By Hill                                         H.B. No. 2423

      75R6944 JJT-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to rates for switched access telecommunications services.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 3.352(d), Public Utility Regulatory Act

 1-5     of 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is

 1-6     amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (d)  If, subsequent to the enactment of this subtitle, an

 1-8     incumbent local exchange company notifies the commission in writing

 1-9     of its election to incentive regulation under this subtitle, the

1-10     company may not under any circumstances be subject to any

1-11     complaint, hearing, or determination as to the reasonableness of

1-12     its rates, its overall revenues, its return on invested capital, or

1-13     its net income.  However, the company's implementation and

1-14     enforcement of the competitive safeguards required by Subtitle J of

1-15     this title are not excluded from a complaint, hearing, or

1-16     determination.  Nothing herein restricts any consumer's right to

1-17     complain to the commission regarding quality of service, the

1-18     commission's right to enforce quality of service standards, or the

1-19     consumer's right to complain regarding the application of an

1-20     ambiguous tariff, and if the commission finds an ambiguity, the

1-21     commission's right to determine the proper application of the

1-22     tariff or to determine the proper rate if the tariff is found to

1-23     not apply, but this does not permit the commission to lower a

1-24     tariff rate except as specifically provided by this Act, to change

 2-1     its interpretation of a tariff, or to change a tariff so as to

 2-2     extend its application to new classes of customers.

 2-3     [Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the commission

 2-4     may not reduce the rates for switched access services for any

 2-5     company electing under this subtitle before the expiration of the

 2-6     cap on basic network services.]

 2-7           SECTION 2.  Section 3.402(g), Public Utility Regulatory Act

 2-8     of 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is

 2-9     amended to read as follows:

2-10           (g)  The rates capped by Subsection (b) of this section as a

2-11     result of a company's election shall be the rates charged by the

2-12     company at the date of its election without regard to proceedings

2-13     pending under Section 1.301 or 3.210 of this Act or under

2-14     Subchapter G, Chapter 2001, Government Code.  [Notwithstanding any

2-15     other provision of this Act, the commission may not reduce the

2-16     rates for switched access services for any company electing under

2-17     this subtitle before the expiration of the cap under Subsection (b)

2-18     of this section.]

2-19           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-20           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.