Texas Municipal League 2005 Legislative Program

1
Texas Municipal League 2005 Legislative Program

• By Snapper Carr, Legislative Counsel
• 1821 Rutherford Lane, Ste. 400
• Austin, TX 78754
• 512-231-7400
• snapper_at_tml.org

2
TML Legislative Positions

• Oppose
• Seek Introduction and Passage
• League will attempt to find a sponsor, provide
  testimony, and otherwise actively pursue passage.
• Support
• League will actively attempt to obtain passage of
  the initiative if it is introduced by some other
  entity.
• Endorse
• League will make its support known but will not
  actively pursue passage.

3
Seek Introduction and Passage of legislation that
would

• Clarify that the PUCs jurisdiction is limited to
  ratemaking ordinances and not police power and
  zoning ordinances.

4
Seek Introduction and Passage of legislation that
would

• Clarify that, pursuant to a city construction
  project, all utilities that are located in the
  rights-of-way must relocate at their cost when
  requested, consistent with historic case law and
  city franchises and impose financial penalties
  on utilities that fail to relocate in a timely
  manner.

5
Support legislation that would

• Require the PUC to adopt a rule governing
  authorized review to verify access line counts
  and to do so by a date certain, or require
  telecommunications providers to submit to an
  independent, verifiable audit of access lines.

6
Support legislation that would

• Revise the definition of access line to ensure
  that cities receive adequate and consistent
  compensation when new services are offered by
  telecommunications providers.

7
Support legislation that would

• Convert the telecommunications compensation
  methodology from one based on access lines to one
  based on collection of telecommunications sales
  taxes only if
• The bill will preserve or increase the levels of
  reasonable compensation that all cities receive
• The sales tax methodology is simpler to implement
  and use than the access line methodology
• The state will not have any authority to convert
  any portion of the compensation to its own use
• The state comptroller will act as an aid, rather
  than a regulator
• The bill is supported by, or at least not opposed
  by, SBC, Verizon, ATT, Sprint, and MCI and
• The bill would not result in the imposition of a
  federal law that negates the effect of any of the
  above items.

8
Support legislation that would

• Maintain telecommunications discounts for Texas
  libraries and schools to ensure the continuation
  of high speed information access in libraries
  across the state.

9
Endorse legislation that would

• Repeal or modify 54.202 of the Utilities Code
  to allow cities to provide telecommunications
  services either on an equal footing with private
  providers or under more restrictive circumstances.

10
Endorse legislation that would

• Protect against the development of market power
  within functional markets in the ERCOT service
  area by, for example, amending the Utilities Code
  to prohibit the ownership by any power generation
  company of more than 20 of the installed
  generation capacity within any ERCOT zonal
  boundaries as created by ERCOT during its annual
  commercially significant constraints
  determination process.

11
Endorse legislation that would

• Allows cities, at their discretion, to set up an
  opt-out aggregation group, meaning that
  residents will all be included in the aggregation
  group unless a resident opts not to participate.

12
Endorse legislation that would

• Amend the Utilities Code to permit the PUC to
  levy penalties against transmission and
  distribution service providers and/or retail
  electric providers that fail to timely submit
  customer switch requests and issue initial bills.

13
Endorse legislation that would

• Amend the Utilities Code to permit cities to
  annually adjust the franchise charge amount
  collected pursuant to 33.008(b) of the
  Utilities Code by an amount equal to ½ of the
  annual change, if any, in the consumer price
  index.

14
Endorse legislation that would

• Require transmission and distribution service
  providers to read meters at least once every
  three billing cycles.

15
Oppose legislation that would

• Erode municipal authority over the rights-of-way
  or erode municipal authority to collect
  reasonable compensation for the use of
  rights-of-way.

16
Oppose legislation that would

• Convert the telecommunications compensation
  methodology from one based on access lines to one
  based on collection of telecommunications sales
  taxes if any of the following are not satisfied
• The bill will preserve or increase the levels of
  reasonable compensation that all cities receive
• The sales tax methodology is simpler to implement
  and use than the access line methodology
• The state will not have any authority to convert
  any portion of the compensation to its own use
• The state comptroller will act as an aid, rather
  than a regulator
• The bill is supported by, or at least not opposed
  by, SBC, Verizon, ATT, Sprint, and MCI and
• The bill would not result in the imposition of a
  federal law that negates the effect of any of the
  above items.

17
Oppose legislation that would

• With regard to the PUC sunset legislation, erode
  any municipal authority or revenue sources, place
  a mandate on cities, or be otherwise detrimental
  to cities in any way.

18
Questions