Brief (1)
HB 2897 would require an agency head to notify and receive approval from the State Finance Council, and also notify the Secretary of Administration, the Chief Information Technology Architect, and the Joint Committee on Information Technology prior to granting an easement or right of way exceeding ten miles to the following: a municipal corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, the Kansas Department of Transportation, or a public utility. Moreover, if an easement or right of way is granted, any compensation provided to the agency must be for the benefit and use of the entire state.
Background
The bill was drafted in response to a legislative concern raised before the Select Committee on Information Management regarding the nature of contracts the Kansas Department of Transportation entered into with a communications company for the installation of optical fiber on the Department's highway right-of-way. In exchange for granting the company permission to lay fiber on its right-of-way, the Department receives access to specified bandwidth and conduits to support the operation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). ITS is the use of technology and management strategies to make surface transportation safer and more efficient. Applications of ITS include, among others, monitoring, controlling, and managing traffic on streets and highways; transmission of information at high speeds to alert travelers about weather changes; automated vehicle location for maintenance vehicles; and emergency services. With respect to the Department of Transportation's contracts for the deployment of optical fiber, the legislative concern focused on the perceived limited availability of the bandwidth for use of state agencies other than the Kansas Department of Transportation.
In remarks to the House Committee on Utilities, the Secretary of Transportation explained that the Department has an outstanding relationship with the Department of Administration and the Division of Information Systems and Communications; that the contractual project involving placement of fiber optics on Interstate 70 is a construction project with communications applications (it is not a contract for telecommunications); and that the Department has bandwidth capacity through this contract to meet the needs of the state.
The House Committee on Utilities amended the bill to require that if an easement or right-of-way is granted, any compensation provided to the agency must be for the benefit and use of the entire state. The House Committee also amended the bill to delete reference to the Commissioner of Education (incorrectly termed "Secretary") as a recipient of notification and to have the bill take effect upon publication in the Kansas Register. The other amendment is technical.
The House Committee of the Whole added the precondition that an easement or right-of-way would not be granted unless the State Finance Council was notified and the Council approved the grant or conveyance.
The Division of the Budget's fiscal note reports that, according to the Division of Information Systems and Communications, any fiscal effect from passage of the bill would be covered by existing resources.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html