Bill Text: NJ A641 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Directs BPU to allow broadband telecommunications service providers to use poles belonging to public utilities or CATV companies in certain instances.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-09-08 - Reported out of Assembly Comm. with Amendments, 2nd Reading [A641 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-A641-Amended.html
ASSEMBLY, No. 641
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
217th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2016 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman MICHAEL PATRICK CARROLL
District 25 (Morris and Somerset)
Assemblywoman GAIL PHOEBUS
District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)
SYNOPSIS
Directs BPU to allow broadband telecommunications service providers to use poles belonging to public utilities or CATV companies in certain instances.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As reported by the Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee on September 8, 2016, with amendments.
An Act concerning certain broadband telecommunications service providers and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Bit" means the smallest unit of computerized binary data.
1"Board" means the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities or any successor agency.1
"Broadband telecommunications infrastructure" shall have the same meaning as provided in section 1 of P.L.2007, c.191 (C.40:9D-1).
"Broadband telecommunications service" means any telecommunications service using broadband telecommunications infrastructure for the purpose of offering high speed, switched, broadband wireline or wireless telecommunications capability that enables users to originate and receive high-quality voice, data, graphics, or video telecommunications through the Internet and using any technology and with a data transfer speed of at least one gigabit per second.
"Broadband telecommunications service provider" means a person, company, corporation, unincorporated association, partnership, or professional corporation 1[offering] which is certified by the board to offer1 broadband telecommunications service directly to the public, or to classes of users as to be effectively available directly to the public, regardless of the facilities used.
"Cable television company" 1or CATV company1 shall have the same meaning as provided in section 3 of P.L.1972, c.186 (C.48:5A-3).
"Gigabit per second" means a computerized binary data transfer capacity over a computer network equal to one billion bits per second.
1"Public utility" shall have the same meaning as provided in R.S.48:2-13 and shall include a county or municipally-owned utility or a rural electric cooperative.1
2. a. Notwithstanding any
law, rule, regulation, or order to the contrary, the board shall permit 1[any] a1
broadband telecommunications service provider to install broadband
telecommunications infrastructure on any pole or post located on or
over any highway or any right-of-way, belonging to a public utility or CATV company, and shall prescribe reasonable compensation 1, as determined upon the board's review of industry standards,1 and reasonable terms and conditions for the joint use of the pole or post, provided that the joint use shall not result in injury to the owner or other users of the pole or post, right-of-way, or any substantial detriment to the owner's or other users' services.
b. A broadband telecommunications service provider using a public utility or CATV company pole or post pursuant to subsection a. of this section shall be liable to the owner or other users of the pole or post for damage to the property of the pole or post's owner or other users that may result from the installation of the broadband telecommunications infrastructure.
3. This act shall take effect on the 60th day after the date of enactment.
