(The Center Square) – A Florida measure that would decide what entity pays for the relocation of utilities in rights of way of roads and public rail lines was approved by the Senate Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 818, sponsored by Sen. Stan McClain, R-Ocala, was rewritten with a strike-all amendment which the bill sponsor says was needed to keep the measure constitutional due to the funding mechanism.
It was passed by a 17-0 vote after it was supported by cable providers, industry groups and counties and could be headed to the Senate floor for a vote.
McClain says the bill will streamline the process by which utilities are relocated from rights of ways and is a “good compromise” because “everyone didn’t get what they wanted.”
McClain’s bill amends the process by which utilities located within the right of way of a public road or publicly-owned rail corridor must be relocated when such utility is found by the Florida Department of Transportation or a local government to be interfering with the use, maintenance, improvement or expansion of a public road or publicly-owned rail corridor.
The measure would create a grant program within the Department of Commerce, that would be funded by a portion of local communications services tax revenue, to reimburse providers of communications services for relocation expenses.
It was originally to be funded by 7.5% of the communications services tax levied by local governments, which would be required to distribute that to the fund for the Utility Relocation Reimbursement Grant Program.
Under the rewrite, lawmakers will redirect $50 million from the communications services tax for the relocations annually. McClain said any remaining balances in the fund would roll over to the next year’s program.
“Going forward, those funds will get depleted pretty quickly based on what’s been done in the past,” McClain said.
A provider would have 90 days after receiving a relocation request notification from FDOT or a local government to provide the governmental entity with an estimate of the project cost, schedule and timeline for completion.
Costs for relocation, according to the bill, would have to be “reasonable and prudent.”
