Section 283.001 - State Policy; Purpose(a) It is the policy of this state to:(1) encourage competition in the provision of telecommunications services;(2) reduce the barriers to entry for providers of services so that the number and types of services offered by providers continue to increase through competition;(3) ensure that providers of telecommunications services do not obtain a competitive advantage or disadvantage in their ability to obtain use of a public right-of-way within a municipality; and(4) fairly reduce the uncertainty and litigation concerning franchise fees.(b) It is also the policy of this state that municipalities:(1) retain the authority to manage a public right-of-way within the municipality to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the public; and(2) receive from certificated telecommunications providers fair and reasonable compensation for the use of a public right-of-way within the municipality.(c) The purpose of this chapter is to establish a uniform method for compensating municipalities for the use of a public right-of-way by certificated telecommunications providers that: (1) is administratively simple for municipalities and telecommunications providers;(2) is consistent with state and federal law;(3) is competitively neutral;(4) is nondiscriminatory;(5) is consistent with the burdens on municipalities created by the incursion of certificated telecommunications providers into a public right-of-way; and(6) provides fair and reasonable compensation for the use of a public right-of-way.Tex. Loc. Gov't. Code § 283.001
Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 840, Sec. 1, eff. 9/1/1999.