Amateur Radio Antenna Bills in Play in Mississippi, Vermont:

Legislation is under consideration in Mississippi and Vermont to incorporate the essence of the limited federal preemption known as PRB-1 http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/PRB-1_Pkg/prb-1.pdf into the statutes of those two states. Echoing the language of PRB-1, the measures call on localities establishing ordinances regulating antenna placement, screening or height to reasonably accommodate Amateur Radio communication and impose the minimum practicable regulation to accomplish the municipality's legitimate purposes. ARRL Mississippi Section Manager Malcolm Keown, W5XX, reports similar bills were introduced this session in the House and Senate. The Senate version has already passed and been sent on to the House.

"Since 2001, Mississippi hams have been trying to get a bill through the Mississippi Legislature to provide for 'reasonable accommodation for the erection of antenna structures' by local zoning boards and to separate us from the cellular telephone tower interests," Keown says. The Senate version of the PRB-1 legislation, SB 2709, cleared the County Affairs and Municipalities committees January 31, and it passed the full Senate February 1. The House version, HB 736, is on the House General Calendar for a vote there by February 9.

"We now have two horses in this race," Keown said this week, urging Mississippi ARRL members to urge their state senators and representatives to support the measures. "Keep your fingers crossed!" Assuming one of the PRB-1 measures succeeds in the House, minor differences in wording would be worked out in committee, Keown speculates. In past years, he says, a PRB-1 bill has made it through one legislative chamber only to die in committee in the other.

Both Mississippi PRB-1 bills leave it up to local governing authorities to determine "the types of reasonable accommodation to be made and the minimum practicable regulation necessary . . . within the parameters of the law." The House version includes an additional sentence: "This legislation supports the Amateur Radio Service in preparing for and providing emergency communications for the State of Mississippi and local emergency management agencies."

In Vermont, meanwhile, the House Government Operations Committee on February 2 heard public testimony on a PRB-1 bill introduced in the House, H.12. Several Amateur Radio operators attended the session along with representatives from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, which opposes such legislation, and several public safety officials.

The proposed Vermont antenna bill not only calls for community regulators to "reasonably accommodate" Amateur Radio communication, it includes a schedule of minimum regulatory heights, below which localities could not impose restrictions.

On lots smaller than one acre, municipalities could not restrict the overall height of an Amateur Radio antenna and associated support structure to less than 75 feet above ground level "nor restrict the number of support structures."

On parcels of one acre or larger, the bill, as written, would prohibit municipalities from restricting the height of an Amateur Radio antenna "to less than that specified in 47 CFR §97.15(a) nor restrict the number of support structures." That section of the Amateur Service rules actually does not specify a height, but it does require antenna structures more than 200 feet above ground to notify the Federal Aviation Administration and register the structure with the FCC.

In historic or design control districts, the Vermont bill would permit localities to restrict the height of antennas and associated support structures to less than 75 feet but would not allow them to prohibit Amateur Radio antennas and support structures altogether nor to limit their height to less than that of the tallest permitted structure within such a district.

The measure would grandfather existing Amateur radio antennas and support structures and provide for their repair or replacement "with comparable components" without further permitting or review.

To date, 21 states have enacted Amateur Radio antenna bills that reflect the PRB-1 limited federal preemption.

Source:

The ARRL Letter Vol. 25, No. 05 February 3, 2006

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