HB5596 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB098 19993 RPS 55218 b

98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
HB5596

Introduced , by Rep. Brandon W. Phelps

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

220 ILCS 5/13-703

from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-703

Amends the Telecommunications Article of the Public Utilities Code. Provides that wireless carriers, nomadic interconnected voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service providers, and fixed or non-nomadic interconnected VoIP service providers shall participate in the Illinois Commerce Commission's program to provide telecommunications devices capable of servicing the needs of persons with a hearing or speech disability. Authorizes the Commission to establish a rate recovery mechanism for wireless carriers, nomadic VoIP service providers, and non-nomadic VoIP service providers. Deletes language that provides that an interconnected VoIP service shall not be considered an intrastate telecommunications service. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

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 changing Section 13-703 as follows:

(220 ILCS 5/13-703) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-703)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2015)

Sec. 13-703. (a) The Commission shall design and implement a program whereby each telecommunications carrier providing local exchange service shall provide a telecommunications device capable of servicing the needs of those persons with a hearing or speech disability together with a single party line, at no charge additional to the basic exchange rate, to any subscriber who is certified as having a hearing or speech disability by a licensed physician, speech-language pathologist, audiologist or a qualified State agency and to any subscriber which is an organization serving the needs of those persons with a hearing or speech disability as determined and specified by the Commission pursuant to subsection (d).

(b) The Commission shall design and implement a program, whereby each telecommunications carrier providing local exchange service shall provide a telecommunications relay system, using third party intervention to connect those persons having a hearing or speech disability with persons of normal hearing by way of intercommunications devices and the telephone system, making available reasonable access to all phases of public telephone service to persons who have a hearing or speech disability. In order to design a telecommunications relay system which will meet the requirements of those persons with a hearing or speech disability available at a reasonable cost, the Commission shall initiate an investigation and conduct public hearings to determine the most cost-effective method of providing telecommunications relay service to those persons who have a hearing or speech disability when using telecommunications devices and therein solicit the advice, counsel, and physical assistance of Statewide nonprofit consumer organizations that serve persons with hearing or speech disabilities in such hearings and during the development and implementation of the system. The Commission shall phase in this program, on a geographical basis, as soon as is practicable, but no later than June 30, 1990.

(c) The Commission shall establish a rate recovery mechanism, authorizing charges in an amount to be determined by the Commission for each line of a subscriber to allow telecommunications carriers providing local exchange service to recover costs as they are incurred under this Section.

(d) The Commission shall determine and specify those organizations serving the needs of those persons having a hearing or speech disability that shall receive a telecommunications device and in which offices the equipment shall be installed in the case of an organization having more than one office. For the purposes of this Section, "organizations serving the needs of those persons with hearing or speech disabilities" means centers for independent living as described in Section 12a of the Disabled Persons Rehabilitation Act and not-for-profit organizations whose primary purpose is serving the needs of those persons with hearing or speech disabilities. The Commission shall direct the telecommunications carriers subject to its jurisdiction and this Section to comply with its determinations and specifications in this regard.

(e) As used in this Section, the phrase "telecommunications carrier providing local exchange service" includes, without otherwise limiting the meaning of the term, telecommunications carriers which are purely mutual concerns, having no rates or charges for services, but paying the operating expenses by assessment upon the members of such a company and no other person, wireless carriers, nomadic interconnected VoIP service providers, and fixed or non-nomadic interconnected VoIP service providers.

(f) (Blank). Interconnected VoIP service providers in Illinois shall collect and remit assessments determined in accordance with this Section in a competitively neutral manner in the same manner as a telecommunications carrier providing local exchange service. Interconnected VoIP services shall not be considered an intrastate telecommunications service for the purposes of this Section in a manner inconsistent with federal law or Federal Communications Commission regulation.

(g) The provisions of this Section are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

(Source: P.A. 96-927, eff. 6-15-10.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.