The signature of Governor Jerry Brown is all that California’s Senate Bill 649 needs to become the law of the land in the nation’s most populous state. Senator Ben Hueso’s bill originally passed the Senate with almost unanimous support, then was amended and passed by the California Assembly, and then passed again by the Senate. It was presented to Governor Brown September 21, and he has until October 15 to sign it or veto it.
The bill would make it much harder for municipalities to stop wireless service providers from deploying small cells. The proposed legislation states that any small cell deployment proposed in the public right of way or in a commercially zoned area shall be “subject only to a permitting process adopted by a city or county pursuant to subdivision” if it satisfies certain requirements.
If the bill passes, California will not be the first state to adopt laws that help the wireless industry deploy small cells. Florida, Colorado, Arizona, Kansas, Virgina, Minnesota and Indiana have all passed legislation related to small cells in recent months.
Wireless carriers and their infrastructure partners are praising the lawmakers who are paving the way for their small cell projects, which they say will enable the deployment of 5G networks and smart cities.
“Small cell networks will be an integral part of any smart city,” said Crown Castle CEO Jay Brown. “Whether a city wants smarter transportation, real-time video analytics, smart lighting, autonomous cars, more effective communication with citizens or all of the above, small cell, fiber and edge networks will be the backbone that makes it all work. Specifically, small cell deployments are necessary to meet the densification and low-latency requirements of 5G and smart city applications.”
Densification may be exactly what wireless networks need, but it’s exactly what some small cell opponents worry about. Groups like Wireless Action and the California Brain Tumor Association note that radio waves are considered a Class 2B carcinogen, and they are working hard to rally grass roots support against SB 649.
Other opponents of the bill would like to see legislation enacted with language that would require the wireless carriers to connect under-served areas. San Francisco and San Jose already have small cell networks and are likely to get more if the bill passes, as will Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacaramento. But not all neighborhoods in these cities will be covered, and large parts of the state could be bypassed altogether. The carriers are using small cells as a solution for densely populated, high-value areas where the networks need help to provide reliable coverage. So they’re unlikely to deploy them in low-income neighborhoods or sparsely populated areas.
The opponents of SB 649 aren’t trying to tell carriers where to deploy their small cells, but some of them are asking legislators to stipulate that the companies must bring coverage to the neediest citizens at the same time that they increase capacity for their best customers.
