H-2104              _______________________________________________

                                           SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL NO. 717

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By House Committee on Energy & Utilities (originally sponsored by Representatives Todd, Isaacson, D. Nelson, Schmidt, Unsoeld, Long, Van Luven, Cole, Crane, Brough, Allen, Thomas and Wineberry)

Read first time 3/1/85 and passed to Committee on Rules.

AN ACT Relating to pricing of local telephone service; and amending RCW 80.04.130.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 80.04.130, chapter 14, Laws of 1961 as amended by section 2, chapter 3, Laws of 1984 and RCW 80.04.130 are each amended to read as follows:

          (1) ((Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section,)) Whenever any public service company shall file with the commission any schedule, classification, rule or regulation, the effect of which is to change any rate, charge, rental or toll theretofore charged, the commission shall have power, either upon its own motion or upon complaint, upon notice, to enter upon a hearing concerning such proposed change and the reasonableness and justness thereof, and pending such hearing and the decision thereon the commission may suspend the operation of such rate, charge, rental or toll for a period not exceeding ten months from the time the same would otherwise go into effect, and after a full hearing the commission may make such order in reference thereto as would be provided in a hearing initiated after the same had become effective.

          (2) At any hearing involving any change in any schedule, classification, rule or regulation the effect of which is to increase any rate, charge, rental or toll theretofore charged, the burden of proof to show that such increase is just and reasonable shall be upon the public service company.

          (3) ((The implementation of mandatory local measured telephone service is a major policy change in available telephone service.  The commission shall not approve, prior to June 1, 1985, any filings which are under suspension as of February 16, 1984, which are awaiting an order by the commission, or which are filed on or after February 16, 1984, if the filing involuntarily requires any telephone user to pay for all outgoing local telephone calls based on time and/or distance.  As to any such filing, the requirements in subsection (1) of this section for the commission to act on that filing within ten months from the date the filing would otherwise go into effect are suspended under this subsection from February 16, 1984, until June 1, 1985.  This subsection shall not apply to any service such as land, marine, or air mobile service, or any  like service that has traditionally been offered on a measured-service basis.))  The implementation of mandatory local measured telephone service is a major policy change in available telephone service.  The commission shall not accept for filing or approve, prior to June 1, 1987, a tariff filed by a telephone company which imposes mandatory local measured service on any customer or class of customers.  This subsection does not apply to land, air, or marine mobile service, or any service which has been traditionally offered on a measured service basis.