By:  Henderson                                        S.B. No. 1644
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the regulation of changes of long distance carriers;
    1-2  providing a penalty.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subtitle G, Title III, Public Utility Regulatory
    1-5  Act of 1995, as enacted by S.B. No. 319, Acts of the 74th
    1-6  Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, is amended by adding Section
    1-7  3.308 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 3.308.  CHANGE OF LONG DISTANCE CARRIER.  (a)  If a
    1-9  telecommunications provider is required by the rules and
   1-10  regulations of the Federal Communications Commission to obtain a
   1-11  written authorization from a subscriber to initiate a primary long
   1-12  distance carrier change, a provider must obtain from the subscriber
   1-13  a written letter of agency that conforms to this section.  A
   1-14  written letter of agency that does not conform to this section is
   1-15  not valid.
   1-16        (b)  A letter of agency is a document authorizing an
   1-17  interexchange carrier to initiate a primary long distance carrier
   1-18  change.  The subscriber requesting the change must sign and date
   1-19  the letter.
   1-20        (c)  At a minimum, a letter of agency must be printed clearly
   1-21  and conspicuously and must contain clear and unambiguous language
   1-22  stating:
   1-23              (1)  the subscriber's billing name and address and each
   1-24  telephone number affected by the change order;
    2-1              (2)  the subscriber's intent to change the subscriber's
    2-2  primary long distance carrier;
    2-3              (3)  the subscriber's designation of the new
    2-4  interexchange carrier to act as the subscriber's agent for the
    2-5  change; and
    2-6              (4)  the subscriber's acknowledgment that the
    2-7  subscriber has notice that the change may cause a charge to be
    2-8  incurred by the subscriber.
    2-9        (d)  A letter of agency may not purport to instruct the
   2-10  subscriber to take an action to retain the subscriber's current
   2-11  interexchange carrier.
   2-12        (e)  An interexchange carrier is liable for any act in
   2-13  violation of this section that is committed by an employee or
   2-14  independent contractor acting on behalf of the carrier.
   2-15        (f)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly
   2-16  violates this section.  An offense under this subsection is a
   2-17  felony of the third degree.  If it is shown at the trial of a
   2-18  person under this subsection that the person was previously
   2-19  convicted of an offense under this subsection within the five years
   2-20  preceding the date of the offense for which the person is being
   2-21  tried, the offense is a felony of the first degree.
   2-22        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-23  applies to a change of long distance carriers that is initiated on
   2-24  or after that date.  A change of long distance carriers that is
   2-25  initiated before that date is governed by the law in effect when
   2-26  the change was initiated, and that law is continued in effect for
   2-27  that purpose.
    3-1        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-2  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-3  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-4  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-5  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.