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S4460
SENATE, No. 4460
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED JUNE 15, 2026
Sponsored by:
Senator� ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
���� �Smart Planning Wireless and Water Public Utility
Facilities Act�; incentivizes placement of wireless communications equipment on
water public utility towers.�
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
concerning certain water public utility towers
and wireless communications equipment, supplementing Title 48 of the Revised
Statutes, and amending R.S.48:19-18.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.���
(New
section)� This act shall be known and may be cited as the �Smart Planning
Wireless and Water Public Utility Facilities Act.�
���� 2.��� (New section)� The Legislature
finds and declares that:
���� a.���� It is necessary to
ensure that the people of New Jersey are able to benefit from new and advanced
wireless communications technologies and services as soon as possible by
ensuring that wireless communications service providers have non-discriminatory
access to available space on water towers owned by New Jersey water public
utilities; and
���� b.��� Legislation to promote
the placement of wireless communications equipment on water towers, by
permitting a sharing of revenues between the water public utility�s ratepayers
and the water public utility�s investors, would provide a benefit to these
ratepayers and investors.
���� 3.��� (New section)� As used
in P.L.��� , c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
���� �Water public utility� means
any investor-owned water company regulated by the Board of Public Utilities
pursuant to R.S.48:2-13 and organized under the laws of this State for the
purpose of transporting and providing water to an end user within this State.
���� �Water tower� means a tower,
tank, or standpipe serving as a reservoir to deliver water sufficient to
maintain a desired pressure.
���� �Wireless communications
equipment� means the set of equipment and network components used in the
provision of wireless communications services.
���� �Wireless communications
service provider� means any provider of wireless communications services.
���� �Wireless communications
services� means the offering of any wireless communications service authorized
by the Federal Communications Commission.
���� 4.��� (New section)� a.� A
water public utility shall provide a wireless communications service provider with
non-discriminatory access to any water tower owned or controlled by the water
public utility for the installation of wireless communications equipment.
���� b.��� Notwithstanding the
provisions of subsection a. of this section, and consistent with federal law, a
water public utility may deny a wireless communications service provider access
to its water tower, on a non-discriminatory basis, where there is insufficient space
and for reasons of safety and structural integrity of the water tower based on
generally accepted engineering principles.
���� 5.��� R.S.48:19-18 is amended
to read as follows:
����
48:19-18.���
Each water company organized under the laws of this State may sell and
dispose of the water issuing from its reservoirs, aqueducts or pipes for such
rates and pursuant to such terms and conditions as are in accordance with its
approved tariffs on file with the Board of Public Utilities, provided, however,
as follows:
����
No tariff shall be approved that provides for or
allows the imposition of any standby fees or charges for any fire protection
system to a residential customer served by a water service line of two inches
or less in diameter. No tariff shall be approved that provides for or allows
the imposition of any fees in excess of the cost of water actually used for any
sprinkler system required to be installed in any residential health care
facility pursuant to the "Health Care Facilities Planning Act,"
P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.) and regulations promulgated
thereunder or in any rooming or boarding house pursuant to the "Rooming
and Boarding House Act of 1979," P.L.1979, c.496 (C.55:13B-1 et al.) and
regulations promulgated thereunder. Nothing herein shall preclude any water
company from charging for the actual cost of water main connection.
����
Nothing in this section shall preclude a water company
from requiring separate dedicated service lines for fire protection. The water
company may require that fire service lines be metered. Nothing in this section
shall alter the liability for maintenance and repair of service lines which
exists on the effective date of P.L.2003, c.278.
����
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, in
approving the tariff of a water company that is a water public utility as
defined in section 3 of
P.L.��� , c.���
(C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill)
,
the board shall consider as
above-the-line income an amount equal to 50 percent of any rental income
received by a water company for the leasing of space on a water tower to a
wireless communications service provider, pursuant to section 4 of
P.L.��� , c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the
Legislature as this bill)
.� The remainder of that rental income shall be
considered below-the-line income.
(cf: P.L.2003, c.278, s.8)
���� 6.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill allows a water
public utility, as that term is defined in the bill, to provide a wireless
communications service provider with non-discriminatory access to any water
tower owned or controlled by the water public utility for the installation of
wireless communications equipment.� Consistent with federal law, a water public
utility may deny a wireless communications service provider access to its water
tower, on a non-discriminatory basis, where there is insufficient space and for
reasons of safety and structural integrity of the water tower based on
generally accepted engineering principles.
���� The bill provides that, in
approving a water public utility�s tariff, the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is
to consider 50 percent of any rental income received by the water public
utility for the leasing of space on its water tower to a wireless
communications service provider as �above the line income.� The BPU is to
consider the remainder of that rental income as �below the line income.�