By Counts                                             H.B. No. 2689
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the regulation of telecommunications utilities and to
 1-3     the provision of telecommunications and related services.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 56, Utilities Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 56.027 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 56.027.  UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND REIMBURSEMENT FOR
 1-8     CERTAIN INTRALATA SERVICE.  On request of a local exchange company
 1-9     that is not an electing company under Chapter 58 or 59, the
1-10     commission shall provide reimbursement through the universal
1-11     service fund for reduced rates for intraLATA interexchange high
1-12     capacity (1.544 Mbps) service for entities described by Section
1-13     58.253(a).  The amount of reimbursement shall be equal to the
1-14     difference between the company's tariffed rates for that service on
1-15     January 1, 1998, and the lowest rate offered for that service by
1-16     any company electing incentive regulation under Chapter 58.
1-17           SECTION 2.  Subchapter I, Chapter 60, Utilities Code, is
1-18     amended by adding Sections 60.164 and 60.165 to read as follows:
1-19           Sec. 60.164.  PERMISSIBLE JOINT MARKETING.  Except as
1-20     prescribed by Chapters 61 and 63, the commission may not adopt a
1-21     rule or order that would prohibit a local exchange company from
 2-1     marketing or selling the company's products and services jointly
 2-2     with the products and services of an affiliate in a manner
 2-3     permitted by federal law or applicable rules of the Federal
 2-4     Communications Commission.
 2-5           Sec. 60.165.  AFFILIATE RULES.  (a)  Except as prescribed by
 2-6     Chapters 61 and 63, the commission may not adopt a rule or order
 2-7     that would prescribe for a local exchange company an affiliate
 2-8     rule, including an accounting rule, cost allocation rule, or
 2-9     structural separation rule, that is more burdensome than prescribed
2-10     by federal law or applicable rules of the Federal Communications
2-11     Commission.
2-12           (b)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, the
2-13     commission may not attribute or impute to a local exchange company
2-14     a price discount offered by an affiliate to the affiliate's
2-15     customers.
2-16           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-17           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.