RCRC, along with local government partners CSAC and the League of California Cities, opposes Assembly Bill 965, authored by Assembly Member Juan Carrillo (D-Palmdale). This measure would require local agencies to batch and process broadband permits within 60 to 90 days or have the applications deemed approved, without compliance with general health and safety requirements, unless a written finding of specific adverse impact to public health can be made.
AB 965 is described as a simple permit batching bill, necessary to deploy broadband infrastructure within the spending deadlines tied to source federal funding. However, this bill makes radical changes to California telecommunications law and local government permitting obligations. Specifically, those changes include:
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creating unreasonable permitting “shot clocks” for local governments by expanding the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) existing 60-day shot clock (and deemed approved remedy) to all aerial constructed broadband permit applications, and by establishing a 90-day shot clock for trenched or wireless constructed projects regardless of the project size or type.
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implementing a “no limit” batching process for broadband permit applications;
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removing a local government’s ability to protect the public health and safety, by requiring a local agency to issue a written finding that the facility proposed in the broadband permit application would have a specific adverse impact on public health and safety in order to enforce applicable health and safety requirements; and
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deeming all permits approved in a batch if local government doesn’t act in less than 90 days irrespective of concerns or issues with any or all of the proposed facilities, even though the FCC has previously recognized the importance of adopting remedies based on the facts of individual applications.
Local jurisdictions currently have the ability, absent this legislation, to batch permits, expediate applications, and generally work to streamline the process of broadband deployment. Unserved/underserved areas remain without reliable internet access because they are deemed by the Internet Service Providers to have inadequate Return on Investment (ROI). Creating a process to expediate permitting in a jurisdiction that does not offer an adequate ROI will not incentivize deployment in those areas, but will, instead, make building in areas that possess greater potential ROI, like those with existing infrastructure, more lucrative. This bill will not aid bridging the digital divide but will just make it more profitable to build in dense, higher cost markets.
RCRC’s letter of opposition is available here. This measure passed out of the Assembly Local Government Committee on Wednesday, with the author’s commitment to take amendments addressing some of RCRC’s concerns. RCRC will remain opposed until all concerns are addressed. AB 965 will next be heard in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. For more information, please contact RCRC Senior Policy Advocate, Tracy Rhine.