Governor Newsom Signs Two Telecommunications Bills

After a busy legislative session in California, the Governor has signed into law two measures that will help wireless deployments. WIA worked closely with an industry coalition on both of these measures and is pleased that the Governor continues to recognize the need to streamline rules for telecommunications deployments in the state.

The first, AB 537, updated California’s rules for the time period a municipality has to review an application for collocation or siting of wireless telecommunications facilities.  Under the updated rule, the “shot clock” for a municipality to act on an application or notify the applicant that the application is deficient, is now tacked to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules contained in 47 C.F.R § 1.6003.  Specifically, the application is “deemed approved” if the municipality does not act:

• within 60 days for an application to collocate a small wireless facility or other facility on an existing structure;
• 90 days for an application to deploy a small wireless facility on a new structure; or
• 150 days for an application to deploy a facility other than a small wireless facility on a new structure.

This new law is the first time the rules have been updated in California since 2014 and now brings them in line with the FCC decision made in 2018 and recently upheld in the 9th Circuit.

Additionally, the Governor signed SB 378, a measure to harmonize rules across the state to allow for the use of microtrenching for fiber installations.  Under the new rules, a local agency must allow applicants to utilize microtrenching for fiber deployments, unless existing rules would otherwise prohibit.