An Act to Facilitate the Expansion of Broadband
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1456
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Sponsors: GROHOSKI, BENNETT, ZEIGLER
Amends: 35-A MRSA §711

Legislative Document
No. 1456
S.P. 574
In Senate, March 30, 2023
An Act to Facilitate the Expansion of Broadband
Reference to the Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology suggested and ordered 
printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator GROHOSKI of Hancock.
Cosponsored by Senator: BENNETT of Oxford, Representative: ZEIGLER of Montville.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  35-A MRSA §711, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2017, c. 199, §1, is further 
amended to read:
4.  Rules.  The commission shall adopt rules governing the resolution of pole 
attachment disputes and the rates, terms and conditions of joint use. The rules must promote 
competition, further the state broadband policy set forth in section 9202‑A and ensure safe, 
nondiscriminatory access on just and reasonable terms. The rules must also include a 
process for ensuring that a new joint use entity seeking access to the poles, ducts, conduits 
or rights-of-way of another joint use entity meets the requirements of subsection 1, 
paragraph D. The rules must also include a process by which joint use rates are required to 
be reduced or capped and attachment time frames are regulated by the commission to 
encourage community broadband systems pursuant to Title 30-A, section 5403, subsection 
15. In establishing rates, the commission shall consider various formulas, including, but 
not limited to, the formula adopted by the Federal Communications Commission as 
codified in 47 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1, Subpart J, as amended.  Rules adopted 
or amended  pursuant to this subsection are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, 
chapter 375, subchapter 2‑A.
Sec. 2. Public Utilities Commission; study. The Public Utilities Commission, in 
consultation with the Maine Connectivity Authority, established in the Maine Revised 
Statutes, Title 35-A, section 9404, shall study the methods of promoting municipal 
broadband expansion, either through public networks or public-private partnerships, 
through a limited-period reduction in utility pole attachment rates for broadband providers 
that agree to deliver new high-speed Internet service at affordable rates. The study must 
include:
1.  An examination of the average wait time for joint use pole owners to approve new 
attachments when the attaching entity is a tax-exempt municipality and of ways to decrease 
or standardize wait times for attachments;
2.  An assessment of what portion of utility poles statewide are in compliance with the 
laws and rules requiring preservation of common space on utility poles in the public right-
of-way, the ways in which common space on utility poles can be better preserved and the 
enforcement mechanisms for pole operators that are out of compliance; and
3.  An assessment of the effectiveness of the Public Utilities Commission's enforcement 
practices for timely relocation or removal of utility poles that are functionally obsolete, that 
are in violation of requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or 
that obstruct current or future municipal infrastructure. 
By December 6, 2023, the Public Utilities Commission shall submit a report to the 
Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology describing the findings of 
the study and any recommendations, including proposed legislation, resulting from the 
study. After reviewing the report, the joint standing committee may report out legislation 
relating to the report to the Second Regular Session of the 131st Legislature.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission to adopt rules establishing a process 
by which joint use rates are required to be reduced or capped and attachment time frames 
are regulated by the commission to encourage community broadband systems.
The bill also requires the commission, in consultation with the Maine Connectivity 
Authority, to study the methods of promoting municipal broadband expansion, either 
through public networks or public-private partnerships, through a limited-period reduction 
in utility pole attachment rates for broadband providers that agree to deliver new high-
speed Internet service at affordable rates.  The study must also include an examination of 
wait times for new pole attachments, an assessment regarding the preservation of common 
space on utility poles and an assessment of the effectiveness of the commission's 
enforcement practices related to the relocation or removal of utility poles.  The bill requires 
the commission to submit a report to the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and 
Technology by December 6, 2023 and the joint standing committee is authorized to report 
out legislation related to the report to the Second Regular Session of the 131st Legislature.