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2020 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor
Subcommittee Energy

Spruill (Chair), Norment, Newman, Lucas, Marsden

Date of Meeting: January 20, 2020
Time and Place: Upon Adjournment of Senate Commerce and Labor / Senate Room A

S.B. 302

Patron: Stanley

Utility easements. Provides that any utility easement, granted before, on, or after July 1, 2020, whether granted publicly or privately, by statute, local ordinance, deed, or other recorded instrument, or by prescription, shall be deemed to include the laying, hanging, and maintenance of fiber optic cable. The bill further provides that any utility easement shall also be deemed to include access over private or public lands to permit the grantee to have physical access to such cable, unless the instrument granting the easement was recorded prior to July 1, 2020, and specifically states otherwise.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 55.1-306 of the Code of Virginia, relating to utility easements.

20100783D

S.B. 470

Patron: Reeves

Utility easements; encroachments. Declares that the damages to which a provider of utility services is entitled when the owner of the servient tract improves, occupies, or otherwise encroaches on an easement in which the provider has utility facilities shall be determined only on the basis of (i) any reduction in the value of such easement as a result of such construction, occupation, or other encroachment and (ii) the additional costs reasonably anticipated to be incurred by the entity in its provision of utility services. If the owner of the servient tract and the provider are unable to agree upon the appropriate amount of damages, either party may request the State Corporation Commission to determine the amount.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 55.1-306 of the Code of Virginia, relating to utility easements; damages from encroachments.

20102331D

S.B. 504

Patron: Petersen

Virginia Energy Plan; covenants regarding solar power; reasonable restrictions. Provides that a restriction on solar energy collection devices is unreasonable if it increases the cost of the solar energy collection device by $1,000 over the cost originally proposed or causes a decrease in production or estimated production of more than 10 percent compared with the design as originally proposed. The bill also clarifies that any state or local ordinances regarding historic preservation take precedence.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 67-701 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the Virginia Energy Plan; covenants regarding solar power; reasonable restrictions.

20102679D

S.B. 539

Patron: Peake


Utility easements; broadband or other communications services. Declares that it is policy of the Commonwealth that (i) existing or future easements for the location and use of electric facilities be used to provide or expand broadband or other communications services; (ii) such use of such easements is in the public interest; (iii) the use of such easements for the provision of broadband or other communications services, where no additional poles are erected, does not constitute a change in the physical use of the easement, interfere with or impair any vested rights of the owner or occupier of the servient estate, nor does it place any additional burden on the servient estate; and (iv) the installation and operation of broadband or other communications services within an existing or future electric easement are merely changes in the manner, purpose, or degree of the granted use as appropriate to accommodate a new technology. The measure also establishes that in the absence of any express prohibition on the installation and operation of broadband services in an existing electric easement, the installation and operation of broadband services within the existing electric easement shall be deemed as a matter of law to be permitted uses within the scope of every easement for the location and use of electricity facilities. The measure also limits the damages that a landowner may be awarded in any trespass action against a public utility or a broadband service provider or any of its employees, agents, officers, attorneys, directors, representatives, or contractors arising from the installation, maintenance, or operation of any utility poles, wires, conduit, or other infrastructure or fiber optic cabling to the lesser of actual damages or $2,000 per tract of land.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 55.1-306 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the use of electric utility easements to provide communications services.

20104755D

S.B. 794

Patron: Lewis


Utility easements; location of broadband facilities. Declares that it is policy of the Commonwealth that (i) existing easements for the location and use of electric facilities be used to provide or expand broadband services; (ii) such use of existing easements to provide or expand broadband services is in the public interest; (iii) the use of such existing easements for the provision of broadband services, where no additional poles are erected, does not constitute a change in the physical use of the easement, interfere with or impair any vested rights of the owner or occupier of the servient estate, or place any additional burden on the servient estate; and (iv) the installation and operation of broadband services within an existing electric easement are merely changes in the manner, purpose, or degree of the granted use as appropriate to accommodate a new technology. The measure also establishes that in the absence of any express prohibition on the installation and operation of broadband services in an existing electric easement, the installation and operation of broadband services within the existing electric easement shall be deemed as a matter of law to be permitted uses within the scope of every easement for the location and use of electricity facilities. The measure also limits the damages that a landowner may be awarded in any trespass action against a public utility arising from the installation, maintenance, or operation of any utility poles, wires, conduit, or other infrastructure or fiber optic cabling to the lesser of actual damages or $2,000 per landowner bringing a claim.

A BILL to amend and reenact § 55.1-306 of the Code of Virginia, relating to the use of existing utility easements to provide or expand broadband services.

20104980D