This afternoon, SB 649 (the “Local Governments Give Up Their Property to Enrich Wireless Companies Act”) was heard in the California Senate Governance and Finance Committee. With amendments not seen by the public, and clearly not understood by the Committee Members, the Bill was voted unanimously approved and voted out of that Committee.
The Committee also determined that they were best positioned to determine how much the industry should pay local governments for wireless industry access to local government property, so they appointed a subcommittee to do just that.
If you’d like to listen to 85 minutes of misleading industry testimony, concerns by local government and APA representatives, more concerns from a panel that worries about RF emissions, and back-peddling from the sponsor of the bill, you can stream the audio here:
Hopefully, the as-yet unseen amendments clearly not understood by the Committee will be out soon.
Jonathan
Florida is going thru the same thing with HB687. If it goes thru the way its written not only will communities be invaded by small cell “aliens” but any chance of gaining revenue from leasing public space will be virtually eliminated as well.