Senate Bill sb2232c1

    Florida Senate - 2005                           CS for SB 2232

    By the Committee on Communications and Public Utilities; and
    Senator Constantine




    579-1916-05

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the regulation of telephone

  3         rates; amending s. 364.051, F.S.; providing

  4         that damage to the equipment and facilities of

  5         a local exchange telecommunications as a result

  6         of a named tropical system constitutes a

  7         compelling showing of changed circumstances to

  8         justify a rate increase; allows such companies

  9         to petition for recover of such costs and

10         expenses; requiring the Public Service

11         Commission to verify the intrastate costs and

12         expenses for repairing, restoring, or replacing

13         damaged lines, plants, or facilities; requiring

14         the commission to determine whether the

15         intrastate costs and expenses are reasonable;

16         requiring a company to exhaust any

17         storm-reserve funds prior to recovery from

18         customers; providing that the commission may

19         authorize adding an equal line-item charge per

20         access line for certain customers; providing

21         for a rate cap and providing the maximum number

22         of months the rate may be imposed; providing a

23         12-month limit for the application; allowing

24         recovery for more than one storm within the

25         limit; providing an effective date.

26  

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

28  

29         Section 1.  Subsection (4) of section 364.051, Florida

30  Statutes, is amended to read:

31         364.051  Price regulation.--

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    Florida Senate - 2005                           CS for SB 2232
    579-1916-05




 1         (4)(a)  Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection

 2  (2), any local exchange telecommunications company that

 3  believes circumstances have changed substantially to justify

 4  any increase in the rates for basic local telecommunications

 5  services may petition the commission for a rate increase, but

 6  the commission shall grant the such petition only after an

 7  opportunity for a hearing and a compelling showing of changed

 8  circumstances. The costs and expenses of any government

 9  program or project required in part II may shall not be

10  recovered under this subsection unless the such costs and

11  expenses are incurred in the absence of a bid and subject to

12  carrier-of-last-resort obligations as provided for in part II.

13  The commission shall act upon the any such petition within 120

14  days after of its filing.

15         (b)  For purposes of this section, evidence of damage

16  occurring to the lines, plants, or facilities of a local

17  exchange telecommunications company that is subject to the

18  carrier-of-last-resort obligations, which damage is the result

19  of a tropical system occurring after June 1, 2005, and named

20  by the National Hurricane Center, constitutes a compelling

21  showing of changed circumstances.

22         1.  A company may file a petition to recover its

23  intrastate costs and expenses relating to repairing,

24  restoring, or replacing the lines, plants, or facilities

25  damaged by a named tropical system.

26         2.  The commission shall verify the intrastate costs

27  and expenses submitted by the company in support of its

28  petition.

29         3.  The company must show and the commission shall

30  determine whether the intrastate costs and expenses are

31  

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    Florida Senate - 2005                           CS for SB 2232
    579-1916-05




 1  reasonable under the circumstances for the named tropical

 2  system.

 3         4.  A company having a storm-reserve fund may recover

 4  tropical-system-related costs and expenses from its customers

 5  only in excess of any amount available in the storm-reserve

 6  fund.

 7         5.  The commission may determine the amount of any

 8  increase that the company may charge its customers, but the

 9  charge per line item may not exceed 50 cents per month per

10  customer line for a period of not more than 12 months.

11         6.  The commission may order the company to add an

12  equal line-item charge per access line to the billing

13  statement of the company's retail basic local

14  telecommunications service customers, its retail nonbasic

15  telecommunications service customers, and its wholesale loop

16  unbundled network element customers. At the end of the

17  collection period, the commission shall verify that the

18  collected amount does not exceed the amount authorized by the

19  order. If collections exceed the ordered amount, the

20  commission shall order the company to refund the excess.

21         7.  In order to qualify for filing a petition under

22  this paragraph, a company with one million or more access

23  lines, but fewer than three million access lines, must have

24  tropical-system-related costs and expenses exceeding $1.5

25  million, and a company with three million or more access lines

26  must have tropical-system-related costs and expenses of $5

27  million or more. A company with fewer than one million access

28  lines is not required to meet a minimum damage threshold in

29  order to qualify to file a petition under this paragraph.

30         8.  A company may file only one petition for storm

31  recovery in any 12-month period for the previous storm season,

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    Florida Senate - 2005                           CS for SB 2232
    579-1916-05




 1  but the application may cover damages from more than one named

 2  tropical system.

 3  

 4  This paragraph is not intended to adversely affect the

 5  commission's consideration of any petition for an increase in

 6  basic rates to recover costs related to storm damage which was

 7  filed before the effective date of this act.

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

 9  law.

10  

11          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
12                             SB 2232

13                                 

14  The committee substitute limits recovery to damage which is
    the result of a tropical system occurring after June 1, 2205,
15  and is named by the National Hurricane Center. The company
    must incur a certain threshold level of intrastate costs and
16  expenses before filing its petition. A company having a
    storm-reserve fund may only recover intrastate costs and
17  expenses in excess of amounts available in the fund. The
    commission may determine the amount of any increase, but the
18  charge per line item may not exceed 50 center per month per
    customer line for a period of not more than 12 months. The
19  commission may order the company to add an equal line-item
    charge per access line to the billing statement of certain
20  customers. The commission must true-up the collections and
    order refunds if the collection exceeds the amount authorized
21  in the order. The company may only file one petition per 12
    month period for the previous storm season. The bill does not
22  affect petitions that may be filed prior to the effective date
    of the act.
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