HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1206        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2907

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to telecommunication property taxes paid to cities and towns.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 5 of chapter 59 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “than”, in line 220, the following words:- “a telephone or telegraph corporation taxed under section 52A of chapter 63 or”.

SECTION 2. Said section 5 of said chapter 59 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the words  “two A”, in line 223, the following words:- “, other than a telephone or telegraph corporation,”.

SECTION 3.   Said section 5 of said chapter 59 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after the word “sixty-three”, in line 239, the following words:- “or a telephone or telegraph corporation taxed under section 52A of chapter 63”.

SECTION 4. Clause Fifth of section 18 of said chapter 59, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following 2 sentences:- “Poles, underground conduits, wires and pipes of telecommunications companies laid in or erected upon public or private ways and property shall be assessed to their owners in the towns or cities where they are laid or erected.  For purposes of this clause, telecommunications companies shall include cable television, internet service, telephone service, data service and any other telecommunications service providers.”

SECTION 5. Section 39 of said chapter 59, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following 4 sentences:- “The valuation at which the poles, wires and underground conduits, wires and pipes of all telephone and telegraph companies shall be assessed by the assessors of the respective cities and towns where the property is subject to taxation shall be determined annually by the commissioner of revenue subject to appeal to the appellate tax board, as provided in this section.  Other taxable personal property of telephone and telegraph companies shall be valued and assessed by the assessors of the respective cities and towns where the property is subject to taxation, in the same manner as other personal property is valued and assessed under this chapter.  For purposes of sections 39 to 42, telephone and telegraph companies shall include only those telecommunications companies which own and operate two-way voice communications service over wires or cables and are subject to rate regulation by the department of telecommunications and energy.  Towers and monopoles used to support machinery and equipment for wireless communications shall not be considered poles under this section and shall be considered part of the real estate subject to valuation and assessment by local assessors.”