74R13767 E
          By Henderson                                          S.B. No. 1644
          Substitute the following for S.B. No. 1644:
          By Danburg                                        C.S.S.B. No. 1644
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the regulation of changes of long distance carriers;
    1-3  providing a penalty.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subtitle G, Title III, Public Utility Regulatory
    1-6  Act of 1995, as enacted by S.B. No. 319, Acts of the 74th
    1-7  Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, is amended by adding Section
    1-8  3.308 to read as follows:
    1-9        Sec. 3.308.  CHANGE OF LONG DISTANCE CARRIER.  (a)  If a
   1-10  telecommunications provider is required by the rules and
   1-11  regulations of the Federal Communications Commission to obtain a
   1-12  written authorization from a subscriber to initiate a primary long
   1-13  distance carrier change, a provider must obtain from the subscriber
   1-14  a written letter of agency that conforms to this section.  A
   1-15  written letter of agency that does not conform to this section is
   1-16  not valid.
   1-17        (b)  A letter of agency is a document authorizing an
   1-18  interexchange carrier to initiate a primary long distance carrier
   1-19  change.  The subscriber requesting the change must sign and date
   1-20  the letter.
   1-21        (c)  At a minimum, a letter of agency must be printed clearly
   1-22  and conspicuously and must contain clear and unambiguous language
   1-23  stating:
   1-24              (1)  the subscriber's billing name and address and each
    2-1  telephone number affected by the change order;
    2-2              (2)  the subscriber's intent to change the subscriber's
    2-3  primary long distance carrier;
    2-4              (3)  the subscriber's designation of the new
    2-5  interexchange carrier to act as the subscriber's agent for the
    2-6  change; and
    2-7              (4)  the subscriber's acknowledgment that the
    2-8  subscriber has notice that the change may cause a charge to be
    2-9  incurred by the subscriber.
   2-10        (d)  A letter of agency may not purport to instruct the
   2-11  subscriber to take an action to retain the subscriber's current
   2-12  interexchange carrier.
   2-13        (e)  A person shall not sell, provide, present, deliver, or
   2-14  otherwise convey a written letter of agency to a telecommunications
   2-15  provider, including an interexchange carrier, that the person knows
   2-16  does not conform to this section.
   2-17        (f)  A person commits an offense if the person knowingly and
   2-18  intentionally violates this section and such violation results in
   2-19  an unauthorized change in a subscriber's primary long distance
   2-20  carrier.  An offense under this subsection shall be subject to the
   2-21  same administrative penalties that may be imposed by the commission
   2-22  on persons regulated under this Act.
   2-23        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-24  applies to a change of long distance carriers that is initiated on
   2-25  or after that date.  A change of long distance carriers that is
   2-26  initiated before that date is governed by the law in effect when
   2-27  the change was initiated, and that law is continued in effect for
    3-1  that purpose.
    3-2        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-3  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-4  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-5  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-6  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.