By: Sibley S.B. No. 760
97S0435/1
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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 Section 3.312 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 January 1, 1998, the
1-12 commission shall adopt nondiscriminatory and competitively neutral
1-13 telecommunications utility selection rules governing the customer's
1-14 selection of telecommunications utilities that:
1-15 (1) are applicable to all local exchange telephone
1-16 service, interexchange telecommunications service, and other
1-17 telecommunications services provided by telecommunications
1-18 utilities in this state;
1-19 (2) are consistent with the rules and regulations
1-20 prescribed by the Federal Communications Commission for the
1-21 selection of telecommunications utilities and permit
1-22 telecommunications utilities to select any one of the following
1-23 methods of verification of carrier-initiated change orders:
2-1 (A) written authorization from the customer;
2-2 (B) toll-free electronic authorization placed
2-3 from the telephone number which is the subject of the change order;
2-4 (C) oral authorization obtained by an
2-5 independent third party; or
2-6 (D) mailing to the customer an information
2-7 package consistent with 47 C.F.R. Section 64.1100(d) that contains
2-8 a postage-prepaid postcard or mailer, without receiving a
2-9 cancellation of the change order from the customer within 14 days
2-10 after the date of the mailing;
2-11 (3) do not require verification methods listed under
2-12 Subdivision (2) of this section to apply to customer-initiated
2-13 changes of telecommunications utilities;
2-14 (4) provide that changes in the selection of the
2-15 customer's telecommunications utilities which are not made or
2-16 verified consistent with the commission's rules shall, on request
2-17 by the customer, be reversed prior to the submission of the next
2-18 bill, if possible;
2-19 (5) provide that the telecommunications utility that
2-20 initiated the unauthorized customer change shall:
2-21 (A) pay all usual and customary charges
2-22 associated with returning the customer to its original
2-23 telecommunications utility; and
2-24 (B) remit to the customer all amounts paid by
2-25 the customer to the unauthorized telecommunications utility that
3-1 are in excess of what the customer would have paid had the
3-2 unauthorized change not occurred;
3-3 (6) provide that the customer shall not be required to
3-4 make payment to a telecommunications utility that has initiated an
3-5 unauthorized change for services provided by the utility and that
3-6 the customer shall only be required to pay the original utility the
3-7 charges the original utility would have imposed for identical
3-8 service during the period of the unauthorized change;
3-9 (7) provide that if the commission finds that a
3-10 telecommunications utility has repeatedly engaged in violations of
3-11 the commission's telecommunications utility selection rules, the
3-12 commission may order the utility to take corrective action as
3-13 necessary and the utility may be subject to administrative
3-14 penalties pursuant to Section 1.3215 of this Act;
3-15 (8) provide that proceeds of administrative penalties
3-16 collected under this section be used for purposes of funding
3-17 enforcement of this section; and
3-18 (9) provide that if the commission finds that a
3-19 telecommunications utility is repeatedly and recklessly in
3-20 violation of the commission's telecommunications utility selection
3-21 rules, the commission may, if consistent with the public interest,
3-22 suspend, restrict, or revoke the registration or certificate of the
3-23 telecommunications utility, thereby denying the telecommunications
3-24 utility the right to provide service in this state.
3-25 (b) The commission is granted all necessary jurisdiction to
4-1 adopt rules required by this section and to enforce the provisions
4-2 of these rules and this section. The commission may notify
4-3 customers of their rights under these rules.
4-4 SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 3.051, Public Utility
4-5 Regulatory Act of 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil
4-6 Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
4-7 (c) Except as provided by Subsections (l), (m), and (s) of
4-8 this section and Sections [Section] 3.052 and 3.312 of this Act,
4-9 the commission shall only have the following jurisdiction over all
4-10 telecommunications utilities who are not dominant carriers:
4-11 (1) to require registration as provided in Subsection
4-12 (d) of this section;
4-13 (2) to conduct such investigations as are necessary to
4-14 determine the existence, impact, and scope of competition in the
4-15 telecommunications industry, including identifying dominant
4-16 carriers in the local telecommunications and intralata
4-17 interexchange telecommunications industry and defining the
4-18 telecommunications market or markets, and in connection therewith
4-19 may call and hold hearings, issue subpoenas to compel the
4-20 attendance of witnesses and the production of papers and documents,
4-21 and make findings of fact and decisions with respect to
4-22 administering the provisions of this Act or the rules, orders, and
4-23 other actions of the commission;
4-24 (3) to require the filing of such reports as the
4-25 commission may direct from time to time;
5-1 (4) to require the maintenance of statewide average
5-2 rates or prices of telecommunications service;
5-3 (5) to require that every local exchange area have
5-4 access to local and interexchange telecommunications service,
5-5 except that a telecommunications utility must be allowed to
5-6 discontinue service to a local exchange area if comparable service
5-7 is available in the area and the discontinuance is not contrary to
5-8 the public interest; this section does not authorize the commission
5-9 to require a telecommunications utility that has not provided
5-10 services to a local exchange area during the previous 12 months and
5-11 that has never provided services to that same local exchange area
5-12 for a cumulative period of one year at any time in the past to
5-13 initiate services to that local exchange area; and
5-14 (6) to require the quality of telecommunications
5-15 service provided in each exchange to be adequate to protect the
5-16 public interest and the interests of customers of that exchange if
5-17 the commission determines that service to a local exchange has
5-18 deteriorated to the point that service is not reliable.
5-19 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
5-20 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-24 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.