                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

POWERS GENERALLY (§ 15.2-7207)

A. The Authority is hereby granted all powers reasonably necessary or
appropriate to carry out the purposes of this chapter in order to provide
electric, water, sewer, and telecommunication and related services, including
without limitation, cable television internet, and all other services that might
be lawfully rendered by use of the Authority&#8217;s fiber optic system, subject
to all applicable limitations and restrictions thereon. Such powers include,
without limitation, except as set forth hereafter, the following:

   1. To adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its
   business;

   2. To sue and be sued in the Authority&#8217;s name;

   3. To adopt a corporate seal and alter the same at its pleasure;

   4. To maintain offices at such places as it may designate;

   5. To appoint, employ, or engage such officers, employees, architects,
   engineers, attorneys, accountants, financial advisors, investment bankers, and
   other advisors, consultants, and agents as may be necessary or appropriate,
   and to fix their duties and compensation;

   6. To establish personnel rules;

   7. To make, assume, and enter into all contracts, leases, and arrangements
   necessary or incidental to the exercise of its powers, including contracts for
   the management or operation of all or any part of its facilities;

   8. To borrow money, as hereinafter provided, and to borrow money for the
   purpose of meeting casual deficits in its revenues;

   9. To provide electric, water, sewer, and telecommunication and related
   services, including without limitation, cable television, internet, and all
   other services that might be lawfully rendered by use of the Authority&#8217;s
   fiber optic system as set forth in &#xA7; 15.2-7208 subject to all applicable
   restrictions and limitations thereon;

   10. To determine fees, rates, and charges for the services and products it
   provides, subject only to such state or federal regulation as the Tennessee
   Valley Authority (TVA) or other cognizant state or federal agency may impose
   by order, rulemaking, contract or otherwise, including, without limitation,
   electric, water and sewer, and internet and cable television services,
   including all other services that might be rendered by use of its fiber optic
   system, furnished by the Authority. MLEC telephone service, including rates,
   is regulated by the Commission. All rate increases for services other than
   electric, which are set by the TVA, and telephone, which are set by the
   Commission and applicable law, shall require a favorable vote at two meetings,
   one of which must be a regular meeting of the BVU Authority Board;

   11. To adopt, amend, and repeal rules and regulations for the use,
   maintenance, and operation of its facilities and utility services and
   governing the conduct of persons and organizations using its facilities or
   obtaining its utility services and to enforce such rules and regulations and
   all other rules, regulations, ordinances, and statutes relating to its
   facilities and services, as authorized by the enacting body of such rules,
   regulations, ordinances, and statutes. The civil penalty for violation of any
   such rules and regulations shall be set forth in the rules and may be enforced
   by the Authority by direct action in terminating services and by the
   imposition of monetary penalties to be billed to the customer. The Authority
   may request the governing body of each locality in which it does business to
   impose by ordinance such penal liability for violation of such rules and
   regulations as such body deems appropriate;

   12. Subject to subdivision 20, to apply for and accept gifts or grants of
   money or gifts, grants or loans of other property or other financial
   assistance from the United States of America and agencies and
   instrumentalities thereof, this Commonwealth and political subdivisions,
   agencies and instrumentalities thereof, or any other person or entity, for or
   in aid of the construction, acquisition, ownership, operation, maintenance, or
   repair of its infrastructure or for the payment of principal of any
   indebtedness of the Authority, interest thereon, or other cost incident
   thereto, or for the operation of any of its services, or for any other purpose
   of the Authority, and to this end the Authority shall have the power to render
   such services, comply with such conditions, and execute such agreements and
   legal instruments as may be necessary, convenient or desirable or imposed as a
   condition to such financial aid;

   13. Subject to subdivision 15 and all existing limitations and restrictions
   thereon, to acquire, establish, construct, enlarge, improve, maintain, equip,
   operate, and regulate electric, water, sewer, telecommunications, internet and
   cable television services, including all other services that might be rendered
   by use of its fiber optic system, and other infrastructure and facilities that
   are owned or managed by the Authority within the territorial areas in which it
   operates or provides services;

   14. To construct, install, maintain, and operate facilities and infrastructure
   for managing its utility, consulting and operational management services. The
   Authority shall have the power and duty to manage and operate the electric,
   public lighting, water, sewerage, telecommunications, internet and cable
   television services, including all other services that might be rendered by
   use of its fiber optic system directly subject to all existing limitations and
   restrictions thereon, or it may subcontract such functions. The Authority
   shall construct, maintain, and operate all facilities necessary thereto; shall
   sell and distribute to the public electric power, light, water, sewer,
   telecommunications, internet and cable television, and other services as they
   now exist or may exist in the future subject to all existing limitations and
   restrictions thereon; and shall collect the rates and charges provided for all
   such services;

   15. To own, purchase, lease, obtain options upon, acquire by gift, grant, or
   bequest or otherwise acquire any property, real or personal, or any interest
   therein, and in connection therewith to assume or take subject to any
   indebtedness secured by such property and dispose of any or all such
   properties as is deemed appropriate by the Board, including, notwithstanding
   the provisions of the Virginia Public Procurement Act (&#xA7; 2.2-4300 et
   seq.), executing, assigning, or transferring, without implementing the
   provisions of the Virginia Public Procurement Act, any internal contract
   between the divisions of the Authority that following such execution,
   assignment, or transfer will be between the Authority and the purchaser of the
   Authority&#8217;s assets. The Authority shall have the power of eminent domain
   to acquire property and easements as needed for its electric power, light,
   water, and sewer services within the areas it provides or can provide such
   services. The power of eminent domain shall not include the power to acquire
   existing telecommunications, internet or cable facilities, which is expressly
   prohibited, and the Authority shall not accept or receive any
   telecommunications, internet or cable facilities from an entity that acquired
   such facilities by use of eminent domain for the purpose of conveying them to
   the Authority;

   16. To purchase and maintain insurance or provide indemnification on behalf of
   any person who is or was a director, officer, employee, or agent of the
   Authority and on behalf of the Authority itself against any liability asserted
   against it or him or incurred by it or him in any such capacity or arising out
   of his status as such;

   17. To establish and charge such fees as it deems appropriate for attachment
   to or inclusion in the Authority&#8217;s infrastructure, including but not
   limited to its poles, conduits, and co-location sites, subject to all existing
   limitations and restrictions thereon;

   18. To fund economic development projects and, in advance of economic
   development projects, to enter into contracts, to borrow money and to do all
   other such acts as will allow it to encourage and support economic
   development.
   				Before the Authority expends any funds for an economic development project
   that is funded in whole or in part by funds allocated by the Board pursuant to
   a power purchase agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority, a
   determination shall be made that the electric system benefit is expected to be
   commensurate with the expenditure.
   				Within 30 days of the end of the Authority&#8217;s fiscal year, the
   Authority shall publish on its website the details of any incentive awarded to
   an economic development project;

   19. To have police powers on all of the properties of the Authority within the
   Commonwealth, exercised through appointment of an armed conservator of the
   peace. The president of the Authority may apply to the circuit court for any
   locality in which the Authority has property for the appointment of one or
   more special conservators of the peace under procedures specified by Chapter 2
   (&#xA7; 19.2-12 et seq.) of Title 19.2 or any successor provisions. Any such
   special conservator of the peace shall have, within the lands and facilities
   controlled by the Authority, the powers, functions, duties, responsibilities,
   and authority of any other armed conservator of the peace. Nothing in this
   section shall be construed to prevent the conservator of the peace currently
   serving Bristol Virginia Utilities from continuing as an armed special
   conservator of the peace for the Authority during the remainder of his term,
   if not removed for cause; and

   20. To build or facilitate the building of, as the first broadband priority of
   the Authority, wired broadband infrastructure to serve residents in the
   Authority&#8217;s lawful service area who are not served by any wired
   broadband service provider. The president of the Authority shall annually
   provide the Board with a report detailing (i) the number of requests for
   broadband services received from residents in unserved areas, (ii) the number
   of such requests for which the Authority has provided a connection to
   broadband services, and (iii) the costs of providing such broadband service.

B. The Authority is authorized to (i) operate only in Virginia and Tennessee;
(ii) offer broadband services only in Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington Counties,
Tennessee; the City of Bristol, Virginia; and Bland, Buchanan, Dickenson,
Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, and Wythe Counties in
Virginia, together with any towns located in such counties; and (iii) offer
cable television services or other video services only within the electric
utility service territory of Bristol Virginia Utilities as it existed on
December 31, 2009, in the City of Bristol, Virginia, Scott County, and
Washington County, including within the Town of Abingdon. Notwithstanding the
geographic limitations of this subsection, the Authority shall have the right to
sell any of its non-electric utility services at wholesale to an independent
third party in which the Authority has no ownership or management interest and
no economic interest apart from the sale of utility services, to allow such
independent third party to distribute and sell the utility services at retail in
areas outside of the Authority&#8217;s geographic limitations.

C. Whenever any grant, loan, or application for such grant or loan includes or
refers to funding for broadband deployment, the Authority shall ensure that (i)
funds are allocated to the maximum extent possible to projects that expand
broadband deployment to areas, residents, or businesses that are unserved by
wired broadband; (ii) in any funding of grants for broadband deployment that
include areas already served by wired broadband, such areas already served are
incidental to and are crossed only for the purpose of reaching an unserved area;
and (iii) any broadband network built will be operated on an open-access basis,
available to multiple broadband providers, with dark fibers and capacity
sufficient for competitive broadband providers to lease the same from the
Authority at commercially reasonable rates.

D. The Authority shall not seek to become or establish a wireless service
authority under the Virginia Wireless Service Authorities Act (&#xA7;
15.2-5431.1 et seq.) or contract for services with such an authority.

E. The Authority shall not solicit or contract with any locality or other entity
possessing the power of eminent domain in order to cause such a third party to
exercise its power of eminent domain to acquire any easements or other property
where the Authority itself lacks such power.

F. The Authority shall not have the power to make charitable donations.

HISTORY: 2010, cc. 117, 210; 2016, cc. 724, 725; 2018, c. 839.