Georgia Senate Passes Small-Cells Bill
Georgia senators voted 38-14 Tuesday to pass a small-cells bill. HB-887 started the session as a municipal broadband bill for rural areas but passed the Senate as a bill to streamline deployment of wireless broadband in local rights of way…
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(ROWs) by pre-empting local governments. It goes back to the House for concurrence. Like the Senate version, SB-426, it allows “for a proliferation of new poles being installed by each wireless telecommunications provider, does not require collocation on existing utility poles and limits local control to either deny applications for new poles or to negotiate with providers on the placement of new poles,” the Georgia Municipal Association said in a Wednesday update to members. Localities supported some amendments passed Tuesday, including to increase the annual ROW fee to $125 from $25, protect historic districts and exempt 52 cities that are electric providers, it said. But senators rejected an amendment that would have given localities more control over new pole placement and collocations based on location and aesthetics, so “GMA concerns over a virtual picket fence of poles in the public rights-of-way remain unaddressed,” the municipal association said. The Tennessee House passed a small-cells bill Monday (see 1803270032).