(a)  The Rhode Island general assembly finds and declares that:

(1)  Taxpayers are mandated to pay the electric distribution company large sums every year to light municipal and many state-owned streets;

(2)  Municipalities are limited in how they can manage this public safety resource because they do not own or control the light fixtures within their borders;

(3)  There is no incentive in the applicable electric-rate tariff for installing energy-efficient lighting technologies that may reduce both power and maintenance expenses;

(4)  There is no provision in the applicable electric-rate tariff for municipalities to work collectively to manage the maintenance of the streetlighting system; and

(5)  Municipalities around the country have saved considerable resources by purchasing their streetlight systems from electric distribution companies and contracting for the maintenance independently.

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(b)  Now, therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to reduce municipal streetlighting costs and improve service to citizens by:

(1)  Improving public safety with streetlights that provide better illumination;

(2)  Reducing maintenance costs by allowing municipalities to own the street and area lighting within their borders and to enter into regional maintenance service contracts;

(3)  Reducing whole-system cost through municipal ownership and regional management and by eliminating the current “facilities charge”;

(4)  Providing innovative and proven technologies for more efficient lighting; and

(5)  Providing more responsive service for lighting repairs.