By: Bivins S.B. No. 1358
73R8432 SMH-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the establishment of an education tariff for certain
1-3 telecommunications services.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article XIV, Public Utility Regulatory Act
1-6 (Article 1446c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
1-7 adding Section 96B to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 96B. (a) The commission by rule shall require a
1-9 dominant carrier to file a tariff containing a reduced rate for a
1-10 telecommunications service the commission finds is directly related
1-11 to a distance learning activity that is or could be conducted by a
1-12 primary, secondary, or higher educational institution in this
1-13 state.
1-14 (b) The commission rules shall specify:
1-15 (1) the telecommunications services that qualify under
1-16 this section;
1-17 (2) the process by which an educational institution
1-18 qualifies for a reduced rate;
1-19 (3) the date by which a dominant carrier shall file a
1-20 tariff;
1-21 (4) guidelines and criteria by which the services and
1-22 reduced rates shall further the goals stated in Subsection (d) of
1-23 this section; and
1-24 (5) any other requirements, terms, and conditions that
2-1 the commission determines to be in the public interest.
2-2 (c) A tariff filing by a dominant carrier under this
2-3 section:
2-4 (1) shall concern only the implementation of this
2-5 section;
2-6 (2) is not a rate change under Section 43 of this Act;
2-7 and
2-8 (3) does not affect any of the carrier's other rates
2-9 or services.
2-10 (d) The services and reduced rates shall be designed to:
2-11 (1) encourage the development and offering of distance
2-12 learning activities by educational institutions;
2-13 (2) meet the distance learning needs identified by the
2-14 educational community; and
2-15 (3) recover the long-run incremental costs of
2-16 providing the services, to the extent those costs can be
2-17 identified, so as to avoid subsidizing educational institutions.
2-18 (e) The commission is not required to determine the long-run
2-19 incremental cost of providing a service before approving a reduced
2-20 rate for the service. After the commission develops cost
2-21 determination rules for telecommunications services generally, it
2-22 shall ensure that a reduced rate approved under this section
2-23 recovers service-specific long-run incremental costs and avoids
2-24 subsidization.
2-25 (f) An educational institution or dominant carrier may at
2-26 any time request the commission to:
2-27 (1) provide for a reduced rate for a service not
3-1 covered by commission rules;
3-2 (2) change a rate;
3-3 (3) amend a tariff; or
3-4 (4) amend a commission rule.
3-5 (g) If the commission determines that a change requested
3-6 under Subsection (f) is appropriate, it shall make the requested
3-7 change.
3-8 (h) In this section, "distance learning" means the process
3-9 of learning by which a student or educator receives information
3-10 from a source other than an on-site source.
3-11 SECTION 2. As soon as possible after the effective date of
3-12 this Act, the Public Utility Commission of Texas shall adopt rules
3-13 as prescribed by Section 96B, Public Utility Regulatory Act
3-14 (Article 1446c, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as added by this
3-15 Act.
3-16 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-22 passage, and it is so enacted.