Full Text of SB2731 93rd General Assembly
SB2731 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004 SB2731
Introduced 2/4/2004, by Martin A. Sandoval SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
|
220 ILCS 5/13-403 |
from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-403 |
|
Amends the Public Utilities Act. Changes the requirements for approval of an application for a Certificate of Interexchange Service Authority. Adds guidelines for prepaid calling cards and point of sale services. Effective immediately.
|
| |
|
|
| FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY | |
|
|
A BILL FOR
|
|
|
|
|
SB2731 |
|
LRB093 17673 AMC 43349 b |
|
| 1 |
| AN ACT concerning 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 changing | 5 |
| Section 13-403 as follows:
| 6 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-403) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-403)
| 7 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2005)
| 8 |
| Sec. 13-403. Interexchange service authority; approval. In | 9 |
| order to protect and promote the legitimate business interests | 10 |
| of Illinois certified prepaid calling providers providing | 11 |
| intrastate, interstate, and international services, Illinois | 12 |
| point of sale retailers of prepaid communication services, and | 13 |
| Illinois consumers of these services against fraud, the
The
| 14 |
| Commission shall approve an application for a
Certificate of | 15 |
| Interexchange Service Authority only upon a showing by the
| 16 |
| applicant, and a finding by the Commission, after notice and | 17 |
| hearing, that
the applicant possesses sufficient technical, | 18 |
| financial , and managerial
resources and abilities to provide | 19 |
| interexchange telecommunications
service at a reasonable | 20 |
| quality and rate to the public on a prepaid basis, and will | 21 |
| bear all regulatory responsibility for services sold . A prepaid | 22 |
| calling service provider shall provide the Commission with all | 23 |
| terms of service in Illinois at which it wishes to sell, | 24 |
| including the expected number of cards it will release into the | 25 |
| stream of commerce or consumers to be served in Illinois on an | 26 |
| annual basis and the rates and surcharges to be built into the | 27 |
| prepaid service for regulatory tracking purposes by the | 28 |
| Commission. Each certificate approved by the Commission and the | 29 |
| terms of service of the carrier shall be recorded by the | 30 |
| Commission and given a final order number that can be reviewed | 31 |
| by the public on the Commission's website or can be made | 32 |
| available directly to consumers and retailers upon request. |
|
|
|
SB2731 |
- 2 - |
LRB093 17673 AMC 43349 b |
|
| 1 |
| Each certificate shall include the final order number, the full | 2 |
| legal name of the prepaid calling card provider, the customer | 3 |
| service number of the prepaid calling carrier, and the | 4 |
| corporate officer or directors bearing regulatory | 5 |
| responsibility for the card or prepaid service. Each card or | 6 |
| point of sale service for intrastate, interstate, or | 7 |
| international calling issued by the prepaid calling service | 8 |
| provider must disclose (i) all surcharges or regulatory fees | 9 |
| that are applicable to the consumer for use of the card or | 10 |
| service, the actual number of minutes offered by the card | 11 |
| inclusive of surcharges, and the customer service number of the | 12 |
| carrier and (ii) the certificated carrier name of the prepaid | 13 |
| communication provider. All compliance reporting and | 14 |
| documentation thereof submitted to the Commission under the | 15 |
| prepaid calling service provider's certificate must be signed | 16 |
| by the officer or directly listed on the certificate, as well | 17 |
| as the name of the person who is knowledgeable and responsible | 18 |
| for the records, and that person must certify that he or she | 19 |
| has control of the records in question.
| 20 |
| An Illinois retailer who wishes to conduct business with a | 21 |
| prepaid calling service provider shall require the production | 22 |
| of the provider's final order number that indicates that they | 23 |
| were certified, the prepaid calling service provider's full | 24 |
| certificated name matching the name listed on the card or | 25 |
| service receipt, and written certification by the officer or | 26 |
| director bearing regulatory responsibility that this is a bona | 27 |
| fide sale by the certified Illinois provider. Upon proof that | 28 |
| the prepaid provider is certified in the State of Illinois, the | 29 |
| retailer shall produce a signature authorizing the sale of the | 30 |
| carrier's prepaid calling cards out of the retailer's place of | 31 |
| business with copies to be retained by the retailer and the | 32 |
| carrier. This authorization and proof of certification must be | 33 |
| maintained by the retailer for a period of one year and the | 34 |
| retailer must be able to produce and remit copies of this | 35 |
| authorization to the Commission or any other State agency | 36 |
| formally requesting proof of the transactions for the |
|
|
|
SB2731 |
- 3 - |
LRB093 17673 AMC 43349 b |
|
| 1 |
| regulatory purposes of investigating any authorized or | 2 |
| unauthorized providers within 10 business days of said request. | 3 |
| Any retailer who is found to have sold a prepaid calling card | 4 |
| or point of sale service to an end user without the required | 5 |
| certification is subject to fines up to $50 or 5 times the | 6 |
| value of the card, whichever is greater, per uncertified card | 7 |
| sold depending upon the Commission's review and finding on the | 8 |
| particular incident. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to | 9 |
| limit the power of the Illinois Attorney General.
| 10 |
| The removal from this Section of the dialing restrictions | 11 |
| by
this amendatory Act of 1992 does not create any legislative | 12 |
| presumption for
or against intra-Market Service Area | 13 |
| presubscription or changes in
intra-Market Service Area | 14 |
| dialing arrangements related to the
implementation of that | 15 |
| presubscription, but simply vests jurisdiction in
the Illinois | 16 |
| Commerce Commission to consider after notice and hearing the
| 17 |
| issue of presubscription in accordance with the policy goals | 18 |
| outlined in
Section 13-103.
| 19 |
| The Commission shall have authority to alter the boundaries | 20 |
| of Market
Service Areas when such alteration is consistent with | 21 |
| the public interest
and the purposes and policies of this | 22 |
| Article. A
determination by the Commission with respect to | 23 |
| Market Service
Area boundaries shall not modify or affect the | 24 |
| rights or obligations of any
telecommunications carrier with | 25 |
| respect to any consent decree or agreement
with the United | 26 |
| States Department of Justice, including, but not limited
to, | 27 |
| the Modification of Final Judgment in United States v. Western | 28 |
| Electric
Co., 552 F. Supp. 131 (D.D.C. 1982), as modified from | 29 |
| time to
time.
| 30 |
| (Source: P.A. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99 .)
| 31 |
| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 32 |
| becoming law.
|
|