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                         SENATE BILL 5370

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      55th Legislature     1997 Regular Session

By Senators Finkbeiner, Brown, Hochstatter, Strannigan, Rossi, Sheldon, Patterson and Winsley; by request of Utilities & Transportation Commission

Read first time 01/24/97.  Referred to Committee on Energy & Utilities.

Allowing a telecommunications company to reduce a rate or charge in a more streamlined manner.

    AN ACT Relating to reducing the time required for public notice of telecommunications rate reductions; and reenacting and amending RCW 80.36.110.

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

    Sec. 1.  RCW 80.36.110 and 1989 c 152 s 2 and 1989 c 101 s 10 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, unless the commission otherwise orders, no change shall be made in any rate, toll, rental, or charge, ((which shall have been)) that was filed and published by any telecommunications company in compliance with the requirements of RCW 80.36.100, except after thirty days' notice to the commission and publication for thirty days as required in the case of original schedules in RCW 80.36.100, which notice shall plainly state the changes proposed to be made in the schedule then in force, and the time when the changed rate, toll, or charge will go into effect, and all proposed changes shall be shown by printing, filing and publishing new schedules, or shall be plainly indicated upon the schedules in force at the time and kept open to public inspection.  Proposed changes may be suspended by the commission within thirty days or before the stated effective date of the proposed change, whichever is later.  The commission for good cause shown may allow changes in rates, charges, tolls, or rentals without requiring the thirty days' notice and publication ((herein)) provided for in this section, by an order specifying the change ((so)) to be made and the time when it ((shall)) takes effect, and the manner in which the ((same shall)) change will be filed and published.  When any change is made in any rate, toll, rental, or charge, the effect of which is to increase any rate, toll, rental, or charge then existing, attention shall be directed on the copy filed with the commission to ((such)) the increase by some character immediately preceding or following the item in ((such)) the schedule, which character shall be in such a form as the commission may designate.

(2) A telecommunications company may file a tariff that decreases any rate, charge, rental, or toll with ten days' notice to the commission and publication without receiving a special order from the commission when the filing does not contain an offsetting increase to another rate, charge, rental, or toll, and the filing company agrees not to file for an increase to any rate, charge, rental, or toll to recover the revenue deficit that results from the decrease for a period of one year.

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