By Brown                                              S.B. No. 1516
         76R6123 JJT-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the regulation of telecommunications services of
 1-3     commercial mobile service providers.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 52, Utilities Code, is amended by adding
 1-6     Subchapter G to read as follows:
 1-7     SUBCHAPTER G.  SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE PROTECTION FOR
 1-8                     COMMERCIAL MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS
 1-9           Sec. 52.301.  QUALITY OF SERVICE REQUIRED.  (a)  The
1-10     commission by rule may require the quality of the
1-11     telecommunications services of a commercial mobile service provider
1-12     to be adequate to protect the interests of the public and of
1-13     consumers of the service.
1-14           (b)  Rules adopted under this section may address only:
1-15                 (1)  a program of periodic tests, inspections, and
1-16     preventive maintenance designed to achieve efficient system
1-17     operation and the provision of safe, adequate, and continuous
1-18     service;
1-19                 (2)  reporting requirements from a provider concerning
1-20     service levels and appropriate corrective actions;
1-21                 (3)  orders of the commission for a provider to take
1-22     corrective action;
1-23                 (4)  the adequacy of personnel to provide operator
1-24     answering performance and the adequacy of operator assisted
 2-1     services;
 2-2                 (5)  the provision of direct dial service; and
 2-3                 (6)  the receipt, investigation, and handling of
 2-4     consumer complaints.
 2-5           Sec. 52.302.  REFUNDS FOR MISPLACED OPERATOR ASSISTANCE
 2-6     CALLS.  The commission by rule shall require a commercial mobile
 2-7     service provider to refund to a consumer of a commercial mobile
 2-8     service provider's service a charge for a misplaced operator
 2-9     assistance call before the 60th day after the date the provider
2-10     receives a complaint from the consumer.
2-11           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.