HomeMy WebLinkAboutS-3157_FederalSmall-Cell_STREAMLINE_20180716City of San Luis Obispo, Office of the City Council, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401-3249, 805.781.7114, slocity.org
July 17, 2018
Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
FAX: (202) 228-3954
Senator Kamala Harris
United States Senate
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
FAX: (202) 224-2200
Representative Salud Carbajal
U.S. House of Representatives
212 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
FAX: (805) 439-3574
RE: Opposition to S. 3157 (Thune, Schatz) – STREAMLINE Small Cell Deployment Act
The Honorable Senators and Representative of California:
As a city leader and a constituent, I am writing to express the City of San Luis Obispo’s
opposition to the "Streamlining The Rapid Evolution And Modernization of Leading-edge
Infrastructure Necessary to Enhance (STREAMLINE) Small Cell Deployment Act" (S. 3157).
This bill represents a direct affront to traditionally held local authority and will complicate,
rather than simplify, national efforts to expedite infrastructure deployment by prolonging state
and local processes. My city shares Congress's goal of ensuring efficient, safe, and appropriate
deployment of new broadband technology. However, this bill is not the best way to achieve
that shared goal.
S. 3157 will complicate the existing efforts by state and local governments to deploy
small cell infrastructure. Roughly half of all US states have passed legislation specifically
addressing the deployment of small cell wireless structures, and the local governments in those
states are busy implementing new ordinances and procedures to comply with those changes,
as well as negotiating with industry partners on deployments. This bill introduces an
unnecessary, one-size-fits-all preemption of those efforts, when little data exists to determine
what is most effective.
The bill also imposes unfair and inappropriate timelines on local governments. The
shot clocks proposed by S. 3157 are considerably shorter than those the federal government
applied to itself in the bipartisan MOBILE NOW Act. The reduced size per installation of
small cell infrastructure does not directly translate to an accordingly reduced procedural
burden on local governments. Cities must still review each site individually to ensure that it
meets the jurisdiction's requirements. Further, the limited extension for small jurisdictions and
bulk requests of over fifty applications does not address these resource challenges for states
and localities.
Lastly, limiting fees and rates to direct and actual costs is an extreme overreach by the
federal government. Cities negotiate with providers to ensure appropriate compensation to
taxpayers for private, profit-generating use of public property and to incentivize development
that benefits community residents. In some cases, state constitutions' prohibition on gifts to
private entities prohibit cities from assessing less than a fair market value for rental of public
property. When cities are prohibited from controlling these rates, they are forced to subsidize
private development, at the cost of other critical local services such as road maintenance and
public safety.
For these reasons, the City of San Luis Obispo is opposed to S. 3157 and urges you
not to support it. Local governments should have the time and flexibility to ensure that small
cell wireless infrastructure is deployed not just quickly, but safely and correctly, in
communities throughout the nation.
Sincerely,
Heidi Harmon
Mayor
City of San Luis Obispo.
cc: San Luis Obispo City Council
State Senator Bill Monning, fax (916) 651 – 4917
State Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham, fax (916) 319-2135
Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities, dmullinax@cacities.org
Meg Desmond, League of California Cities, cityletters@cacities.org