
 Sec. 1. FINDINGS AND INTENT
    (a) The General Assembly finds:
       (1) Public, educational, and government (PEG) access is an essential
 service for Vermont, providing ongoing access to public meetings and
 emergency information, connecting communities, and preserving local
 identity.
       (2) PEG providers, also known as access management organizations
 (AMOs), provide internet-based services that serve whole communities, not
 merely those portions covered by cable television systems.
       (3) AMOs have been funded principally by a surcharge on cable
 television service, which is paid directly from cable companies to AMOs.
 AMO funding streams have declined in recent years due to technological
 changes as well as to consumer preference shifts away from cable
 programming and towards internet-based streaming services.
    (b) It is the intent of the General Assembly to affirm the continuing
 importance of community media services in Vermont by providing a stable and
 ongoing funding stream for Vermont’s AMOs. Such funding shall be derived
 from the communications industry through a competitively neutral and
 nondiscriminatory charge paid by communications providers and imposed on
 the principal facilities used to support modern communications, which are VT LEG #372587 v.1
     BILL AS INTRODUCED                                                         H.575
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 heavily used by nearly all service providers on the modern network, including
 wireless service.
 Sec. 2. 30 V.S.A. chapter 88A is added to read:
       CHAPTER 88A. COMMUNITY MEDIA PUBLIC BENEFIT FUND
 § 7601. PURPOSE
    This chapter establishes a financial structure to provide adequate financial
 support to Vermont’s access management organizations so that public,
 educational, and government (PEG) services are broadly available everywhere
 in the State. It creates an annual utility pole attachment charge on
 communications service providers to finance that structure.
 § 7602. DEFINITIONS
    As used in this chapter:
       (1) “Access management organization” or “AMO” means a nonprofit
 entity that is not a part of a cable company and that is designated to receive
 public, educational, and government (PEG) access support through a cable
 company and contracted to manage PEG channels and facilities for
 noncommercial purposes, pursuant to Public Utility Commission Rule 8.000.
       (2) “Cable company” means a company that operates a cable television
 system, as defined in 30 V.S.A. chapter 13.
       (3) “Communications facility” means a physical facility, including
 copper cable, optical fiber, and antennas, that transmits and receives electrical VT LEG #372587 v.1
     BILL AS INTRODUCED                                                           H.575
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 or light signals as part of a local, state, national, or international network used
 primarily for communications.
       (4) “Communications service provider” means an entity that directly
 controls communications facilities by means of ownership, lease agreement, or
 other arrangement. The term includes incumbent local exchange carriers,
 competitive local exchange carriers, wireless communications providers, cable
 television companies, and internet service providers.
       (5) “Fund” means the Community Media Public Benefit Fund.
       (6) “Pole attachment” means the physical attachment of a
 communications facility to a utility pole.
       (7) “Pole-owning utility” means a company, as defined in 30 V.S.A.
 § 201(1), that is subject to regulation by the Public Utility Commission and has
 an ownership interest in one or more utility poles.
       (8) “Utility pole” means a structure used to support one or more
 communications facilities above ground, without regard to ownership and
 without regard to whether the pole is used to transmit electric power. “Utility
 pole” does not include a structure outside the public rights-of-way constructed
 for the sole or primary purpose of supporting wireless antennas or any building
 on which one or more wireless antennas have been deployed.
       (9) “Vermont Access Network” means the nonprofit organization that
 represents Vermont’s access management organizations in matters of mutual VT LEG #372587 v.1
     BILL AS INTRODUCED                                                          H.575
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 concern, including the effective operation and advancement of PEG access
 throughout the State, and includes any successor organization.
 § 7603. COMMUNITY MEDIA PUBLIC BENEFIT FUND
    The Community Media Public Benefit Fund is created as a special fund
 within the State Treasury. The Fund shall be composed of all receipts from the
 pole attachment charge imposed in this chapter, as well as any other funds so
 appropriated by the General Assembly and any funds received as grants or
 gifts and approved according to the provisions of 32 V.S.A. § 5. Unexpended
 balances shall remain in the Fund from year to year.
 § 7604. POLE ATTACHMENT CHARGE
    (a) Charge imposed. A charge is imposed on each pole attachment in this
 State that exists on April 1 of each year. The charge is imposed on a
 communications service provider for each pole attachment owned or controlled
 by that communications service provider.
    (b) Multiple attachments. Where multiple communications facilities exist
 on a single utility pole, one charge is imposed for each attachment point.
 However, if two or more facilities are attached to a single attachment point,
 such as over-lashed cables or wires, those facilities are subject to a single
 charge if and only if all facilities at that attachment point are owned or
 controlled by a single provider.
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     BILL AS INTRODUCED                                                       H.575
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    (c) Rate of charge. The rate of charge shall be $15.00 per year for each
 pole attachment.
    (d) Exemption. The charge does not apply to pole attachments of publicly
 owned communications facilities.
    (e) Cable deduction. A cable company may deduct from amounts due
 under this section any amounts paid to AMOs, as required by Public Utility
 Commission Rule 8.000, during the previous calendar year. Nothing in this
 chapter reduces or eliminates the obligation of any cable company to provide
 funding to AMOs pursuant to State or federal law or rule.
 § 7605. DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS
    (a) The General Assembly shall annually appropriate amounts from the
 Fund to the Office of the Secretary of State for the purpose of making grants
 for the operational costs of AMOs pursuant to this section.
    (b) The Secretary of State shall administer those grants by making a single
 disbursement to the Vermont Access Network on or before October 1 of each
 year, beginning in 2024. On or before September 1 of each year, the Vermont
 Access Network shall submit a plan to the Secretary of State with a schedule of
 proposed subgrants to AMOs. The distribution under this subsection shall
 occur only if the Secretary approves that plan.
    (c) After receiving its annual grant, the Vermont Access Network shall
 promptly distribute all of the funds to AMOs pursuant to the plan approved by
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     BILL AS INTRODUCED                                                         H.575
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 the Secretary. An AMO that is not in substantial compliance with the annual
 reporting requirements of Public Utility Commission Rule 8.000 is ineligible
 for the grant.
    (d) The General Assembly shall annually appropriate amounts from the
 Fund to the Department of Taxes and the Office of the Secretary of State for
 administrative expenses incurred under this chapter. The total appropriation to
 the Department and the Office shall not exceed five percent of the total annual
 appropriation under this section.
 § 7606. PAYMENT AND REPORTING
    (a) Beginning on July 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, pole attachment
 charges shall be paid to the Department of Taxes, along with a return that
 describes the number of pole attachments that the communications service
 provider owned or controlled in the State on April 1 of the same calendar year.
    (b) Within 60 days following any request from the Commissioner of Taxes,
 a pole-owning utility shall report the number of utility poles it owns or controls
 and submit an inventory of the attachments to those poles, classified according
 to the communications service provider who owns or controls the attached
 facilities.
 § 7607. RULEMAKING
    The Commissioner of Taxes may adopt rules to the extent necessary to
 effectuate the purpose of this chapter. No rules or rulemaking process shall in
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    BILL AS INTRODUCED                                                      H.575
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 any way delay the effective date of the pole attachment charge or the annual
 payment of such charge.
 Sec. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE
   This act shall take effect on passage.
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