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                                                     SENATE BILL 5622

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State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By Senators Sutherland and Hochstatter; by request of Utilities & Transportation Commission

Read first time 02/05/93.  Referred to Committee on Energy & Utilities.

Establishing a state-wide community calling fund.

          AN ACT Relating to the recovery of costs for expanded calling areas for local exchange companies; adding a new section to chapter 80.36 RCW; creating a new section; and repealing RCW 80.36.850, 80.36.855, and 80.36.860.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature declares that it is the policy of the state to ensure reasonable and affordable local calling areas that provide citizens with the ability to reach basic business, government, and human services.   Therefore, the legislature finds that it is in the public interest to establish a state-wide community calling fund to effect the transition to expanded calling areas.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 80.36 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) In ordering the expansion of local calling area routes, the commission shall provide for the recovery of the associated costs, including but not limited to lost toll or access revenue, engineering costs, and construction costs, in a manner that produces fair, just, and reasonable rates.  In providing for the recovery of costs under this section, the commission may impose a charge on all switched access lines provided by local exchange companies in this state, not to exceed ten cents per line per month, and order multicompany pooling of the charges collected.

          (2) The commission may by rule establish procedures to calculate and assess a charge imposed on access lines under subsection (1) of this section, and to order the distribution of funds pooled from the charges, provided that no funds shall be distributed to a local exchange company that serves more than fifteen thousand access lines.

          (3) The commission shall review this program and shall provide the legislature by January 1, 1998, with a report on the effect terminating the program would have on local telephone rates.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.  The following acts or parts of acts are each repealed:

(1) RCW 80.36.850 and 1989 c 282 s 2;

(2) RCW 80.36.855 and 1989 c 282 s 3; and

(3) RCW 80.36.860 and 1989 c 282 s 6.

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