Bill Text: VA HB162 | 2012 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Telecommunications services; SCC to excercise jurisdiction over rates and charges for prisoners.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-10 - House: Continued to 2013 in Militia, Police and Public Safety by voice vote [HB162 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2012-HB162-Prefiled.html
12101024D Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia: 1. That §56-234 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows: §56-234. Duty to furnish adequate service at reasonable and uniform rates. A. It shall be the duty of every public utility to furnish reasonably adequate service and facilities at reasonable and just rates to any person, firm or corporation along its lines desiring same. Notwithstanding any other provision of law: 1. A telephone company shall not have the duty to extend or expand its facilities to furnish service and facilities when the person, firm or corporation has service available from one or more alternative providers of wireline or terrestrial wireless communications services at prevailing market rates; and 2. A telephone company may meet its duty to furnish reasonably adequate service and facilities through the use of any and all available wireline and terrestrial wireless technologies; however, a telephone company, when restoring service to an existing wireline customer, shall offer the option to furnish service using wireline facilities. For purposes of subdivisions 1 and 2, the Commission shall have the authority upon request of an individual, corporation, or other entity, or a telephone company, to determine whether the wireline or terrestrial wireless communications service available to the party requesting service is a reasonably adequate alternative to local exchange telephone service. The use by a telephone company of wireline and terrestrial wireless technologies shall not be construed to grant any additional jurisdiction or authority to the Commission over such technologies. For purposes of subdivision 1, "prevailing market rates" means rates similar to those generally available to consumers in competitive areas for the same services. B. It shall be the duty of every public utility to charge
uniformly therefor all persons, corporations or municipal corporations using
such service under like conditions. However, no provision of law shall be
deemed to preclude voluntary rate or rate design tests or experiments, or other
experiments involving the use of special rates, where such experiments have
been approved by order of the Commission after notice and hearing and a finding
that such experiments are necessary in order to acquire information which is or
may be in furtherance of the public interest. The charge for such service shall
be at the lowest rate applicable for such service in accordance with schedules
filed with the Commission pursuant to §56-236. But, subject to the provisions
of §56-232.1, nothing contained herein or in §56-481.1 shall apply to (i) C. The Commission may conclude that competition can effectively ensure reasonably adequate retail services in competitive exchanges and may carry out its duty to ensure that a public utility is furnishing reasonably adequate retail service in its competitive exchanges by monitoring individual customer complaints and requiring appropriate responses to such complaints. |