Bill Text: IA SSB3092 | 2013-2014 | 85th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A study bill for an act relating to matters under the purview of the utilities division of the department of commerce.

Spectrum: Unknown

Status: (N/A - Dead) 2014-01-23 - In Commerce [SSB3092 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2013-SSB3092-Introduced.html

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Senate Study Bill 3092 - Introduced
SENATE/HOUSE FILE _____
BY (PROPOSED DEPARTMENT OF
COMMERCE/UTILITIES DIVISION
BILL)
A BILL FOR
An Act relating to matters under the purview of the utilities
division of the department of commerce.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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Section 1. Section 476.1D, subsection 1, paragraph c, Code
2014, is amended by striking the paragraph.
Sec. 2. Section 476.1D, subsection 2, Code 2014, is amended
to read as follows:
2. Except as provided in subsection 1 , paragraph “c” ,
deregulation Deregulation of a service or facility for
a utility is effective only after a finding of effective
competition by the board.
Sec. 3. Section 476.3, subsection 2, paragraph b, Code 2014,
is amended by striking the paragraph.
Sec. 4. Section 476.5, Code 2014, is amended to read as
follows:
476.5 Adherence to schedules —— discounts .
No public utility subject to rate regulation shall directly
or indirectly charge a greater or less compensation for its
services than that prescribed in its tariffs, and no such
public utility shall make or grant any unreasonable preferences
or advantages as to rates or services to any person or subject
any person to any unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit
any public utility furnishing communications services from
providing any service rendered by it without charge or
at reduced rate to any of its active or retired officers,
directors, or employees, or such officers, directors or
employees of other public utilities furnishing communications
services. Provided, however, said service is for personal use,
and not for engaging in a business for profit.
Sec. 5. Section 476.6, subsection 9, Code 2014, is amended
by striking the subsection.
Sec. 6. Section 476.29, subsection 15, Code 2014, is amended
by striking the subsection.
Sec. 7. Section 476.96, Code 2014, is amended to read as
follows:
476.96 Definitions.
As used in section 476.95 , this section , and sections
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476.97 through 476.102 476.100 and 476.101 , unless the context
otherwise requires:
1. “Basic communications service” includes at a minimum,
basic local telephone service, switched access, 911 and
E-911 services, and dual party relay service. The board is
authorized to classify by rule at any time, any other two-way
switched communications services as basic communications
services consistent with community expectations and the public
interest.
2. “Basic local telephone service” means the provision
of dial tone access and usage, for the transmission of
two-way switched communications within a local exchange area,
including, but not limited to, the following:
a. Residence service and business services, including flat
rate or local measured service, private branch exchange trunks,
trunk type hunting services, direct inward dialing, and the
network access portion of central office switched exchange
service.
b. Extended area service.
c. Touch tone service when provided separately.
d. Call tracing.
e. Calling number blocking on either a per call or a per
line basis.
f. Local exchange white pages directories.
g. Installation and repair of local network access.
h. Local operator services, excluding directory assistance.
i. Toll service blocking and 1-900 and 1-976 access
blocking.
3. 1. “Competitive local exchange service provider” means
any person, including a municipal utility, that provides local
exchange services, other than a local exchange carrier or a
nonrate-regulated wireline provider of local exchange services
under an authorized certificate of public convenience and
necessity within a specific geographic area described in maps
filed with and approved by the board as of September 30, 1992.
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4. “Interim number portability” means one or more mechanisms
by which a local exchange customer at a particular location
may change the customer’s local exchange services provider
without any change in the local exchange customer’s telephone
number, while experiencing as little loss of functionality as
is feasible using available technology.
5. 2. “Local exchange carrier” means any person that was
the incumbent and historical rate-regulated wireline provider
of local exchange services or any successor to such person
that provides local exchange services under an authorized
certificate of public convenience and necessity within a
specific geographic area described in maps filed with and
approved by the board as of September 30, 1992.
6. “Nonbasic communications services” means all
communications services subject to the board’s jurisdiction
which are not deemed either by statute or by rule to be basic
communications services, including any service offered by
the local exchange carrier for the first time after July 1,
1995. A service is not considered new if it constitutes the
bundling, unbundling, or repricing of an already existing
service. Consistent with community expectations and the public
interest, the board may reclassify by rule as nonbasic those
two-way switched communications services previously classified
by rule as basic.
7. “Provider number portability” means the capability of a
local exchange customer to change the customer’s local exchange
services provider at the customer’s same location without any
change in the local exchange customer’s telephone number, while
preserving the full range of functionality that the customer
currently experiences. “Provider number portability” includes
the equal availability of information concerning the local
exchange provider serving the number to all carriers, and the
ability to deliver traffic directly to that provider without
having first to route traffic to the local exchange carrier or
otherwise use the services, facilities, or capabilities of the
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local exchange carrier to complete the call, and without the
dialing of additional digits or access codes.
Sec. 8. Section 476.101, subsections 4, 5, and 6, Code 2014,
are amended by striking the subsections.
Sec. 9. Section 476.101, subsection 8, Code 2014, is amended
to read as follows:
8. Any person may file a written complaint with the
board requesting the board to determine compliance by a
local exchange carrier with the provisions of sections
476.96 through and 476.100 , 476.102 , and this section , or any
board rules implementing those sections. Upon the filing
of such complaint, the board may promptly initiate a formal
complaint proceeding and give notice of the proceeding and the
opportunity for hearing. The formal complaint proceeding may
be initiated at any time by the board on its own motion. The
board shall render a decision in the proceeding within ninety
days after the date the written complaint was filed.
Sec. 10. REPEAL. Sections 476.4A, 476.97, and 476.99, Code
2014, are repealed.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
This bill relates to matters under the purview of the
utilities division of the department of commerce, and is
primarily focused on the removal of specified outdated or
obsolete provisions.
The bill eliminates provisions contained in Code sections
476.1D and 476.97 which provided for the retail rate-regulation
or price regulation of telephone local exchange services and
the discontinuance of retail rate regulation on a gradual
basis.
The bill also eliminates a provision which authorizes
an exemption from tariff filing requirements for telephone
utilities for certain specific services which are no longer
being offered. Additionally, the bill eliminates a provision
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permitting telephone utilities to offer discounted service
either without charge or at a discounted rate to specified
active or retired officers, directors, or employees consistent
with the fact that retail rate regulation is no longer being
undertaken. A provision permitting the Iowa utilities board to
approve a schedule of rate levels for regulated communications
services is similarly eliminated. The bill also eliminates an
outdated provision requiring the board to provide a written
report to the general assembly no later than January 20, 2005,
describing the current status of local telephone service in
Iowa.
The bill deletes definitions contained in Code section
476.96 which are referenced in Code sections repealed by the
bill. The bill additionally eliminates outdated provisions in
Code section 476.101 relating to rulemaking in 1995 which was
not undertaken, requiring tariffs or price lists to be filed
by incumbent local exchange carriers which were superseded by
federal law, and applying to contested cases pending as of July
1, 1995, which have all been completed.
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