Municipalities and municipally owned utilities may not discriminate against certificated telecommunications providers on specified permits, access, and rates, and must charge a single uniform rate to unaffiliated entities by September 1, 2006.
Sec. 54.204. DISCRIMINATION BY MUNICIPALITY PROHIBITED. (a) Notwithstanding Section 14.008, a municipality or a municipally owned utility may not discriminate against a certificated telecommunications provider regarding: (1) the authorization or placement of a facility in a public right-of-way; (2) access to a building; or (3) a municipal utility pole attachment rate or term. (b) In granting consent, a franchise, or a permit for the use of a public street, alley, or right-of-way within its municipal boundaries, a municipality or municipally owned utility may not discriminate in favor of or against a certificated telecommunications provider regarding: (1) municipal utility pole attachment or underground conduit rates or terms; or (2) the authorization, placement, replacement, or removal of a facility in a public right-of-way and the reasonable compensation for the authorization, placement, replacement, or removal regardless of whether the compensation is in the form of: (A) money; (B) services; (C) use of facilities; or (D) another kind of consideration. (c) A municipality or a municipally owned utility may not charge any entity, regardless of the nature of the services provided by that entity, a pole attachment rate or underground conduit rate that exceeds the fee the municipality or municipally owned utility would be permitted to charge under rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission under 47 U.S.C. Section 224(e) if the municipality's or municipally owned utility's rates were regulated under federal law and the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. In addition, not later than September 1, 2006, a municipality or municipally owned utility shall charge a single, uniform pole attachment or underground conduit rate to all entities that are not affiliated with the municipality or municipally owned utility regardless of the services carried over the networks attached to the poles or underground conduit. (d) Notwithstanding any other law, the commission has the jurisdiction necessary to enforce this section. Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended by: Acts 2005, 79th Leg., 2nd C.S., Ch. 2 (S.B. 5), Sec. 6, eff. September 7, 2005.