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[ Senate Amendment 002 ] |
90_SB0700sam001 SRS90SB0700JJcham01 1 AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 700 2 AMENDMENT NO. . Amend Senate Bill 700 by replacing 3 the title with the following: 4 "AN ACT relating to competition in the telecommunications 5 industry amending named Acts."; and 6 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the 7 following: 8 "Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by 9 changing Sections 13-102 and 13-103 as follows: 10 (220 ILCS 5/13-102) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-102) 11 (This Section is scheduled to be repealed July 1, 1999.) 12 Sec. 13-102. Findings. With respect to 13 telecommunications services, as herein defined, the General 14 Assembly finds that: 15 (a) universally available and widely affordable 16 telecommunications services are essential to the health, 17 welfare and prosperity of all Illinois citizens; 18 (b)recentfederal regulatory and judicial rulings in 19 the 1980shavecaused a restructuring of the 20 telecommunications industry andhaveopened some aspects of 21 the industry to competitive entry, thereby necessitating -2- SRS90SB0700JJcham01 1 revision of State telecommunications regulatory policies and 2 practices; 3 (c) revisions in telecommunications regulatory policies 4 and practices in Illinois beginning in the mid-1980s brought 5 the benefits of competition to consumers in many 6 telecommunications markets, but not in local exchange 7 telecommunications service markets; 8 (d) the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 9 established the goal of opening all telecommunications 10 service markets to competition and accords to the states the 11 responsibility to establish and enforce policies necessary to 12 attain that goal; 13 (e) it is in the immediate interest of the People of the 14 State of Illinois for the State to exercise its rights within 15 the new framework of federal telecommunications policy to 16 ensure that the economic benefits of competition in all 17 telecommunications service markets are realized as 18 effectively as possible; 19 (f)(c)the competitive offering of all 20 telecommunications services will increasemay create the21potential for increasedinnovation and efficiency in the 22 provision of telecommunications services and may lead to 23 reduced prices for consumers, increased investment in 24 communications infrastructure, the creation of new jobs, and 25 the attraction of new businesses to Illinois; and 26 (g)(d)protection of the public interest requires 27 changes in thecontinuedregulation of telecommunications 28 carriers and services to ensure, to the maximum feasible 29 extent, the reasonable and timely development of effective 30 competition in all telecommunications service marketsfor the31foreseeable future. 32 (Source: P.A. 84-1063.) 33 (220 ILCS 5/13-103) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-103) -3- SRS90SB0700JJcham01 1 (This Section is scheduled to be repealed July 1, 1999.) 2 Sec. 13-103. Policy. Consistent with its findings, the 3 General Assembly declares that it is the policy of the State 4 of Illinois that: 5 (a) telecommunications services should be available to 6 all Illinois citizens at just, reasonable, and affordable 7 rates and that such services should be provided as widely and 8 economically as possible in sufficient variety, quality, 9 quantity and reliability to satisfy the public interest; 10 (b)whenconsistent with the protection of consumers of 11 telecommunications services and the furtherance of other 12 public interest goals, competition in all telecommunications 13 service markets should be pursuedpermitted to functionas a 14 substitute forcertain aspects ofregulation in determining 15 the variety, quality and price of telecommunications services 16 and that the economic burdens of regulation should be reduced 17 to the extent possible consistent with the furtherance of 18 market competition and protection of the public interest; 19 (c) all necessary and appropriate modifications to State 20 regulation of telecommunications carriers and services should 21 be implemented without unnecessary disruption to the 22 telecommunications infrastructure system or to consumers of 23 telecommunications services and that it is necessary and 24 appropriate to establish rules to encourage and ensurea25reasonable period of time to permit preparation fororderly 26 transitions in the developmentprovisionof markets for all 27 telecommunications services; 28 (d) the consumers of telecommunications services and 29 facilities provided by persons or companies subject to 30 regulation pursuant to this Act and Article should be 31 required to pay only reasonable and non-discriminatory rates 32 or charges and that in no case should rates or charges for 33 non-competitive telecommunications services include any 34 portion of the cost of providing competitive -4- SRS90SB0700JJcham01 1 telecommunications services, as defined in Section 13-209, or 2 the cost of any nonregulated activities; 3 (e) the regulatory policies and procedures provided in 4 this Article are established in recognition of the changing 5 nature of the telecommunications industry and therefore 6 should be subject to systematic legislative review to ensure 7 that the public benefits intended to result from such 8 policies and procedures are fully realized; and 9 (f) development of and prudent investment in advanced 10 telecommunications services and networks that foster economic 11 development of the State should be encouraged through the 12 implementation and enforcement of policies that promote 13 effective and sustained competition in all telecommunications 14 service markets. 15 (Source: P.A. 87-856.) 16 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 17 becoming law.".