Small Wireless Facilities Deployment Act

The act governs the deployment of small wireless facilities — small-cell equipment and the poles that support it — within public rights-of-way, and sets the terms on which local authorities may regulate that deployment. Its central mechanism is a standardized permitting process for collocating small wireless facilities: it prescribes what an application must contain, requires applications to be processed on a nondiscriminatory basis, limits the grounds for denial, and caps the rates and fees an authority may charge for right-of-way access and pole attachment. It also constrains local zoning and land-use authority over such facilities while carving out protections for decorative poles, underground districts, and historic districts, and it addresses provider obligations such as repairing damage to the right-of-way, abandonment of facilities, insurance, indemnification, and bonding, along with a designated forum for resolving disputes between providers and authorities.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.