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Public Act 91-0636
HB0287 Enrolled LRB9101576JSpc
AN ACT to amend the Public Utilities Act by changing
Section 13-301.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by
changing Section 13-301 as follows:
(220 ILCS 5/13-301) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-301)
(Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2001)
Sec. 13-301. Consistent with the findings and policy
established in paragraph (a) of Section 13-102 and paragraph
(a) of Section 13-103, and in order to ensure the attainment
of such policies, the Commission shall:
(a) participate in all federal programs intended to
preserve or extend universal telecommunications service,
unless such programs would place cost burdens on Illinois
customers of telecommunications services in excess of the
benefits they would receive through participation, provided,
however, the Commission shall not approve or permit the
imposition of any surcharge or other fee designed to
subsidize or provide a waiver for subscriber line charges;
and shall report on such programs together with an assessment
of their adequacy and the advisability of participating
therein in its annual report to the General Assembly, or more
often as necessary;
(b) establish a program to monitor the level of
telecommunications subscriber connection within each exchange
in Illinois, and shall report the results of such monitoring
and any actions it has taken or recommends be taken to
maintain and increase such levels in its annual report to the
General Assembly, or more often if necessary;
(c) order all telecommunications carriers offering or
providing local exchange telecommunications service to
propose low-cost or budget service tariffs and any other rate
design or pricing mechanisms designed to facilitate customer
access to such telecommunications service, and shall after
notice and hearing, implement any such proposals which it
finds likely to achieve such purpose;
(d) investigate the necessity of and, if appropriate,
establish feasibility of establishing a universal service
support fund from which local exchange telecommunications
carriers who pursuant to the Twenty-Seventh Interim Order of
the Commission in Docket No. 83-0142 or the orders of the
Commission in Docket No. 97-0621 and Docket No. 98-0679
received funding and offering or providing local exchange
telecommunications service, whose economic costs of providing
services for which universal service support may be made
available such service exceed the affordable rate established
by the Commission for such services may be eligible to
average cost of providing such service in Illinois, could
receive support, less any federal universal service support
received for the same or similar costs of providing the
supported services; provided, however, that if a universal
service support fund is established, the Commission shall
require that all costs of the fund be recovered from all
local exchange and interexchange telecommunications carriers
certificated in Illinois on a competitively neutral and
nondiscriminatory basis. In establishing any such universal
service support fund, the Commission shall, in addition to
the determination of costs for supported services, consider
and make findings pursuant to paragraphs (1), (2), and (4) of
item (e) of this Section. Proxy cost, as determined by the
Commission, may be used for this purpose. In determining
cost recovery for any universal service support fund, the
Commission shall not permit recovery of such costs from
another certificated carrier for any service purchased and
used solely as an input to a service provided to such
certificated carrier's retail customers revenues intended to
mitigate the price impact on customers resulting from the
high or rising cost of such service; and shall include the
results and findings of such investigation together with any
recommendations for legislative action in its first annual
report to the General Assembly in 1986; and
(e) investigate the necessity of and, if appropriate,
establish a universal service support fund in addition to any
fund that may be established pursuant to item (d) of this
Section; provided, however, that if a telecommunications
carrier receives universal service support pursuant to item
(d) of this Section, that telecommunications carrier shall
not receive universal service support pursuant to this item.
Recipients of any universal service support funding created
by this item shall be "eligible" telecommunications carriers,
as designated by the Commission in accordance with 47 U.S.C.
214(e)(2). Eligible telecommunications carriers providing
local exchange telecommunications service may be eligible to
receive support for such services, less any federal universal
service support received for the same or similar costs of
providing the supported services. If a fund is established,
the Commission shall require that the costs of such fund be
recovered from all telecommunications carriers, with the
exception of wireless carriers who are providers of two-way
cellular telecommunications service and who have not been
designated as eligible telecommunications carriers, on a
competitively neutral and non-discriminatory basis. In any
order creating a fund pursuant to this item, the Commission,
after notice and hearing, shall:
(1) Define the group of services to be declared
"supported telecommunications services" that constitute
"universal service". This group of services shall, at a
minimum, include those services as defined by the Federal
Communications Commission and as from time to time
amended. In addition, the Commission shall consider the
range of services currently offered by telecommunications
carriers offering local exchange telecommunications
service, the existing rate structures for the supported
telecommunications services, and the telecommunications
needs of Illinois consumers in determining the supported
telecommunications services. The Commission shall, from
time to time or upon request, review and, if appropriate,
revise the group of Illinois supported telecommunications
services and the terms of the fund to reflect changes or
enhancements in telecommunications needs, technologies,
and available services.
(2) Identify all implicit subsidies contained in
rates or charges of incumbent local exchange carriers,
including all subsidies in interexchange access charges,
and determine how such subsidies can be made explicit by
the creation of the fund.
(3) Identify the incumbent local exchange carriers'
economic costs of providing the supported
telecommunications services.
(4) Establish an affordable price for the supported
telecommunications services for the respective incumbent
local exchange carrier. The affordable price shall be no
less than the rates in effect at the time the Commission
creates a fund pursuant to this item. The Commission may
establish and utilize indices or models for updating the
affordable price for supported telecommunications
services.
(5) Identify the telecommunications carriers from
whom the costs of the fund shall be recovered and the
mechanism to be used to determine and establish a
competitively neutral and non-discriminatory funding
basis. From time to time, or upon request, the
Commission shall consider whether, based upon changes in
technology or other factors, additional
telecommunications providers should contribute to the
fund. The Commission shall establish the basis upon
which telecommunications carriers contributing to the
fund shall recover contributions on a competitively
neutral and non-discriminatory basis. In determining
cost recovery for any universal support fund, the
Commission shall not permit recovery of such costs from
another certificated carrier for any service purchased
and used solely as an input to a service provided to such
certificated carriers' retail customers.
(6) Approve a plan for the administration and
operation of the fund by a neutral third party consistent
with the requirements of this item.
No fund shall be created pursuant to this item until
existing implicit subsidies, including, but not limited to,
those subsidies contained in interexchange access charges,
have been identified and eliminated through revisions to
rates or charges. Prior to May 1, 2000, such revisions to
rates or charges to eliminate implicit subsidies shall occur
contemporaneously with any funding established pursuant to
this item. However, if the Commission does not establish a
universal service support fund by May 1, 2000, the Commission
shall not be prevented from entering an order or taking other
actions to reduce or eliminate existing subsidies as well as
considering the effect of such reduction or elimination on
local exchange carriers.
(e) Any telecommunications carrier providing local
exchange telecommunications service which offers to its local
exchange customers a choice of two or more local exchange
telecommunications service offerings shall provide, to any
such customer requesting it, once a year without charge, a
report describing which local exchange telecommunications
service offering would result in the lowest bill for such
customer's local exchange service, based on such customer's
calling pattern and usage for the previous 6 months. At
least once a year, each such carrier shall provide a notice
to each of its local exchange telecommunications service
customers describing the availability of this report and the
specific procedures by which customers may receive it. Such
report shall only be available to current and future
customers who have received at least 6 months of continuous
local exchange service from such carrier.
(Source: P.A. 87-445.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.
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