By Barrientos S.B. No. 253
75R3149 T
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the unauthorized switching of a customer's
1-3 telecommunications provider.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Add new Section 3.054 to the Public Utility
1-6 Regulatory Act of 1995.
1-7 SECTION 3.054. It is the policy of this State to ensure that
1-8 consumers are protected from the unauthorized switching of a
1-9 customer's telecommunications provider. The commission shall adopt
1-10 rules by October 1, 1997 to implement the provisions of this
1-11 section.
1-12 (a) Each customer of a telecommunications provider may elect
1-13 to require that the telecommunications provider serving that
1-14 customer receive authorization from the customer before a request
1-15 to serve that customer from a different telecommunications provider
1-16 is processed.
1-17 (b) Telecommunications providers shall notify customers of
1-18 the right described in Section 3.054(a). The commission shall
1-19 determine the method and frequency of this notice.
1-20 (c) A customer may change this election at any time by
1-21 notifying the telecommunications provider of that decision. No
1-22 separate charge may be imposed on a customer for electing to
1-23 exercise described in Section 3.054(a) or to change that election.
1-24 (d) If a customer has elected to exercise the right
2-1 described in Section 3.054(a), the telecommunications provider
2-2 shall not process a request to serve the customer by another
2-3 telecommunications provider without prior authorization from the
2-4 customer.
2-5 (e) If a customer has not elected to exercise the right
2-6 described in Section 3.054(a), the telecommunications provider may
2-7 process a request to serve the customer by another
2-8 telecommunications provider.
2-9 (f) A telecommunications provider may request such a change
2-10 if the customer has authorized the change either orally or in
2-11 writing signed by the customer. If the telecommunications provider
2-12 requests a change in a customer's telecommunications provider, the
2-13 carrier must:
2-14 (1) Notify the customer in writing that the request
2-15 has been processed; and
2-16 (2) Be able to present, upon complaint by the
2-17 customer, verified authorization for the change by the customer.
2-18 (g) If the initial authorization was made orally, the
2-19 telecommunications provider must be able to present verified
2-20 authorization received from the customer within fourteen business
2-21 days of the date the oral authorization was made. Verified
2-22 authorization includes a commission approved Letter of Agency;
2-23 electronic verification made from the customer's telephone to a
2-24 toll-free number; or independent third-party authorization. The
2-25 commission shall adopt rules to ensure that customers are protected
2-26 from deceptive business practices in obtaining authorization from
2-27 the customer.
3-1 (h) In the case of an oral authorization, if a
3-2 telecommunications provider does not receive the verified
3-3 authorization within fourteen business days of the date of the oral
3-4 authorization, the telecommunications provider must either bear the
3-5 risk that the change in provider will be deemed unauthorized under
3-6 paragraph Section 3.054(i) or:
3-7 (1) Immediately return the customer to the service of
3-8 the customer's original telecommunications provider;
3-9 (2) Bear all costs associated with returning the
3-10 customer; and
3-11 (3) Bill the customer for services rendered at the
3-12 rate the customer would have paid for such services if the request
3-13 to serve the customer had not been made.
3-14 (i) If the telecommunications provider is not able to
3-15 present, upon complaint by the customer, verified authorization
3-16 received from the customer as required under Section 3.054(f) and
3-17 the telecommunications provider did not return the customer to the
3-18 service of the customer's original telecommunications provider as
3-19 required under Section 3.054(h), the change to the service of the
3-20 telecommunications provider shall be deemed to be unauthorized from
3-21 the date the telecommunications provider requested the change. In
3-22 that event, the telecommunications provider shall:
3-23 (1) Bear all costs of immediately returning the
3-24 customer to the service of the customer's original
3-25 telecommunications provider; and
3-26 (2) Bear all costs of serving that customer during
3-27 that period of unauthorized service.
4-1 (j) For purposes of subsections 3.054(g), (h), and (i),
4-2 authorization required in those subsections may be verified
4-3 utilizing any method that is consistent with federal law and
4-4 regulation.
4-5 (k) If the commission finds that a telephone company is
4-6 failing to comply with the provisions of this Section, it shall
4-7 order the company to take corrective action as necessary and may
4-8 impose administrative penalties.
4-9 (l) The unauthorized switching of customers may be the basis
4-10 for the commission to revoke or deny certificates of convenience
4-11 and necessity (CCNs), certificates of operating authority (COAs),
4-12 and service provider certificates of operating authority (SPCOAs).
4-13 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-19 passage, and it is so enacted.