Seeking ways to improve the state’s gaps in cell phone coverage, Colorado lawmakers are advancing a bill to speed up the approval process for infrastructure projects like new cell towers.
House Bill 1056 would give local governments between 90 and 120 days to approve or reject a permit application by a telecommunications company, depending on the scale of the project. If that timeline expires without a decision, the application would automatically be approved.
The bill would also prevent local governments from requiring additional permits for companies to replace or remove equipment from existing sites in ways that don’t substantially change the facility.
“This bill is about getting permits approved in a quicker and streamlined process so that people can get the coverage that they need,” said Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs, one of the bill’s sponsors.
The bill’s other sponsors are Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, D-Pueblo, and Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco.
The legislation, which passed the House Feb. 27 in a 35-28 vote, is part of a package of bills proposed last fall by an interim committee tasked with finding solutions to the state’s cell connectivity issues, which Lukens chaired.
Two other bills, one to create a grant program using existing state funds to help communities build more cell infrastructure and another to designate a single point of contact to assist with the state’s wireless alerts systems, have also advanced.
Lukens, whose district spans Eagle, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Routt counties, is used to experiencing dropped calls while traveling in rural mountain areas. Since chairing the cell phone interim committee, the Steamboat Springs lawmaker has been flooded with emails from constituents about the lack of service in their communities.
“During the committee process, we were asking questions like, ‘Why do we have a lack of cell phone connectivity in Colorado and what can we as a state do?’” Lukens said. “So that is the vision of the committee, and all three bills that came out of that committee process are in the name of addressing these critical oversights in the state of Colorado.”
Advocates for local government, however, have balked at the idea of instituting a “shot clock” for cell infrastructure permits. They say a state-mandated timeline would put an undue burden on smaller communities with fewer resources and staff and force governments to prioritize phone connectivity over other important projects, like affordable housing.
“We understand and completely share the same goal of having more connectivity in rural counties, we’re just not sure that this is actually going to solve this problem,” said Kelly Flenniken, executive director of Colorado Counties, Inc., which represents 63 of the state’s 64 counties.
Flenniken said the issue is a lack of interest, not urgency. In rural areas especially, counties aren’t seeing permit requests from telecommunication companies to build new infrastructure because of the costs and return on investment.
“Some communities, we know, have not had any permit applications in 12 years,” Flenniken said. “These counties and local governments would welcome that type of investment and activity because I think it opens up a lot of doors. We’re just not hearing that our processes are the barrier or the problem.”
Bev Staples, legislative and policy advocate for the Colorado Municipal League, which represents 271 cities and towns, said most local governments are already approving permits within 60 to 100 days.
“Telecommunications providers could deliver better service today if putting better facilities in these underserved areas was really a priority for them,” Staples said. “Local government permitting timelines are really not what’s standing in the way of that.”
Roberts, whose Senate district encompasses wide swaths of the central and northern mountain region, said he believes most local governments are approving projects in a reasonable time. But he added that lawmakers on the interim committee heard from companies about how slow permitting in some cases presented a barrier.
“I heard about communities in my district (where) applications were sat on for over a year for just even improvements to existing infrastructure,” Roberts said. “That’s just unnecessary bureaucracy. There’s no reason why that needs to be happening.”
Along with being an everyday inconvenience in the High Country, Roberts said poor cell reception is a public safety concern.
House Bill 1056 has already seen several amendments aimed at giving local governments more wiggle room, including increasing the initial timeline for approval from 60 days to 90 for small sites and 120 for larger towers.
It also allows local governments to pause the shot clock for multiple reasons, including for incomplete applications that require the company to submit additional material.
Roberts said he is open to potentially working on more amendments but doesn’t want to weaken the intent of the bill.
Lukens stressed that nothing in the legislation will stop local governments from denying applications and that the bill “preserves and protects the critically important role that local governments play.”
House Bill 1056 has been assigned to the Senate Local Government and Housing Committee where it will need to pass before receiving a vote on the Senate floor.
If approved by the chamber, the bill will need to be signed by Gov. Jared Polis to become law.