A trifecta of three Wireless Telecom California State Bills stand to negatively change the landscape of our communities forever if they pass in Sacramento. Sponsored by the wireless telecom industry, bills SB-556, SB-378 and AB-537 will shift the decision power over where small wireless telecommunications facilities (aka small cell towers) will be located in our communities from the local planning departments to the telecom industry itself.
You’ve heard that right. Should these bills pass, the wireless telecom industry will then have full control over where those small cell towers are located: which street light pole, which traffic light pole. They will all be fair game for them, no matter how close to your residence they are located. How would you like to have a small wireless facility installed within feet of your bedroom window? This will happen to many if these three bills go through.
All three bills are Telecom industry-friendly bills that aim at rushing the development of the wireless broadband infrastructure, permit process, etc. bypassing the local government authority to decide what is best for each community. Much of the provisions included in the bills have cost-reduction and profit motives for the wireless industry, and strip away local control from the decision process over new projects. These bills are touted as remedies to bridging the internet divide and ensuring better access to internet for all. Yet, they do not solve many of these problems, and will create new ones that communities will have to bear for decades to come.