STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2658
Honolulu, Hawaii
S.D. 1
President of the Senate
Thirty-First State Legislature
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Transportation and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 2603 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to:
(1) Allow the Department of Transportation to install and lease or contract to install and lease telecommunication facilities;
(2) Allow longitudinal access to the right-of-way of a highway for installation, operation, and maintenance of these telecommunication facilities;
(3) Authorize the Director of Transportation to offer a broadband service provider use of and access to its spare conduits and related telecommunication facilities under special conditions;
(4) Grant a property owner the right of just compensation from the Department of Transportation or the broadband provider for any decrease in land value from the expanded use of an existing easement to install or operate a telecommunication facility; and
(5) Establish the smart highway corridor special fund.
Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Transportation, Department of the Attorney General, Department of Budget and Finance, and State Procurement Office.
Your Committees find that it is necessary to have greater flexibility and direction in telecommunication facility and infrastructure installation. Therefore, this measure sets rules for the construction, funding, and management of telecommunication facilities including leasing the areas above or below state highways for construction. This measure also allows other entities to use state telecommunication facilities in exchange for moneys that shall be deposited in the smart highway corridor special fund, which shall help to offset the cost of the original construction, installation, and maintenance of the telecommunication facilities.
Your Committees have
amended this measure by:
(1) Specifying
that chapter 206N, Hawaii Revised Statutes, applies to the activities of a
provider of telecommunication facilities;
(2) Clarifying
that the Director of Transportation may lease highway rights of way above or
below state highways for telecommunication purposes only;
(3) Inserting an effective date of January 1,
2050, to encourage further
discussion; and
(4) Making
technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and
consistency.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2603, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2603, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and Government Operations,
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________________________________ SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair |
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________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair |
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