99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2015 and 2016
SB0037

 

Introduced 1/15/2015, by Sen. Daniel Biss

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
220 ILCS 5/21-601

    Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that, in the 4 weeks before an election, any candidate for public office is entitled to 120 minutes of air time at no cost, available between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., during any public, education, or government access programming aired in the jurisdiction that the candidate seeks to represent. Provides that the Illinois State Board of Elections shall adopt rules to enforce those provisions. Provides that the rules shall be made public and posted on the Illinois State Board of Elections' website. Provides that each cable operator shall publish rules of access and post them on its website Effective on January 1, 2016.


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A BILL FOR

 

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1    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing
5Section 21-601 as follows:
 
6    (220 ILCS 5/21-601)
7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2015)
8    Sec. 21-601. Public, education, and government access. For
9the purposes of this Section, "programming" means content
10produced or provided by any person, group, governmental agency,
11or noncommercial public or private agency or organization.
12    (a) Not later than 90 days after a request by the local
13unit of government or its designee that has received notice
14under subsection (a) of Section 21-801 of this Act, the holder
15shall (i) designate the same amount of capacity on its network
16to provide for public, education, and government access use as
17the incumbent cable operator is required to designate under its
18franchise terms in effect with a local unit of government on
19January 1, 2007 and (ii) retransmit to its subscribers the same
20number of public, education, and government access channels as
21the incumbent cable operator was retransmitting to subscribers
22on January 1, 2007.
23    (b) If the local unit of government produces or maintains

 

 

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1the public education or government programming in a manner or
2form that is compatible with the holder's network, it shall
3transmit such programming to the holder in that form provided
4that form permits the holder to satisfy the requirements of
5subsection (c) of this Section. If the local unit of government
6does not produce or maintain such programming in that manner or
7form, then the holder shall be responsible for any changes in
8the form of the transmission necessary to make public,
9education, and government programming compatible with the
10technology or protocol used by the holder to deliver services.
11The holder shall receive programming from the local unit of
12government (or the local unit of government's public,
13education, and government programming providers) and transmit
14that public, education, and government programming directly to
15the holder's subscribers within the local unit of government's
16jurisdiction at no cost to the local unit of government or the
17public, education, and government programming providers. If
18the holder is required to change the form of the transmission,
19the local unit of government or its designee shall provide
20reasonable access to the holder to allow the holder to transmit
21the public, education, and government programming in an
22economical manner subject to the requirements of subsection (c)
23of this Section.
24    (c) The holder shall provide to subscribers public,
25education, and government access channel capacity at
26equivalent visual and audio quality and equivalent

 

 

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1functionality, from the viewing perspective of the subscriber,
2to that of commercial channels carried on the holder's basic
3cable or video service offerings or tiers without the need for
4any equipment other than the equipment necessary to receive the
5holder's basic cable or video service offerings or tiers.
6    (d) The holder and an incumbent cable operator shall
7negotiate in good faith to interconnect their networks, if
8needed, for the purpose of providing public, education, and
9government programming. Interconnection may be accomplished by
10direct cable, microwave link, satellite, or other reasonable
11method of connection. The holder and the incumbent cable
12operator shall provide interconnection of the public,
13education, and government channels on reasonable terms and
14conditions and may not withhold the interconnection. If a
15holder and an incumbent cable operator cannot reach a mutually
16acceptable interconnection agreement, the local unit of
17government may require the incumbent cable operator to allow
18the holder to interconnect its network with the incumbent cable
19operator's network at a technically feasible point on their
20networks. If no technically feasible point for interconnection
21is available, the holder and an incumbent cable operator shall
22each make an interconnection available to the public,
23education, and government channel originators at their local
24origination points and shall provide the facilities necessary
25for the interconnection. The cost of any interconnection shall
26be borne by the holder unless otherwise agreed to by the

 

 

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1parties. The interconnection required by this subsection shall
2be completed within the 90-day deadline set forth in subsection
3(a) of this Section.
4    (e) The public, education, and government channels shall be
5for the exclusive use of the local unit of government or its
6designee to provide public, education, and government
7programming. The public, education, and government channels
8shall be used only for noncommercial purposes. However,
9advertising, underwriting, or sponsorship recognition may be
10carried on the channels for the purpose of funding public,
11education, and government access related activities.
12    (f) Public, education, and government channels shall all be
13carried on the holder's basic cable or video service offerings
14or tiers. To the extent feasible, the public, education, and
15government channels shall not be separated numerically from
16other channels carried on the holder's basic cable or video
17service offerings or tiers, and the channel numbers for the
18public, education, and government channels shall be the same
19channel numbers used by the incumbent cable operator, unless
20prohibited by federal law. After the initial designation of
21public, education, and government channel numbers, the channel
22numbers shall not be changed without the agreement of the local
23unit of government or the entity to which the local unit of
24government has assigned responsibility for managing public,
25education, and government access channels, unless the change is
26required by federal law. Each channel shall be capable of

 

 

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1carrying a National Television System Committee (NTSC)
2television signal.
3    (g) The holder shall provide a listing of public,
4education, and government channels on channel cards and menus
5provided to subscribers in a manner equivalent to other
6channels if the holder uses such cards and menus. Further, the
7holder shall provide a listing of public, education, and
8government programming on its electronic program guide if such
9a guide is utilized by the holder. It is the public, education,
10and government entity's responsibility to provide the holder or
11its designated agent, as determined by the holder, with program
12schedules and information in a timely manner.
13    (h) If less than 3 public, education, and government
14channels are provided within the local unit of government as of
15January 1, 2007, a local unit of government whose jurisdiction
16lies within the authorized service area of the holder may
17initially request the holder to designate sufficient capacity
18for up to 3 public, education, and government channels. A local
19unit of government or its designee that seeks to add additional
20capacity shall give the holder a written notification
21specifying the number of additional channels to be used,
22specifying the number of channels in actual use, and verifying
23that the additional channels requested will be put into actual
24use.
25    (i) The holder shall, within 90 days of a request by the
26local unit of government or its designated public, education,

 

 

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1or government access entity, provide sufficient capacity for an
2additional channel for public, education, and government
3access when the programming on a given access channel exceeds
440 hours per week as measured on a quarterly basis. The
5additional channel shall not be used for any purpose other than
6for carrying additional public, education, or government
7access programming.
8    (j) Except as provided in subsection (m) of this Section,
9the The public, education, and government access programmer is
10solely responsible for the content that it provides over
11designated public, education, or government channels. A holder
12shall not exercise any editorial control over any programming
13on any channel designed for public, education, or government
14use or on any other channel required by law or a binding
15agreement with the local unit of government.
16    (k) A holder shall not be subject to any civil or criminal
17liability for any program carried on any channel designated for
18public, education, or government use.
19    (l) A court of competent jurisdiction shall have exclusive
20jurisdiction to enforce any requirement under this Section or
21resolve any dispute regarding the requirements set forth in
22this Section, and no provider of cable service or video service
23may be barred from providing service or be required to
24terminate service as a result of that dispute or enforcement
25action.
26    (m) In the 4 weeks before an election, any candidate for

 

 

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1public office is entitled to 120 minutes of air time at no
2cost, available between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., during any public,
3education, or government access programming aired in the
4jurisdiction that the candidate seeks to represent. Cable
5operators shall guarantee that any candidate requesting this
6air time is provided that opportunity as practicable.
7    (n) The Illinois State Board of Elections shall adopt rules
8to enforce the provisions of subsection (m). Those rules shall
9be made public and posted on the Illinois State Board of
10Elections' website. Each cable operator shall publish rules of
11access and post them on its website.
12(Source: P.A. 95-9, eff. 6-30-07; 95-876, eff. 8-21-08.)
 
13    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
141, 2016.