Scandal-Struck Governor Signs Missouri Small-Cells, Revenge Porn Bills
Resigning Gov. Eric Greitens (R) signed a Missouri small-cells bill that would pre-empt local governments on right of way to streamline 5G infrastructure deployment. On his last day and amid a scandal over sexual assault allegations, Greitens Friday signed the small-cells item and 76 others, including a bill to combat one offense Greitens was alleged to have committed. Local government representatives said a two-year sunset unique to the Missouri small-cells bill (HB-1991) may be good and bad. Missouri is the 19th state to enact a small-cells bill, and some expect three more states to advance legislation this year.
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Missouri small-cells rules take effect Jan. 1 and “shall expire on January 1, 2021, except that for small wireless facilities already permitted or collocated on authority poles prior to such date, the rate set forth in section 67.5116 for collocation of small wireless facilities on authority poles shall remain effective for the duration of the permit authorizing the collocation.” The state law will require cost-based application fees capped at $100 per facility and $500 for total application fees for installation, modification or replacement of a utility pole and collocation of an associated small-cell facility. It caps collocation rates at $150 annually per pole. It bars moratoriums on accepting applications except temporarily in federal- or state-declared natural disasters or for a maximum 30 days in a protracted staffing shortage.
“The law challenges the industry to make good on their claims that time is of the essence by setting a shot clock on the expedited permitting at reduced costs mandate it provides to incent deployment,” emailed Best Best’s Gerard Lederer, a telecom attorney for local governments. “Hopefully such a sunset will be a component of any future small cell bills,” Lederer said. While disappointed another state denied its local governments the ability to preserve the integrity of their neighborhoods, the Missouri Municipal League (MML) improved the measure’s treatment of rental rates, permit fees and insurance requirements, he said.
The two-year sunset may be a “double-edged sword,” cautioned MML Deputy Director Richard Sheets, saying the cable industry asked for the expiration date. “On one side, cities will be able to try to tweak any provision of HB 1991 that [is] presenting problems,” he emailed. “However, the wireless providers and the cable industry may also come back and try to get more authority over the public rights of way and to broaden the scope of the law.” The league is “preparing a sample small cell ordinance for cities to use in preparing their local ordinance,” and plans to explain the law this September at its annual conference in Branson, Missouri, he said.
CTIA applauded the signing. “This legislation will ensure Missourians are 5G ready and prepared to receive the economic and civic benefits that the next-generation of wireless promises to bring to communities small and large,” said CTIA Senior Vice President-State Affairs Jamie Hastings. The wireless industry plans to invest $400 million to deploy 5G in Kansas City, said Hastings, citing an Accenture report. The Missouri Cable Telecommunications Association declined to comment.
The governor also signed a revenge porn bill that makes “nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images” in Missouri a class D felony, and threatening to distribute a class E felony, said a summary of HB-1558. Greitens earlier denied blackmail allegations while admitting to an extramarital affair after a local investigation into possible sexual misconduct. Former Lt. Gov. Mike Parsons (R) is now Missouri's governor.
Small-Cells Bills
Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) has until July 10 to sign a small-cells bill that passed the legislature May 1, and it would become law without signature or veto, under Hawaii rules. Michigan and Pennsylvania legislation could still be passed this year, with other states not likely advancing measures until next year, wireless industry officials said at last month’s WIA conference (see 1805240059).
Localities expect Michigan’s small-cells bill to move before year-end, a Michigan Municipal League spokesman said Monday. Last week at the first House hearing of the Senate-passed SB-637, Energy Committee Chairman Gary Glenn (R) pledged at least one more hearing in September at the earliest, the league spokesman said.
The Michigan legislation “would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on both the state and local units of government,” said a May 29 House Fiscal Agency analysis. “The bill would increase costs by creating regulatory functions for authorities” related “to wireless providers,” it said. “It is unclear what the magnitude of the increased costs will be, and whether the rent fees and application fees that authorities could charge would be sufficient to cover costs.”