HB0019 • 2020

Municipal right-of-way franchise fees.

AN ACT relating to cities and towns; authorizing franchise fee agreements for access to public rights-of-way; providing limitations on franchise fee agreements as specified; providing exceptions; and providing for an effective date.

Elections Taxes

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Corporations
Last action: 2020-03-13
Official status: enrolled
Effective date: 7/1/2020

Plain English Breakdown

The summary does not specify which state this legislation applies to, but based on context clues from the bill's metadata, it appears to be a Wyoming-specific law. However, the official text does not explicitly mention this.

Municipal Right-of-Way Franchise Fees

This law allows cities and towns to make agreements with communication companies for using public spaces, sets rules about fees, and provides exceptions.

What This Bill Does

Allows cities and towns to create agreements with communication companies for access to public areas like streets.
Requires that any agreement be fair, not favor one company over another, follow federal and state laws, and help provide services to people.
Limits the fees a city or town can charge on internet service but allows passing other fees onto customers.
Says that if a fee is charged for phone services, no extra fees can be added for other communication services.
Gives rules about how long it takes to make these agreements and what information companies must provide.

Who It Names or Affects

Cities and towns
Communication companies

Terms To Know

Franchise agreement: A contract between a city or town and a communication company that allows the company to use public spaces.
Public rights-of-way: Areas like streets, sidewalks, and alleys that are open for everyone's use.

Limits and Unknowns

The law does not specify what happens if a company breaks the rules in their agreement.
It only applies to communication companies and does not cover other types of businesses.
Some parts of the law might be changed by future laws or court decisions.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HB0019SS001

Standing Committee • Senate Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivi

Adopted

Plain English: The amendment changes the language in the bill to allow governing bodies to assess a franchise fee on gross revenues from cable services provided by holders of cable franchises, excluding certain taxes and fees passed through to government agencies.

Replaces 'communications company with' with 'holder of' and removes 'television'.
Adds new language allowing governing bodies to impose franchise fees based on gross revenues for cable service providers, as long as federal law is followed.
Specifies that certain taxes and fees collected from subscribers are not included in the calculation of gross revenues.

The amendment's text does not fully explain all potential impacts or limitations of these changes on existing laws or practices.

Bill History

2020-03-13 LSO
Assigned Chapter Number 85
2020-03-13 Governor
Governor Signed HEA No. 0047
2020-03-10 Senate
S President Signed HEA No. 0047
2020-03-10 House
H Speaker Signed HEA No. 0047
2020-03-09 LSO
Assigned Number HEA No. 0047
2020-03-09 House
H Concur:Passed 58-0-2-0-0
2020-03-06 House
H Received for Concurrence
2020-03-06 Senate
S 3rd Reading:Passed 28-0-2-0-0
2020-03-05 Senate
S 2nd Reading:Passed
2020-03-04 Senate
S COW:Passed
2020-03-03 Senate
S Placed on General File
2020-03-03 Senate
S07 - Corporations:Recommend Amend and Do Pass 5-0-0-0-0
2020-02-24 Senate
S Introduced and Referred to S07 - Corporations
2020-02-14 Senate
S Received for Introduction
2020-02-14 House
H 3rd Reading:Passed 59-1-0-0-0
2020-02-13 House
H 2nd Reading:Passed
2020-02-12 House
H COW:Passed
2020-02-11 House
H Placed on General File
2020-02-11 House
H07 - Corporations:Recommend Do Pass 9-0-0-0-0
2020-02-10 House
H Introduced and Referred to H07 - Corporations 59-0-1-0-0
2020-02-07 House
H Received for Introduction
2019-12-11 LSO
Bill Number Assigned

Official Summary Text

Bill Summary - 20LSO-0010
Bill No.:

HB0019

Effective:

7/1/2020 12:00:00 AM

LSO No.:

20LSO-0010

Enrolled Act No.:

HEA No. 0047

Chapter No.:

Prime Sponsor:

Joint Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Interim Committee

Catch Title:

Municipal right-of-way franchise fees.

Subject:

Franchise fee agreements for access to municipal rights-of-way

Summary/Major Elements:

The bill elaborates on the authority of cities or towns to enter into franchise agreements with communications companies for access to public rights-of-way.

The bill provides an exception for cable franchises, which are governed by federal law.

The bill requires that all communications companies franchise agreements comport with federal and state law, be fair and reasonable, competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory and reasonably encourage and not impair or inhibit the deployment of communications services.

The bill includes a limitation that if a franchise fee is assessed on local exchange services the city or town shall not assess additional fees on other communications services.

The bill allows franchise fees on noncable communications companies to be passed through to customers, prohibits franchise fees on internet access service and provides limitations on franchise agreement negotiations.

The bill also allows for existing franchises to continue until termination.
The above summary is not an official publication of the Wyoming Legislature and is not an official statement of legislative intent. While the Legislative Service Office endeavored to provide accurate information in this summary, it should not be relied upon as a comprehensive abstract of the bill.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

20LSO-0010

ORIGINAL House

ENGROSSED
Bill No
.
HB0019

ENROLLED ACT NO. 47,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SIXTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2020 Budget Session

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S. 15
‑
1
‑
131 is created to read:

15
‑
1
‑
131.

Communications companies franchise agreements authorized; limitations; procedure; exceptions.

(a)

The governing body of a city or town may enter into a franchise agreement with a communications company, as defined by W.S. 1
‑
26
‑
813(b), for access to its public rights
‑
of
‑
way if the governing body deems the franchise agreement to be proper and the agreement meets the requirements of this section.

(b)

All franchise agreements entered into by a governing body with a communications company under this section or with a cable company pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 541 et seq. shall:

(i)

Be fair and reasonable;

(ii)

Be competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory;

(iii)

Comply with all requirements of applicable federal and state laws and ordinance;

(iv)

Not unreasonably impair or inhibit the deployment of communications services;

(v)

To the extent practical encourage the deployment of communications services to serve consumers.

(c)

Franchise fees assessed under a franchise agreement entered into pursuant to this section shall:

(i)

Be passed through to customers unless otherwise agreed;

(ii)

Not be assessed on revenues from internet access service.

(d)

A communications company assessed a franchise fee on local exchange services by a governing body may not be assessed any additional franchise fees by that governing body, including an assessment on any other communications services.

(e)

A communications company proposing to enter into a franchise agreement shall provide to the governing body of the city or town a request for negotiations. Negotiations between the governing body and a proposed franchisee shall not exceed one hundred eighty (180) days unless agreed to by the parties in writing. A request made under this subsection shall include, at a minimum, the date of the request for negotiations, the proposed date for the start of negotiations, the date by which negotiations shall terminate and the contact information for the proposed franchisee.

(f)

Any holder of a cable franchise pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 541 et seq. shall be exempt from subsections (a), (c) and (e) of this section. Subject to federal law and the provisions of this subsection, a governing body may assess a franchise fee on gross revenues as determined in accordance
with generally accepted accounting principles for the provision of cable service over a cable system operated by a holder of a cable franchise pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 541 et seq. As used in this subsection, "gross revenues" shall not include any taxes, fees or assessments collected by a holder of a cable franchise from subscribers that are passed through to a government agency, including the user fee assessed by the federal communications commission, franchise fees, sales taxes and utility taxes. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit or alter any decision by a governing body to not impose the franchise fee authorized by this section or any decision by a governing body to enter into an agreement with a holder of a cable franchise to impose a franchise fee on only a portion of the gross revenues from the provision of cable service subject to franchise fees under federal law and the provisions of this subsection.

Section 2
.

W.S. 15
‑
1
‑
103(a)(xxxiii)(intro) is amended to read:

15
‑
1
‑
103.

General powers of governing bodies.

(a)

The governing bodies of all cities and towns may:

(xxxiii)

Grant franchises for such terms as the governing body deems proper to any utility company,
and, for communication companies, in accordance with W.S. 15
‑
1
‑
131,
provided no franchise may be entered into with any person in which that person is given an exclusive right for any purpose whatsoever and:

Section 3.

Any existing franchises on the effective date of this act may continue until termination.

Section 4.

This act is effective July 1, 2020.

(END)

Speaker of the House

President of the Senate

Governor

TIME APPROVED: _________

DATE APPROVED: _________

I hereby certify that this act originated in the House.

Chief Clerk