Chapter 309
2017 -- H 5224 SUBSTITUTE B AS AMENDED
Enacted 09/27/2017

A N   A C T
RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS - SMALL CELL SITING ACT

Introduced By: Representatives Ucci, Winfield, McKiernan, and Fogarty
Date Introduced: January 26, 2017

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
     SECTION 1. Legislative Findings. Because of the integral role that technology plays in
economic development and the vitality of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
and in the lives of its citizens, the general assembly has determined that a law addressing the
deployment of wireless technology is of vital interest to the state. Rhode Island is one of the
foremost states with broadband coverage and capability and must continue to lead in the
advancement of new technology. Small wireless facilities are critical to delivering wireless access
to advanced technology, broadband and 911 services to homes, businesses, and schools in the
state. To ensure that the state and those who live and work here continue to benefit from these
advanced services as soon as possible and to ensure that providers of wireless services have a fair
and predictable process for the deployment of small wireless facilities, the general assembly
enacts this "Rhode Island Small Cell Siting Act", which specifies how local authorities may
regulate the collocation of small wireless facilities and small wireless facility networks.
     SECTION 2. Title 39 of the General Laws entitled "PUBLIC UTILITIES AND
CARRIERS" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter:
CHAPTER 32
RHODE ISLAND SMALL CELL SITING ACT
     39-32-1. Definitions.
     As used in this chapter:
     (1) "Authority"' means a city, town, or any other state or municipal government
subdivision, agency, or entity that is authorized by law to regulate or control the use of the public
rights-of-way or the construction or installation of poles or wireless facilities or that owns or
controls property suitable for collocating small wireless facilities. The term does not include the
state courts.
     (2) "Authority pole" means a pole owned or controlled by an authority and includes
metal, composite, concrete, or wood poles, as well as decorative poles.
     (3) "Authority structure" means a building, water tower, or other structure owned or
controlled by an authority, but not an authority pole.
     (4) "Collocate" means to install, mount, maintain, modify, operate, or replace wireless
facilities on a pole, including an authority pole, or on a building, water tower, or other structure,
including an authority structure. "Collocation" has a corresponding meaning.
     (5) "Communications service provider" means a cable operator, as defined in 47 U.S.C.
§522(5); a provider of information service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. §153(24); a
telecommunications carrier, as defined in 47 U.S.C. §153(51); or a wireless service provider.
     (6) "Person" means an individual, corporation, limited-liability company, partnership,
association, trust, or other entity or organization, including an authority.
     (7) "Pole" means a utility pole, light pole, light standard, or similar structure that is used,
in whole or in part, for telephone service, wireless service, cable television service, information
service, electric service, lighting, traffic control, signage, or similar function.
     (8) "Small wireless facility" means a wireless facility with an antenna of no more than six
(6) cubic feet in volume and associated equipment with a cumulative volume no larger than
twenty-eight (28) cubic feet. The following types of associated equipment may be located outside
the primary enclosure and are not included in the calculation of equipment volume: electric
meter, concealment, telecommunications demarcation box, ground-based enclosures, backup
power system, grounding equipment, power transfer switch, cut-off switch, and cable and conduit
runs for the connection of power and other services. Equipment that is concealed from public
view within or behind an existing structure or concealment is not included in the volume
calculations.
     (9) "Wireless facilities" means equipment at a fixed location that enables wireless
communications between user equipment and a communications network, including, but not
limited to:
     (i) Equipment associated with wireless services, such as private, broadcast, and public
safety services, as well as unlicensed wireless services and fixed wireless services, such as
microwave backhaul; and
     (ii) Radio transceivers, antennas, coaxial or fiber-optic cable, regular and backup power
supplies, and comparable equipment, regardless of technological configuration. The term
"wireless facilities" includes small wireless facilities but does not include the structure or
improvements on, under, or within which the equipment is collocated; wireline backhaul
facilities; coaxial or fiber-optic cable that is between wireless support structures or poles; or
coaxial or fiber optic cable that is otherwise not immediately adjacent to, or directly associated
with, an antenna.
     (10) "Wireless service" means any services using licensed or unlicensed wireless
spectrum, whether at a fixed location or mobile, provided using wireless facilities.
     (11) "Wireless service provider" means a person who provides wireless service as well as
a person who builds, installs, or maintains wireless communications transmission equipment,
wireless facilities or wireless support structures.
     39-32-2. Regulation of small wireless facilities.
     (a) A wireless service provider authorized to do business in this state or a contractor
acting on its behalf may collocate small wireless facilities within, along, across, upon, and under
any public right-of-way in this state, including state highways and freeways, and may construct
conduit, cables, and facilities between such small wireless facility and other equipment or
services located on or adjacent to the supporting pole or other structure, subject to the provisions
of this chapter.
     (b) Except as provided in this chapter, an authority shall not prohibit, regulate, or charge
for the collocation of small wireless facilities.
     (c) Small wireless facilities shall be classified as permitted uses in all zoning districts and
shall not be subject to zoning review or approval.
     (d) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize a person to collocate a small
wireless facility on a privately owned pole, structure, or other private property without the
consent of the property owner.
     (e) All agreements between authorities and wireless service providers that are in effect on
the effective date of this chapter and that relate to the collocation of small wireless facilities in the
public right-of-way or on authority poles or structures shall remain in effect, subject to any
termination provisions in such agreements. Notwithstanding the foregoing, at the election of a
wireless service provider, the rates, fees, terms, and conditions established pursuant to this
chapter shall apply to small wireless facilities that are the subject of an application submitted after
the effective date of this chapter.
     39-32-3. Collocation of small wireless facilities on authority poles and authority
structures.
     An authority may require a person to obtain a building, electrical, or a public right-of-
way use or work permit to collocate small wireless facilities on authority poles or authority
structures, provided such permits are of general applicability and do not apply exclusively to
wireless facilities. An authority may not require a permit, other than a public right-of-way work
permit, for routine maintenance on a previously-approved small wireless facility or to replace a
small wireless facility with a facility of substantially similar or smaller size and weight. An
authority shall accept an application for, process, and issue a permit allowed under this chapter as
follows:
     (1) An authority shall receive applications for, and process and issue permits for,
collocating small wireless facilities on a nondiscriminatory basis and in substantially the same
manner as the permitting of other applicants within the jurisdiction of the authority. An applicant
for a collocation permit shall not be required to provide more information to obtain a permit than
communications service providers that are not wireless providers. If consistent with the preceding
sentence, an authority may require an application to include information sufficient to determine
whether the collocation meets applicable building or electrical codes or, if applicable, standards
for construction in the right-of-way, provided such codes and standards are of general
applicability.
      (2) An authority may charge a fee to process an application to collocate a small wireless
facility. The fee shall be no greater than the reasonable, direct and actual costs incurred by the
authority to process the application, excluding any fees for review of an application charged by
third parties on a contingency basis or a result-based arrangement, and further excluding any
costs already recovered by existing fees, rates, or taxes paid by a wireless provider. The
application processing fee shall be no greater than the application processing fee, if any, charged
by the authority to persons seeking to place a pole in the public way. Except as provided in §39-
32-5, an applicant shall not be required to pay any additional fees or charges, or perform or
provide any services not directly related to the collocation, in order to collocate small wireless
facilities.
     (3) At its discretion, an applicant shall be allowed to file a consolidated application and
receive a single permit to collocate small wireless facilities at multiple locations within the
jurisdiction of the authority.
     (4) An authority may not institute a moratorium on filing, receiving, or processing
applications or issuing permits or approvals for the collocation of small wireless facilities.
     (5) All permits regarding the collocation of small wireless facilities shall be of unlimited
duration but initial construction shall be completed within one hundred eighty (180) days after the
permit issuance date, unless the authority and wireless provider agree to extend this period or a
delay is caused by a lack of commercial power at the site.
     (6) Notwithstanding the provisions of §39-32-2(c), a permit for a collocation within an
historic district as defined in §45-24.1-1.1 shall be subject to historic district commission review
and approval, in accordance with standards to be adopted by regulation or rule. Such standards
may include that a collocation meet reasonable design, context, color, and stealth and
concealment requirements and make reasonable accommodation for location within the district.
The historic district commission may waive one or more standards upon a showing that the
standard(s) are not reasonably compatible with the particular location of a small wireless facility,
or that the standard(s) impose an excessive expense. The waiver shall be granted or denied within
forty-five (45) days after the date of the request for waiver.
     (7) A permit may require a collocation on an authority pole that is a decorative pole to
meet objective design standards, including that a collocation meet reasonable location, context,
color, and stealth and concealment requirements. Such standards shall be adopted by ordinance,
regulation or rule. An authority may waive one or more standards upon a showing that the
standard(s) are not reasonably compatible with the particular location of a small wireless facility,
or that the standard(s) impose an excessive expense. The waiver shall be granted or denied within
forty-five (45) days after the date of the request.
     39-32-4. Action on permit applications.
     (a) An authority shall approve an application for a permit under this chapter unless the
collocation does not meet applicable building or electrical codes or, if applicable, standards for
construction in the right-of-way, provided such codes and standards are of general applicability.
The authority must document the basis for any denial, including the specific code provisions or
standards on which the denial was based, and send the documentation to the applicant on or
before the day the authority denies an application. The applicant may cure the deficiencies
identified by the authority and resubmit the application within thirty (30) days of the denial
without paying an additional processing fee. The authority shall approve or deny the revised
application within thirty (30) days. Any subsequent denial shall be limited to the deficiencies
cited in the original denial. Where one or more locations addressed in a consolidated application
do not meet the criteria of this section, the authority shall allow the application as to all other
locations.
     (b) An application shall be deemed approved if the authority fails to approve or deny the
application within sixty (60) days of submission. If the authority notifies the applicant within
fourteen (14) days after the initial submission that the application is incomplete and reasonably
identifies at that time the information that is lacking, the time period stated above shall be tolled
during the time it takes the applicant to respond. No other request for additional information shall
toll such time periods.
     (c) A person whose application or revised application is denied by an authority may
appeal to the superior court within thirty (30) days of the denial. The superior court shall have
jurisdiction to determine all disputes arising under this chapter.
     39-32-5. Additional terms for collocation on authority poles and structures.
     (a) Within six (6) months of receiving its first request to collocate small wireless facilities
on authority poles located within the public rights-of-way, but in no event later than April 1,
2018, an authority shall establish, by ordinance, regulation, or rule, nondiscriminatory,
competitively neutral and commercially reasonable rates, terms, and conditions for such
collocation that are consistent with the provisions of this chapter. Aside from the application
processing fee allowed under §39-32-3, an authority shall not charge on an annual recurring basis
more for such a collocation than one hundred and fifty dollars ($150.00) ($150) or the rate
produced by applying the formula adopted by the Federal Communications Commission for
telecommunications attachments under 47 U.S.C. §224(e). Such fee limitation shall not apply to
authority structures.
     (b) An authority shall authorize the collocation of small wireless facilities on authority
poles not located within the public rights-of-way and on authority structures to the same extent
the authority permits access to such poles and structures for other commercial projects or uses,
and may authorize such collocation if the authority has not previously permitted such access.
Such collocation shall be subject to reasonable and nondiscriminatory rates, terms, and conditions
as provided by ordinance or in one or more agreements between the wireless provider and the
authority. An authority may not charge on an annual recurring basis more for such a collocation
than the amount charged for similar commercial projects or uses to occupy or use the same
amount of space on similarly situated property.
     39-32-6. Collocation of small wireless facilities on private poles and structures.
     (a) An authority may not prohibit, regulate, or charge for the collocation of small wireless
facilities on poles or structures other than authority poles and authority structures.
     (b) A wireless service provider may install poles in the public rights-of-way in order to
collocate small wireless facilities, subject to request and authority approval. An authority shall
receive, process, and approve such requests on a non-discriminatory nondiscriminatory basis
and in substantially the same manner and on substantially the same terms and conditions as the
authority applies to similar requests by other persons seeking to place poles in the public ways.
     SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC000479/SUB B
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