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| [ Senate Amendment 003 ] |
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1 AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 1141
2 AMENDMENT NO. . Amend Senate Bill 1141 by replacing
3 everything after the enacting clause with the following:
4 "Section 5. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by
5 changing Section 11-42-11 as follows:
6 (65 ILCS 5/11-42-11) (from Ch. 24, par. 11-42-11)
7 Sec. 11-42-11. Community antenna television systems;
8 satellite transmitted television programming.
9 (a) The corporate authorities of each municipality may
10 license, franchise and tax the business of operating a
11 community antenna television system as hereinafter defined.
12 In municipalities with less than 2,000,000 inhabitants, the
13 corporate authorities may, under the limited circumstances
14 set forth in this Section, own (or lease as lessee) and
15 operate a community antenna television system; provided that
16 a municipality may not acquire, construct, own, or operate a
17 community antenna television system for the use or benefit of
18 private consumers or users, and may not charge a fee for that
19 consumption or use, unless the proposition to acquire,
20 construct, own, or operate a cable antenna television system
21 has been submitted to and approved by the electors of the
22 municipality in accordance with subsection (f). Before
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1 acquiring, constructing, or commencing operation of a
2 community antenna television system, the municipality shall
3 comply with the following:
4 (1) Give written notice to the owner or operator of
5 any other community antenna television system franchised
6 to serve all or any portion of the territorial area to be
7 served by the municipality's community antenna television
8 system, specifying the date, time, and place at which the
9 municipality shall conduct public hearings to consider
10 and determine whether the municipality should acquire,
11 construct, or commence operation of a community antenna
12 television system. The public hearings shall be
13 conducted at least 14 days after this notice is given.
14 (2) Publish a notice of the hearing in 2 or more
15 newspapers published in the county, city, village,
16 incorporated town, or town, as the case may be. If there
17 is no such newspaper, then notice shall be published in
18 any 2 or more newspapers published in the county and
19 having a general circulation throughout the community.
20 The public hearings shall be conducted at least 14 days
21 after this notice is given.
22 (3) Conduct a public hearing to determine the means
23 by which construction, maintenance, and operation of the
24 system will be financed, including whether the use of tax
25 revenues or other fees will be required.
26 (b) The words "community antenna television system"
27 shall mean any facility which is constructed in whole or in
28 part in, on, under or over any highway or other public place
29 and which is operated to perform for hire the service of
30 receiving and amplifying the signals broadcast by one or more
31 television stations and redistributing such signals by wire,
32 cable or other means to members of the public who subscribe
33 to such service; except that such definition shall not
34 include (i) any system which serves fewer than fifty
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1 subscribers, or (ii) any system which serves only the
2 residents of one or more apartment dwellings under common
3 ownership, control or management, and commercial
4 establishments located on the premises of such dwellings.
5 (c) The authority hereby granted does not include
6 authority to license, franchise or tax telephone companies
7 subject to jurisdiction of the Illinois Commerce Commission
8 or the Federal Communications Commission in connection with
9 the furnishing of circuits, wires, cables, and other
10 facilities to the operator of a community antenna television
11 system.
12 The corporate authorities of each municipality may, in
13 the course of franchising such community antenna television
14 system, grant to such franchisee the authority and the right
15 and permission to use all public streets, rights of way,
16 alleys, ways for public service facilities, parks,
17 playgrounds, school grounds, or other public grounds, in
18 which such municipality may have an interest, for the
19 construction, installation, operation, maintenance,
20 alteration, addition, extension or improvement of a community
21 antenna television system.
22 Any charge imposed by a community antenna television
23 system franchised pursuant to this Section for the raising or
24 removal of cables or lines to permit passage on, to or from a
25 street shall not exceed the reasonable costs of work
26 reasonably necessary to safely permit such passage. Pursuant
27 to subsections (h) and (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the
28 Constitution of the State of Illinois, the General Assembly
29 declares the regulation of charges which may be imposed by
30 community antenna television systems for the raising or
31 removal of cables or lines to permit passage on, to or from
32 streets is a power or function to be exercised exclusively by
33 the State and not to be exercised or performed concurrently
34 with the State by any unit of local government, including any
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1 home rule unit.
2 The municipality may, upon written request by the
3 franchisee of a community antenna television system, exercise
4 its right of eminent domain solely for the purpose of
5 granting an easement right no greater than 8 feet in width,
6 extending no greater than 8 feet from any lot line for the
7 purpose of extending cable across any parcel of property in
8 the manner provided by the law of eminent domain, provided,
9 however, such franchisee deposits with the municipality
10 sufficient security to pay all costs incurred by the
11 municipality in the exercise of its right of eminent domain.
12 (d) The General Assembly finds and declares that
13 satellite-transmitted television programming should be
14 available to those who desire to subscribe to such
15 programming and that decoding devices should be obtainable at
16 reasonable prices by those who are unable to obtain
17 satellite-transmitted television programming through duly
18 franchised community antenna television systems.
19 In any instance in which a person is unable to obtain
20 satellite-transmitted television programming through a duly
21 franchised community antenna television system either because
22 the municipality and county in which such person resides has
23 not granted a franchise to operate and maintain a community
24 antenna television system, or because the duly franchised
25 community antenna television system operator does not make
26 cable television services available to such person, any
27 programming company that delivers satellite-transmitted
28 television programming in scrambled or encrypted form shall
29 ensure that devices for description of such programming are
30 made available to such person, through the local community
31 antenna television operator or directly, for purchase or
32 lease at prices reasonably related to the cost of manufacture
33 and distribution of such devices.
34 (e) The General Assembly finds and declares that, in
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1 order to ensure that community antenna television services
2 are provided in an orderly, competitive and economically
3 sound manner, the best interests of the public will be served
4 by the establishment of certain minimum standards and
5 procedures for the granting of additional cable television
6 franchises.
7 Subject to the provisions of this subsection, the
8 authority granted under subsection (a) hereof shall include
9 the authority to license, franchise and tax more than one
10 cable operator to provide community antenna television
11 services within the corporate limits of a single franchising
12 authority. For purposes of this subsection (e), the term:
13 (i) "Existing cable television franchise" means a
14 community antenna television franchise granted by a
15 municipality which is in use at the time such
16 municipality receives an application or request by
17 another cable operator for a franchise to provide cable
18 antenna television services within all or any portion of
19 the territorial area which is or may be served under the
20 existing cable television franchise.
21 (ii) "Additional cable television franchise" means
22 a franchise pursuant to which community antenna
23 television services may be provided within the
24 territorial areas, or any portion thereof, which may be
25 served under an existing cable television franchise.
26 (iii) "Franchising Authority" is defined as that
27 term is defined under Section 602(9) of the Cable
28 Communications Policy Act of 1984, Public Law 98-549, but
29 does not include any municipality with a population of
30 1,000,000 or more.
31 (iv) "Cable operator" is defined as that term is
32 defined under Section 602(4) of the Cable Communications
33 Policy Act of 1984, Public Law 98-549.
34 Before granting an additional cable television franchise,
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1 the franchising authority shall:
2 (1) Give written notice to the owner or operator of
3 any other community antenna television system franchised
4 to serve all or any portion of the territorial area to be
5 served by such additional cable television franchise,
6 identifying the applicant for such additional franchise
7 and specifying the date, time and place at which the
8 franchising authority shall conduct public hearings to
9 consider and determine whether such additional cable
10 television franchise should be granted.
11 (2) Conduct a public hearing to determine the
12 public need for such additional cable television
13 franchise, the capacity of public rights-of-way to
14 accommodate such additional community antenna television
15 services, the potential disruption to existing users of
16 public rights-of-way to be used by such additional
17 franchise applicant to complete construction and to
18 provide cable television services within the proposed
19 franchise area, the long term economic impact of such
20 additional cable television system within the community,
21 and such other factors as the franchising authority shall
22 deem appropriate.
23 (3) Determine, based upon the foregoing factors,
24 whether it is in the best interest of the municipality to
25 grant such additional cable television franchise.
26 (4) If the franchising authority shall determine
27 that it is in the best interest of the municipality to do
28 so, it may grant the additional cable television
29 franchise. Except as provided in paragraph (5) of this
30 subsection (e), no such additional cable television
31 franchise shall be granted under terms or conditions more
32 favorable or less burdensome to the applicant than those
33 required under the existing cable television franchise,
34 including but not limited to terms and conditions
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1 pertaining to the territorial extent of the franchise,
2 system design, technical performance standards,
3 construction schedules, performance bonds, standards for
4 construction and installation of cable television
5 facilities, service to subscribers, public educational
6 and governmental access channels and programming,
7 production assistance, liability and indemnification, and
8 franchise fees.
9 (5) Unless the existing cable television franchise
10 provides that any additional cable television franchise
11 shall be subject to the same terms or substantially
12 equivalent terms and conditions as those of the existing
13 cable television franchise, the franchising authority may
14 grant an additional cable television franchise under
15 different terms and conditions than those of the existing
16 franchise, in which event the franchising authority shall
17 enter into good faith negotiations with the existing
18 franchisee and shall, within 120 days after the effective
19 date of the additional cable television franchise, modify
20 the existing cable television franchise in a manner and
21 to the extent necessary to ensure that neither the
22 existing cable television franchise nor the additional
23 cable television franchise, each considered in its
24 entirety, provides a competitive advantage over the
25 other, provided that prior to modifying the existing
26 cable television franchise, the franchising authority
27 shall have conducted a public hearing to consider the
28 proposed modification. No modification in the terms and
29 conditions of the existing cable television franchise
30 shall oblige the existing cable television franchisee (1)
31 to make any additional payment to the franchising
32 authority, including the payment of any additional
33 franchise fee, (2) to engage in any additional
34 construction of the existing cable television system or,
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1 (3) to modify the specifications or design of the
2 existing cable television system; and the inclusion of
3 the factors identified in items (2) and (3) shall not be
4 considered in determining whether either franchise
5 considered in its entirety, has a competitive advantage
6 over the other except to the extent that the additional
7 franchisee provides additional video or data services or
8 the equipment or facilities necessary to generate and or
9 carry such service. No modification in the terms and
10 conditions of the existing cable television franchise
11 shall be made if the existing cable television franchisee
12 elects to continue to operate under all terms and
13 conditions of the existing franchise.
14 If within the 120 day period the franchising
15 authority and the existing cable television franchisee
16 are unable to reach agreement on modifications to the
17 existing cable television franchise, then the franchising
18 authority shall modify the existing cable television
19 franchise, effective 45 days thereafter, in a manner, and
20 only to the extent, that the terms and conditions of the
21 existing cable television franchise shall no longer
22 impose any duty or obligation on the existing franchisee
23 which is not also imposed under the additional cable
24 television franchise; however, if by the modification the
25 existing cable television franchisee is relieved of
26 duties or obligations not imposed under the additional
27 cable television franchise, then within the same 45 days
28 and following a public hearing concerning modification of
29 the additional cable television franchise within that 45
30 day period, the franchising authority shall modify the
31 additional cable television franchise to the extent
32 necessary to insure that neither the existing cable
33 television franchise nor the additional cable television
34 franchise, each considered in its entirety, shall have a
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1 competitive advantage over the other.
2 No municipality shall be subject to suit for damages
3 based upon the municipality's determination to grant or its
4 refusal to grant an additional cable television franchise,
5 provided that a public hearing as herein provided has been
6 held and the franchising authority has determined that it is
7 in the best interest of the municipality to grant or refuse
8 to grant such additional franchise, as the case may be.
9 It is declared to be the law of this State, pursuant to
10 paragraphs (h) and (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the
11 Illinois Constitution, that the establishment of minimum
12 standards and procedures for the granting of additional cable
13 television franchises by municipalities with a population
14 less than 1,000,000 as provided in this subsection (e) is an
15 exclusive State power and function that may not be exercised
16 concurrently by a home rule unit.
17 (f) No municipality may acquire, construct, own, or
18 operate a community antenna television system unless the
19 corporate authorities adopt an ordinance. The ordinance must
20 set forth the action proposed; describe the plant, equipment,
21 and property to be acquired or constructed; and specifically
22 describe the manner in which the construction, acquisition,
23 and operation of the system will be financed.
24 The ordinance may not take effect until the question of
25 acquiring, construction, owning, or operating a community
26 antenna television system been submitted to the electors of
27 the municipality at a regular election and approved by a
28 majority of the electors voting on the question. The
29 corporate authorities must certify the question to the proper
30 election authority, which must submit the question at an
31 election in accordance with the Election Code.
32 The question must be submitted in substantially the
33 following form:
34 Shall the ordinance authorizing the municipality to
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1 (insert action authorized by ordinance) take effect?
2 The votes must be recorded as "Yes" or "No".
3 If a majority of electors voting on the question vote in
4 the affirmative, the ordinance shall take effect.
5 Not more than 30 or less than 15 days before the date of
6 the referendum, the municipal clerk must publish the
7 ordinance at least once in one or more newspapers published
8 in the municipality or, if no newspaper is published in the
9 municipality, in one or more newspapers of general
10 circulation within the municipality.
11 (Source: P.A. 89-657, eff. 8-14-96; 90-285, eff. 7-31-97.)".