HB2698 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 09290 AAS 19348 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
HB2698

Introduced 2/6/2025, by Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

220 ILCS 5/13-520 new
220 ILCS 5/13-521 new

Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that every cable or video provider operating in the State shall issue a prorated bill credit to consumers for any service outage lasting more than one hour. Provides that the credit shall be calculated based on the consumer's monthly service rate, prorated for the duration of the outage, and that the credit shall be automatically applied to the consumer's next billing cycle without requiring any action or request from the consumer. Requires cable or video providers to notify consumers of the outage and the applied credit within 24 hours after the restoration of service. Provides that internet providers and cable or video providers shall maintain records of all outages and corresponding bill credits issued for a minimum period of 3 years. Provides that the records shall be made available to the Illinois Commerce Commission upon request for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the Act. Provides that any cable or video provider that fails to issue the required bill credits in accordance with the outage provisions shall be subject to penalties as determined by the Commission. Provides that, if, due to a contract dispute, a cable or video provider will not be providing a consumer with a channel for which the consumer has been or will be billed, the cable or video provider shall, within 10 days after the cable or video provider knows that the contract dispute will result in the loss of the channel, provide each affected consumer with notice that the channel will not be provided due to a contract dispute. Provides that, if a cable or video provider does not provide a consumer with a channel for which the consumer has been billed, then the cable or video provider shall credit the consumer an amount equal to the percentage of the consumer's bill that the channel represents multiplied by the consumer's monthly service rate, which shall be prorated for each hour that the consumer was not provided with that channel due to a contract dispute. Requires that the credit be applied on the statement issued to the consumer for the next monthly billing cycle.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning regulation.

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 adding Sections 13-520 and 13-521 as follows:

(220 ILCS 5/13-520 new)

Sec. 13-520. Prorated bill credits for internet, cable or video service outages.

(a) As used in this Section:

"Broadband Internet" means lines or wireless channels that terminate at an end user's location and enable the end user to receive a minimum service level of 25 megabits per second download speed and 3 megabits per second upload speed.

"Cable or video provider" means any person or entity providing cable service or video service pursuant to authorization under (i) the Cable and Video Competition Law of 2007; (ii) Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code; (iii) Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code; or (iv) a master antenna television, satellite master antenna television, direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services, and other providers of video programming, whatever their technology. "Cable or video provider" does not include a landlord providing only broadcast video programming to a single-family home or other residential dwelling consisting of 4 units or less.

"Consumer" means any person or entity that purchases cable or video service for personal or business use.

"Internet provider" means a provider of broadband Internet in this State.

"Outage" means any period of time during which a consumer's internet, cable, or video service is unavailable, excluding scheduled maintenance periods of which the consumer has been notified at least 24 hours in advance.

(b) Every internet provider and cable or video provider operating in this State shall issue a prorated bill credit to consumers for any service outage lasting more than one hour. This credit shall be calculated based on the consumer's monthly service rate, prorated for the duration of the outage. This credit shall be automatically applied to the consumer's next billing cycle without requiring any action or request from the consumer. Internet providers and cable or video providers shall notify consumers of the outage and the applied credit within 24 hours after the restoration of service.

(c) Internet providers and cable or video providers shall maintain records of all outages and corresponding bill credits issued for a minimum period of 3 years. Those records shall be made available to the Illinois Commerce Commission upon request for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this Section.

(d) Any Internet provider or cable or video provider that fails to issue the required bill credits in accordance with this Section shall be subject to penalties, including, but not limited to, fines, as determined by the Illinois Commerce Commission.

(220 ILCS 5/13-521 new)

Sec. 13-521. Contract disputes; notice; credit.

(a) As used in this Section:

"Broadband Internet" means lines or wireless channels that terminate at an end user's location and enable the end user to receive a minimum service level of 25 megabits per second download speed and 3 megabits per second upload speed.

"Cable or video provider" means any person or entity providing cable service or video service pursuant to authorization under (i) the Cable and Video Competition Law of 2007; (ii) Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code; (iii) Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code; or (iv) a master antenna television, satellite master antenna television, direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services, and other providers of video programming, whatever their technology. "Cable or video provider" does not include a landlord providing only broadcast video programming to a single-family home or other residential dwelling consisting of 4 units or less.

"Consumer" means any person or entity that purchases cable or video service for personal or business use.

"Internet provider" means a provider of broadband Internet in this State.

(b) If, due to a contract dispute, an Internet provider or a cable or video provider will not be providing a consumer with a channel for which the consumer has been or will be billed, the Internet provider or the cable or video provider shall, within 10 days after the provider knows that the contract dispute will result in the loss of the channel, provide each affected consumer with notice that the channel will not be provided due to a contract dispute. If an Internet provider or a cable or video provider does not provide a consumer with a channel for which the consumer has been billed, then the provider shall credit the consumer an amount equal to the percentage of the consumer's bill that the channel represents multiplied by the consumer's monthly service rate, which shall be prorated for each hour that the consumer was not provided with that channel due to a contract dispute. The credit shall be applied on the statement issued to the consumer for the next monthly billing cycle. This Section applies to any channel regardless of whether it is a local, a regional, or a paid channel and regardless of whether the customer is billed separately for the channel.