Senate Bill sb0142e2

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    CS for CS for SB 142                          Second Engrossed



  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to communications; amending s.

  3         364.051, F.S., relating to price regulation;

  4         allowing a telecommunications company to

  5         publicly publish price lists for nonbasic

  6         services; providing guidelines for such

  7         publication; allowing 1 day's notice for price

  8         changes to nonbasic services; deleting a

  9         company's option to elect that its basic

10         services be treated as nonbasic services;

11         requiring a company to request that the Public

12         Service Commission lessen its service quality

13         regulation; providing criteria for granting a

14         petition to change regulatory treatment of

15         retail services; amending s. 364.025, F.S.;

16         providing definitions; providing that a local

17         exchange telecommunications company obligated

18         to serve as the carrier of last resort is not

19         obligated to provide basic local

20         telecommunications service to customers in a

21         multitenant business or residential property

22         under certain circumstances; requiring the

23         local exchange telecommunications company to

24         notify the Public Service Commission when it is

25         relieved of the obligation to provide service;

26         providing for the local exchange

27         telecommunications company to request a waiver

28         of its carrier of last resort obligation from

29         the commission; providing for carrier of last

30         resort obligation to apply when specified

31         conditions cease to exist; providing for effect


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    CS for CS for SB 142                          Second Engrossed



 1         of the act on the commission's jurisdiction;

 2         providing an appropriation; providing an

 3         effective date.

 4  

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

 6  

 7         Section 1.  Subsections (5), (6), and (7) of section

 8  364.051, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:

 9         364.051  Price regulation.--

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

11  services shall consist of the following:

12         (a)  Each company subject to this section shall, at its

13  option, maintain tariffs with the commission or otherwise

14  publicly publish containing the terms, conditions, and rates

15  for each of its nonbasic services, and may set or change, on 1

16  day's 15 days' notice, the rate for each of its nonbasic

17  services. For a company electing to publicly publish the

18  terms, conditions, and rates for each of its nonbasic

19  services, the commission may establish guidelines for the

20  publication. The guidelines may not require more information

21  than what is required to be filed with a tariff. The, except

22  that a price increase for any nonbasic service category shall

23  not exceed 6 percent within a 12-month period until there is

24  another provider providing local telecommunications service in

25  an exchange area at which time the price for any nonbasic

26  service category may be increased in an amount not to exceed

27  20 percent within a 12-month period, and the rate shall be

28  presumptively valid.  However, for purposes of this

29  subsection, the prices of:

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

31  exchange service, including multiple individual lines, centrex


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    CS for CS for SB 142                          Second Engrossed



 1  lines, private branch exchange trunks, and any associated

 2  hunting services, that provides dial tone and local usage

 3  necessary to place a call within a local exchange calling

 4  area; and

 5         2.  Telecommunications services provided under contract

 6  service arrangements to the SUNCOM Network, as defined in

 7  chapter 282,

 8  

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

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

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

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

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

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

15  measured service for multi-line business local exchange

16  service shall not be imposed. Nothing contained in this

17  section shall prevent the local exchange telecommunications

18  company from meeting offerings by any competitive provider of

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

20  specific geographic market or to a specific customer by

21  deaveraging the price of any nonbasic service, packaging

22  nonbasic services together or with basic services, using

23  volume discounts and term discounts, and offering individual

24  contracts. However, the local exchange telecommunications

25  company shall not engage in any anticompetitive act or

26  practice, nor unreasonably discriminate among similarly

27  situated customers.

28         (b)  The commission shall have continuing regulatory

29  oversight of nonbasic services for purposes of ensuring

30  resolution of service complaints, preventing

31  cross-subsidization of nonbasic services with revenues from


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    CS for CS for SB 142                          Second Engrossed



 1  basic services, and ensuring that all providers are treated

 2  fairly in the telecommunications market.  The cost standard

 3  for determining cross-subsidization is whether the total

 4  revenue from a nonbasic service is less than the total

 5  long-run incremental cost of the service.  Total long-run

 6  incremental cost means service-specific volume and

 7  nonvolume-sensitive costs.

 8         (c)  The price charged to a consumer for a nonbasic

 9  service shall cover the direct costs of providing the service

10  and shall, to the extent a cost is not included in the direct

11  cost, include as an imputed cost the price charged by the

12  company to competitors for any monopoly component used by a

13  competitor in the provision of its same or functionally

14  equivalent service.

15         (6)  After a local exchange telecommunications company

16  that has more than 1 million access lines in service has

17  reduced its intrastate switched network access rates to

18  parity, as defined in s. 364.164(5), the local exchange

19  telecommunications company's basic local telecommunications

20  service may, at the company's election, be subject to the same

21  regulatory treatment as its nonbasic services. The company's

22  retail service quality requirements that are not already equal

23  to the service quality requirements imposed upon the

24  competitive local exchange telecommunications companies shall

25  at the company's request to the commission thereafter be no

26  greater than those imposed upon competitive local exchange

27  telecommunications companies unless the commission, within 120

28  days after the company's request election, determines

29  otherwise. In such event, the commission may grant some

30  reductions in service quality requirements in some or all of

31  the company's local calling areas. The commission may not


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    CS for CS for SB 142                          Second Engrossed



 1  impose retail service quality requirements on competitive

 2  local exchange telecommunications companies greater than those

 3  existing on January 1, 2003.

 4         (7)  After If a local exchange telecommunications

 5  company that has more than 1 million access lines in service

 6  has reduced its intrastate switched network access rates to

 7  parity, as defined in s. 364.164(5) elects, pursuant to

 8  subsection (6), to subject its retail basic local

 9  telecommunications services to the same regulatory treatment

10  as its nonbasic services, the local exchange

11  telecommunications company may petition the commission for

12  regulatory treatment of its retail services at a level no

13  greater than that imposed by the commission upon competitive

14  local exchange telecommunications companies. The local

15  exchange telecommunications company shall:

16         (a)  Show that granting the petition is in the public

17  interest;

18         (b)  Demonstrate that the competition faced by the

19  company is sufficient and sustainable to allow such

20  competition to supplant regulation by the commission; and

21         (c)(b)  Reduce its intrastate switched network access

22  rates to its local reciprocal interconnection rate upon the

23  grant of the petition.

24  

25  The commission shall act upon such a petition within 9 months

26  after its filing with the commission. In making its

27  determination to either grant or deny the petition, the

28  commission shall determine the extent to which the level of

29  competition faced by the local exchange telecommunications

30  company permits and will continue to permit the company to

31  have its retail services regulated no differently than the


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    CS for CS for SB 142                          Second Engrossed



 1  competitive local exchange telecommunications companies are

 2  then being regulated. The commission may not increase the

 3  level of regulation for competitive local exchange

 4  telecommunications companies to a level greater than that

 5  which exists on the date the local exchange telecommunications

 6  company files its petition.

 7         Section 2.  Subsection (6) is added to section 364.025,

 8  Florida Statutes, to read:

 9         364.025  Universal service.--

10         (6)(a)  For purposes of this subsection:

11         1.  "Owner or developer" means the owner or developer

12  of a multitenant business or residential property, any

13  condominium association or homeowners' association thereof, or

14  any other person or entity having ownership in or control over

15  the property.

16         2.  "Communications service provider" means any person

17  or entity providing communications services, any person or

18  entity allowing another person or entity to use its

19  communications facilities to provide communications services,

20  or any person or entity securing rights to select

21  communications service providers for a property owner or

22  developer.

23         3.  "Communications service" means voice service or

24  voice replacement service through the use of any technology.

25         (b)  A local exchange telecommunications company

26  obligated by this section to serve as the carrier of last

27  resort is not obligated to provide basic local

28  telecommunications service to any customers in a multitenant

29  business or residential property, including, but not limited

30  to, apartments, condominiums, subdivisions, office buildings,

31  or office parks, when the owner or developer thereof:


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    CS for CS for SB 142                          Second Engrossed



 1         1.  Permits only one communications service provider to

 2  install its communications service-related facilities or

 3  equipment, to the exclusion of the local exchange

 4  telecommunications company, during the construction phase of

 5  the property;

 6         2.  Accepts or agrees to accept incentives or rewards

 7  from a communications service provider that are contingent

 8  upon the provision of any or all communications services by

 9  one or more communications service providers to the exclusion

10  of the local exchange telecommunications company;

11         3.  Collects from the occupants or residents of the

12  property charges for the provision of any communications

13  service, provided by a communications service provider other

14  than the local exchange telecommunications company, to the

15  occupants or residents in any manner, including, but not

16  limited to, collection through rent, fees, or dues; or

17         4.  Enters into an agreement with the communications

18  service provider which grants incentives or rewards to such

19  owner or developer contingent upon restriction or limitation

20  of the local exchange telecommunications company's access to

21  the property.

22         (c)  The local exchange telecommunications company

23  relieved of its carrier-of-last-resort obligation to provide

24  basic local telecommunications service to the occupants or

25  residents of a multitenant business or residential property

26  pursuant to paragraph (b) shall notify the commission of that

27  fact in a timely manner.

28         (d)  A local exchange telecommunications company that

29  is not automatically relieved of its carrier-of-last-resort

30  obligation pursuant to subparagraphs (b)1.-4. may seek a

31  waiver of its carrier-of-last-resort obligation from the


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    CS for CS for SB 142                          Second Engrossed



 1  commission for good cause shown based on the facts and

 2  circumstances of provision of service to the multitenant

 3  business or residential property. Upon petition for such

 4  relief, notice shall be given by the company at the same time

 5  to the relevant building owner or developer. The commission

 6  shall have 90 days to act on the petition. The commission

 7  shall implement this paragraph through rulemaking.

 8         (e)  If all conditions described in subparagraphs

 9  (b)1.-4. cease to exist at a property, the owner or developer

10  requests in writing that the local exchange telecommunications

11  company make service available to customers at the property

12  and confirms in writing that all conditions described in

13  subparagraphs (b)1.-4. have ceased to exist at the property

14  and the owner or developer has not arranged and does not

15  intend to arrange with another communications service provider

16  to make communications service available to customers at the

17  property, the carrier-of-last-resort obligation under this

18  section shall again apply to the local exchange

19  telecommunications company at the property; however, the local

20  exchange telecommunications company may require that the owner

21  or developer pay to the company in advance a reasonable fee to

22  recover costs that exceed the costs that would have been

23  incurred to construct or acquire facilities to serve customers

24  at the property initially, and the company shall have a

25  reasonable period of time following the request from the owner

26  or developer to make arrangements for service availability. If

27  any conditions described in subparagraphs (b)1.-4. again exist

28  at the property, paragraph (b) shall again apply.

29         (f)  This subsection does not affect the limitations on

30  the jurisdiction of the commission imposed by s. 364.011 or s.

31  364.013.


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    CS for CS for SB 142                          Second Engrossed



 1         Section 3.  The sum of $800,000 of recurring funds from

 2  the General Revenue Fund is appropriated to the Office of

 3  Public Counsel for the 2006-2007 fiscal year.

 4         Section 4.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

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