Illinois House Bill ‘Protect Me From 5G!’ Gives Residents More Decision Making on Cell Antennas

August 13, 2020

Content from State Representative Deanne Mazzochi  Website. 

State Representative Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) announced today new legislation to protect local residents from the proliferation of controversial 5G wireless canisters in suburban communities.  “Our neighborhoods welcome technological advances,” Mazzochi said. “But those same neighborhoods also need the right to decide at the local level whether certain aesthetic or safety costs are worth it, Rep. Mazzochi said.

Several neighborhoods in Mazzochi’s district have served as pilot communities for various categories of 5G wireless small cell units, and they are not happy with the early rollout results.  After hundreds of Western Springs and Hinsdale residents called for expanded local control over 5G sites, Mazzochi filed House Bill 5818, the “Protect Me From 5G Act.” Mazzochi hopes the bill will be considered in the General Assembly’s Fall Veto session in November.

You can watch video of Rep. Mazzochi’s press conference with Western Springs Village President Alice Gallagher, Hinsdale Village Trustee Luke Stifflear, and Clarendon Hills Village President Len Austin here.

According to Representative  Mazzochi’s website:

The “Protect Me from 5G Act” has the following key elements:

• Radio frequency monitoring – Requiring a monitoring plan and tracking and recording daily levels of radio frequency emissions produced by 5G equipment;
• Noise monitoring — Requiring a written report that analyzes acoustic noise levels for small wireless facilities and all associated equipment
• Environmental protection — Requiring a certification of a federal environmental assessment.
• Equipment restrictions – Requiring equipment, when replaced, to be swapped with the smallest commercially used and available equipment.
• Alternate Location Authority – – Allowing local governments to propose new small wireless facilities be installed on existing poles within 200 feet of requested location of a new proposed pole, in order to protect aesthetics and limit the number of new poles.
• Closing application loophole – Clarifying that wireless service providers must submit new applications when seeking to replace existing small wireless facility equipment with significantly different equipment
• Below ground devices — Allowing local governments to require small wireless facilities and related equipment to be below ground as new technology for doing so becomes available.
• Easement rules — Requiring proof of authority when wireless service providers seek to use easements outside of the public way

https://ehtrust.org/illinois-house-bill-protect-me-from-5g-gives-residents-more-decision-making-on-cell-antennas/ Source: Environmental Health Trust