HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/HB 1221 Broadband Internet Service Providers
SPONSOR(S): State Administration & Technology Appropriations Subcommittee, Tomkow
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: CS/SB 626
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Energy, Communications & Cybersecurity 18 Y, 0 N Keating Keating
Subcommittee
2) State Administration & Technology 13 Y, 0 N, As CS Mullins Topp
Appropriations Subcommittee
3) Commerce Committee 18 Y, 0 N Keating Hamon
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
Rural electric cooperatives are electric utilities owned by their customer-members and located primarily in rural
areas where, at least historically, the economics of building or installing electrical infrastructure has not
attracted investment. To promote economic development, a cooperative in Florida may provide any energy or
nonenergy services to its membership. Currently, five of Florida’s 18 rural electric cooperatives are engaged in
or developing broadband service for their members. Both the state and federal government offer grant funds to
entities seeking to expand broadband Internet service into unserved areas.
The term pole attachment refers to the process by which communications services providers can place
communications infrastructure on existing electric utility poles. Rules governing pole attachments seek to
balance the desire to maximize value for users of both electric and communications services with concerns
unique to electric utility poles, such as safety and reliability. Since 2021, the Public Service Commission (PSC)
has had the authority to regulate and enforce rates, charges, terms, and conditions for attachments to poles
owned by investor-owned electric utilities. No party yet has initiated proceedings at the PSC under this
authority. Attachments to poles owned by rural electric cooperatives are, and have historically been, exempt
from regulation.
The bill provides explicit authority for rural electric cooperatives in Florida to “engage in the provisions of
broadband.” The bill defines this phrase to mean:
 Providing broadband service directly, through an affiliate, or pursuant to an agreement with a third
party; or
 Accepting broadband grant funding pursuant to the Florida Broadband Opportunity Program or from
any other federal or state program offering grants to expand broadband Internet service to unserved
areas of the state.
Under the bill, if a rural electric cooperative engages in the provision of broadband, all poles owned by the
cooperative are subject to the PSC’s pole attachment regulations on the same basis as poles owned by
investor-owned electric utilities. The PSC is granted access to the cooperative’s books and records to the
limited extent necessary to exercise its authority. The bill provides for the continued confidential treatment of
certain records received by the PSC under existing public record exemptions The bill provides that it may not
be construed to impair the contract rights of parties to an existing pole attachment agreement.
The bill does not impact state or local government revenues or local government expenditures. The bill may
increase state government expenditures, but the PSC has indicated that it can handle the expected workload
with existing resources.
The bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2023.
FULL ANALYSIS
This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
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 I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Current Situation
Regulation of Pole Attachments
The term pole attachment refers to the process by which communications services providers can place
communications infrastructure on existing electric utility poles. This reduces the number of poles that
must be built to accommodate utility and communications services, while reducing costs to users of
both services by allowing providers to share costs. Rules governing pole attachments seek to balance
the desire to maximize value for users of both electric and communications services with concerns
unique to electric utility poles, such as safety and reliability. 1 The space requested for a pole
attachment is typically one foot.
Pole attachments, originally by mutual agreement but later by federal statute and regulation, provide
non-pole-owning cable and telecommunication service providers with access to a utility’s distribution
poles, conduits, and ROW for:
 Installing fiber, coaxial cable or wires, and other equipment;
 Building an interconnected network; and
 Reaching customers.2
Congress began regulating pole attachments 3 in 1978.4 The Telecommunications Act of 19965 (the Act)
expanded pole attachment rights to telecommunications 6 carriers. The Act requires utilities 7 to provide
nondiscriminatory access to cable television systems and telecommunications carriers. The Act also
authorizes the Federal Communications Commission8 (FCC) to regulate the rates, terms, and
conditions of attachments by cable television operators to the poles, conduit, or ROW owned or
controlled by utilities in the absence of parallel state regulation. 9 The Legislation withheld from FCC
jurisdiction the authority to regulate attachments where the utility is a railroad, cooperatively organized,
or owned by a government entity.10 Thus, federal pole attachment regulations apply only to investor-
owned electric utilities (IOUs). Municipal and cooperative electric utilities are specifically exempted from
federal pole attachment regulations.
The Act permits utilities to deny access where there is insufficient capacity and for reasons of safety,
reliability or generally applicable engineering purposes. In addition to establishing a right of access, the
Act provides a rate methodology for “attachments used by telecommunications carriers to provide
1 American Public Power Association, Issue Brief: Preserving the Municipal Exemption from Federal Pole Attachment Regulations (Jan.
2021) https://www.publicpower.org/policy/preserving-municipal-exemption-federal-pole-attachment-regulations (last visited Mar. 13,
2021).
2 Edison Electric Institute, Pole Attachments 101, https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/7020708245.pdf (last visited Mar. 13, 2021).
3
47 U.S.C. § 224(a)(4), defines ‘‘pole attachment’’ as “any attachment by a cable television system or provider of telecomm unications
service to a pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way owned or controlled by a utility.”
4 The Pole Attachment Act of 1978 granted utility pole access to cable companies, and was designed to promote utility competiti on and
service to the public. Com munications Act Amendments of 1978, Pub. L. No. 95-234. (Feb. 21, 1978).
5 Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. LA. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (1996).
6
The term “telecommunications” means the transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s
choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received. 47 U.S.C. § 153(50).
7 47 U.S.C. § 224(a)(1), defines ‘‘utility’’ as “any person who is a local exchange carrier or an electric, gas, water, steam, or other public
utility, and who owns or controls poles, ducts, conduits, or rights -of-way used, in whole or in part, for any wire communications. Such
term does not include any railroad, any person who is cooperatively organized, or any person owne d by the Federal Government or any
State.”
8 The FCC regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable in all 50 state s, the
District of Columbia and U.S. territories. An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, the FCC is the United States'
primary authority for communications law, regulation and technological innovation. FCC, What We Do, https://www.fcc.gov/about-
fcc/what-we-do (last visited Mar 19, 2023).
9 47 U.S.C. § 224.
10 In the Matter of Implementation of Section 224 of the Act- A Nat'l Broadb and Plan for Our Future, 26 F.C.C. Rcd. 5240, 5245–46
(2011)
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 telecommunications services”11 in addition to the existing methodology for attachments “used by a
cable television system solely to provide cable service.12
Federal law broadly preempts the regulation of telecommunications services. 13 However, federal law
allows states to exercise reverse preemption over the FCC’s jurisdiction of communications
infrastructure access,14 meaning that once a state adopts its own utility pole access rules, the FCC
loses jurisdiction over pole attachments to the extent that the state regulates such matters. 15
Pursuant to section 224(c) of the Act16, each state that regulates the rates, terms, and conditions for
pole attachments must certify to the FCC that:
 It regulates such rates, terms, and conditions; and
 In so regulating such rates, terms, and conditions, the state has the authority to consider and
does consider the interests of the subscribers of the services offered via suc h attachments, as
well as the interests of the consumers of the utility services provided by the pole owners.
Furthermore, a state is not considered to regulate the rates, terms, and conditions for pole attachments:
 Unless the state has issued and made effective rules and regulations implementing the state's
regulatory authority over pole attachments; and
 With respect to any individual matter, unless the state takes final action on a complaint
regarding such matter:
o Within 180 days after the complaint is filed with the state, or
o Within the applicable period prescribed for such final action in such rules and regulations
of the state, if the prescribed period does not extend beyond 360 days after the filing of
such complaint.
In Florida
In 2021, Florida exercised its power under the Act to assert reverse preemption over the FCC’s
regulation of pole attachments, directing the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) to regulate and
enforce rates, charges, terms, and conditions for pole attachments, and to ensure that they are just and
reasonable. Accordingly, Florida law requires the PSC to adopt rules to administer its new regulatory
authority and, in doing so, to consider the interests of the subscribers and users of the services offered
through pole attachments, as well as the interests of the consumers of any pole owner providing such
attachments.17 Florida law maintains the federal regulatory exemption for attachments to poles owned
by government-owned or cooperative electric utilities.
Florida law provides that the Legislature’s intent is to encourage parties to enter into voluntary pole
attachment agreements and provides that it may not be construed to prevent parties from voluntarily
entering into such agreements without PSC approval. The law requires the PSC to hear and resolve
complaints concerning rates, charges, terms, conditions, voluntary agreements, or any denial of access
relative to pole attachments. The law specifies that a party's right to nondiscriminatory access to a pole
is identical to the rights afforded under section 224(f)(1) of the Act,18 and that a pole owner may deny
access to its poles on a nondiscriminatory basis when there is insufficient capacity, for reasons of
safety and reliability, and when required by generally applicable engineering purposes. A pole owner
must consider relevant construction and reliability standards approved by the PSC when evaluating
capacity, safety, reliability, and engineering requirements.
11 47 U.S.C. § 224(e).
12 47 U.S.C. § 224(d).
13 “No State or local statute or regulation, or other State or local legal requirement, may prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the
ability of any entity to provide any interstate or intrastate telecommunications service.” 47 U.S.C. § 253(a).
14 47 U.S.C. § 224(c)(1).
15 Catherine J.K. Sandoval, Contested Places, Utility Pole Spaces: A Competition and Safety Framework for Analyzing Utility Pole
Association Rules, Roles, and Risks, 69 Cath. U. L. Rev. 473, 486–87 (2020).
16 47 U.S.C. § 224(c)
17 Ch. 2021-191, Laws of Fla., codified at s. 366.04(8), F.S.
18 47 U.S.C. s. 224(f)(1) provides for nondiscriminatory access to any pole, duct, conduit, or right-of-way owned or controlled by a utility,
subject to denial, on a nondiscriminatory basis, only on the grounds of insufficient pole capacity or for safety, re liability, or other
engineering purposes.
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 Under Florida law, FCC precedent is not binding upon the PSC. However, the bill requires the PSC to
apply the decisions and orders of the FCC and related appellate court decisions when determining just
and reasonable pole attachment rates, terms and conditions unless a pole owner or attaching entity
establishes by competent substantial evidence that an alternative cost-of-service based pole
attachment rate is appropriate and in the public interest.
To help establish precedent on the establishment of pole attachment rates and guide negotiations
toward voluntary pole attachment agreements, Florida law authorizes any pole owner or attaching
entity to participate in the first five formal administrative proceedings conducted by the PSC to
determine pole attachment rates. After the fifth such formal administrative proceeding is concluded by
final order, parties to subsequent pole attachment rate proceedings are limited to the specific pole
owner and pole attaching entities involved in and directly affected by the specific pole attachment rate.
Currently, no party has initiated a pole attachment proceeding at the PSC.
Rural Electric Cooperatives
Rural electric cooperatives are electric utilities that are owned by their consumer-members. These
private companies are generally nonprofit, with their principal purpose being to deliver electrical service
to their members. Rural electric cooperatives are mostly located in rural areas where, at least
historically, the return on investment for building or installing electrical infrastructure was not enough for
investor-owned utilities to want to service them.19
Historically, rural homes, farms, and businesses were some of the last places to electrify in the United
States (U.S.). By the mid-1930’s, 90 percent of U.S. urban homes were electrified,20 however, the
opposite was true in rural areas—only one out of 10 rural homes had electric service. 21 This lack of
electrical service deeply limited economic development in rural areas of the country. Despite this
impact, the costs to electrify most rural areas were usually prohibitive and often thought not
economically feasible.22 In the limited areas where rural electric power was available, often the prices
paid by such consumers were far higher than those paid by their urban counterparts.
In 1935, Executive Order 7037, issued by President Franklin Roosevelt, created the Rural
Electrification Administration (REA). One year later, Congress passed the Rural Electrification Act (Pub.
L. 74–605), codifying the REA and creating a loan program to encourage the growth of rural
electrification. Even with these available federal loans, established investor-owned utilities did not have
much interest in building rural systems. However, there was significant interest from farmer-based
electric cooperatives.23 By 1939, with assistance from REA funds, 413 rural electric cooperatives had
been established in the U.S.,24 and by 1950, 80 percent of U.S. farms had electric service. 25
During a reorganization of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1994, the REA was
replaced with the Rural Utilities Service, which still exists today. 26 According to the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), now over 99 percent of U.S. farms have electrical service. 27
Rural electric cooperatives continue to be the most prevalent way for consumers in rural areas to obtain
electrical service.28
19 University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, Research on the Economic Impact of Cooperatives,
https://reic.uwcc.wisc.edu/electric/ (last visited Mar. 19, 2023).
20
Id.
21 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, History, https://www.electric.coop/our-organization/history (last visited Mar. 19,
2023).
22 United States Department of Agriculture, Celeb rating the 80th Anniversary of the Rural Electrification Administration , Feb. 21, 2017,
https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2016/05/20/celebrating-80th-anniversary-rural-electrification-administration (last visited Mar.19,
2023).
23 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, History, supra note 21.
24 University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives, supra note 19.
25 Celeb rating the 80th Anniversary of the Rural Electrification Administration, supra note 22.
26 University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives , supra note 19.
27 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association,