By Sibley S.B. No. 1915
75R10034 DWS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the regulation of utilities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 1.034, Public Utility Regulatory Act of
1-5 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 1.034. ORDERS; TRANSCRIPT AND EXHIBITS; PUBLIC RECORDS.
1-8 (a) All orders of the commission shall be in writing and shall
1-9 contain detailed findings of the facts upon which they are passed.
1-10 (b) The commission shall retain a copy of the transcript and
1-11 the exhibits in any matter in which the commission issues an order.
1-12 All files pertaining to matters which were at any time pending
1-13 before the commission and to records, reports, and inspections
1-14 required by Subtitle E of this title, Title II of this Act, and
1-15 Title III of this Act shall be public records, subject to the terms
1-16 of Chapter 552, Government Code.
1-17 (c) The commission may establish a system to provide
1-18 electronic access to information that is stored in computer banks
1-19 maintained by the commission and that is not made confidential by
1-20 statute or court decision. The system must be reviewed and
1-21 approved by the Department of Information Resources. The
1-22 commission may impose a fee for electronic access to the
1-23 information in an amount reasonable and necessary to cover the
1-24 costs of payments to the Texas Public Finance Authority associated
2-1 with establishing the electronic access system.
2-2 SECTION 2. Section 3.002, Public Utility Regulatory Act of
2-3 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
2-4 by adding Subdivision (13) to read as follows:
2-5 (13) "Rural telephone company" means an incumbent
2-6 local exchange company that:
2-7 (A) does not serve more than 100,000 access
2-8 lines in this state;
2-9 (B) does not provide local exchange telephone
2-10 service to a single exchange of more than 30,000 access lines; and
2-11 (C) meets one or more of the following
2-12 requirements:
2-13 (i) the company provides local exchange
2-14 telephone service to a certificated service area that does not
2-15 include:
2-16 (a) a municipality with a
2-17 population of more than 10,000, as determined by the most recent
2-18 statistics of the United States Bureau of the Census; or
2-19 (b) any area, whether or
2-20 not incorporated, included within an area that as of August 10,
2-21 1993, was an urbanized area as determined by the United States
2-22 Bureau of the Census;
2-23 (ii) the company provides local exchange
2-24 telephone service, including exchange access, to fewer than 50,000
2-25 access lines in the state;
2-26 (iii) the company provides local exchange
2-27 telephone service to a study area with fewer than 100,000 access
3-1 lines; or
3-2 (iv) as of February 28, 1996, less than 15
3-3 percent of the company's access lines were located in
3-4 municipalities with a population of more than 50,000.
3-5 SECTION 3. Section 3.213, Public Utility Regulatory Act of
3-6 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
3-7 by adding Subsection (m) to read as follows:
3-8 (m) For the purposes of this section, a rural telephone
3-9 company is entitled to be treated as a small incumbent local
3-10 exchange company described by Subsection (b) of this section, but
3-11 only if the rural telephone company has fewer than 31,000 access
3-12 lines in service in this state.
3-13 SECTION 4. Subtitle E, Title III, Public Utility Regulatory
3-14 Act of 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is
3-15 amended by adding Section 3.2133 to read as follows:
3-16 Sec. 3.2133. RURAL TELEPHONE COMPANIES. To better conform
3-17 state and federal regulation of incumbent local exchange companies,
3-18 the commission shall apply to rural telephone companies the duties,
3-19 and the exemptions to and suspensions and modifications of the
3-20 duties, provided by 47 U.S.C. Sections 251(a), (b), (c), and (f).
3-21 SECTION 5. Section 3.608, Public Utility Regulatory Act of
3-22 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended
3-23 by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (g) to read as
3-24 follows:
3-25 (a) The commission shall adopt and enforce rules requiring
3-26 local exchange companies to establish a universal service fund to
3-27 assist local exchange companies in providing basic local
4-1 telecommunications service at reasonable rates in high cost [rural]
4-2 areas, to reimburse local exchange companies for revenues lost as a
4-3 result of providing tel-assistance service under this Act, to
4-4 reimburse the telecommunications carrier providing the statewide
4-5 telecommunications relay access service for the hearing-impaired
4-6 and speech-impaired as authorized in Section 3.604 of this Act, and
4-7 to reimburse the Texas Department of Human Services and the
4-8 commission for costs incurred in implementing the provisions of
4-9 this subtitle.
4-10 (g) For the purposes of applying rules and otherwise
4-11 administering this section, the commission shall treat a rural
4-12 telephone company, regardless of the number of access lines served
4-13 by the company, in the same manner it treats an incumbent local
4-14 exchange company serving fewer than 31,000 access lines in this
4-15 state or a telephone cooperative corporation.
4-16 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
4-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-22 passage, and it is so enacted.