Florida Senate - 2011 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS for SB 1524
Barcode 527954
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/29/2011 .
.
.
.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
The Committee on Commerce and Tourism (Flores) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete lines 670 - 815
4 and insert:
5
6 364.16 Connection of lines and transfers; Local
7 interconnection, unbundling, and resale; telephone number
8 portability.—
9 (1) The Legislature finds that the competitive provision of
10 local exchange service requires appropriate continued regulatory
11 oversight of carrier-to-carrier relationships in order to
12 provide for the development of fair and effective competition.
13 (2) It is the intent of the Legislature that in resolving
14 disputes, the commission treat all providers of
15 telecommunications services fairly by preventing anticompetitive
16 behavior, including, but not limited to, predatory pricing.
17 (3) The commission shall, upon request, arbitrate and
18 enforce interconnection agreements pursuant to 47 U.S.C. ss. 251
19 and 252 and the Federal Communications Commission’s orders and
20 regulations implementing those sections. The commission has the
21 authority to resolve disputes among carriers concerning
22 violations of this chapter and under the authority conferred by
23 federal law to resolve such disputes, including, but not limited
24 to, federal law addressing resale of services, local
25 interconnection, unbundling, number portability, dialing parity,
26 access to rights-of-way, access to poles and conduits, and
27 reciprocal compensation. However, this section does not confer
28 jurisdiction on the commission for services that are exempt from
29 commission jurisdiction under s. 364.011 or s. 364.013.
30 Additionally, a competitive local exchange telecommunications
31 company is entitled to interconnection with a local exchange
32 telecommunications company to transmit and route voice traffic
33 between both the competitive local exchange telecommunications
34 company and the local exchange telecommunications company
35 regardless of the technology by which the voice traffic is
36 originated by and terminated to an end user. The commission
37 shall afford the competitive local exchange telecommunications
38 company all substantive and procedural rights available to such
39 companies regarding interconnection under the law.
40 (4) A telecommunications company may not knowingly deliver
41 traffic, for which terminating access service charges would
42 otherwise apply, through a local interconnection arrangement
43 without paying the appropriate charges for such terminating
44 access service. Any party having a substantial interest may
45 petition the commission for an investigation of any suspected
46 violation of this subsection. If a telecommunications company
47 knowingly violates this subsection, the commission has
48 jurisdiction to arbitrate bona fide complaints arising from the
49 requirements of this subsection and shall, upon such complaint,
50 have access to all relevant customer records and accounts of any
51 telecommunications company.
52 (5) The commission shall adopt rules to prevent the
53 unauthorized changing of a subscriber’s telecommunications
54 service. Such rules shall be consistent with the
55 Telecommunications Act of 1996, provide for specific
56 verification methodologies, provide for the notification to
57 subscribers of the ability to freeze the subscriber’s choice of
58 carriers at no charge, allow for a subscriber’s change to be
59 considered valid if verification was performed consistent with
60 commission rules, provide remedies for violations of the rules,
61 and allow for the imposition of other penalties available under
62 this chapter. The commission shall resolve on an expedited basis
63 any complaints of anticompetitive behavior concerning a local
64 preferred carrier freeze. The telecommunications company that is
65 asserting the existence of a local preferred carrier freeze,
66 which is the subject of a complaint, has the burden of proving
67 through competent evidence that the subscriber did in fact
68 request the freeze.
69 (6) Upon petition, the commission may conduct a limited or
70 expedited proceeding to consider and act upon any matter under
71 this section. The commission shall determine the issues to be
72 considered during such a proceeding and may grant or deny any
73 request to expand the scope of the proceeding to include other
74 matters. The commission shall implement an expedited process to
75 facilitate the quick resolution of disputes between
76 telecommunications companies. The process implemented by the
77 commission shall, to the greatest extent feasible, minimize the
78 time necessary to reach a decision on a dispute. The commission
79 may limit the use of the expedited process based on the number
80 of parties, the number of issues, or the complexity of the
81 issues. For any proceeding conducted pursuant to the expedited
82 process, the commission shall make its determination within 120
83 days after a petition is filed or a motion is made. The
84 commission shall adopt rules to administer this subsection.
85 (1) Whenever the commission finds that connections between
86 any two or more local exchange telecommunications companies,
87 whose lines form a continuous line of communication or could be
88 made to do so by the construction and maintenance of suitable
89 connections at common points, can reasonably be made and
90 efficient service obtained, and that such connections are
91 necessary, the commission may require such connections to be
92 made, may require that telecommunications services be
93 transferred, and may prescribe through lines and joint rates and
94 charges to be made, used, observed, and in force in the future
95 and fix the rates and charges by order to be served upon the
96 company or companies affected.
97 (2) Each competitive local exchange telecommunications
98 company shall provide access to, and interconnection with, its
99 telecommunications services to any other provider of local
100 exchange telecommunications services requesting such access and
101 interconnection at nondiscriminatory prices, terms, and
102 conditions. If the parties are unable to negotiate mutually
103 acceptable prices, terms, and conditions after 60 days, either
104 party may petition the commission and the commission shall have
105 120 days to make a determination after proceeding as required by
106 s. 364.162(2) pertaining to interconnection services.
107 (3) Each local exchange telecommunications company shall
108 provide access to, and interconnection with, its
109 telecommunications facilities to any other provider of local
110 exchange telecommunications services requesting such access and
111 interconnection at nondiscriminatory prices, rates, terms, and
112 conditions established by the procedures set forth in s.
113 364.162.
114 (a) No local exchange telecommunications company or
115 competitive local exchange telecommunications company shall
116 knowingly deliver traffic, for which terminating access service
117 charges would otherwise apply, through a local interconnection
118 arrangement without paying the appropriate charges for such
119 terminating access service.
120 (b) Any party with a substantial interest may petition the
121 commission for an investigation of any suspected violation of
122 paragraph (a). In the event any certificated local exchange
123 service provider knowingly violates paragraph (a), the
124 commission shall have jurisdiction to arbitrate bona fide
125 complaints arising from the requirements of this subsection and
126 shall, upon such complaint, have access to all relevant customer
127 records and accounts of any telecommunications company.
128 (7)(4) In order to ensure assure that consumers have access
129 to different local exchange service providers without being
130 disadvantaged, deterred, or inconvenienced by having to give up
131 the consumer’s existing local telephone number, the commission
132 must make sure that all providers of local exchange services
133 must have access to local telephone numbering resources and
134 assignments on equitable terms that include a recognition of the
135 scarcity of such resources and that are in accordance with
136 national assignment guidelines. Each local exchange provider,
137 except small local exchange telecommunications companies under
138 rate of return regulation, shall provide a temporary means of
139 achieving telephone number portability. The parties, under the
140 direction of the commission, shall set up a number portability
141 standards group by no later than September 1, 1995, for the
142 purposes of investigation and development of appropriate
143 parameters, costs, and standards for number portability. If the
144 parties are unable to successfully negotiate the prices, terms,
145 and conditions of a temporary number portability solution, the
146 commission shall establish a temporary number portability
147 solution by no later than January 1, 1996. Each local exchange
148 service provider shall make necessary modifications to allow
149 permanent portability of local telephone numbers between
150 certificated providers of local exchange service as soon as
151 reasonably possible after the development of national standards.
152 The parties shall negotiate the prices, terms, and conditions
153 for permanent telephone number portability arrangements. In the
154 event the parties are unable to satisfactorily negotiate the
155 prices, terms, and conditions, either party may petition the
156 commission and the commission shall, after opportunity for a
157 hearing, set the rates, terms, and conditions. The prices and
158 rates shall not be below cost. Number portability between
159 different certificated providers of local exchange service at
160 the same location shall be provided temporarily no later than
161 January 1, 1996.
162 (8)(5) When requested, each certificated telecommunications
163
164 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
165 And the title is amended as follows:
166
167 Delete lines 51 - 62
168 and insert:
169
170 facilities; amending s. 364.16, F.S., relating to
171 local interconnection, unbundling, and resale of
172 telecommunication services; providing legislative
173 intent; requiring the Public Service Commission to,
174 upon request, arbitrate and enforce interconnection
175 agreements; providing that certain services are exempt
176 from the commission jurisdiction; providing that a
177 competitive local exchange telecommunications company
178 is entitled to interconnection with a local exchange
179 telecommunications company for certain purposes;
180 prohibiting a telecommunications company from
181 knowingly delivering traffic for which terminating
182 access service charges would otherwise apply;
183 authorizing any party having a substantial interest to
184 petition the commission for an investigation;
185 requiring the commission to adopt rules to prevent the
186 unauthorized changing of a subscriber’s
187 telecommunications service; requiring the commission
188 to conduct an expedited proceeding to resolve
189 disputes; providing that the telecommunications
190 company that asserts the existence of a local
191 preferred carrier freeze has a certain burden of
192 proof; removing obsolete provisions relating to local
193 exchange telecommunications companies; repealing ss.
194 364.161