Texas BOMA Readies for Forced Access Counterattack

Texas BOMA had made the announcement in the January 2001 issue of BOMA Alert, the newsletter published by the organization's Austin chapter. "They (the telecommunications companies) may try to test us," says Don Dowell, Texas BOMA president, tells GlobeSt.com. "We're fully expecting that and we've made provisions to counter it."

In September 2000, the Texas Public Utility Commission adopted new building access rules implementing legislation passed in 1995 that opened local telecommunications markets to competition. Texas BOMA contends the statute and its recently adopted rules prevent building owners from having complete control and discretion to accept or reject telecommunications providers and prevents owners from negotiating a desirable rate when these providers access their property.

Dowell says, "By state statute, they've got certain responsibilities to provide these commodities, but we really think the PUC has overstepped their bounds by granting the suppliers unilateral access into our properties."

The PUC believes, however, that the new rules are fair to all parties involved in this issue. "We've said all along that we would like the property owners and the telecom companies to cooperate in this process," says a PUC contact. "They have had a dialogue, but the commission has stressed in this and other issues that they want to make sure the market is open to competition. A major component of that is allowing telecommunications providers the access to provide services to their customers who want it."

Currently, a test case on the constitutionality of forced access is pending in the Superior Court of Massachusetts. Lawyers for Texas BOMA are tracking the case, and are in communication with their Massachusetts counterparts on this and related issues.