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.