093_HB1452eng HB1452 Engrossed LRB093 03561 LRD 03590 b 1 AN ACT in relation to public utilities. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by 5 changing Section 13-502.5 as follows: 6 (220 ILCS 5/13-502.5) 7 (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2005) 8 Sec. 13-502.5. Services alleged to be improperly 9 classified. 10 (a) Any action or proceeding pending before the 11 Commission upon the effective date of this amendatory Act of 12 the 92nd General Assembly in which it is alleged that a 13 telecommunications carrier has improperly classified services 14 as competitive, other than a case pertaining to Section 15 13-506.1, shall be abated and shall not be maintained or 16 continued. 17 (b) All retail telecommunications services provided to 18 business end users by any telecommunications carrier subject, 19 as of May 1, 2001, to alternative regulation under an 20 alternative regulation plan pursuant to Section 13-506.1 of 21 this Act shall be classified as competitive as of the 22 effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General 23 Assembly without further Commission review. Rates for retail 24 telecommunications services provided to business end users 25 with 4 or fewer access lines shall not exceed the rates the 26 carrier charged for those services on May 1, 2001. This 27 restriction upon the rates of retail telecommunications 28 services provided to business end users shall remain in force 29 and effect through July 1, 2005; provided, however, that 30 nothing in this Section shall be construed to prohibit 31 reduction of those rates. Rates for retail telecommunications HB1452 Engrossed -2- LRB093 03561 LRD 03590 b 1 services provided to business end users with 5 or more access 2 lines shall not be subject to the restrictions set forth in 3 this subsection. 4 The Commission shall report to the General Assembly no 5 later than April 1, 2004 whether rates for retail 6 telecommunications services provided by all incumbent 7 telecommunications carriers providing services in Illinois to 8 business end users with 4 or fewer access lines have declined 9 or increased since this Section was added by Public Act 10 92-22. 11 (c) All retail vertical services, as defined herein, 12 that are provided by a telecommunications carrier subject, as 13 of May 1, 2001, to alternative regulation under an 14 alternative regulation plan pursuant to Section 13-506.1 of 15 this Act shall be classified as competitive as of June 1, 16 2003 without further Commission review. Retail vertical 17 services shall include, for purposes of this Section, 18 services available on a subscriber's telephone line that the 19 subscriber pays for on a periodic or per use basis, but shall 20 not include caller identification and call waiting. 21 (d) Any action or proceeding before the Commission upon 22 the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General 23 Assembly, in which it is alleged that a telecommunications 24 carrier has improperly classified services as competitive, 25 other than a case pertaining to Section 13-506.1, shall be 26 abated and the services the classification of which is at 27 issue shall be deemed either competitive or noncompetitive as 28 set forth in this Section. Any telecommunications carrier 29 subject to an action or proceeding in which it is alleged 30 that the telecommunications carrier has improperly classified 31 services as competitive shall be deemed liable to refund, and 32 shall refund, the sum of $90,000,000 to that class or those 33 classes of its customers that were alleged to have paid rates 34 in excess of noncompetitive rates as the result of the HB1452 Engrossed -3- LRB093 03561 LRD 03590 b 1 alleged improper classification. The telecommunications 2 carrier shall make the refund no later than 120 days after 3 the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General 4 Assembly. 5 (e) Any telecommunications carrier subject to an action 6 or proceeding in which it is alleged that the 7 telecommunications carrier has improperly classified services 8 as competitive shall also pay the sum of $15,000,000 to the 9 Digital Divide Elimination Fund established pursuant to 10 Section 5-20 of the Eliminate the Digital Divide Law, and 11 shall further pay the sum of $15,000,000 to the Digital 12 Divide Elimination Infrastructure Fund established pursuant 13 to Section 13-301.3 of this Act. The telecommunications 14 carrier shall make each of these payments in 3 installments 15 of $5,000,000, payable on July 1 of 2002, 2003, and 2004. The 16 telecommunications carrier shall have no further accounting 17 for these payments, which shall be used for the purposes 18 established in the Eliminate the Digital Divide Law. 19 (f) All other services shall be classified pursuant to 20 Section 13-502 of this Act. 21 (Source: P.A. 92-22, eff. 6-30-01.) 22 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 23 becoming law.