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91_HB0287sam001
LRB9101576JScsam01
1 AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 287
2 AMENDMENT NO. . Amend House Bill 287 by replacing
3 the title with the following:
4 "AN ACT to amend the Public Utilities Act by changing
5 Section 13-301."; 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 Section 13-301 as follows:
10 (220 ILCS 5/13-301) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-301)
11 (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2001)
12 Sec. 13-301. Consistent with the findings and policy
13 established in paragraph (a) of Section 13-102 and paragraph
14 (a) of Section 13-103, and in order to ensure the attainment
15 of such policies, the Commission shall:
16 (a) participate in all federal programs intended to
17 preserve or extend universal telecommunications service,
18 unless such programs would place cost burdens on Illinois
19 customers of telecommunications services in excess of the
20 benefits they would receive through participation, provided,
21 however, the Commission shall not approve or permit the
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1 imposition of any surcharge or other fee designed to
2 subsidize or provide a waiver for subscriber line charges;
3 and shall report on such programs together with an assessment
4 of their adequacy and the advisability of participating
5 therein in its annual report to the General Assembly, or more
6 often as necessary;
7 (b) establish a program to monitor the level of
8 telecommunications subscriber connection within each exchange
9 in Illinois, and shall report the results of such monitoring
10 and any actions it has taken or recommends be taken to
11 maintain and increase such levels in its annual report to the
12 General Assembly, or more often if necessary;
13 (c) order all telecommunications carriers offering or
14 providing local exchange telecommunications service to
15 propose low-cost or budget service tariffs and any other rate
16 design or pricing mechanisms designed to facilitate customer
17 access to such telecommunications service, and shall after
18 notice and hearing, implement any such proposals which it
19 finds likely to achieve such purpose;
20 (d) investigate the necessity of and create, if
21 appropriate, feasibility of establishing a fund or funds from
22 which eligible telecommunications carriers offering or
23 providing local exchange telecommunications service, whose
24 costs of providing telecommunications services such service
25 exceed the affordable rate average cost of providing such
26 services can service in Illinois, could receive revenues
27 intended to mitigate the price impact on customers resulting
28 from the high or rising cost of such services service;
29 provided, however, that to the extent such a fund or funds
30 are established, the Commission shall require that the costs
31 of such funds be recovered from all telecommunications
32 carriers on a competitively neutral basis; as used in this
33 Section, "eligible telecommunications carrier" means a
34 telecommunications carrier that has been designated as an
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1 eligible telecommunications carrier by the Commission for a
2 service area designated by the Commission in accordance with
3 47 U.S.C. 214(e)(2). In creating any fund or funds as
4 described in this subsection, the Commission shall consider
5 the following:
6 (1) The bundle or group of services to be declared
7 "supported telecommunications services" that constitute
8 "universal service". This bundle or group of services
9 shall at a minimum, include those services as defined by
10 the Federal Communications Commission and as from time to
11 time amended. In addition, the Commission shall consider
12 the range of services currently offered by
13 telecommunications carriers offering local exchange
14 telecommunications service, the existing rate structures
15 for the supported telecommunications services, and the
16 telecommunications needs of Illinois consumers in
17 determining the supported telecommunications services.
18 The Commission shall, from time to time or upon request,
19 review and, if appropriate, revise the bundle or group of
20 Illinois supported telecommunications services and the
21 terms of the fund or funds to reflect changes or
22 enhancements in telecommunications needs, technologies,
23 and available services.
24 (2) The identification of any implicit subsidies
25 contained in rates or charges of eligible
26 telecommunications carriers and how implicit subsidies
27 can be made explicit by the creation of the fund or
28 funds. The identification of explicit subsidies
29 currently received by some local exchange carriers and
30 the need to maintain or transition the existing explicit
31 support through the fund or funds to be created.
32 (3) The identification of the incumbent local
33 exchange carriers' costs of providing the supported
34 telecommunications services. At the request of any
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1 incumbent local exchange carrier or carriers, the use of
2 a proxy for the identification of that local exchange
3 carrier or group of local exchange carriers' costs of
4 providing the supported telecommunications services.
5 (4) An affordable level of price for the supported
6 telecommunications services for the respective incumbent
7 local exchange carrier. The identification of indices or
8 models for use in establishing or updating the affordable
9 level of price with supported telecommunications
10 services.
11 (5) The identification of a fund administrator,
12 which shall be an unaffiliated third party. The
13 identification of all eligible telecommunications
14 carriers and the portability criteria and mechanisms to
15 be included within the fund or funds and applied by the
16 fund administrator.
17 (6) Identification of the telecommunications
18 carriers from whom the cost of the fund or funds shall be
19 recovered and the mechanism to be used to determine and
20 establish a competitively neutral funding basis. The
21 adoption of a minimum contribution exemption to lessen
22 the administrative costs and approve the administrative
23 efficiency of any fund or funds. From time to time, or
24 upon request, the Commission shall consider whether,
25 based upon changes in technology or other factors,
26 additional telecommunications providers should contribute
27 to the fund or funds. The establishment of the basis
28 upon which telecommunications carriers contributing to
29 the fund or funds shall recover contributions also on a
30 competitively neutral basis. and shall include the
31 results and findings of such investigation together with
32 any recommendations for legislative action in its first
33 annual report to the General Assembly in 1986;
34 (e) Any telecommunications carrier providing local
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1 exchange telecommunications service which offers to its local
2 exchange customers a choice of two or more local exchange
3 telecommunications service offerings shall provide, to any
4 such customer requesting it, once a year without charge, a
5 report describing which local exchange telecommunications
6 service offering would result in the lowest bill for such
7 customer's local exchange service, based on such customer's
8 calling pattern and usage for the previous 6 months. At
9 least once a year, each such carrier shall provide a notice
10 to each of its local exchange telecommunications service
11 customers describing the availability of this report and the
12 specific procedures by which customers may receive it. Such
13 report shall only be available to current and future
14 customers who have received at least 6 months of continuous
15 local exchange service from such carrier.
16 (Source: P.A. 87-445.)
17 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
18 becoming law.".