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Committee probes railroad telecom leases; agencies report about $100,000 annual telecom lease revenue
Summary
Conference members discussed replacing section 32 with language about railroad telecom leases, learned that a fiber-optic lease generates about $100,000 annually split roughly 50/50 between the railroad and the state, and asked for a broader report on state-owned property revenues.
Members of the House–Senate transportation conference committee debated replacing section 32 with alternate language addressing railroad leases and telecom use of state right-of-way and requested more granular revenue information for future negotiations.
Michelle Boomhower of the Agency of Transportation told the committee that “in this particular case, 50% of the revenues go to the railroad and 50% go to the agency, and that's the way the lease is structured. And the revenue for this lease is about a hundred thousand dollars a year.” She said the lease in question has produced about $100,000 annually, with roughly $50,000 going to the state.
Committee members and agency staff discussed the limits on subleasing in existing railroad leases, emphasizing that railroad leases are restricted to railroad-specific activities and that non-railroad uses would be managed directly by the agency. Boomhower said the agency can lease non-railroad operations directly and that leases include provisions protecting the railroad’s ability to reclaim property if needed for rail operations.
Staff said a broader analysis is underway to inventory state-owned property and compare lease practices and revenues across railroads, highways and airports. The report—referenced as the product of recent administrative work and expected in a later submission to the General Assembly—will provide more detail on annual revenues, lease types and comparability to other states. Committee members asked agencies to use the interval before any railroad lease renewal to gather additional data and set expectations for future negotiations.
No formal action or vote was recorded in the provided transcript on replacing section 32; participants described the proposed language as an alternative approach under the conference committee’s remit and agreed to gather more information before finalizing text.
