130th Ohio General Assembly
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Am. Sub. S. B. No. 255As Passed by the Senate
As Passed by the Senate

124th General Assembly
Regular Session
2001-2002
Am. Sub. S. B. No. 255


SENATORS Blessing, Mead, Spada, Mumper



A BILL
To amend section 5571.16, to enact new sections 4939.01, 4939.02, 4939.03, and 4939.04 and sections 4939.05, 4939.06, 4939.07, and 4939.09, and to repeal sections 4939.01, 4939.02, 4939.03, and 4939.04 of the Revised Code to revise certain statutes governing the use of public ways and to declare an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That section 5571.16 be amended and new sections 4939.01, 4939.02, 4939.03, and 4939.04 and sections 4939.05, 4939.06, 4939.07, and 4939.09 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 4939.01.  As used in sections 4939.01 to 4939.07 and 4939.09 of the Revised Code:
(A) "Cable operator," "cable service," and "franchise" have the same meanings as in the "Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984," 98 Stat. 2779, 47 U.S.C. 522.
(B) "Occupy or use" means, with respect to a public way, to place a tangible thing in a public way for any purpose, including, but not limited to, constructing, repairing, positioning, maintaining, or operating lines, poles, pipes, conduits, ducts, equipment, or other structures, appurtenances, or facilities necessary for the delivery of public utility or any services provided by a cable operator.
(C) "Person" means any natural person, corporation, or partnership and also includes any governmental entity.
(D) "Public utility" means any company described in section 4905.03 of the Revised Code except in divisions (A)(3) and (10) of that section, which company also is a public utility as defined in section 4905.02 of the Revised Code; and includes any electric supplier as defined in section 4933.81 of the Revised Code.
(E) "Public way" means the surface of, and the space within, through, on, across, above, or below, any public street, public road, public highway, public freeway, public lane, public path, public alley, public court, public sidewalk, public boulevard, public parkway, public drive, and any other land dedicated or otherwise designated for a compatible public use, which, on or after the effective date of this section, is owned or controlled by a municipal corporation. "Public way" excludes a private easement.
(F) "Public way fee" means a fee levied to recover the costs incurred by a municipal corporation and associated with the occupancy or use of a public way.
Sec. 4939.02.  (A) It is the public policy of this state to do all of the following:
(1) Promote the public health, safety, and welfare regarding access to and the occupancy or use of public ways, to protect public and private property, and to promote economic development in this state;
(2) Promote the availability of a wide range of utility, communication, and other services to residents of this state at reasonable costs, including the rapid implementation of new technologies and innovative services;
(3) Ensure that access to and occupancy or use of public ways advances the state policies specified in sections 4927.02, 4928.02, and 4929.02 of the Revised Code;
(4) Recognize the authority of a municipal corporation to manage access to and the occupancy or use of public ways to the extent necessary with regard to matters of local concern, and to receive cost recovery for the occupancy or use of public ways in accordance with law;
(5) Ensure in accordance with law the recovery by a public utility of public way fees and related costs;
(6) Promote coordination and standardization of municipal management of the occupancy or use of public ways, to enable efficient placement and operation of structures, appurtenances, or facilities necessary for the delivery of public utility or cable services;
(7) Encourage agreement among parties regarding public way fees and regarding terms and conditions pertaining to access to and the occupancy or use of public ways, and to facilitate the resolution of disputes regarding public way fees.
(B) This policy establishes fair terms and conditions for the use of public ways and does not unduly burden persons occupying or using public ways or persons that benefit from the services provided by such occupants or users.
Sec. 4939.03.  (A) No person shall occupy or use a public way except in accordance with law.
(B) In occupying or using a public way, no person shall unreasonably compromise the public health, safety, and welfare.
(C)(1) No person shall occupy or use a public way without first obtaining the consent of the municipal corporation owning or controlling the public way.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in division (C)(5) of this section, a municipal corporation, not later than sixty days after the date of filing by a person of a completed request for consent, shall grant or deny its consent.
(3) A municipal corporation shall not unreasonably withhold or deny consent.
(4) If a request by a person for consent is denied, the municipal corporation shall provide to the person in writing its reasons for denying the request and such information as the person may reasonably request to obtain consent.
(5) Except in the case of a public utility subject to the jurisdiction and recognized on the rolls of the public utilities commission or of a cable operator possessing a valid franchise awarded pursuant to the "Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984," 98 Stat. 2779, 47 U.S.C.A. 541, a municipal corporation, for good cause shown, may withhold, deny, or delay its consent to any person based upon the person's failure to possess the financial, technical, and managerial resources necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare.
(6) Initial consent for occupancy or use of a public way shall be conclusively presumed for all lines, poles, pipes, conduits, ducts, equipment, or other appurtenances, structures, or facilities of a public utility or cable operator that, on the effective date of this section, lawfully so occupy or use a public way. However, such presumed consent does not relieve the public utility or cable operator of compliance with any law related to the ongoing occupancy or use of a public way.
Sec. 4939.04.  (A)(1) A municipal corporation shall provide public utilities or cable operators with open, comparable, nondiscriminatory, and competitively neutral access to its public ways.
(2) Nothing in division (A)(1) of this section prohibits a municipal corporation from establishing priorities for access to or occupancy or use of a public way by a public utility or cable operator when the public way cannot accommodate all public way occupants or users, which priorities as applied to public utilities or cable operators shall not be unduly discriminatory and shall be competitively neutral.
(B) The management, regulation, and administration of a public way by a municipal corporation with regard to matters of local concern shall be presumed to be a valid exercise of the power of local self-government granted by Section 3 of Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution.
Sec. 4939.05.  (A) A municipal corporation shall not require any nonmonetary compensation or free service for the right or privilege to occupy or use a public way, and shall not levy a public way fee except in accordance with this section.
(B)(1) A municipal corporation may levy different public way fees based upon the amount of public ways occupied or used, the type of utility service provided by a public utility, or any different treatment required by the public health, safety, and welfare.
(2) A municipal corporation may waive all or a portion of any public way fee for a governmental entity or a charitable organization.
(3) A municipal corporation shall not require any person, including a reseller, that does not occupy or use a public way owned or controlled by the municipal corporation to pay it a public way fee.
(4) A municipal corporation that charges a franchise fee related to cable service provided by a cable operator or otherwise receives free service or other nonmonetary compensation as part of a franchise between the cable operator and the municipal corporation shall grant the cable operator, for the occupancy or use of the public way related to the provision of any services provided by the cable operator, a credit, offset, or deduction for all such payments and the retail value of the free service or other nonmonetary compensation.
(C) Public way fees levied by a municipal corporation shall be based only on costs that the municipal corporation both has actually incurred and can clearly demonstrate are or can be properly allocated and assigned to the occupancy or use of a public way. The costs shall be reasonably and competitively neutrally allocated among all persons occupying or using public ways owned or controlled by the municipal corporation, including, but not limited to, persons for which payments are waived as authorized by division (B) of this section or for which compensation is otherwise obtained. No public way fee shall exceed the amount of costs reasonably allocated by the municipal corporation to such occupant or user or pursuant to any reasonable classification of occupants or users.
(D) A municipal corporation that levies a public way fee shall establish and maintain a special fund for all such fees remitted to the municipal corporation and, with respect to that special fund, shall be subject to sections 5705.09, 5705.10, 5705.14, 5705.15, 5705.16, 5705.39, 5705.40, 5705.41, 5705.44, and 5705.45 of the Revised Code and any other applicable provision of Chapter 5705. of the Revised Code concerning the establishment or maintenance of a special fund.
(E) At least forty-five days prior to the date of enactment of a public way ordinance by a municipal corporation, the municipal corporation shall file with the public utilities commission a notice that the ordinance is being considered.
Sec. 4939.06. (A) If a public utility does not accept a public way fee levied against it pursuant to the enactment of an ordinance by a municipal corporation, the public utility may appeal the public way fee to the public utilities commission. The appeal shall be made by filing a complaint that the amount of a public way fee, any related classification of public way occupants or users, or the assignment or allocation of costs to the public way fee is unreasonable, unjust, unjustly discriminatory, or unlawful. The complaint shall be filed not later than thirty days after the date the public utility first becomes subject to the ordinance. The complaint is subject to the same procedures as a complaint filed pursuant to section 4905.26 of the Revised Code. The commission shall act to resolve the complaint by issuance of a final order within one hundred twenty days after the date of the complaint's filing.
(B) Only upon a finding by the commission that reasonable grounds are stated for a complaint filed under division (A) of this section, the commission by order shall suspend the public way fee provisions of the municipal ordinance for the duration of the commission's consideration of the complaint. For the purpose of this division, if the commission so suspends an ordinance pursuant to a complaint filed not later than thirty days after the date that the ordinance first takes effect, the suspension shall apply to the public way fee for every occupancy or use of the public way to which the fee would otherwise apply. For any other complaint, the suspension shall apply only to the public utility filing the complaint. The municipal corporation may later collect any suspended public way fee only if the commission finds that the public way fee is not unreasonable, unjust, unjustly discriminatory, or unlawful.
(C) If the commission finds that the public way fee or classification complained of is unreasonable, unjust, unjustly discriminatory, or unlawful, it shall determine by order the just and reasonable public way fee or classification.
Sec. 4939.07. (A) As used in this section, "most recent," with respect to any rate proceeding, means the rate proceeding most immediately preceding the date of any final order issued by the commission under this section.
(B)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or any agreement establishing price caps, rate freezes, or rate increase moratoria, a public utility subject to the rate-making jurisdiction of the commission may file an application with the commission for, and the commission shall then authorize by order, timely and full recovery of a public way fee levied upon and payable by the public utility both after January 1, 2002, and after the test year of the public utility's most recent rate proceeding or the initial effective date of rates in effect but not established through a proceeding for an increase in rates. The recovery shall be in a nondiscriminatory and competitively neutral manner and pro rated on a per-line or per-line equivalent basis among all retail, sale-for-resale, and wholesale customers subject to the recovery.
(2) Any order issued by the commission pursuant to its consideration of an application under division (B)(1) of this section shall establish a cost recovery mechanism including, but not limited to, an adder, tracker, rider, or percentage surcharge, for recovering the amount to be recovered; specify that amount; limit the amount to not more and not less than the amount of the total public way fee incurred; and require periodic adjustment of the mechanism based on revenues recovered.
(a) In the case of a cost recovery mechanism for a public way fee levied and payable by a public utility but determined unreasonable, unjust, unjustly discriminatory, or unlawful by the commission pursuant to division (C) of section 4939.06 of the Revised Code, the mechanism shall provide for recovery, only from those customers of the public utility that receive its service within the municipal corporation, of the difference between that public way fee and the just and reasonable public way fee determined by the commission under division (C) of section 4939.06 of the Revised Code.
(b) In all other cases, recovery shall be from all customers of the public utility generally.
(C) In the case of recovery under division (B)(2)(a) or (b) of this section, the recovery mechanism payable by sale-for-resale or wholesale telecommunications customers shall provide for recovery limited to any public way fee not included in established rates and prices for those customers and to the pro rata share of the public way fee applicable to the portion of the facilities that are sold, leased, or rented to the customers and are located in the public way.
(D)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or any agreement establishing price caps, rate freezes, or rate increase moratoria, a public utility subject to the rate-making jurisdiction of the commission may file an application with the commission for, and the commission by order shall authorize, such accounting authority as may be reasonably necessary to classify any cost described in division (D)(2) of this section as a regulatory asset for the purpose of recovering that cost.
(2) A cost eligible for recovery under this division shall be only such cost as meets both of the following:
(a) The cost is directly incurred by the public utility as a result of local regulation of its occupancy or use of a public way or an appropriate allocation and assignment of costs related to implementation of this section, excluding any cost arising from a public way fee levied upon and payable by the public utility.
(b) The cost is incurred by the public utility both after January 1, 2002, and after the test year of the public utility's most recent rate proceeding or the initial effective date of rates in effect but not established through a proceeding for an increase in rates.
(3) If the commission determines, upon an application under division (D)(1) of this section or its own initiative, that classification of a cost described in division (D)(2) of this section as a regulatory asset is not practical or that deferred recovery of that cost would impose a hardship on the public utility or its customers, the commission shall establish a charge and collection mechanism to permit the public utility full recovery of that cost. A hardship shall be presumed for any public utility with less than fifteen thousand bundled sales service customers in this state and for any public utility for which the annualized aggregate amount of additional cost that otherwise may be eligible for such classification exceeds the greater of five hundred thousand dollars or fifteen per cent of the total costs that are described in division (D)(2)(a) of this section and were considered by the commission for the purpose of establishing rates in the public utility's most recent rate increase proceeding or the rate increase proceeding of the public utility's predecessor, whichever is later.
(E) Any application submitted to the commission under divisions (B) to (D) of this section shall be processed by the commission as an application not for an increase in rates under section 4909.18 of the Revised Code. The application shall include such information as the commission reasonably requires. The commission shall conclude its consideration of the application and issue a final order not later than one hundred twenty days after the date that the application was submitted to the commission. A final order regarding the recovery mechanism specified in division (C) of this section shall provide for such retroactive adjustment as the commission determines appropriate.
(F) A public utility shall not be required to waive any rights under this section as a condition of occupancy or use of a public way.
(G) The commission may issue such rules as it considers necessary to carry out this section.
Sec. 4939.09. (A) Nothing in sections 4939.01 to 4939.07 and this section of the Revised Code applies to a franchise or to any agreement with a public utility or cable operator, for the balance of its term, if the franchise or agreement meets all of the following:
(1) The franchise was granted, or the agreement was authorized by ordinance or otherwise and was entered into, by a municipal corporation prior to the effective date of this section.
(2) The franchise or agreement authorizes the occupation or use of public ways.
(3) The public utility agrees with the applicable public way fees, or non-monetary compensation, if any, or the cable operator pays the applicable fee or utilizes the credit, offset, or deduction specified in division (B)(4) of section 4939.05 of the Revised Code.
(B) Except as otherwise provided in division (A) of section 4939.06 of the Revised Code, nothing in sections 4939.01 to 4939.07 and this section of the Revised Code applies to an ordinance both governing public ways and enacted by a municipal corporation prior to September 29, 1999, unless, on or after that date, the ordinance is materially modified.
(C) Nothing in sections 4939.01 to 4939.07 and this section of the Revised Code authorizes a municipal corporation to levy a fee, other than a public way fee authorized by section 4939.05 of the Revised Code, on a pipeline company or an operator of a pipeline facility regulated under the "Accountable Pipeline Safety and Partnership Act of 1996," 110 Stat. 3793, 49 U.S.C. 60101, or on an operating partner or affiliated business unit operating under guidelines of the federal energy regulatory commission as they relate to the construction and operation of a pipeline.
Sec. 5571.16.  The board of township trustees may, by resolution, may require any person, firm, or corporation to obtain a permit before making any excavation in a public highway or highway right-of-way within its jurisdiction. The board may, as a condition to the granting of such permit:
(A) Require the applicant to submit plans indicating the location, size, type, and duration of the excavation contemplated;
(B) Specify methods of excavation, refilling, and resurfacing to be followed;
(C) Require the use of such warning devices as it deems necessary to protect travelers on the highway;
(D) Require the applicant to indemnify the township against liability or damage as the result of such excavation;
(E) Require the applicant to post a deposit or bond, with sureties to the satisfaction of the board, conditioned upon the performance of all conditions to such permit.
Applications for permits under this section shall be made to the township clerk upon forms to be furnished by the board. Such applications shall be accompanied by a fee of two fifty dollars, which shall be returned to the applicant if the application is denied.
No person shall make an excavation in any township highway or highway right-of-way in violation of any resolution adopted pursuant to this section; except that, in the case of an emergency requiring immediate action to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, an excavation may be made without first obtaining a permit, if such application is made at the earliest possible opportunity.
As used in this section, "right-of-way" has the same meaning as in division (UU)(2) of section 4511.01 of the Revised Code.
Section 2. That existing section 5571.16 and sections 4939.01, 4939.02, 4939.03, and 4939.04 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Section 3. Section 5571.16 of the Revised Code, as amended by this act, shall take effect ninety days after the effective date of this section.
Section 4. This act is hereby declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety. The reason for such necessity is to provide, at the earliest possible time, for resolution of litigated issues concerning public ways of a municipal corporation. Therefore, this act shall go into immediate effect.
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