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Home My WebLink About11. Adopt Urgency Ordinance Reauthorizing & readopting Ord. No. 644 & 08-1227 Related to Public Educational & Govenment (PEG)Item No. TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL • . OFFICE OF .; BY: ANIL H. GANDHY, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE fttl,- 10- CITY MANAGER DATE: DECEMBER 11, 2018 SUBJECT: AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF DOWNEY, REAUTHORIZING r READOPTING ORDINANCE NO. 644 AND AS AMENDED BY ORDINANCE NO. 1 RELATED TO STATE FRANCHISE FEE FOR EDUCATIONAL AND GOVERNMENT That the City Council approve an urgency ordinance reauthorizing and readopting Ordinance No. 644 and as amended by Ordinance No. 08-1227 related to franchise fee for public, educational and government ("PEG") access. The adoption of this Urgency Ordinance is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety. Currently, the City depends upon the PEG fee to support PEG access facilities, which are essential to providing City residents with important civic programming, including emergency alerts and community and government news. The City was only recently made aware that Charter Communications Inc. franchise expired on January 2, 2018, thus potentially requiring reauthorization of the City's PEG fee pursuant to Public Utilities Code section 5870(n). The City is not imposing any new fee, just readopting and reauthorizing the existing one as required by the State. Fiscal Responsibility Quality of Life, Neighborhood & Infrastructure I;I&W1�1 Approximately $100,000 in revenue from the City's cable television franchise company in the Public Access Fund. Attachment — Ordinance C•].1r]Ii•/_1i!["ki Eel iUa AS AMENDED BY ORDINANCE N• r, T•;ST, FRANCHISE•- PUBLIC, EDUCATIONALAND GO WHEREAS, in 2006, the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act ("DIVCA) was signed into law and codified as California Public Utilities Code section 5800, et seq.; and WHEREAS, DIVCA established a state video franchising system that replaced local cable franchising; and WHEREAS, DIVCA provides that state video franchises are issued by the California Public Utilities Commission ("CPUC") and have a stated term of 10 years; and WHEREAS, DIVCA provides that a local entity may, by ordinance, establish a fee to support Public, Education and Government access facilities ("PEG") payable by state video franchise holders; and WHEREAS, the City of Downey ("City") adopted Ordinance No 08-1227 amending Ordinance No. 644 on March 11, 2008, in order to implement its authority over state video franchise holders pursuant to DIVCA, which included adoption of a franchise fee equal to five percent (5%) of gross revenues and a PEG fee equal to one percent (1%) of gross revenues; both payable by state video franchise holders; and WHEREAS, the City currently collects PEG fees from Charter Communications Inc. WHEREAS, DIVCA provides that an ordinance establishing a PEG fee shall expire, and may be reauthorized, upon the expiration of a state franchise, and that a fee may be established at any time; and WHEREAS, the City Council deems it to be in the best interest of the City to expressly reauthorize the PEG fee codified in the Downey Municipal Code, which fee shall remain unchanged and in full effect as to all state -franchised video service providers operating within the City, and to further provide for automatic reauthorization of the PEG fee upon the expiration of future video franchises held by state -franchised video service providers operating within the City. NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DOWNEY DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. urgency Findings. The adoption of this Urgency Ordinance is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, and safety. Currently, the City depends upon the PEG fee to support PEG access facilities, which are essential to providing City residents with important civic programming, including emergency alerts and community and government news. The City was only recently made aware that Charter Communications Inc. franchise expired on January 2, 2018, thus potentially requiring reauthorization of the City's PEG fee pursuant to Public Utilities Code section 5870(n). If the City's PEG fee is not reauthorized immediately, the City may lose funding for its PEG programming facilities. Any loss of funding would jeopardize a trustworthy, reliable and immediate means by which the City communicates with its residents. Any lapse in funding may also lead to confusion among state video franchisees operating within the City regarding the payment of the PEG fee, leading the City to incur additional costs to recover any overdue fees. Therefore, the City Council finds and determines that the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety requires that this Ordinance be enacted as an urgency ordinance pursuant to Government Code section 36937(b) and take effect immediately upon adoption. SECTION 2. Reauthorization. The City's PEG fee imposed by Ordinance No. 08-1227 which amends Ordinance No. 644 in the Downey Municipal Code is reauthorized and readopted to the extent required by California Public Utilities Code section 5870(n). All state -franchised video service providers operating within the City, shall continue to be subject to the PEG fee required by Ordinance No. 08-1227 of the Downey Municipal Code, which fee shall remain unchanged and in full effect as to all state -franchised video service providers operating within the City. SECTION 3. Automatic Reauthorization. Commencing from, and after, the effective date of this Ordinance, the City's PEG fee set forth in Ordinance No. 08-1227 which amends Ordinance No. 644 of the Downey Municipal Code shall continue to apply to any new or existing franchisee operating in the City and shall automatically be reauthorized upon the expiration of any existing or future state video franchise(s) held by any state -franchised video service provider operating within the City. This Ordinance shall so renew until such time that the City Council takes formal affirmative action to cease the renewals. SECTION 4. Severability. If any section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause, or phrase of this Ordinance or any part thereof is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portion of this Ordinance or any part thereof. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed each section, subsection, subdivision, paragraph, sentence, clause, or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared unconstitutional. SECTION 5. CEQA. The City Council finds that this Ordinance is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonable foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is .not a project as defined in Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly). SECTION 6. Effective Date. This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect immediately upon its adoption. SECTION 7. Codification; Postinq. Ordinance No. 644 as amended by Ordinance No. 08- 1227 shall be codified as Chapter 1 F of Article VI ("Business, Trades, and Professions") of the Downey Municipal Code. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage of this Ordinance and cause the same to be posted pursuant to Government Code Section 36933. APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 11th day of December 2018. SEAN ASHTON, Mayor MARIA ALICIA DUARTE, CMC City Clerk STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) ss CITY OF DOWNEY ) I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Interim Urgency Ordinance No. 18- was introduced and adopted at a Regular Meeting of the City Council of the City of Downey held on the 11th day of December, 2018, by the following vote to wit: AYES: Council Members: NOES: Council Members: ABSENT: Council Members: ABSTAIN: Council Members: I FURTHER CERTIFY that a summary of the foregoing Interim Urgency Ordinance No. 18- was published in the Downey Patriot, a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Downey, on (including the vote thereon). It was also posted in the Regular posting places in the City of Downey on the same dates. MARIA ALICIA DUARTE, CMC City Clerk