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While businesses and residents have been asking for better cellular service, wireless carriers advise staff that they are having difficulty meeting the growing needs of the community because the City's wireless ordinance is overly restrictive and makes it extremely difficult for carriers to locate the necessary new facilities. For all of the reasons above, staff has performed a thorough review of the City's wireless ordinance and proposes amendments to the ordinance as contained in Exhibits A, B, and D. Legal Background The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the "Telecom Act") was signed into law by President Clinton in February 1996. The Telecom Act provides that local governments: (1) shall not regulate the placement and construction of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency (RF) emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Federal Communications Commission's regulations concerning such emissions; (2) shall not unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services (i.e., favor one wireless carrier over another); and (3) shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provisions of personal wireless services (i.e., a local government cannot prevent a wireless carrier from closing a significant gap in service coverage). (47 USC 332) The effect of this federal law is to enable personal wireless service providers to establish networks for their services and to preempt local governments from regulating the potential health impacts of wireless facilities. While a local government may not establish or regulate RF emissions standards, it may review those applications to ensure compliance with the RF standards set by the FCC and it may take aesthetics into consideration when reviewing an application. As stated above, a local government shall not prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting the provision of personal wireless services by any carrier licensed by the FCC. Local governments cannot prevent a wireless carrier from closing a "significant gap" in service coverage. The proposed amendments to the Pleasanton Municipal Code are intended to comply with federal law by better enabling carriers to close significant gaps in coverage. Moreover, amending the code will allow carriers to provide better cellular voice and cellular data service for the City's businesses, residents, and visitors. Telecommunications law is an area of law that is constantly evolving and in a direction that diminishes local control over wireless facilities. Most recently, the federal government adopted the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 which provides that a state or local government "may not deny, and shall approve" any request for collocation, removal or replacement of a wireless facility that does not "substantially change" the physical dimensions of the tower or base station. In September of this year, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to reshape the national landscape for the processing of wireless site applications at the state and local Page 3 of 10