AN ACT
1-1 relating to the selection of telecommunications utilities by
1-2 customers.
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 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
1-6 amended by adding Sections 3.312 and 3.313 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 3.312. TELECOMMUNICATIONS UTILITY SELECTION RULES.
1-8 (a) It is the policy of this state to ensure that all customers
1-9 are protected from the unauthorized switching of a
1-10 telecommunications utility selected by the customer to provide
1-11 telecommunications service. Not later than November 1, 1997, the
1-12 commission shall adopt nondiscriminatory and competitively neutral
1-13 rules to implement this section, including rules that:
1-14 (1) ensure that customers are protected from deceptive
1-15 practices in the obtaining of authorizations and verifications
1-16 required by this section;
1-17 (2) are applicable to all local exchange telephone
1-18 service, interexchange telecommunications service, and other
1-19 telecommunications services provided by telecommunications
1-20 utilities in this state;
1-21 (3) are consistent with the rules and regulations
1-22 prescribed by the Federal Communications Commission for the
1-23 selection of telecommunications utilities and permit
2-1 telecommunications utilities to select any one of the following
2-2 methods of verification of carrier-initiated change orders:
2-3 (A) written authorization from the customer;
2-4 (B) toll-free electronic authorization placed
2-5 from the telephone number which is the subject of the change order;
2-6 (C) oral authorization obtained by an
2-7 independent third party; or
2-8 (D) mailing to the customer an information
2-9 package consistent with 47 C.F.R. Section 64.1100(d) that contains
2-10 a postage-prepaid postcard or mailer, without receiving a
2-11 cancellation of the change order from the customer within 14 days
2-12 after the date of the mailing;
2-13 (4) require that in the case of customer-initiated
2-14 changes of telecommunications utilities, the telecommunications
2-15 utility to whom the customer has changed its service shall maintain
2-16 a record of nonpublic customer-specific information that could be
2-17 used to establish that the customer authorized the change, except
2-18 that if the Federal Communications Commission requires
2-19 verification, methods required by the Federal Communications
2-20 Commission shall be used by telecommunications utilities;
2-21 (5) provide that changes in the selection of the
2-22 customer's telecommunications utilities which are not made or
2-23 verified consistent with the commission's rules shall, on request
2-24 by the customer, be reversed within a period established by
2-25 commission ruling;
3-1 (6) provide that the telecommunications utility that
3-2 initiated the unauthorized customer change shall:
3-3 (A) pay all usual and customary charges
3-4 associated with returning the customer to its original
3-5 telecommunications utility;
3-6 (B) pay the telecommunications utility from
3-7 which the customer was changed any amount paid by the customer that
3-8 would have been paid to the telecommunications utility from which
3-9 the customer was changed but for the unauthorized change;
3-10 (C) return to the customer any amount paid by
3-11 the customer in excess of the charges that would have been imposed
3-12 for identical services by the telecommunications utility from which
3-13 the customer was changed but for the unauthorized change; and
3-14 (D) provide all billing records to the original
3-15 telecommunications utility from which the customer was changed to
3-16 enable the telecommunications utility from which the customer was
3-17 changed to comply with this section and subsequent rules;
3-18 (7) provide that the telecommunications utility from
3-19 which the customer was changed shall provide to the customer all
3-20 benefits associated with the service on receipt of payment for
3-21 service provided during the unauthorized change;
3-22 (8) provide that if the commission finds that a
3-23 telecommunications utility has repeatedly engaged in violations of
3-24 the commission's telecommunications utility selection rules, the
3-25 commission shall order the utility to take corrective action as
4-1 necessary and the utility may be subject to administrative
4-2 penalties pursuant to Section 1.3215 of this Act;
4-3 (9) provide that proceeds of administrative penalties
4-4 collected under this section be used for purposes of funding
4-5 enforcement of this section; and
4-6 (10) provide that if the commission finds that a
4-7 telecommunications utility is repeatedly and recklessly in
4-8 violation of the commission's telecommunications utility selection
4-9 rules, the commission may, if consistent with the public interest,
4-10 suspend, restrict, or revoke the registration or certificate of the
4-11 telecommunications utility, thereby denying the telecommunications
4-12 utility the right to provide service in this state.
4-13 (b) The commission is granted all necessary jurisdiction to
4-14 adopt rules required by this section and to enforce the provisions
4-15 of these rules and this section. The commission may notify
4-16 customers of their rights under these rules.
4-17 Sec. 3.313. NOTICE OF IDENTITY OF INTEREXCHANGE CARRIER.
4-18 (a) A local exchange company shall print on the first page of each
4-19 bill sent to a customer of the local exchange company the name of
4-20 the customer's primary interexchange carrier where the local
4-21 exchange company provides billing services for the primary
4-22 interexchange carrier. The commission may, for good cause, waive
4-23 this requirement in exchanges served by incumbent local exchange
4-24 companies serving 31,000 access lines or less.
4-25 (b) The bill must contain instructions on how the customer
5-1 can contact the commission if the customer believes that the
5-2 carrier named is not the customer's primary interexchange carrier.
5-3 SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 3.051, Public Utility
5-4 Regulatory Act of 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil
5-5 Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
5-6 (c) Except as provided by Subsections (l), (m), and (s) of
5-7 this section and Sections [Section] 3.052, 3.312 and 3.313 of this
5-8 Act, the commission shall only have the following jurisdiction over
5-9 all telecommunications utilities who are not dominant carriers:
5-10 (1) to require registration as provided in Subsection
5-11 (d) of this section;
5-12 (2) to conduct such investigations as are necessary to
5-13 determine the existence, impact, and scope of competition in the
5-14 telecommunications industry, including identifying dominant
5-15 carriers in the local telecommunications and intralata
5-16 interexchange telecommunications industry and defining the
5-17 telecommunications market or markets, and in connection therewith
5-18 may call and hold hearings, issue subpoenas to compel the
5-19 attendance of witnesses and the production of papers and documents,
5-20 and make findings of fact and decisions with respect to
5-21 administering the provisions of this Act or the rules, orders, and
5-22 other actions of the commission;
5-23 (3) to require the filing of such reports as the
5-24 commission may direct from time to time;
5-25 (4) to require the maintenance of statewide average
6-1 rates or prices of telecommunications service;
6-2 (5) to require that every local exchange area have
6-3 access to local and interexchange telecommunications service,
6-4 except that a telecommunications utility must be allowed to
6-5 discontinue service to a local exchange area if comparable service
6-6 is available in the area and the discontinuance is not contrary to
6-7 the public interest; this section does not authorize the commission
6-8 to require a telecommunications utility that has not provided
6-9 services to a local exchange area during the previous 12 months and
6-10 that has never provided services to that same local exchange area
6-11 for a cumulative period of one year at any time in the past to
6-12 initiate services to that local exchange area; and
6-13 (6) to require the quality of telecommunications
6-14 service provided in each exchange to be adequate to protect the
6-15 public interest and the interests of customers of that exchange if
6-16 the commission determines that service to a local exchange has
6-17 deteriorated to the point that service is not reliable.
6-18 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
6-19 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
6-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 253 passed the Senate on
April 1, 1997, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 253 passed the House on
May 23, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor