BILL REQ. #:  H-0157.1 

Read first time 01/13/11.   Referred to Committee on Technology, Energy & Communications.

     AN ACT Relating to authorizing towns to provide high-speed internet service; amending RCW 35.27.370; adding a new section to chapter 35.27 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that some small towns lack access to high-speed internet services. This is often due to the town's remote location and lack of existing telecommunications infrastructure. Access to high-speed internet and wireless service is an important element for ensuring economic vitality in all communities. The legislature intends to authorize towns to provide high-speed internet access when there is no other provider of such services available in their town and surrounding community.

Sec. 2   RCW 35.27.370 and 2008 c 129 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     The council of said town shall have power:
     (1) To pass ordinances not in conflict with the Constitution and laws of this state, or of the United States;
     (2) To purchase, lease or receive such real estate and personal property as may be necessary or proper for municipal purposes, and to control, dispose of and convey the same for the benefit of the town; to acquire, own, and hold real estate for cemetery purposes either within or without the corporate limits, to sell and dispose of such real estate, to plat or replat such real estate into cemetery lots and to sell and dispose of any and all lots therein, and to operate, improve and maintain the same as a cemetery;
     (3) To contract for supplying the town with water for municipal purposes, or to acquire, construct, repair and manage pumps, aqueducts, reservoirs, or other works necessary or proper for supplying water for use of such town or its inhabitants, or for irrigating purposes therein;
     (4) To establish, build and repair bridges, to establish, lay out, alter, widen, extend, keep open, improve, and repair streets, sidewalks, alleys, squares and other public highways and places within the town, and to drain, sprinkle and light the same; to remove all obstructions therefrom; to establish the grades thereof; to grade, pave, plank, macadamize, gravel and curb the same, in whole or in part, and to construct gutters, culverts, sidewalks and crosswalks therein, or on any part thereof; to cause to be planted, set out and cultivated trees therein, and generally to manage and control all such highways and places;
     (5) To establish, construct and maintain drains and sewers, and shall have power to compel all property owners on streets along which sewers are constructed to make proper connections therewith, and to use the same for proper purposes when such property is improved by the erection thereon of a building or buildings; and in case the owners of such improved property on such streets shall fail to make such connections within the time fixed by such council, they may cause such connections to be made, and to assess against the property in front of which such connections are made the costs and expenses thereof;
     (6) To provide fire engines and all other necessary or proper apparatus for the prevention and extinguishment of fires;
     (7) To impose and collect an annual license on every dog within the limits of the town, to prohibit dogs running at large, and to provide for the killing of all dogs found at large and not duly licensed;
     (8) To levy and collect annually a property tax, for the payment of current expenses and for the payment of indebtedness (if any indebtedness exists) within the limits authorized by law;
     (9) To license, for purposes of regulation and revenue, all and every kind of business, authorized by law and transacted and carried on in such town; and all shows, exhibitions and lawful games carried on therein and within one mile of the corporate limits thereof; to fix the rate of license tax upon the same, and to provide for the collection of the same, by suit or otherwise; to regulate, restrain, or prohibit the running at large of any and all domestic animals within the city limits, or any part or parts thereof, and to regulate the keeping of such animals within any part of the city; to establish, maintain and regulate a common pound for estrays, and to appoint a poundkeeper, who shall be paid out of the fines and fees imposed on, and collected from, the owners of any impounded stock. A city may not require a business to be licensed based solely upon registration under or compliance with the streamlined sales and use tax agreement;
     (10) To improve the rivers and streams flowing through such town or adjoining the same; to widen, straighten and deepen the channels thereof, and to remove obstructions therefrom; to prevent the pollution of streams or water running through such town, and for this purpose shall have jurisdiction for two miles in either direction; to improve the waterfront of the town, and to construct and maintain embankments and other works to protect such town from overflow;
     (11) To erect and maintain buildings for municipal purposes;
     (12) To grant franchises or permits to use and occupy the surface, the overhead and the underground of streets, alleys and other public ways, under such terms and conditions as it shall deem fit, for any and all purposes, including but not being limited to the construction, maintenance and operation of railroads, street railways, transportation systems, water, gas and steam systems, telephone and telegraph systems, electric lines, signal systems, surface, aerial and underground tramways;
     (13) To punish the keepers and inmates and lessors of houses of ill fame, and keepers and lessors of gambling houses and rooms and other places where gambling is carried on or permitted, gamblers and keepers of gambling tables;
     (14) To impose fines, penalties and forfeitures for any and all violations of ordinances, and for any breach or violation of any ordinance, to fix the penalty by fine or imprisonment, or both; but no such fine shall exceed five thousand dollars, nor the term of imprisonment exceed one year, except that the punishment for any criminal ordinance shall be the same as the punishment provided in state law for the same crime; or to provide that violations of ordinances constitute a civil violation subject to a monetary penalty, but no act which is a state crime may be made a civil violation;
     (15) To operate ambulance service which may serve the town and surrounding rural areas and, in the discretion of the council, to make a charge for such service;
     (16) Subject to the conditions in section 3 of this act, to construct, purchase, acquire, develop, finance, lease, license, provide, contract for, interconnect, alter, improve, repair, operate, and maintain high-speed internet service or facilities for the provision of high-speed internet service in circumstances where a private provider does not offer such services;
     (17) To make all such ordinances, bylaws, rules, regulations and resolutions not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington, as may be deemed expedient to maintain the peace, good government and welfare of the town and its trade, commerce and manufacturers, and to do and perform any and all other acts and things necessary or proper to carry out the provisions of this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 35.27 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, towns may provide high-speed internet services as authorized in RCW 35.27.370(16) after enacting an ordinance that establishes:
     (a) There are no other high-speed internet service providers available for the community;
     (b) The proposed geographical area or areas that will be provided service;
     (c) The general business plan for providing high-speed internet services, including the targeted users of the services, the type of infrastructure, the technology or technologies to be used, and the types of services that will be provided;
     (d) The proposed funding source that will be used to pay for the infrastructure, facilities, operations, and maintenance of any high-speed internet services and the estimated cost to the taxpayers; and
     (e) The establishment of a separate account for any revenues and expenditures for those services according to standards established by the state auditor pursuant to the auditor's authority in chapter 43.09 RCW and consistent with the provisions of this title. Any revenues received from the provision of high-speed internet service must be dedicated to costs incurred to build and maintain any high-speed internet facilities constructed, installed, or acquired to provide such services, including payments on debt issued to finance such services, until such time as any bonds or other financing instruments executed after the effective date of this section and used to finance such high-speed internet facilities are discharged or retired.
     (2) The ordinance is subject to referendum of the people if a petition with the number of signatures of legal voters equal to or exceeding four percent of the voters in the proposed high-speed internet service area cast at the last regular gubernatorial election is submitted to the county auditor's office no later than forty-five days from the date the ordinance was passed.
     (3) For purposes of RCW 35.27.370 and this section, high-speed internet services means a high-speed, high capacity transmission medium, using satellite, wireless, broadband, or any other mechanism that can carry either signals or transmit data, or both, over long distances by using a wide range of frequencies, but not to include services commonly known as radio, television, or telephone services.
     (4) The authority granted to a town under RCW 35.27.370(16) and this section to provide high-speed internet service to consumers expires one year after a determination by the department of information services that high-speed internet service is offered in the town by a private provider.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.