Pole-attachment fees bill clears Tennessee committee

A bill pushed by rural and municipal public electric services on pole-attachment fees cleared the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on an 8-0 vote in Tennessee Legislature action Tuesday.

The bill is sponsored by Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Bo Watson, R-Hixson.

But public power distributors' effort to charge cable companies more for stringing fiber on their poles stalled in the House Business and Utilities Subcommittee.

The panel referred the power distributors' bill as well as a competing cable bill and yet a third measure dealing with the pole attachment issue to members' last meeting this session.