Senate Bill sb2616

    Florida Senate - 2003                                  SB 2616

    By Senator Aronberg





    27-1579-03                                          See HB 351

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to price regulation of local

  3         exchange telecommunications companies; amending

  4         s. 364.051, F.S.; changing the timeframe for

  5         notice of rate changes; providing an effective

  6         date.

  7  

  8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  9  

10         Section 1.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (5) of section

11  364.051, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

12         364.051  Price regulation.--

13         (5)  NONBASIC SERVICES.--Price regulation of nonbasic

14  services shall consist of the following:

15         (a)  Each company subject to this section shall

16  maintain tariffs with the commission containing the terms,

17  conditions, and rates for each of its nonbasic services, and

18  may set or change, on 7 15 days' notice, the rate for each of

19  its nonbasic services, except that a price increase for any

20  nonbasic service category shall not exceed 6 percent within a

21  12-month period until there is another provider providing

22  local telecommunications service in an exchange area at which

23  time the price for any nonbasic service category may be

24  increased in an amount not to exceed 20 percent within a

25  12-month period, and the rate shall be presumptively valid.

26  However, for purposes of this subsection, the prices of:

27         1.  A voice-grade, flat-rate, multi-line business local

28  exchange service, including multiple individual lines, centrex

29  lines, private branch exchange trunks, and any associated

30  hunting services, that provides dial tone and local usage

31  

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2003                                  SB 2616
    27-1579-03                                          See HB 351




 1  necessary to place a call within a local exchange calling

 2  area; and

 3         2.  Telecommunications services provided under contract

 4  service arrangements to the SUNCOM Network, as defined in

 5  chapter 282,

 6  

 7  shall be capped at the rates in effect on July 1, 1995, and

 8  such rates shall not be increased prior to January 1, 2000;

 9  provided, however, that a petition to increase such rates may

10  be filed pursuant to subsection (4) utilizing the standards

11  set forth therein. There shall be a flat-rate pricing option

12  for multi-line business local exchange service, and mandatory

13  measured service for multi-line business local exchange

14  service shall not be imposed. Nothing contained in this

15  section shall prevent the local exchange telecommunications

16  company from meeting offerings by any competitive provider of

17  the same, or functionally equivalent, nonbasic services in a

18  specific geographic market or to a specific customer by

19  deaveraging the price of any nonbasic service, packaging

20  nonbasic services together or with basic services, using

21  volume discounts and term discounts, and offering individual

22  contracts. However, the local exchange telecommunications

23  company shall not engage in any anticompetitive act or

24  practice, nor unreasonably discriminate among similarly

25  situated customers.

26         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

27  law.

28  

29  

30  

31  

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.