Florida Senate - 2024                                    SB 1218
       
       
        
       By Senator Burgess
       
       
       
       
       
       23-01030A-24                                          20241218__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to broadband; amending s. 288.9963,
    3         F.S.; deleting obsolete language; making technical
    4         changes; extending the date through which a
    5         promotional rate and related terms for certain
    6         wireline attachments of broadband facilities to
    7         municipal electric utility poles are effective;
    8         providing an effective date.
    9          
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Subsection (3) of section 288.9963, Florida
   13  Statutes, is amended to read:
   14         288.9963 Attachment of broadband facilities to municipal
   15  electric utility poles.—
   16         (3) Beginning July 1, 2021, A broadband provider shall
   17  receive a promotional rate of $1 per wireline attachment per
   18  pole per year for any new attachment necessary to make broadband
   19  service available to an unserved or underserved end user within
   20  a municipal electric utility service territory for the time
   21  period specified in this subsection.
   22         (a) A broadband provider that who wishes to make wireline
   23  attachments subject to the promotional rate shall submit an
   24  application, including a route map, to the municipal electric
   25  utility specifying which wireline attachments on which utility
   26  poles are necessary to extend broadband service to unserved and
   27  underserved end users and therefore qualify for the promotional
   28  rate set forth in this subsection, together with such
   29  information necessary to identify which unserved or underserved
   30  end users within the municipal electric utility’s service
   31  territory will gain access to broadband service as a result. The
   32  broadband provider shall also submit a copy of the application
   33  and plan shall also be submitted simultaneously to the office.
   34         (b) A municipal electric utility shall report to the office
   35  which attachments on which utility poles were made available to
   36  broadband providers subject to the promotional rate, together
   37  with any information available to it regarding which of its
   38  municipal electric utility customers do and do not have access
   39  to broadband service and whether they are unserved or
   40  underserved.
   41         (c) A broadband provider that who makes application for
   42  wireline attachments under the promotional rate shall make all
   43  reasonable efforts to make broadband service available to the
   44  unserved or underserved municipal electric utility customers
   45  identified in the application. If a broadband provider fails to
   46  make broadband service available to those customers within 12
   47  months, it may be required to pay the prevailing rate for those
   48  attachments that failed to make broadband service available to
   49  the intended customers.
   50         (d) Except as provided in this section, wireline
   51  attachments which are subject to the promotional rate must
   52  conform to all other terms and conditions of existing pole
   53  attachment agreements between the broadband provider and the
   54  municipal electric utility. If an no agreement does not exist
   55  exists, the parties shall have 90 days to enter into a pole
   56  attachment agreement for all other terms and conditions of
   57  attachment.
   58         (e) The promotional rate of $1 per wireline attachment per
   59  pole per year applies to all pole attachments made pursuant to
   60  this subsection until December 31, 2028 July 1, 2024.
   61         Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.