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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR HBIC

DATE TYPED 3/9/05

HB CS/281/aHBICS/aHJC

SHORT TITLE Telecommunication Provider Property Access

SB

ANALYST Rosen

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

$45.0 Recurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Responses Received From

Public Regulation Commission (PRC)

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HJC Amendment

The House Judiciary Committee amendment to House Business and Industry Committee substi-

tute for House Bill 281 provides that a property owner may impose a condition on a telecom

provider to protect the safety or security of property or facilities owned or leased by government

agencies as well as the circumstances set out in the original bill; amends the definition of “com-

mercial private property” to exclude apartments, along with property owned by a governmental

agency and property used as a permanent residence; and adds a section that clarifies that nothing

in this new section is to construed as impairing the obligations of a property owner or tenant

pursuant to a contract in existence as of the effective date of the act, or to limit the right of

parties to such contract to enforce their rights.

Significant Issues

AGO reports the HJC amendment cures a potential defect of the bill by clarifying that it shall not

impair existing contracts.

House Bill CS/281/aHBICS/aHJC -- Page 2

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Business and Industry Committee substitute for House Bill 281 amends the New Mexico

Telecommunications Act to create a series of prohibitions and conditions on commercial private

property owners regarding the installation of and access to public telecommunications facilities

by public telecommunications service providers.

HBICS281 gives PRC the power, authority and responsibility to enforce the provisions of the

bill, which include determinations of whether the property owner is (1) preventing or interfering

with the installation of a telecommunications service facility; (2) discriminating in the terms,

conditions or compensation imposed for the installation of a telecom facility; (3) demanding or

accepting an unreasonable payment from a tenant or a telecom service provider for access to the

property; (4) discriminating in favor of or against a tenant, including rental charge discrimina-

tion, because of the tenant’s choice of a telecom service provider. HBICS281 also provides cer-

tain circumstances under which a commercial private property owner may impose conditions or

limitations on a public telecommunications service provider or tenant.

Significant Issues

According to PRC, the purpose of the bill is to provide for the nondiscriminatory treatment of

public telecommunications service providers by commercial private property owners upon ten-

ants’ requests; promote the rights of consumers of public telecommunications services; encour-

age competition for public telecommunication services; and encourage investment in telecom-

munications infrastructure. Appeals from any PRC order pursuant to this section are to the state

district court.

PRC indicates it may not be the appropriate agency to monitor and enforce the provisions of the

bill, lacking expertise, or the appropriate legal venue for tenant remedies.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Indeterminate, depending upon the number and nature of the complaints and the process utilized

to deal with these complaints because PRC does not have expertise in landlord/tenant issues and

property evaluations. However, since the scope of the responsibility has been narrowed to com-

mercial property PRC has reduced the estimated need to $45,000 for 1 FTE.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

See Fiscal Implications, above.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

PRC believes there may be some internal inconsistencies between definitions in this bill and the

Definition Section of the New Mexico Telecommunications Act.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL.

PRC indicates property owners, tenants and public telecommunications service providers will

House Bill CS/281/aHBICS/aHJC -- Page 3

seek remedies under the current state of the law with regard to their rights surrounding provision-

ing of public telecommunications services by the tenant’s provider of choice.

JR/njw:yr