CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

 

                        HOUSE BILL 1287

 

 

                   Chapter 267, Laws of 2001

 

 

                        57th Legislature

                2001 Regular Legislative Session

 

 

MANDATORY LOCAL MEASURED TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE--PROHIBITION

 

 

 

                    EFFECTIVE DATE:  5/11/01

Passed by the House April 17, 2001

  Yeas 93   Nays 0

 

 

              FRANK CHOPP

Speaker of the House of Representatives

     

 

 

             CLYDE BALLARD

Speaker of the House of Representatives

 

 

 

Passed by the Senate April 9, 2001

  Yeas 49   Nays 0

             CERTIFICATE

 

We, Timothy A. Martin and Cynthia Zehnder, Co-Chief Clerks of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 1287 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth.

 

 

 

           CYNTHIA ZEHNDER

                          Chief Clerk

 

 

          TIMOTHY A. MARTIN

                          Chief Clerk

               BRAD OWEN

President of the Senate

 

 

 

Approved May 11, 2001 Place Style On Codes above, and Style Off Codes below.               

                                FILED                

 

             May 11, 2001 - 9:59 a.m.

 

              GARY LOCKE

Governor of the State of Washington

                 Secretary of State

                 State of Washington


           _____________________________________________

 

                          HOUSE BILL 1287

           _____________________________________________

 

                     AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE

 

             Passed Legislature - 2001 Regular Session

 

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2001 Regular Session

 

By Representatives Reardon, Delvin, Hunt, Ruderman, Campbell, Simpson, McIntire, Crouse, Casada, Hankins, Doumit, Mielke, Bush, Quall, Cooper, Haigh, Skinner, Ballasiotes, Morris, Woods, DeBolt, Lambert, O'Brien, Tokuda, Pennington, Hatfield, Fisher, Eickmeyer, Ericksen, Ahern, Anderson, Pflug, Schindler, Dunshee, Ogden, Veloria, Grant, Morell, Romero, Kenney, Schoesler, Barlean, Keiser, Cody, Roach, Miloscia, Dickerson, Esser, Conway, Murray, Edmonds, Edwards, Kessler, Linville, D. Schmidt, Jackley, Hurst, Kagi and Van Luven

 

Read first time 01/23/2001.  Referred to Committee on Technology, Telecommunications & Energy.

  Extending the prohibition on mandatory local measured telecommunications service.        


    AN ACT Relating to extending the prohibition on mandatory local measured telecommunications service; amending RCW 80.04.130; and declaring an emergency.

 

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

 

    Sec. 1.  RCW 80.04.130 and 1998 c 110 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) 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.  The commission shall not suspend a tariff that makes a decrease in a rate, charge, rental, or toll filed by a telecommunications company pending investigation of the fairness, justness, and reasonableness of the decrease when the filing does not contain any offsetting increase to another rate, charge, rental, or toll and the filing company agrees to not 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.  The filing company shall file with any decrease sufficient information as the commission by rule may require to demonstrate the decreased rate, charge, rental, or toll is above the long run incremental cost of the service.  A tariff decrease that results in a rate that is below long run incremental cost, or is contrary to commission rule or order, or the requirements of this chapter, shall be rejected for filing and returned to the company.  The commission may prescribe a different rate to be effective on the prospective date stated in its final order after its investigation, if it concludes based on the record that the originally filed and effective rate is unjust, unfair, or unreasonable.

    For the purposes of this section, tariffs for the following telecommunications services, that temporarily waive or reduce charges for existing or new subscribers for a period not to exceed sixty days in order to promote the use of the services shall be considered tariffs that decrease rates, charges, rentals, or tolls:

    (a) Custom calling service;

    (b) Second access lines; or

    (c) Other services the commission specifies by rule.

    The commission may suspend any promotional tariff other than those listed in (a) through (c) of this subsection.

    The commission may suspend the initial tariff filing of any water company removed from and later subject to commission jurisdiction because of the number of customers or the average annual gross revenue per customer provisions of RCW 80.04.010. The commission may allow temporary rates during the suspension period.  These rates shall not exceed the rates charged when the company was last regulated.  Upon a showing of good cause by the company, the commission may establish a different level of temporary rates.

    (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 telecommunications service is a major policy change in available telecommunications service.  The commission shall not accept for filing a price list, nor shall it accept for filing or approve, prior to June 1, ((2001)) 2004, a tariff filed by a telecommunications company which imposes mandatory local measured service on any customer or class of customers, except that, upon finding that it is in the public interest, the commission may accept for filing a price list or it may accept for filing and approve a tariff that imposes mandatory measured service for a telecommunications company's extended area service or foreign exchange service.  This subsection does not apply to land, air, or marine mobile service, or to pay telephone service, or to any service which has been traditionally offered on a measured service basis.

    (4) The implementation of Washington telephone assistance program service is a major policy change in available telecommunications service.  The implementation of Washington telephone assistance program service will aid in achieving the stated goal of universal telephone service.

    (5) If a utility claims a sales or use tax exemption on the pollution control equipment for an electrical generation facility and abandons the generation facility before the pollution control equipment is fully depreciated, any tariff filing for a rate increase to recover abandonment costs for the pollution control equipment shall be considered unjust and unreasonable for the purposes of this section.

 

    NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.  This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.


    Passed the House April 17, 2001.

    Passed the Senate April 9, 2001.

Approved by the Governor May 11, 2001.

    Filed in Office of Secretary of State May 11, 2001.