Florida Senate - 2015                                     SB 896
       
       
        
       By Senator Brandes
       
       
       
       
       
       22-00424B-15                                           2015896__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the location of utilities; amending
    3         s. 125.42, F.S.; authorizing the board of county
    4         commissioners to grant a license to work on or operate
    5         specified utility and communications services lines
    6         only within the right-of-way limits of certain county
    7         or public highways or roads; conforming a cross
    8         reference; amending s. 337.401, F.S.; authorizing the
    9         Department of Transportation and certain local
   10         governmental entities to prescribe and enforce rules
   11         or regulations regarding placing and maintaining
   12         specified structures only within the right-of-way
   13         limits of roads or publicly owned rail corridors under
   14         their respective jurisdictions; prohibiting a
   15         municipality or county from requiring a provider of
   16         communications services to resubmit information
   17         already in the possession of, or previously provided
   18         to, the municipality or county; amending s. 337.403,
   19         F.S.; requiring a utility owner, under certain
   20         circumstances, to initiate at its own expense the work
   21         necessary to alleviate an interference to a public
   22         road or publicly owned rail corridor which is caused
   23         by a utility if it is within the right-of-way limits
   24         of the public road or publicly owned rail corridor;
   25         requiring an authority or an entity other than the
   26         authority to bear the costs of relocating a utility in
   27         certain circumstances; requiring the authority to bear
   28         the cost of the utility work necessary to eliminate an
   29         unreasonable interference if the utility is located
   30         within a certain utility easement; conforming a cross
   31         reference; providing an effective date.
   32          
   33  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   34  
   35         Section 1. Section 125.42, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   36  read:
   37         125.42 Water, sewage, gas, power, telephone, other utility,
   38  and television lines within the right-of-way limits of along
   39  county roads and highways.—
   40         (1) The board of county commissioners, with respect to
   41  property located without the corporate limits of any
   42  municipality, is authorized to grant a license to any person or
   43  private corporation to construct, maintain, repair, operate, and
   44  remove lines for the transmission of water, sewage, gas, power,
   45  telephone, other public utilities, and television, or other
   46  communications services within the right-of-way limits of under,
   47  on, over, across and along any county highway or any public road
   48  or highway acquired by the county or public by purchase, gift,
   49  devise, dedication, or prescription. However, the board of
   50  county commissioners shall include in any instrument granting
   51  such license adequate provisions:
   52         (a) To prevent the creation of any obstructions or
   53  conditions which are or may become dangerous to the traveling
   54  public;
   55         (b) To require the licensee to repair any damage or injury
   56  to the road or highway by reason of the exercise of the
   57  privileges granted in any instrument creating such license and
   58  to repair the road or highway promptly, restoring it to a
   59  condition at least equal to that which existed immediately prior
   60  to the infliction of such damage or injury;
   61         (c) Whereby the licensee shall hold the board of county
   62  commissioners and members thereof harmless from the payment of
   63  any compensation or damages resulting from the exercise of the
   64  privileges granted in any instrument creating the license; and
   65         (d) As may be reasonably necessary, for the protection of
   66  the county and the public.
   67         (2) A license may be granted in perpetuity or for a term of
   68  years, subject, however, to termination by the licensor, in the
   69  event the road or highway is closed, abandoned, vacated,
   70  discontinued, or reconstructed.
   71         (3) The board of county commissioners is authorized to
   72  grant exclusive or nonexclusive licenses for the purposes stated
   73  herein for television.
   74         (4) This law is intended to provide an additional method
   75  for the granting of licenses and shall not be construed to
   76  repeal any law now in effect relating to the same subject.
   77         (5) In the event of widening, repair, or reconstruction of
   78  any such road, the licensee shall move or remove such water,
   79  sewage, gas, power, telephone, and other utility lines and
   80  television lines at no cost to the county should they be found
   81  by the county to be unreasonably interfering, except as provided
   82  in s. 337.403(1)(d)-(j) s. 337.403(1)(d)-(i).
   83         Section 2. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and paragraph
   84  (b) of subsection (3) of section 337.401, Florida Statutes, are
   85  amended to read:
   86         337.401 Use of right-of-way for utilities subject to
   87  regulation; permit; fees.—
   88         (1)(a) The department and local governmental entities,
   89  referred to in this section and in ss. 337.402, 337.403, and
   90  337.404 ss. 337.401-337.404 as the “authority,” that have
   91  jurisdiction and control of public roads or publicly owned rail
   92  corridors are authorized to prescribe and enforce reasonable
   93  rules or regulations with reference to the placing and
   94  maintaining within the right-of-way limits of along, across, or
   95  on any road or publicly owned rail corridors under their
   96  respective jurisdictions any electric transmission, telephone,
   97  telegraph, or other communications services lines; pole lines;
   98  poles; railways; ditches; sewers; water, heat, or gas mains;
   99  pipelines; fences; gasoline tanks and pumps; or other structures
  100  referred to in this section and in ss. 337.402, 337.403, and
  101  337.404 this section as the “utility.” The department may enter
  102  into a permit-delegation agreement with a governmental entity if
  103  issuance of a permit is based on requirements that the
  104  department finds will ensure the safety and integrity of
  105  facilities of the Department of Transportation; however, the
  106  permit-delegation agreement does not apply to facilities of
  107  electric utilities as defined in s. 366.02(2).
  108         (3)
  109         (b) Registration described in paragraph (a) does not
  110  establish a right to place or maintain, or priority for the
  111  placement or maintenance of, a communications facility in roads
  112  or rights-of-way of a municipality or county. Each municipality
  113  and county retains the authority to regulate and manage
  114  municipal and county roads or rights-of-way in exercising its
  115  police power. Any rules or regulations adopted by a municipality
  116  or county which govern the occupation of its roads or rights-of
  117  way by providers of communications services must be related to
  118  the placement or maintenance of facilities in such roads or
  119  rights-of-way, must be reasonable and nondiscriminatory, and may
  120  include only those matters necessary to manage the roads or
  121  rights-of-way of the municipality or county. In exercising its
  122  authority over providers of communications services under this
  123  section, a municipality or county may not require a provider of
  124  communications services to resubmit information already in the
  125  possession of the municipality or county or previously provided
  126  to the municipality or county.
  127         Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 337.403, Florida
  128  Statutes, is amended to read:
  129         337.403 Interference caused by utility; expenses.—
  130         (1) If a utility that is within the right-of-way limits of
  131  placed upon, under, over, or along any public road or publicly
  132  owned rail corridor is found by the authority to be unreasonably
  133  interfering in any way with the convenient, safe, or continuous
  134  use, or the maintenance, improvement, extension, or expansion,
  135  of such public road or publicly owned rail corridor, the utility
  136  owner shall, upon 30 days’ written notice to the utility or its
  137  agent by the authority, initiate the work necessary to alleviate
  138  the interference at its own expense except as provided in
  139  paragraphs (a)-(j) (a)-(i). The work must be completed within
  140  such reasonable time as stated in the notice or such time as
  141  agreed to by the authority and the utility owner. If an
  142  authority requires the relocation of a utility for purposes not
  143  described in this subsection, the authority shall bear the cost
  144  of relocating the utility. If the relocation is required as a
  145  condition or result of a project by an entity other than an
  146  authority, then that entity shall bear the costs of relocating
  147  the utility.
  148         (a) If the relocation of utility facilities, as referred to
  149  in s. 111 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, Pub. L. No.
  150  84-627, is necessitated by the construction of a project on the
  151  federal-aid interstate system, including extensions thereof
  152  within urban areas, and the cost of the project is eligible and
  153  approved for reimbursement by the Federal Government to the
  154  extent of 90 percent or more under the Federal Aid Highway Act,
  155  or any amendment thereof, then in that event the utility owning
  156  or operating such facilities shall perform any necessary work
  157  upon notice from the department, and the state shall pay the
  158  entire expense properly attributable to such work after
  159  deducting therefrom any increase in the value of a new facility
  160  and any salvage value derived from an old facility.
  161         (b) When a joint agreement between the department and the
  162  utility is executed for utility work to be accomplished as part
  163  of a contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
  164  department may participate in those utility work costs that
  165  exceed the department’s official estimate of the cost of the
  166  work by more than 10 percent. The amount of such participation
  167  is limited to the difference between the official estimate of
  168  all the work in the joint agreement plus 10 percent and the
  169  amount awarded for this work in the construction contract for
  170  such work. The department may not participate in any utility
  171  work costs that occur as a result of changes or additions during
  172  the course of the contract.
  173         (c) When an agreement between the department and utility is
  174  executed for utility work to be accomplished in advance of a
  175  contract for construction of a transportation facility, the
  176  department may participate in the cost of clearing and grubbing
  177  necessary to perform such work.
  178         (d) If the utility facility was initially installed to
  179  exclusively serve the authority or its tenants, or both, the
  180  authority shall bear the costs of the utility work. However, the
  181  authority is not responsible for the cost of utility work
  182  related to any subsequent additions to that facility for the
  183  purpose of serving others. For a county or municipality, if such
  184  utility facility was installed in the right-of-way as a means to
  185  serve a county or municipal facility on a parcel of property
  186  adjacent to the right-of-way and if the intended use of the
  187  county or municipal facility is for a use other than
  188  transportation purposes, the obligation of the county or
  189  municipality to bear the costs of the utility work shall extend
  190  only to utility work on the parcel of property on which the
  191  facility of the county or municipality originally served by the
  192  utility facility is located.
  193         (e) If, under an agreement between a utility and the
  194  authority entered into after July 1, 2009, the utility conveys,
  195  subordinates, or relinquishes a compensable property right to
  196  the authority for the purpose of accommodating the acquisition
  197  or use of the right-of-way by the authority, without the
  198  agreement expressly addressing future responsibility for the
  199  cost of necessary utility work, the authority shall bear the
  200  cost of removal or relocation. This paragraph does not impair or
  201  restrict, and may not be used to interpret, the terms of any
  202  such agreement entered into before July 1, 2009.
  203         (f) If the utility is an electric facility being relocated
  204  underground in order to enhance vehicular, bicycle, and
  205  pedestrian safety and in which ownership of the electric
  206  facility to be placed underground has been transferred from a
  207  private to a public utility within the past 5 years, the
  208  department shall incur all costs of the necessary utility work.
  209         (g) An authority may bear the costs of utility work
  210  required to eliminate an unreasonable interference when the
  211  utility is not able to establish that it has a compensable
  212  property right in the particular property where the utility is
  213  located if:
  214         1. The utility was physically located on the particular
  215  property before the authority acquired rights in the property;
  216         2. The utility demonstrates that it has a compensable
  217  property right in adjacent properties along the alignment of the
  218  utility or, after due diligence, certifies that the utility does
  219  not have evidence to prove or disprove that it has a compensable
  220  property right in the particular property where the utility is
  221  located; and
  222         3. The information available to the authority does not
  223  establish the relative priorities of the authority’s and the
  224  utility’s interests in the particular property.
  225         (h) If a municipally owned utility or county-owned utility
  226  is located in a rural area of critical economic concern, as
  227  defined in s. 288.0656(2), and the department determines that
  228  the utility is unable, and will not be able within the next 10
  229  years, to pay for the cost of utility work necessitated by a
  230  department project on the State Highway System, the department
  231  may pay, in whole or in part, the cost of such utility work
  232  performed by the department or its contractor.
  233         (i) If the relocation of utility facilities is necessitated
  234  by the construction of a commuter rail service project or an
  235  intercity passenger rail service project and the cost of the
  236  project is eligible and approved for reimbursement by the
  237  Federal Government, then in that event the utility owning or
  238  operating such facilities located by permit on a department
  239  owned rail corridor shall perform any necessary utility
  240  relocation work upon notice from the department, and the
  241  department shall pay the expense properly attributable to such
  242  utility relocation work in the same proportion as federal funds
  243  are expended on the commuter rail service project or an
  244  intercity passenger rail service project after deducting
  245  therefrom any increase in the value of a new facility and any
  246  salvage value derived from an old facility. In no event shall
  247  the state be required to use state dollars for such utility
  248  relocation work. This paragraph does not apply to any phase of
  249  the Central Florida Commuter Rail project, known as SunRail.
  250         (j) If a utility is located within an existing and valid
  251  utility easement granted by recorded plat, regardless of whether
  252  such land was subsequently acquired by the authority by
  253  dedication, transfer of fee, or otherwise, the authority shall
  254  bear the cost of the utility work required to eliminate an
  255  unreasonable interference.
  256         Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.