Full Text of SB0107 96th General Assembly
SB0107enr 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning regulation.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | 3 |
| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The High Speed Internet Services and Information | 5 |
| Technology Act is amended by changing Sections 20 and 25 as | 6 |
| follows: | 7 |
| (20 ILCS 661/20)
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| Sec. 20. Duties of the enlisted nonprofit organization. | 9 |
| (a) The high speed Internet deployment strategy and demand | 10 |
| creation initiative to be performed by the nonprofit | 11 |
| organization shall include, but not be limited to, the | 12 |
| following actions: | 13 |
| (1) Create a geographic statewide inventory of high | 14 |
| speed Internet service and other relevant broadband and | 15 |
| information technology services. The inventory shall: | 16 |
| (A) identify geographic gaps in high speed | 17 |
| Internet service through a method of GIS mapping of | 18 |
| service availability and GIS analysis at the census | 19 |
| block level; and | 20 |
| (B) provide a baseline assessment of statewide | 21 |
| high speed Internet deployment in terms of percentage | 22 |
| of Illinois households with high speed Internet | 23 |
| availability ; and . |
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| (C) collect from Facilities-based Providers of | 2 |
| Broadband Connections to End User Locations the | 3 |
| information provided pursuant to the agreements | 4 |
| entered into with the non-profit organization as of the | 5 |
| effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th | 6 |
| General Assembly or similar information from | 7 |
| Facilities-based Providers of Broadband Connections to | 8 |
| End User Locations that do not have the agreements on | 9 |
| said date. | 10 |
| For the purposes of item (C), "Facilities-based | 11 |
| Providers of Broadband Connections to End User | 12 |
| Locations" shall have the same meaning as that term is | 13 |
| defined in Section 13-407 of the Public Utilities Act. | 14 |
| (2) Track and identify, through customer interviews | 15 |
| and surveys and other publicly available sources, | 16 |
| statewide residential and business adoption of high speed | 17 |
| Internet, computers, and related information technology | 18 |
| and any barriers to adoption. | 19 |
| (3) Build and facilitate in each county or designated | 20 |
| region a local technology planning team with members | 21 |
| representing a cross section of the community, including, | 22 |
| but not limited to, representatives of business, K-12 | 23 |
| education, health care, libraries, higher education, | 24 |
| community-based organizations, local government, tourism, | 25 |
| parks and recreation, and agriculture. Each team shall | 26 |
| benchmark technology use across relevant community |
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| sectors, set goals for improved technology use within each | 2 |
| sector, and develop a plan for achieving its goals, with | 3 |
| specific recommendations for online application | 4 |
| development and demand creation. | 5 |
| (4) Collaborate with high speed Internet providers and | 6 |
| technology companies to encourage deployment and use, | 7 |
| especially in underserved areas, by aggregating local | 8 |
| demand, mapping analysis, and creating market intelligence | 9 |
| to improve the business case for providers to deploy. | 10 |
| (5) Collaborate with the Department in developing a | 11 |
| program to increase computer ownership and broadband | 12 |
| access for disenfranchised populations across the State. | 13 |
| The program may include grants to local community | 14 |
| technology centers that provide technology training, | 15 |
| promote computer ownership, and increase broadband access. | 16 |
| (6) Collaborate with the Department and the Illinois | 17 |
| Commerce Commission regarding the collection of the | 18 |
| information required by this Section to assist in | 19 |
| monitoring and analyzing the broadband markets and the | 20 |
| status of competition and deployment of broadband services | 21 |
| to consumers in the State, including the format of | 22 |
| information requested, provided the Commission enters into | 23 |
| the proprietary and confidentiality agreements governing | 24 |
| such information. | 25 |
| (b) The nonprofit organization may apply for federal grants | 26 |
| consistent with the objectives of this Act. |
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| (c) The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity | 2 |
| shall use the funds in the High Speed Internet Services and | 3 |
| Information Technology Fund to (1) provide grants to the | 4 |
| nonprofit organization enlisted under this Act and (2) for any | 5 |
| costs incurred by the Department to administer this Act. | 6 |
| (d) The nonprofit organization shall have the power to | 7 |
| obtain or to raise funds other than the grants received from | 8 |
| the Department under this Act. | 9 |
| (e) The nonprofit organization and its Board of Directors | 10 |
| shall exist separately and independently from the Department | 11 |
| and any other governmental entity, but shall cooperate with | 12 |
| other public or private entities it deems appropriate in | 13 |
| carrying out its duties. | 14 |
| (f) Notwithstanding anything in this Act or any other Act | 15 |
| to the contrary, any information that is designated | 16 |
| confidential or proprietary by an entity providing the | 17 |
| information to the nonprofit organization or any other entity | 18 |
| to accomplish the objectives of this Act shall be deemed | 19 |
| confidential, proprietary, and a trade secret and treated by | 20 |
| the nonprofit organization or anyone else possessing the | 21 |
| information as such and shall not be disclosed. | 22 |
| (g) The nonprofit organization shall provide a report to | 23 |
| the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability on | 24 |
| an annual basis for the first 3 complete State fiscal years | 25 |
| following its enlistment.
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| (Source: P.A. 95-684, eff. 10-19-07.) |
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| (20 ILCS 661/25)
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| Sec. 25. Scope of authority. Nothing in this Act shall be | 3 |
| construed as giving the Department of Commerce and Economic | 4 |
| Opportunity, the nonprofit organization, or other entities any | 5 |
| additional authority, regulatory or otherwise, over providers | 6 |
| of telecommunications, broadband, and information technology. | 7 |
| However, the Department shall have the authority to require | 8 |
| Facilities-based Providers of Broadband Connections to End | 9 |
| User Locations to provide information pursuant to subsection | 10 |
| (c) of Section 20. Upon request, any and all information | 11 |
| collected pursuant to subsection (c) of Section 20 that is | 12 |
| provided to the enlisted nonprofit organization shall be | 13 |
| provided to the Department, provided the Department enters into | 14 |
| the proprietary and confidentiality agreements governing such | 15 |
| information.
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| (Source: P.A. 95-684, eff. 10-19-07.) | 17 |
| Section 10. The Public Utilities Act is amended by changing | 18 |
| Sections 13-101, 13-202, 13-301, 13-406, 13-407, 13-503, | 19 |
| 13-505, 13-509, 13-703, 13-704, 13-712, 13-1200, and 22-501 and | 20 |
| by adding Sections 13-234, 13-235, 13-401.1, 13-506.2, 13-804, | 21 |
| 13-900.1, and 13-900.2 as follows:
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| (220 ILCS 5/13-101) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-101)
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| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
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| Sec. 13-101.
Application of Act to telecommunications | 2 |
| rates and
services. Except to the extent modified or | 3 |
| supplemented by the
specific provisions of this Article, the | 4 |
| Sections of this Act pertaining to
public utilities, public | 5 |
| utility rates and services, and the regulation
thereof, are | 6 |
| fully and equally applicable to noncompetitive
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| telecommunications rates and services, and the regulation | 8 |
| thereof, except
where the context clearly renders such | 9 |
| provisions inapplicable. Except to
the extent modified or | 10 |
| supplemented by the specific provisions of this
Article, | 11 |
| Articles I through V, Sections 8-301, 8-305, 8-502, 8-503, | 12 |
| 8-505, 8-509, 8-509.5, 8-510,
9-221, 9-222,
9-222.1,
9-222.2, | 13 |
| 9-250, and 9-252.1, and Article Articles X and XI of this Act
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| are fully and equally applicable to
competitive | 15 |
| telecommunications rates and services, and the regulation
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| thereof except that Section 9-250 shall not apply to | 17 |
| competitive retail telecommunications services ; in addition, | 18 |
| as to competitive telecommunications rates and
services, and | 19 |
| the regulation thereof, and with the exception of competitive | 20 |
| retail telecommunications service rates and services, all | 21 |
| rules and regulations
made by a telecommunications carrier | 22 |
| affecting or pertaining to its
charges or service to the public | 23 |
| shall be just and reasonable ,
provided that nothing in this | 24 |
| Section shall be construed to prevent
a telecommunications | 25 |
| carrier from accepting payment
electronically or by the use of | 26 |
| a customer-preferred financially
accredited credit or debit |
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| methodology .
As of the effective date of this amendatory Act of | 2 |
| the 92nd General
Assembly,
Sections 4-202, 4-203,
and
5-202 of | 3 |
| this Act shall cease to apply to telecommunications rates and
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| services.
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| (Source: P.A. 92-22, eff. 6-30-01 .)
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| (220 ILCS 5/13-202) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-202)
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| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
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| Sec. 13-202.
"Telecommunications carrier" means and | 9 |
| includes every
corporation, company, association, joint stock | 10 |
| company or association,
firm, partnership or individual, their | 11 |
| lessees, trustees or receivers
appointed by any court | 12 |
| whatsoever that owns, controls, operates or manages,
within | 13 |
| this State, directly or indirectly, for public use, any plant,
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| equipment or property used or to be used for or in connection | 15 |
| with, or owns
or controls any franchise, license, permit or | 16 |
| right to engage in the
provision of, telecommunications | 17 |
| services between points within the State
which are specified by | 18 |
| the user. "Telecommunications carrier" includes an Electing | 19 |
| Provider, as defined in Section 13-506.2. Telecommunications | 20 |
| carrier does not
include, however:
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| (a) telecommunications carriers that are owned and | 22 |
| operated by any
political subdivision, public or private | 23 |
| institution of higher education or
municipal corporation of | 24 |
| this State, for their own use, or
telecommunications carriers | 25 |
| that are owned by such political subdivision,
public or private |
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| institution of higher education, or municipal corporation
and | 2 |
| operated by any of its lessees or operating agents, for their | 3 |
| own use;
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| (b) telecommunications carriers which are purely mutual | 5 |
| concerns, having
no rates or charges for services, but paying | 6 |
| the operating expenses by
assessment upon the members of such a | 7 |
| company and no other person but does
include telephone or | 8 |
| telecommunications cooperatives as defined in
Section 13-212;
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| (c) a company or person which provides telecommunications | 10 |
| services solely to
itself and its affiliates or members or | 11 |
| between points in the same building,
or between closely located | 12 |
| buildings, affiliated through substantial
common ownership, | 13 |
| control or development; or
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| (d) a company or person engaged in the delivery of | 15 |
| community antenna
television services as described in | 16 |
| subdivision (c) of Section 13-203,
except with respect to the | 17 |
| provision of telecommunications services by that
company or | 18 |
| person.
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| (Source: P.A. 87-856 .)
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| (220 ILCS 5/13-234 new) | 21 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010) | 22 |
| Sec. 13-234. Interconnected voice over Internet protocol | 23 |
| service. "Interconnected voice over Internet protocol service" | 24 |
| or "Interconnected VoIP service" has the meaning prescribed in | 25 |
| 47 CFR 9.3 as defined on the effective date of this amendatory |
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| Act of the 96th General Assembly or as amended thereafter. | 2 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-235 new) | 3 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010) | 4 |
| Sec. 13-235. Interconnected voice over Internet protocol | 5 |
| provider. "Interconnected voice over Internet protocol | 6 |
| provider" or "Interconnected VoIP provider" means and includes | 7 |
| every corporation, company, association, joint stock company | 8 |
| or association, firm, partnership, or individual, their | 9 |
| lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court | 10 |
| whatsoever that owns, controls, operates, manages, or provides | 11 |
| within this State, directly or indirectly, Interconnected | 12 |
| voice over Internet protocol service.
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| (220 ILCS 5/13-301) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-301)
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| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
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| Sec. 13-301. Duties of the Commission. | 16 |
| (1) Consistent with the findings and policy established in
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| paragraph (a) of Section 13-102 and paragraph (a) of Section | 18 |
| 13-103, and
in order to ensure the attainment of such policies, | 19 |
| the Commission shall:
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| (a) participate in all federal programs intended to | 21 |
| preserve or extend
universal telecommunications service, | 22 |
| unless such programs would place cost
burdens on Illinois | 23 |
| customers of telecommunications services in excess of
the | 24 |
| benefits they would receive through participation, |
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| provided, however,
the Commission shall not approve or | 2 |
| permit the imposition of any surcharge
or other fee | 3 |
| designed to subsidize or provide a waiver for subscriber | 4 |
| line
charges; and shall report on such programs together | 5 |
| with an assessment of
their adequacy and the advisability | 6 |
| of participating therein in its annual
report to the | 7 |
| General Assembly, or more often as necessary;
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| (b) (Blank) establish a program to monitor the level of | 9 |
| telecommunications
subscriber connection within each | 10 |
| exchange in Illinois, and shall report
the results of such | 11 |
| monitoring and any actions it has taken or recommends
be | 12 |
| taken to maintain and increase such levels in its annual | 13 |
| report to the
General Assembly, or more often if necessary ;
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| (c) order all telecommunications carriers offering or | 15 |
| providing local
exchange telecommunications service to | 16 |
| propose low-cost or budget service
tariffs and any other | 17 |
| rate design or pricing mechanisms designed to
facilitate | 18 |
| customer access to such telecommunications service, | 19 |
| provided that services offered by any telecommunications | 20 |
| carrier at the rates, terms, and conditions specified in | 21 |
| Section 13-506.2 or Section 13-518 of this Article shall | 22 |
| constitute compliance with this Section. A | 23 |
| telecommunications carrier may seek Commission approval of | 24 |
| other low-cost or budget service tariffs or rate design or | 25 |
| pricing mechanisms to comply with this Section and shall
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| after notice and hearing, implement any such proposals |
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| which it finds
likely to achieve such purpose ;
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| (d) investigate the necessity of and, if appropriate, | 3 |
| establish a universal service support fund
from which local | 4 |
| exchange telecommunications
carriers
who pursuant to the | 5 |
| Twenty-Seventh Interim Order of the Commission in Docket
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| No. 83-0142 or the orders of the Commission in Docket No. | 7 |
| 97-0621 and Docket
No.
98-0679
received funding and whose | 8 |
| economic costs of providing
services for which universal | 9 |
| service support may be made available exceed
the
affordable | 10 |
| rate established by the Commission for such services may be
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| eligible to receive
support, less any federal universal | 12 |
| service support received for the same or
similar costs
of | 13 |
| providing the supported services; provided, however, that | 14 |
| if a universal
service support
fund is established, the | 15 |
| Commission shall require that all costs of the fund be
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| recovered
from all local exchange and interexchange | 17 |
| telecommunications carriers
certificated in
Illinois on a | 18 |
| competitively neutral and nondiscriminatory basis. In
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| establishing any such
universal service support fund, the | 20 |
| Commission shall, in addition to the
determination of
costs | 21 |
| for supported services, consider and make findings | 22 |
| pursuant to subsection (2) paragraphs
(1), (2), and
(4) of | 23 |
| item (e) of this Section. Proxy cost, as determined by the
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| Commission, may be
used for this purpose. In determining | 25 |
| cost recovery for any universal service
support fund, the | 26 |
| Commission shall not permit recovery of such costs from
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| another certificated carrier for any service purchased and | 2 |
| used solely as an
input to a service provided to such | 3 |
| certificated carrier's retail customers . ; and
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| (2) (e) investigate the necessity of and, if appropriate, | 5 |
| establish a
universal
service support
fund in addition to any | 6 |
| fund that may be established pursuant to item (d)
of this
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| Section; provided, however, that if a telecommunications | 8 |
| carrier receives
universal
service support pursuant to item (d) | 9 |
| of this Section, that
telecommunications carrier
shall not | 10 |
| receive universal service support pursuant to this item.
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| Recipients of any
universal service support funding created by | 12 |
| this item shall be
"eligible"
telecommunications carriers, as | 13 |
| designated by the Commission in accordance with
47
U.S.C. | 14 |
| 214(e)(2). Eligible telecommunications carriers providing | 15 |
| local
exchange
telecommunications service
may be eligible to | 16 |
| receive support for such services, less any federal
universal | 17 |
| service support
received for the same or similar costs of | 18 |
| providing the supported services.
If a fund is established, the
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| Commission
shall require that the costs of such fund be | 20 |
| recovered from all
telecommunications
carriers, with the | 21 |
| exception of wireless carriers who are providers of two-way
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| cellular
telecommunications service and who have not been | 23 |
| designated as eligible
telecommunications carriers, on a | 24 |
| competitively neutral and non-discriminatory
basis. In
any | 25 |
| order creating a fund pursuant to paragraph (d) of subsection | 26 |
| (1) this item , the Commission, after
notice and
hearing, shall:
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| (a) (1) Define the group of services to be declared | 2 |
| "supported
telecommunications
services" that constitute | 3 |
| "universal service". This group of services shall,
at a
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| minimum, include those services as defined by the Federal | 5 |
| Communications
Commission and as from time to time amended. | 6 |
| In addition, the Commission
shall consider the range of | 7 |
| services currently offered by telecommunications
carriers | 8 |
| offering local exchange telecommunications service, the | 9 |
| existing rate
structures for the supported | 10 |
| telecommunications services, and the
telecommunications | 11 |
| needs of Illinois consumers in determining the supported
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| telecommunications services.
The Commission shall, from | 13 |
| time to time or upon request, review and, if
appropriate, | 14 |
| revise the group of Illinois supported telecommunications | 15 |
| services
and the terms of the fund to reflect changes or | 16 |
| enhancements in
telecommunications needs, technologies, | 17 |
| and available services.
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| (b) (2) Identify all implicit subsidies contained in | 19 |
| rates or charges of
incumbent local exchange
carriers, | 20 |
| including all subsidies in interexchange access charges, | 21 |
| and
determine how
such subsidies can be made explicit by
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| the creation of the fund.
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| (3) Identify the incumbent local exchange carriers' | 24 |
| economic costs of
providing the
supported | 25 |
| telecommunications services.
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| (c) (4) Establish an affordable price for the supported |
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| telecommunications
services for
the respective incumbent | 2 |
| local exchange carrier. The affordable price shall
be no | 3 |
| less than
the rates in effect at the time the Commission | 4 |
| creates a fund
pursuant to this item. The Commission may | 5 |
| establish and utilize indices
or
models for updating the | 6 |
| affordable price for supported telecommunications
| 7 |
| services.
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| (5) Identify the telecommunications carriers from whom | 9 |
| the costs of the
fund
shall be recovered and the mechanism | 10 |
| to be used to determine and establish a
competitively | 11 |
| neutral and non-discriminatory funding basis. From time to | 12 |
| time,
or upon request, the Commission shall consider | 13 |
| whether, based upon changes in
technology or other factors, | 14 |
| additional telecommunications providers should
contribute | 15 |
| to the fund. The Commission shall establish the basis upon | 16 |
| which
telecommunications carriers contributing to the fund | 17 |
| shall recover
contributions
on a competitively neutral and | 18 |
| non-discriminatory basis.
In determining cost recovery for | 19 |
| any universal support fund, the Commission
shall not permit | 20 |
| recovery of such costs from another certificated carrier | 21 |
| for
any service purchased and used solely as an input to a | 22 |
| service provided to such
certificated carriers' retail | 23 |
| customers.
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| (6) Approve a plan for the administration and operation | 25 |
| of the fund by a
neutral third party consistent with the | 26 |
| requirements of this item.
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| No fund shall be created pursuant to this item until | 2 |
| existing
implicit
subsidies,
including, but not limited to, | 3 |
| those subsidies contained in interexchange
access
charges, | 4 |
| have been identified and eliminated through revisions to rates | 5 |
| or
charges.
Prior to May 1, 2000, such revisions to rates or | 6 |
| charges to eliminate implicit
subsidies shall occur | 7 |
| contemporaneously with any funding established pursuant
to | 8 |
| this item. However, if the Commission does not establish a | 9 |
| universal
service support fund by May 1, 2000, the Commission | 10 |
| shall not be prevented from
entering an order or taking other | 11 |
| actions to reduce or eliminate existing
subsidies as well as | 12 |
| considering the effect of such reduction or elimination on
| 13 |
| local exchange carriers.
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| Any telecommunications carrier providing local exchange
| 15 |
| telecommunications service which offers to its local exchange | 16 |
| customers a
choice of two or more local exchange | 17 |
| telecommunications service offerings
shall provide, to any | 18 |
| such customer requesting it, once a year without
charge, a | 19 |
| report describing which local exchange telecommunications | 20 |
| service
offering would result in the lowest bill for such | 21 |
| customer's local exchange
service, based on such customer's | 22 |
| calling pattern and usage for the
previous 6 months. At least | 23 |
| once a year, each such carrier shall provide a
notice to each | 24 |
| of its local exchange telecommunications service customers
| 25 |
| describing the availability of this report and the specific | 26 |
| procedures by
which customers may receive it. Such report shall |
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| only be available to
current and future customers who have | 2 |
| received at least 6 months of
continuous local exchange service | 3 |
| from such carrier.
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| (Source: P.A. 91-636, eff. 8-20-99 .)
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| (220 ILCS 5/13-401.1 new) | 6 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010) | 7 |
| Sec. 13-401.1. Interconnected voice over Internet protocol | 8 |
| (VoIP) service provider registration. | 9 |
| (a) An Interconnected VoIP provider providing fixed or | 10 |
| non-nomadic service in Illinois on December 1, 2010 shall | 11 |
| register with the Commission no later than January 1, 2011. All | 12 |
| other Interconnected VoIP providers providing fixed or | 13 |
| non-nomadic service in Illinois shall register with the | 14 |
| Commission at least 30 days before providing service in | 15 |
| Illinois. The Commission shall prescribe a registration form no | 16 |
| later than October 1, 2010. The registration form prescribed by | 17 |
| the Commission shall only require the following information: | 18 |
| (1) the provider's legal name and any name under which | 19 |
| the provider does or will do business in Illinois, as | 20 |
| authorized by the Secretary of State; | 21 |
| (2) the provider's address and telephone number, along | 22 |
| with contact information for the person responsible for | 23 |
| ongoing communications with the Commission; | 24 |
| (3) a description of the provider's dispute resolution | 25 |
| process and, if any, the telephone number to initiate the |
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| dispute resolution process; and | 2 |
| (4) a description of each exchange of a local exchange | 3 |
| company, in whole or in part, or the cities, towns, or | 4 |
| geographic areas, in whole or in part, in which the | 5 |
| provider is offering or proposes to offer Interconnected | 6 |
| VoIP service. | 7 |
| A provider must notify the Commission of any change in the | 8 |
| information identified in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), or (4) of | 9 |
| this subsection (a) within 5 business days after any such | 10 |
| change. | 11 |
| (b) A provider shall charge and collect from its end-user | 12 |
| customers, and remit to the appropriate authority, fees and | 13 |
| surcharges in the same manner as are charged and collected upon | 14 |
| end-user customers of local exchange telecommunications | 15 |
| service and remitted by local exchange telecommunications | 16 |
| companies for local enhanced 9-1-1 surcharges. | 17 |
| (c) A provider may designate information that it submits in | 18 |
| its registration form or subsequent reports as confidential or | 19 |
| proprietary, provided that the provider states the reasons the | 20 |
| confidential designation is necessary. The Commission shall | 21 |
| provide adequate protection for such information pursuant to | 22 |
| Section 4-404 of this Act. If the Commission or any other party | 23 |
| seeks public disclosure of information designated as | 24 |
| confidential, the Commission shall consider the confidential | 25 |
| designation in a proceeding under the Illinois Administrative | 26 |
| Procedure Act, and the burden of proof to demonstrate that the |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 18 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| designated information is confidential shall be upon the | 2 |
| provider. Designated information shall remain confidential | 3 |
| pending the Commission's determination of whether the | 4 |
| information is entitled to confidential treatment. Information | 5 |
| designated as confidential shall be provided to local units of | 6 |
| government for purposes of assessing compliance with this | 7 |
| Article as permitted under a protective order issued by the | 8 |
| Commission pursuant to the Commission's rules and to the | 9 |
| Attorney General pursuant to Section 6.5 of the Attorney | 10 |
| General Act. Information designated as confidential under this | 11 |
| Section or determined to be confidential upon Commission review | 12 |
| shall only be disclosed pursuant to a valid and enforceable | 13 |
| subpoena or court order or as required by the Freedom of | 14 |
| Information Act. | 15 |
| (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the | 16 |
| contrary, the Commission shall have the authority, after notice | 17 |
| and hearing, to revoke or suspend the registration of any | 18 |
| provider that fails to comply with the requirements of this | 19 |
| Section. | 20 |
| (e) The provisions of this Section are severable under | 21 |
| Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.
| 22 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-406) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-406)
| 23 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
| 24 |
| Sec. 13-406. Abandonment of service. No telecommunications | 25 |
| carrier offering or providing
noncompetitive |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 19 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| telecommunications service pursuant to a valid
Certificate of | 2 |
| Service Authority or certificate of public convenience and
| 3 |
| necessity shall discontinue or abandon such service once | 4 |
| initiated until
and unless it shall demonstrate, and the | 5 |
| Commission finds, after notice and
hearing, that such | 6 |
| discontinuance or abandonment will not deprive customers
of any | 7 |
| necessary or essential telecommunications service or access | 8 |
| thereto
and is not otherwise contrary to the public interest. | 9 |
| No
telecommunications carrier offering or providing | 10 |
| competitive
telecommunications service shall completely | 11 |
| discontinue or abandon such service to an identifiable class or | 12 |
| group of customers once
initiated except upon 60 30 days notice | 13 |
| to the Commission and affected
customers. The Commission may, | 14 |
| upon its own motion or upon complaint,
investigate the proposed | 15 |
| discontinuance or abandonment of a competitive
| 16 |
| telecommunications service and may, after notice and hearing, | 17 |
| prohibit such
proposed discontinuance or abandonment if the | 18 |
| Commission finds that it
would be contrary to the public | 19 |
| interest. If the Commission does not provide notice of a | 20 |
| hearing within 60 calendar days after the notification or holds | 21 |
| a hearing and fails to find that the proposed discontinuation | 22 |
| or abandonment would be contrary to the public interest, the | 23 |
| provider may discontinue or abandon such service after | 24 |
| providing at least 30 days notice to affected customers.
| 25 |
| (Source: P.A. 84-1063 .)
|
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 20 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-407) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-407)
| 2 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
| 3 |
| Sec. 13-407. Commission study and report. The Commission | 4 |
| shall monitor
and analyze patterns of
entry and exit and | 5 |
| changes in patterns of entry
and exit for each relevant
market | 6 |
| for telecommunications services, including emerging high speed
| 7 |
| telecommunications markets and broadband services. The | 8 |
| Commission , and shall include its findings
together with | 9 |
| appropriate recommendations for legislative action in its
| 10 |
| annual report to the General Assembly. The Commission shall | 11 |
| provide an analysis of entry and exit, along with changes in | 12 |
| patterns of entry and exit, for broadband services in its | 13 |
| annual report to the General Assembly.
| 14 |
| In preparing its annual report, the Commission may obtain | 15 |
| any information on broadband services that has been collected | 16 |
| or is in the possession of the Department of Commerce and | 17 |
| Economic Opportunity pursuant to the High Speed Internet | 18 |
| Services and Information Technology Act. The Commission shall | 19 |
| coordinate with the Department of Commerce and Economic | 20 |
| Opportunity in collecting information to avoid a duplication of | 21 |
| efforts. | 22 |
| The Commission shall also monitor and analyze the status
of | 23 |
| deployment of services to consumers, and any resulting "digital | 24 |
| divisions"
between consumers, including any changes or trends | 25 |
| therein. The
Commission shall include its findings together | 26 |
| with appropriate recommendations
for legislative action in its |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 21 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| annual report to the General Assembly. In
preparing this | 2 |
| analysis the Commission shall evaluate information
provided by | 3 |
| certificated telecommunications carriers , registered | 4 |
| Interconnected VoIP providers, and Facilities-based Providers | 5 |
| of Broadband Connections to End User Locations that pertains to | 6 |
| the state of
competition in telecommunications markets | 7 |
| including, but not limited to:
| 8 |
| (1) the number and type of firms providing | 9 |
| telecommunications services and ,
including broadband | 10 |
| telecommunications services, within the State;
| 11 |
| (2) the telecommunications services offered by these | 12 |
| firms to both retail
and wholesale customers;
| 13 |
| (3) the extent to which customers and other providers | 14 |
| are purchasing the
firms' telecommunications services; and
| 15 |
| (4) the technologies or methods by which these firms | 16 |
| provide these
services, including descriptions of | 17 |
| technologies in place and under
development, and the degree | 18 |
| to which firms rely on other wholesale providers to
provide | 19 |
| service to their own customers . ; and
| 20 |
| (5) the tariffed retail and wholesale prices for | 21 |
| services provided by
these firms.
| 22 |
| The Commission shall at a minimum assess the variability in | 23 |
| this
information according to geography, examining variability | 24 |
| by exchange,
wirecenter, or zip code, and by
customer class, | 25 |
| examining, at a minimum, the variability between residential
| 26 |
| and small, medium, and large business customers. The Commission |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 22 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| shall
provide an analysis of market trends by collecting this | 2 |
| information from certificated telecommunications carriers, | 3 |
| registered Interconnected VoIP providers, and Facilities-based | 4 |
| Providers of Broadband Connections to End User Locations firms
| 5 |
| providing telecommunications services within the State. The | 6 |
| Commission shall
also collect all information, in a format | 7 |
| determined by the Commission, that
the Commission deems | 8 |
| necessary to assist in monitoring and analyzing the
| 9 |
| telecommunications markets and broadband market, along with | 10 |
| and the status of competition and deployment of
| 11 |
| telecommunications services and broadband services to | 12 |
| consumers in the State.
| 13 |
| Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, | 14 |
| certificated telecommunications carriers and registered | 15 |
| Interconnected VoIP providers shall report to the Commission | 16 |
| such information, with the exception of broadband information, | 17 |
| requested by the Commission necessary to satisfy the reporting | 18 |
| requirements of items (1) through (4) of this Section.
The | 19 |
| Commission may coordinate and work with the Department of | 20 |
| Commerce and Economic Opportunity to avoid duplication of | 21 |
| collection of information that is collected pursuant to the | 22 |
| High Speed Internet Services and Information Technology Act. | 23 |
| For the purposes of this Section: | 24 |
| "Broadband connections" include wired lines or | 25 |
| wireless channels that enable the end user to receive | 26 |
| information from or send information to the Internet at |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 23 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| information transfer rates exceeding 200 kbps in at least | 2 |
| one direction. | 3 |
| "End user" includes a residential, business, | 4 |
| institutional, or government entity who uses broadband | 5 |
| services for its own purposes and who does not resell such | 6 |
| services to other entities or incorporate such services | 7 |
| into retail Internet-access services. For purposes of this | 8 |
| Section, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) is not an end | 9 |
| user of a broadband connection. | 10 |
| "Facilities-based Provider of Broadband Connections to | 11 |
| End User Locations" means an entity that meets any of the | 12 |
| following conditions: | 13 |
| (i) It owns the portion of the physical facility | 14 |
| that terminates at the end user location. | 15 |
| (ii) It obtains unbundled network elements (UNEs), | 16 |
| special access lines, or other leased facilities that | 17 |
| terminate at the end user location and provisions or | 18 |
| equips them as broadband. | 19 |
| (iii) It provisions or equips a broadband wireless | 20 |
| channel to the end user location over licensed or | 21 |
| unlicensed spectrum. | 22 |
| "Facilities-based Provider of Broadband Connections to | 23 |
| End User Locations" does not include providers of | 24 |
| terrestrial fixed wireless services (such as Wi-Fi and | 25 |
| other wireless Ethernet, or wireless local area network, | 26 |
| applications) that only enable local distribution and |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 24 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| sharing of a premises broadband facility and does not | 2 |
| include air-to-ground services. | 3 |
| (Source: P.A. 92-22, eff. 6-30-01 .)
| 4 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-503) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-503)
| 5 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
| 6 |
| Sec. 13-503. Information available to the public. With | 7 |
| respect to rates or other charges made, demanded or
received | 8 |
| for any telecommunications service offered, provided or to be
| 9 |
| provided, whether such service is competitive or | 10 |
| noncompetitive,
telecommunications carriers shall comply with | 11 |
| the publication and filing
provisions of Sections 9-101, 9-102, | 12 |
| and 9-103. Telecommunications carriers shall make all tariffs | 13 |
| available electronically to the public without requiring a | 14 |
| password or other means of registration. A telecommunications | 15 |
| carrier's website shall, if applicable, provide in a | 16 |
| conspicuous manner information on the rates, charges, terms, | 17 |
| and conditions of service available and a toll-free telephone | 18 |
| number that may be used to contact an agent for assistance with | 19 |
| obtaining rate or other charge information or the terms and | 20 |
| conditions of service.
| 21 |
| (Source: P.A. 84-1063 .)
| 22 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-505) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-505)
| 23 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
| 24 |
| Sec. 13-505. Rate changes; competitive services. (a) Any |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 25 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| proposed increase or decrease in rates or charges, or proposed
| 2 |
| change in any
classification or tariff resulting in an increase | 3 |
| or decrease in
rates or charges, for
a competitive | 4 |
| telecommunications service shall be permitted upon the filing
| 5 |
| of the proposed rate, charge, classification, or tariff. Notice | 6 |
| Prior notice of an
increase shall be given , no later than the | 7 |
| prior billing cycle, to
all potentially affected customers by | 8 |
| mail, publication in a newspaper of
general circulation, or | 9 |
| equivalent means of notice , including electronic if the | 10 |
| customer has elected electronic billing .
| 11 |
| (b) If a hearing is held pursuant to Section 9-250 | 12 |
| regarding the
reasonableness of an increase in the rates or | 13 |
| charges of a competitive
local exchange service, then the | 14 |
| telecommunications carrier providing the
service shall have | 15 |
| the burden of proof to establish the justness and
| 16 |
| reasonableness of the proposed rate or charge.
| 17 |
| (Source: P.A. 90-185, eff. 7-23-97 .)
| 18 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-506.2 new) | 19 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010) | 20 |
| Sec. 13-506.2. Market regulation for competitive retail | 21 |
| services. | 22 |
| (a) Definitions. As used in this Section: | 23 |
| (1) "Electing Provider" means a telecommunications | 24 |
| carrier that is subject to either rate regulation pursuant | 25 |
| to Section 13-504 or Section 13-505 or alternative |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 26 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| regulation pursuant to Section 13-506.1 and that elects to | 2 |
| have the rates, terms, and conditions of its competitive | 3 |
| retail telecommunications services solely determined and | 4 |
| regulated pursuant to the terms of this Article. | 5 |
| (2) "Basic local exchange service" means either a | 6 |
| stand-alone residence network access line and per-call | 7 |
| usage or, for any geographic area in which such stand-alone | 8 |
| service is not offered, a stand-alone flat rate residence | 9 |
| network access line for which local calls are not charged | 10 |
| for frequency or duration. Extended Area Service shall be | 11 |
| included in basic local exchange service. | 12 |
| (b) Election for market regulation.
Notwithstanding any | 13 |
| other provision of this Act, an Electing Provider may elect to | 14 |
| have the rates, terms, and conditions of its competitive retail | 15 |
| telecommunications services solely determined and regulated | 16 |
| pursuant to the terms of this Section by filing written notice | 17 |
| of its election for market regulation with the Commission. The | 18 |
| notice of election shall designate the geographic area of the | 19 |
| Electing Provider's service territory where the market | 20 |
| regulation shall apply, either on a state-wide basis or in one | 21 |
| or more specified Market Service Areas ("MSA") or Exchange | 22 |
| areas. An Electing Provider shall not make an election for | 23 |
| market regulation under this Section unless it commits in its | 24 |
| written notice of election for market regulation to fulfill the | 25 |
| conditions and requirements in this Section in each geographic | 26 |
| area in which market regulation is elected. Immediately upon |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 27 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| filing the notice of election for market regulation, the | 2 |
| Electing Provider shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the | 3 |
| Commission to the extent expressly provided in this Section. | 4 |
| (c) Competitive classification. Market regulation shall | 5 |
| only be available for competitive retail telecommunications | 6 |
| services as provided in this subsection. | 7 |
| (1) For geographic areas in which telecommunications | 8 |
| services provided by the Electing Provider were classified | 9 |
| as competitive either through legislative action or a | 10 |
| tariff filing pursuant to Section 13-502 prior to January | 11 |
| 1, 2010, and that are included in the Electing Provider's | 12 |
| notice of election pursuant to subsection (b) of this | 13 |
| Section, such services, and all recurring and nonrecurring | 14 |
| charges associated with, related to or used in connection | 15 |
| with such services, shall be classified as competitive | 16 |
| without further Commission review. For services classified | 17 |
| as competitive pursuant to this subsection, the | 18 |
| requirements or conditions in any order or decision | 19 |
| rendered by the Commission pursuant to Section 13-502 prior | 20 |
| to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th | 21 |
| General Assembly, except for the commitments made by the | 22 |
| Electing Provider in such order or decision concerning the | 23 |
| optional packages required in subsection (d) of this | 24 |
| Section and basic local exchange service as defined in this | 25 |
| Section, shall no longer be in effect and no Commission | 26 |
| investigation, review, or proceeding under Section 13-502 |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 28 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| shall be continued, conducted, or maintained with respect | 2 |
| to such services, charges, requirements, or conditions. | 3 |
| (2) For those geographic areas in which residential | 4 |
| local exchange telecommunications services have not been | 5 |
| classified as competitive as of the effective date of this | 6 |
| amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, all | 7 |
| telecommunications services provided to residential and | 8 |
| business end users by an Electing Provider in the | 9 |
| geographic area that is included in its notice of election | 10 |
| pursuant to subsection (b) shall be classified as | 11 |
| competitive for purposes of this Article without further | 12 |
| Commission review. | 13 |
| (3) If an Electing Provider was previously subject to | 14 |
| alternative regulation pursuant to Section 13-506.1 of | 15 |
| this Article, the alternative regulation plan shall | 16 |
| terminate in whole for all services subject to that plan | 17 |
| and be of no force or effect, without further Commission | 18 |
| review or action, when the Electing Provider's residential | 19 |
| local exchange telecommunications service in each MSA in | 20 |
| its telecommunications service area in the State has been | 21 |
| classified as competitive pursuant to either subdivision | 22 |
| (c)(1) or (c)(2) of this Section. | 23 |
| (4) The service packages described in Section 13-518 | 24 |
| shall be classified as competitive for purposes of this | 25 |
| Section if offered by an Electing Provider in a geographic | 26 |
| area in which local exchange telecommunications service |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 29 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| has been classified as competitive pursuant to either | 2 |
| subdivision (c)(1) or (c)(2) of this Section. | 3 |
| (d) Consumer choice safe harbor options. | 4 |
| (1) An Electing Provider in each of the MSA or Exchange | 5 |
| areas classified as competitive pursuant to subdivision | 6 |
| (c)(1) or (c)(2) of this Section shall offer to all | 7 |
| residential customers who choose to subscribe the | 8 |
| following optional packages of services priced at the same | 9 |
| rate levels in effect on January 1, 2010: | 10 |
| (A) A basic package, which shall consist of a | 11 |
| stand-alone residential network access line and 30 | 12 |
| local calls. If the Electing Provider offers a | 13 |
| stand-alone residential access line and local usage on | 14 |
| a per call basis, the price for the basic package shall | 15 |
| be the Electing Provider's applicable price in effect | 16 |
| on January 1, 2010 for the sum of a residential access | 17 |
| line and 30 local calls, additional calls over 30 calls | 18 |
| shall be provided at the current per call rate. | 19 |
| However, this basic package is not required if | 20 |
| stand-alone residential network access lines or | 21 |
| per-call local usage are not offered by the Electing | 22 |
| Provider in the geographic area on January 1, 2010 or | 23 |
| if the Electing Provider has not increased its | 24 |
| stand-alone network access line and local usage rates, | 25 |
| including Extended Area Service rates, since January | 26 |
| 1, 2010. |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 30 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| (B) An extra package, which shall consist of | 2 |
| residential basic local exchange network access line | 3 |
| and unlimited local calls. The price for the extra | 4 |
| package shall be the Electing Provider's applicable | 5 |
| price in effect on January 1, 2010 for a residential | 6 |
| access line with unlimited local calls. | 7 |
| (C) A plus package, which shall consist of | 8 |
| residential basic local exchange network access line, | 9 |
| unlimited local calls, and the customer's choice of 2 | 10 |
| vertical services offered by the Electing Provider. | 11 |
| The term "vertical services" as used in this | 12 |
| subsection, includes, but is not limited to, call | 13 |
| waiting, call forwarding, 3-way calling, caller ID, | 14 |
| call tracing, automatic callback, repeat dialing, and | 15 |
| voicemail. The price for the plus package shall be the | 16 |
| Electing Provider's applicable price in effect on | 17 |
| January 1, 2010 for the sum of a residential access | 18 |
| line with unlimited local calls and 2 times the average | 19 |
| price for the vertical features included in the | 20 |
| package. | 21 |
| (2) For those geographic areas in which local exchange | 22 |
| telecommunications services were classified as competitive | 23 |
| on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th | 24 |
| General Assembly, an Electing Provider in each such MSA or | 25 |
| Exchange area shall be subject to the same terms and | 26 |
| conditions as provided in commitments made by the Electing |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 31 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| Provider in connection with such previous competitive | 2 |
| classifications, which shall apply with equal force under | 3 |
| this Section, except as follows: (i) the limits on price | 4 |
| increases on the optional packages required by this Section | 5 |
| shall be extended consistent with subsection (d)(1) of this | 6 |
| Section and (ii) the price for the extra package required | 7 |
| by subsection (d)(1)(B) shall be reduced by one dollar from | 8 |
| the price in effect on January 1, 2010. In addition, if an | 9 |
| Electing Provider obtains a competitive classification | 10 |
| pursuant to subsection (c)(1) and (c)(2), the price for the | 11 |
| optional packages shall be determined in such area in | 12 |
| compliance with subsection (d)(1), except the price for the | 13 |
| plus package required by subsection (d)(1) (C) shall be the | 14 |
| lower of the price for such area or the price of the plus | 15 |
| package in effect on January 1, 2010 for areas classified | 16 |
| as competitive pursuant to subsection (c)(1). | 17 |
| (3) To the extent that the requirements in Section | 18 |
| 13-518 applied to a telecommunications carrier prior to the | 19 |
| effective date of this Section and that telecommunications | 20 |
| carrier becomes an Electing Provider in accordance with the | 21 |
| provisions of this Section, the requirements in Section | 22 |
| 13-518 shall cease to apply to that Electing Provider in | 23 |
| those geographic areas included in the Electing Provider's | 24 |
| notice of election pursuant to subsection (b) of this | 25 |
| Section. | 26 |
| (4) An Electing Provider shall make the optional |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 32 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| packages required by this subsection and stand-alone | 2 |
| residential network access lines and local usage, where | 3 |
| offered, readily available to the public by providing | 4 |
| information, in a clear manner, to residential customers. | 5 |
| Information shall be made available on a website, and an | 6 |
| Electing Provider shall provide notification to its | 7 |
| customers every 6 months, provided that notification may | 8 |
| consist of a bill page message that provides an objective | 9 |
| description of the safe harbor options that includes a | 10 |
| telephone number and website address where the customer may | 11 |
| obtain additional information about the packages from the | 12 |
| Electing Provider. The optional packages shall be offered | 13 |
| on a monthly basis with no term of service requirement. An | 14 |
| Electing Provider shall allow online electronic ordering | 15 |
| of the optional packages and stand-alone residential | 16 |
| network access lines and local usage, where offered, on its | 17 |
| website in a manner similar to the online electronic | 18 |
| ordering of its other residential services. | 19 |
| (5) An Electing Provider shall comply with the | 20 |
| Commission's existing rules, regulations, and notices in | 21 |
| Title 83, Part 735 of the Illinois Administrative Code when | 22 |
| offering or providing the optional packages required by | 23 |
| this subsection (d) and stand-alone residential network | 24 |
| access lines. | 25 |
| (6) An Electing Provider shall provide to the | 26 |
| Commission semi-annual subscribership reports as of June |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 33 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| 30 and December 31 that contain the number of its customers | 2 |
| subscribing to each of the consumer choice safe harbor | 3 |
| packages required by subsection (d)(1) of this Section and | 4 |
| the number of its customers subscribing to retail | 5 |
| residential basic local exchange service as defined in | 6 |
| subsection (a)(2) of this Section. The first semi-annual | 7 |
| reports shall be made on April 1, 2011 for December 31, | 8 |
| 2010, and on September 1, 2011 for June 30, 2011, and | 9 |
| semi-annually on April 1 and September 1 thereafter. Such | 10 |
| subscribership information shall be accorded confidential | 11 |
| and proprietary treatment upon request by the Electing | 12 |
| Provider. | 13 |
| (7) The Commission shall have the power, after notice | 14 |
| and hearing as provided in this Article, upon complaint or | 15 |
| upon its own motion, to take corrective action if the | 16 |
| requirements of this Section are not complied with by an | 17 |
| Electing Provider. | 18 |
| (e) Service quality and customer credits for basic local | 19 |
| exchange service. | 20 |
| (1) An Electing Provider shall meet the following | 21 |
| service quality standards in providing basic local | 22 |
| exchange service, which for purposes of this subsection | 23 |
| (e), includes both basic local exchange service and the | 24 |
| consumer choice safe harbor options required by subsection | 25 |
| (d) of this Section. | 26 |
| (A) Install basic local exchange service within 5 |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 34 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| business days after receipt of an order from the | 2 |
| customer unless the customer requests an installation | 3 |
| date that is beyond 5 business days after placing the | 4 |
| order for basic service and to inform the customer of | 5 |
| the Electing Provider's duty to install service within | 6 |
| this timeframe. If installation of service is | 7 |
| requested on or by a date more than 5 business days in | 8 |
| the future, the Electing Provider shall install | 9 |
| service by the date requested. | 10 |
| (B) Restore basic local exchange service for the | 11 |
| customer within 30 hours after receiving notice that | 12 |
| the customer is out of service. | 13 |
| (C) Keep all repair and installation appointments | 14 |
| for basic local exchange service if a customer premises | 15 |
| visit requires a customer to be present. The | 16 |
| appointment window shall be either a specific time or, | 17 |
| at a maximum, a 4-hour time block during evening, | 18 |
| weekend, and normal business hours. | 19 |
| (D) Inform a customer when a repair or installation | 20 |
| appointment requires the customer to be present. | 21 |
| (2) Customers shall be credited by the Electing | 22 |
| Provider for violations of basic local exchange service | 23 |
| quality standards described in subdivision (e)(1) of this | 24 |
| Section. The credits shall be applied automatically on the | 25 |
| statement issued to the customer for the next monthly | 26 |
| billing cycle following the violation or following the |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 35 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| discovery of the violation. The next monthly billing cycle | 2 |
| following the violation or the discovery of the violation | 3 |
| means the billing cycle immediately following the billing | 4 |
| cycle in process at the time of the violation or discovery | 5 |
| of the violation, provided the total time between the | 6 |
| violation or discovery of the violation and the issuance of | 7 |
| the credit shall not exceed 60 calendar days. The Electing | 8 |
| Provider is responsible for providing the credits and the | 9 |
| customer is under no obligation to request such credits. | 10 |
| The following credits shall apply: | 11 |
| (A) If an Electing Provider fails to repair an | 12 |
| out-of-service condition for basic local exchange | 13 |
| service within 30 hours, the Electing Provider shall | 14 |
| provide a credit to the customer. If the service | 15 |
| disruption is for more than 30 hours, but not more than | 16 |
| 48 hours, the credit must be equal to a pro-rata | 17 |
| portion of the monthly recurring charges for all basic | 18 |
| local exchange services disrupted. If the service | 19 |
| disruption is for more than 48 hours, but not more than | 20 |
| 72 hours, the credit must be equal to at least 33% of | 21 |
| one month's recurring charges for all local services | 22 |
| disrupted. If the service disruption is for more than | 23 |
| 72 hours, but not more than 96 hours, the credit must | 24 |
| be equal to at least 67% of one month's recurring | 25 |
| charges for all basic local exchange services | 26 |
| disrupted. If the service disruption is for more than |
|
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|
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
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| 1 |
| 96 hours, but not more than 120 hours, the credit must | 2 |
| be equal to one month's recurring charges for all basic | 3 |
| local exchange services disrupted. For each day or | 4 |
| portion thereof that the service disruption continues | 5 |
| beyond the initial 120-hour period, the Electing | 6 |
| Provider shall also provide an additional credit of $20 | 7 |
| per calendar day. | 8 |
| (B) If an Electing Provider fails to install basic | 9 |
| local exchange service as required under subdivision | 10 |
| (e)(1) of this Section, the Electing Provider shall | 11 |
| waive 50% of any installation charges, or in the | 12 |
| absence of an installation charge or where | 13 |
| installation is pursuant to the Link Up program, the | 14 |
| Electing Provider shall provide a credit of $25. If an | 15 |
| Electing Provider fails to install service within 10 | 16 |
| business days after the service application is placed, | 17 |
| or fails to install service within 5 business days | 18 |
| after the customer's requested installation date, if | 19 |
| the requested date was more than 5 business days after | 20 |
| the date of the order, the Electing Provider shall | 21 |
| waive 100% of the installation charge, or in the | 22 |
| absence of an installation charge or where | 23 |
| installation is provided pursuant to the Link Up | 24 |
| program, the Electing Provider shall provide a credit | 25 |
| of $50. For each day that the failure to install | 26 |
| service continues beyond the initial 10 business days, |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| or beyond 5 business days after the customer's | 2 |
| requested installation date, if the requested date was | 3 |
| more than 5 business days after the date of the order, | 4 |
| the Electing Provider shall also provide an additional | 5 |
| credit of $20 per calendar day until the basic local | 6 |
| exchange service is installed. | 7 |
| (C) If an Electing Provider fails to keep a | 8 |
| scheduled repair or installation appointment when a | 9 |
| customer premises visit requires a customer to be | 10 |
| present as required under subdivision (e)(1) of this | 11 |
| Section, the Electing Provider shall credit the | 12 |
| customer $25 per missed appointment. A credit required | 13 |
| by this subdivision does not apply when the Electing | 14 |
| Provider provides the customer notice of its inability | 15 |
| to keep the appointment no later than 8:00 pm of the | 16 |
| day prior to the scheduled date of the appointment. | 17 |
| (D) Credits required by this subsection do not | 18 |
| apply if the violation of a service quality standard: | 19 |
| (i) occurs as a result of a negligent or | 20 |
| willful act on the part of the customer; | 21 |
| (ii) occurs as a result of a malfunction of | 22 |
| customer-owned telephone equipment or inside | 23 |
| wiring; | 24 |
| (iii) occurs as a result of, or is extended by, | 25 |
| an emergency situation as defined in 83 Ill. Adm. | 26 |
| Code 732.10; |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| (iv) is extended by the Electing Provider's | 2 |
| inability to gain access to the customer's | 3 |
| premises due to the customer missing an | 4 |
| appointment, provided that the violation is not | 5 |
| further extended by the Electing Provider; | 6 |
| (v) occurs as a result of a customer request to | 7 |
| change the scheduled appointment, provided that | 8 |
| the violation is not further extended by the | 9 |
| Electing Provider; | 10 |
| (vi) occurs as a result of an Electing | 11 |
| Provider's right to refuse service to a customer as | 12 |
| provided in Commission rules; or | 13 |
| (vii) occurs as a result of a lack of | 14 |
| facilities where a customer requests service at a | 15 |
| geographically remote location, where a customer | 16 |
| requests service in a geographic area where the | 17 |
| Electing Provider is not currently offering | 18 |
| service, or where there are insufficient | 19 |
| facilities to meet the customer's request for | 20 |
| service, subject to an Electing Provider's | 21 |
| obligation for reasonable facilities planning. | 22 |
| (3) Each Electing Provider shall provide to the | 23 |
| Commission on a quarterly basis and in a form suitable for | 24 |
| posting on the Commission's website in conformance with the | 25 |
| rules adopted by the Commission and in effect on April 1, | 26 |
| 2010, a public report that includes the following data for |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| basic local exchange service quality of service: | 2 |
| (A) With regard to credits due in accordance with | 3 |
| subdivision (e)(2)(A) as a result of out-of-service | 4 |
| conditions lasting more than 30 hours: | 5 |
| (i) the total dollar amount of any customer | 6 |
| credits paid; | 7 |
| (ii) the number of credits issued for repairs | 8 |
| between 30 and 48 hours; | 9 |
| (iii) the number of credits issued for repairs | 10 |
| between 49 and 72 hours; | 11 |
| (iv) the number of credits issued for repairs | 12 |
| between 73 and 96 hours; | 13 |
| (v) the number of credits used for repairs | 14 |
| between 97 and 120 hours; | 15 |
| (vi) the number of credits issued for repairs | 16 |
| greater than 120 hours; and | 17 |
| (vii) the number of exemptions claimed for | 18 |
| each of the categories identified in subdivision | 19 |
| (e)(2)(D). | 20 |
| (B) With regard to credits due in accordance with | 21 |
| subdivision (e)(2)(B) as a result of failure to install | 22 |
| basic local exchange service: | 23 |
| (i) the total dollar amount of any customer | 24 |
| credits paid; | 25 |
| (ii) the number of installations after 5 | 26 |
| business days; |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
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| 1 |
| (iii) the number of installations after 10 | 2 |
| business days; | 3 |
| (iv) the number of installations after 11 | 4 |
| business days; and | 5 |
| (v) the number of exemptions claimed for each | 6 |
| of the categories identified in subdivision | 7 |
| (e)(2)(D). | 8 |
| (C) With regard to credits due in accordance with | 9 |
| subdivision (e)(2)(C) as a result of missed | 10 |
| appointments: | 11 |
| (i) the total dollar amount of any customer | 12 |
| credits paid; | 13 |
| (ii) the number of any customers receiving | 14 |
| credits; and | 15 |
| (iii) the number of exemptions claimed for | 16 |
| each of the categories identified in subdivision | 17 |
| (e)(2)(D). | 18 |
| (D) The Electing Provider's annual report required | 19 |
| by this subsection shall also include, for | 20 |
| informational reporting, the performance data | 21 |
| described in subdivisions (e)(2)(A), (e)(2)(B), and | 22 |
| (e)(2)(C), and trouble reports per 100 access lines | 23 |
| calculated using the Commission's existing applicable | 24 |
| rules and regulations for such measures, including the | 25 |
| requirements for service standards established in this | 26 |
| Section. |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
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| 1 |
| (4) It is the intent of the General Assembly that the | 2 |
| service quality rules and customer credits in this | 3 |
| subsection (e) of this Section and other enforcement | 4 |
| mechanisms, including fines and penalties authorized by | 5 |
| Section 13-305, shall apply on a nondiscriminatory basis to | 6 |
| all Electing Providers. Accordingly, notwithstanding any | 7 |
| provision of any service quality rules promulgated by the | 8 |
| Commission, any alternative regulation plan adopted by the | 9 |
| Commission, or any other order of the Commission, any | 10 |
| Electing Provider that is subject to any other order of the | 11 |
| Commission and that violates or fails to comply with the | 12 |
| service quality standards promulgated pursuant to this | 13 |
| subsection (e) or any other order of the Commission shall | 14 |
| not be subject to any fines, penalties, customer credits, | 15 |
| or enforcement mechanisms other than such fines or | 16 |
| penalties or customer credits as may be imposed by the | 17 |
| Commission in accordance with the provisions of this | 18 |
| subsection (e) and Section 13-305, which are to be | 19 |
| generally applicable to all Electing Providers. The amount | 20 |
| of any fines or penalties imposed by the Commission for | 21 |
| failure to comply with the requirements of this subsection | 22 |
| (e) shall be an appropriate amount, taking into account, at | 23 |
| a minimum, the Electing Provider's gross annual intrastate | 24 |
| revenue; the frequency, duration, and recurrence of the | 25 |
| violation; and the relative harm caused to the affected | 26 |
| customers or other users of the network. In imposing fines |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
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| 1 |
| and penalties, the Commission shall take into account | 2 |
| compensation or credits paid by the Electing Provider to | 3 |
| its customers pursuant to this subsection (e) in | 4 |
| compensation for any violation found pursuant to this | 5 |
| subsection (e), and in any event the fine or penalty shall | 6 |
| not exceed an amount equal to the maximum amount of a civil | 7 |
| penalty that may be imposed under Section 13-305. | 8 |
| (f) Commission jurisdiction upon election for market | 9 |
| regulation. Except as otherwise expressly stated in this | 10 |
| Section, the Commission shall thereafter have no jurisdiction | 11 |
| or authority over any aspect of competitive retail | 12 |
| telecommunications service of an Electing Provider in those | 13 |
| geographic areas included in the Electing Provider's notice of | 14 |
| election pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section, heretofore | 15 |
| subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, including but | 16 |
| not limited to, any requirements of this Article related to the | 17 |
| terms, conditions, rates, quality of service, availability, | 18 |
| classification or any other aspect of any of the Electing | 19 |
| Provider's competitive retail telecommunications services. No | 20 |
| Electing Provider shall commit any unfair or deceptive act or | 21 |
| practice in connection with any aspect of the offering or | 22 |
| provision of any competitive retail telecommunications | 23 |
| service. Nothing in this Article shall limit or affect any | 24 |
| provisions in the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business | 25 |
| Practices Act with respect to any unfair or deceptive act or | 26 |
| practice by an Electing Provider. |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| (g) Commission authority over access services upon | 2 |
| election for market regulation. | 3 |
| (1) As part of its Notice of Election for Market | 4 |
| Regulation, the Electing Provider shall reduce its | 5 |
| intrastate switched access rates to rates no higher than | 6 |
| its interstate switched access rates in 4 installments. The | 7 |
| first reduction must be made 30 days after submission of | 8 |
| its complete application for Notice of Election for Market | 9 |
| Regulation, and the Electing Provider must reduce its | 10 |
| intrastate switched access rates by an amount equal to 33% | 11 |
| of the difference between its current intrastate switched | 12 |
| access rates and its current interstate switched access | 13 |
| rates. The second reduction must be made no later than one | 14 |
| year after the first reduction, and the Electing Provider | 15 |
| must reduce its then current intrastate switched access | 16 |
| rates by an amount equal to 41% of the difference between | 17 |
| its then current intrastate switched access rates and its | 18 |
| then current interstate switched access rates. The third | 19 |
| reduction must be made no later than one year after the | 20 |
| second reduction, and the Electing Provider must reduce its | 21 |
| then current intrastate switched access rates by an amount | 22 |
| equal to 50% of the difference between its then current | 23 |
| intrastate switched access rate and its then current | 24 |
| interstate switched access rates. The fourth reduction | 25 |
| must be made on or before June 30, 2013, and the Electing | 26 |
| Provider must reduce its intrastate switched access rate to |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| mirror its then current interstate switched access rates | 2 |
| and rate structure. Following the fourth reduction, each | 3 |
| Electing Provider must continue to set its intrastate | 4 |
| switched access rates to mirror its interstate switched | 5 |
| access rates and rate structure. For purposes of this | 6 |
| subsection, the rate for intrastate switched access | 7 |
| service means the composite, per-minute rate for that | 8 |
| service, including all applicable fixed and | 9 |
| traffic-sensitive charges, including, but not limited to, | 10 |
| carrier common line charges. | 11 |
| (2) Nothing in paragraph (1) of this subsection (g) | 12 |
| prohibits an Electing Provider from electing to offer | 13 |
| intrastate switched access service at rates lower than its | 14 |
| interstate switched access rates. | 15 |
| (3) The Commission shall have no authority to order an | 16 |
| Electing Provider to set its rates for intrastate switched | 17 |
| access at a level lower than its interstate switched access | 18 |
| rates. | 19 |
| (4) The Commission's authority under this subsection | 20 |
| (g) shall only apply to Electing Providers under Market | 21 |
| Regulation. The Commission's authority over switched | 22 |
| access services for all other carriers is retained under | 23 |
| Section 13-900.2 of this Act. | 24 |
| (h) Safety of service equipment and facilities. | 25 |
| (1) An Electing Provider shall furnish, provide, and | 26 |
| maintain such service instrumentalities, equipment, and |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| facilities as shall promote the safety, health, comfort, | 2 |
| and convenience of its patrons, employees, and public and | 3 |
| as shall be in all respects adequate, reliable, and | 4 |
| efficient without discrimination or delay. Every Electing | 5 |
| Provider shall provide service and facilities that are in | 6 |
| all respects environmentally safe. | 7 |
| (2) The Commission is authorized to conduct an | 8 |
| investigation of any Electing Provider or part thereof. The | 9 |
| investigation may examine the reasonableness, prudence, or | 10 |
| efficiency of any aspect of the Electing Provider's | 11 |
| operations or functions that may affect the adequacy, | 12 |
| safety, efficiency, or reliability of telecommunications | 13 |
| service. The Commission may conduct or order an | 14 |
| investigation only when it has reasonable grounds to | 15 |
| believe that the investigation is necessary to assure that | 16 |
| the Electing Provider is providing adequate, efficient, | 17 |
| reliable, and safe service. The Commission shall, before | 18 |
| initiating any such investigation, issue an order | 19 |
| describing the grounds for the investigation and the | 20 |
| appropriate scope and nature of the investigation, which | 21 |
| shall be reasonably related to the grounds relied upon by | 22 |
| the Commission in its order. | 23 |
| (i) Tariffs. No Electing Provider shall offer or provide | 24 |
| telecommunications service unless and until a tariff is filed | 25 |
| with the Commission that describes the nature of the service, | 26 |
| applicable rates and other charges, terms, and conditions of |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
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| 1 |
| service and the exchange, exchanges, or other geographical area | 2 |
| or areas in which the service shall be offered or provided. The | 3 |
| Commission may prescribe the form of such tariff and any | 4 |
| additional data or information that shall be included in the | 5 |
| form. Revenue from retail competitive services received from an | 6 |
| Electing Provider pursuant to such tariffs shall be gross | 7 |
| revenue for purposes of Section 2-202 of this Act. | 8 |
| (j) Application of Article VII. The provisions of Sections | 9 |
| 7-101, 7-102, 7-103, 7-104, 7-204, 7-205, and 7-206 of this Act | 10 |
| are applicable to an Electing Provider offering or providing | 11 |
| retail telecommunications service, and the Commission's | 12 |
| regulation thereof, except that (1) the approval of contracts | 13 |
| and arrangements with affiliated interests required by | 14 |
| paragraph (3) of Section 7-101 shall not apply to such | 15 |
| telecommunications carriers provided that, except as provided | 16 |
| in item (2), those contracts and arrangements shall be filed | 17 |
| with the Commission; (2) affiliated interest contracts or | 18 |
| arrangements entered into by such telecommunications carriers | 19 |
| where the increased obligation thereunder does not exceed the | 20 |
| lesser of $5,000,000 or 5% of such carrier's prior annual | 21 |
| revenue from noncompetitive services are not required to be | 22 |
| filed with the Commission; and (3) any consent and approval of | 23 |
| the Commission required by Section 7-102 is not required for | 24 |
| the sale, lease, assignment, or transfer by any Electing | 25 |
| Provider of any real property that is not necessary or useful | 26 |
| in the performance of its duties to the public. |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| (k) Notwithstanding other provisions of this Section, the | 2 |
| Commission retains its existing authority to enforce the | 3 |
| provisions, conditions, and requirements of the following | 4 |
| Sections of this Article: 13-101, 13-103, 13-201, 13-301, | 5 |
| 13-301.1, 13-301.2, 13-301.3, 13-303, 13-303.5, 13-304, | 6 |
| 13-305, 13-401, 13-401.1, 13-402, 13-403, 13-404, 13-404.1, | 7 |
| 13-404.2, 13-405, 13-406, 13-501.5, 13-505, 13-509, 13-510, | 8 |
| 13-512, 13-513, 13-514, 13-515, 13-516, 13-519, 13-702, | 9 |
| 13-703, 13-704, 13-705, 13-706, 13-707, 13-709, 13-713, | 10 |
| 13-801, 13-804, 13-900, 13-900.1, 13-900.2, 13-901, 13-902, | 11 |
| and 13-903, which are fully and equally applicable to Electing | 12 |
| Providers subject to the provisions of this Section. On the | 13 |
| effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General | 14 |
| Assembly, the following Sections of this Article shall cease to | 15 |
| apply to Electing Providers: 13-302, 13-405.1, 13-501, 13-502, | 16 |
| 13-502.5, 13-503, 13-504, 13-505.2, 13-505.3, 13-505.4, | 17 |
| 13-505.5, 13-505.6, 13-506.1, 13-507, 13-507.1, 13-508, | 18 |
| 13-508.1, 13-517, 13-518, 13-601, 13-701, and 13-712.
| 19 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-509) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-509)
| 20 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
| 21 |
| Sec. 13-509.
Agreements for provisions of competitive | 22 |
| telecommunications
services differing from tariffs. A | 23 |
| telecommunications carrier may negotiate
with customers or
| 24 |
| prospective customers to provide competitive | 25 |
| telecommunications service, and in
so
doing, may offer or agree |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| to provide such service on such terms and for
such rates or | 2 |
| charges as are reasonable, without regard to any
tariffs
it may | 3 |
| have filed with the Commission with respect to
such services. | 4 |
| Upon request of the Commission Within 30 days after executing | 5 |
| any such agreement ,
the telecommunications carrier shall | 6 |
| submit to the Commission written
notice of a list of any such | 7 |
| agreements (which list may be filed
electronically) within the | 8 |
| past year . The notice shall identify the general nature
of all | 9 |
| such agreements , the parties to each agreement, and a general
| 10 |
| description of
differences between each agreement and the | 11 |
| related tariff . A copy of each such
agreement and any cost | 12 |
| support required to be filed with the agreement by some
other | 13 |
| Section of this Act shall be provided to the Commission
within | 14 |
| 10 business days after a request for review of the agreement is | 15 |
| made by
the Commission or is made to the Commission
by another | 16 |
| telecommunications carrier or by a party to such agreement .
| 17 |
| Upon submitting notice to the Commission of any such agreement, | 18 |
| the
telecommunications carrier shall thereafter provide | 19 |
| service according to the
terms thereof, unless the Commission | 20 |
| finds, after notice and hearing, that
the continued provision | 21 |
| of service pursuant to such agreement
would substantially and | 22 |
| adversely affect the financial integrity of the
| 23 |
| telecommunications carrier or would violate any other
| 24 |
| provision of this Act.
| 25 |
| Any agreement or notice entered into or submitted pursuant | 26 |
| to the
provisions of this Section may, in the Commission's |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| discretion, be accorded
proprietary treatment.
| 2 |
| (Source: P.A. 92-22, eff. 6-30-01; 93-245, eff. 7-22-03 .)
| 3 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-703) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-703)
| 4 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
| 5 |
| Sec. 13-703.
(a) The Commission shall design and implement | 6 |
| a program
whereby each telecommunications carrier providing | 7 |
| local exchange service
shall provide a telecommunications | 8 |
| device capable of servicing the needs of
those persons with a | 9 |
| hearing or speech disability together with a
single party line, | 10 |
| at no charge additional to the basic exchange rate, to
any | 11 |
| subscriber who is certified as having a hearing or speech | 12 |
| disability by a
licensed physician, speech-language | 13 |
| pathologist, audiologist or a qualified
State agency and to any | 14 |
| subscriber which is an organization serving the needs
of those | 15 |
| persons with a hearing or speech disability as determined and
| 16 |
| specified by the Commission pursuant to subsection (d).
| 17 |
| (b) The Commission shall design and implement a program, | 18 |
| whereby each
telecommunications carrier providing local | 19 |
| exchange service shall provide a
telecommunications relay | 20 |
| system, using third party intervention to connect
those persons | 21 |
| having a hearing or speech disability with persons of normal
| 22 |
| hearing by way of intercommunications devices and the telephone | 23 |
| system, making
available reasonable access to all phases of | 24 |
| public telephone service to
persons who have a hearing or | 25 |
| speech disability. In order to design a
telecommunications |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| relay system which will meet the requirements of those
persons | 2 |
| with a hearing or speech disability available at a reasonable | 3 |
| cost, the
Commission shall initiate an investigation and | 4 |
| conduct public hearings to
determine the most cost-effective | 5 |
| method of providing telecommunications relay
service to those | 6 |
| persons who have a hearing or speech disability when using
| 7 |
| telecommunications devices and therein solicit the advice, | 8 |
| counsel, and
physical assistance of Statewide nonprofit | 9 |
| consumer organizations that serve
persons with hearing or | 10 |
| speech disabilities in such hearings and during the
development | 11 |
| and implementation of the system. The Commission shall phase
in | 12 |
| this program, on a geographical basis, as soon as is | 13 |
| practicable, but
no later than June 30, 1990.
| 14 |
| (c) The Commission shall establish a rate recovery | 15 |
| mechanism,
authorizing charges in an amount to be determined by | 16 |
| the Commission
for each line of a subscriber to allow | 17 |
| telecommunications carriers
providing local exchange service | 18 |
| to recover costs as they are incurred
under this Section.
| 19 |
| (d) The Commission shall determine and specify those | 20 |
| organizations serving
the needs of those persons having a | 21 |
| hearing or speech disability that shall
receive a | 22 |
| telecommunications device and in which offices the equipment | 23 |
| shall be
installed in the case of an organization having more | 24 |
| than one office. For the
purposes of this Section, | 25 |
| "organizations serving the needs of those persons
with hearing | 26 |
| or speech disabilities" means centers for independent living as
|
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| described in Section 12a of the Disabled Persons Rehabilitation | 2 |
| Act and
not-for-profit organizations whose primary purpose is | 3 |
| serving the needs of
those persons with hearing or speech | 4 |
| disabilities. The Commission shall direct
the | 5 |
| telecommunications carriers subject to its jurisdiction and | 6 |
| this
Section to comply with its determinations and | 7 |
| specifications in this regard.
| 8 |
| (e) As used in this Section, the phrase "telecommunications | 9 |
| carrier
providing local exchange service" includes, without | 10 |
| otherwise limiting the
meaning of the term, telecommunications | 11 |
| carriers which are purely mutual
concerns, having no rates or | 12 |
| charges for services, but paying the operating
expenses by | 13 |
| assessment upon the members of such a company and no other
| 14 |
| person.
| 15 |
| (f) Interconnected VoIP service providers in Illinois | 16 |
| shall collect and remit assessments determined in accordance | 17 |
| with this Section in a competitively neutral manner in the same | 18 |
| manner as a telecommunications carrier providing local | 19 |
| exchange service. Interconnected VoIP services shall not be | 20 |
| considered an intrastate telecommunications service for the | 21 |
| purposes of this Section in a manner inconsistent with federal | 22 |
| law or Federal Communications Commission regulation. | 23 |
| (g) The provisions of this Section are severable under | 24 |
| Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes. | 25 |
| (Source: P.A. 88-497 .)
|
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-704) (from Ch. 111 2/3, par. 13-704)
| 2 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
| 3 |
| Sec. 13-704.
Each page of a billing statement which sets | 4 |
| forth charges
assessed against a customer by a | 5 |
| telecommunications carrier for
telecommunications service | 6 |
| shall reflect the telephone number or customer
account number | 7 |
| to which the charges are being billed. If a telecommunications | 8 |
| carrier offers electronic billing, customers may elect to have | 9 |
| their bills sent electronically. Such bills shall be | 10 |
| transmitted with instructions for payment. Information sent | 11 |
| electronically shall be deemed to satisfy any requirement in | 12 |
| this Section that such information be printed or written on a | 13 |
| customer bill. Bills may be paid electronically or by the use | 14 |
| of a customer-preferred financially accredited credit or debit | 15 |
| methodology. The billing statement
shall also contain a | 16 |
| separate bill identifying the amount charged as an
| 17 |
| infrastructure maintenance fee.
| 18 |
| (Source: P.A. 90-154, eff. 1-1-98 .)
| 19 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-712)
| 20 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010)
| 21 |
| Sec. 13-712. Basic local exchange service quality; | 22 |
| customer credits.
| 23 |
| (a) It is the intent of the General Assembly that every | 24 |
| telecommunications
carrier meet
minimum service quality | 25 |
| standards in providing basic local exchange service on
a |
|
|
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| non-discriminatory basis to all classes of customers.
| 2 |
| (b) Definitions:
| 3 |
| (1) (Blank) "Alternative telephone service" means, | 4 |
| except where technically
impracticable, a
wireless | 5 |
| telephone capable of making local calls, and may also | 6 |
| include, but is
not
limited to, call forwarding, voice | 7 |
| mail, or paging services .
| 8 |
| (2) "Basic local exchange service" means residential | 9 |
| and business lines
used
for local
exchange | 10 |
| telecommunications service as defined in Section 13-204 of | 11 |
| this Act,
excluding:
| 12 |
| (A) services that employ advanced | 13 |
| telecommunications capability as
defined
in Section | 14 |
| 706(c)(1) of the federal Telecommunications Act of | 15 |
| 1996;
| 16 |
| (B) vertical services;
| 17 |
| (C) company official lines; and
| 18 |
| (D) records work only.
| 19 |
| (3) "Link Up" refers to the Link Up Assistance program | 20 |
| defined and
established
at 47
C.F.R. Section 54.411 et seq. | 21 |
| as amended.
| 22 |
| (c) The Commission shall promulgate service quality rules
| 23 |
| for basic local exchange service, which may include fines, | 24 |
| penalties, customer
credits, and other enforcement mechanisms. | 25 |
| In developing such service quality
rules, the Commission shall | 26 |
| consider, at a minimum, the carrier's gross annual
intrastate |
|
|
|
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| revenue; the frequency, duration, and recurrence of the | 2 |
| violation;
and the relative harm caused to the affected | 3 |
| customer or other users of the
network. In imposing fines, the | 4 |
| Commission shall take into account
compensation or credits paid | 5 |
| by the telecommunications carrier to its customers
pursuant to | 6 |
| this Section in compensation for the violation found pursuant | 7 |
| to
this Section. These rules shall become effective within one | 8 |
| year after the
effective date of this amendatory Act of the | 9 |
| 92nd General Assembly.
| 10 |
| (d) The rules shall, at a minimum, require each | 11 |
| telecommunications carrier
to do all of the following:
| 12 |
| (1) Install basic local exchange service within 5 | 13 |
| business days after
receipt
of an
order from the customer | 14 |
| unless the customer requests an installation date that
is
| 15 |
| beyond 5 business days after placing the order for basic | 16 |
| service and to inform
the customer of its duty to install | 17 |
| service within this timeframe. If
installation
of
service | 18 |
| is requested on or by a date more than 5 business days in | 19 |
| the future,
the
telecommunications carrier shall install | 20 |
| service by the date requested. A
telecommunications | 21 |
| carrier offering basic local exchange service utilizing | 22 |
| the
network or network elements of another carrier shall | 23 |
| install new lines for
basic local exchange service within 3 | 24 |
| business days after provisioning of the
line or lines by | 25 |
| the carrier whose network or network elements are being
| 26 |
| utilized is complete. This
subdivision (d)(1) does not |
|
|
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| apply to the migration of a customer between
| 2 |
| telecommunications carriers, so long as the customer | 3 |
| maintains dial tone.
| 4 |
| (2) Restore basic local exchange service for a customer | 5 |
| within 30 24 hours of
receiving
notice that a customer is | 6 |
| out of service. This provision applies to service
| 7 |
| disruptions that occur when a customer switches existing | 8 |
| basic local exchange
service from one carrier to another.
| 9 |
| (3) Keep all repair and installation appointments for | 10 |
| basic local exchange
service,
when a customer premises | 11 |
| visit requires a customer to be present.
| 12 |
| (4) Inform a customer when a repair or installation | 13 |
| appointment requires
the customer to be present.
| 14 |
| (e) The rules shall include provisions for customers to be
| 15 |
| credited by the
telecommunications carrier for violations of | 16 |
| basic local exchange service
quality
standards as described in | 17 |
| subsection (d).
The credits shall be applied on the statement | 18 |
| issued to the
customer for the next monthly billing cycle | 19 |
| following the violation or
following the discovery of the | 20 |
| violation.
The performance levels established in subsection | 21 |
| (c) are solely for the
purposes
of consumer credits and shall | 22 |
| not be used as performance levels for the
purposes of
assessing | 23 |
| penalties under Section 13-305.
At a minimum, the rules shall
| 24 |
| include the following:
| 25 |
| (1) If a carrier fails to repair an out-of-service | 26 |
| condition for basic
local
exchange service within 30 24 |
|
|
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| hours, the carrier shall provide a credit to
the customer. | 2 |
| If the service disruption is for over 30 hours but less | 3 |
| than 48 hours or less , the
credit must be equal to a | 4 |
| pro-rata portion of the monthly recurring charges for
all
| 5 |
| local services disrupted. If the service disruption is for | 6 |
| more than 48
hours, but not more than 72 hours, the credit | 7 |
| must be equal to at least
33% of one month's recurring | 8 |
| charges for all local services disrupted. If the
service | 9 |
| disruption is for more than 72 hours, but not more than 96
| 10 |
| hours, the credit must be equal to at least 67% of one | 11 |
| month's
recurring charges for all local services | 12 |
| disrupted. If the service disruption
is for
more than 96 | 13 |
| hours, but not more than 120 hours, the credit must be | 14 |
| equal to
one month's recurring charges for all
local
| 15 |
| services disrupted. For each day or portion thereof that | 16 |
| the service
disruption continues beyond
the initial | 17 |
| 120-hour period, the carrier shall also provide either | 18 |
| alternative
telephone service or
an additional credit of | 19 |
| $20 per day , at the customers option .
| 20 |
| (2) If a carrier fails to install basic local exchange | 21 |
| service as required
under subdivision (d)(1),
the carrier | 22 |
| shall waive 50% of
any installation charges, or in the | 23 |
| absence of an installation charge or where
installation is | 24 |
| pursuant to the Link Up
program, the carrier shall provide | 25 |
| a credit of $25. If a carrier fails to
install service | 26 |
| within 10 business days after the service application is
|
|
|
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| placed, or fails to install service within 5 business days | 2 |
| after the customer's
requested installation date, if the | 3 |
| requested date was more than 5 business
days after the date | 4 |
| of the order, the carrier shall waive 100% of the
| 5 |
| installation charge, or in the absence of an installation | 6 |
| charge or where
installation is provided pursuant to the | 7 |
| Link Up program, the carrier shall
provide a credit of $50. | 8 |
| For each day that the failure to install service
continues | 9 |
| beyond the initial 10 business days, or beyond 5 business | 10 |
| days after
the customer's requested installation date, if | 11 |
| the requested date was more than
5 business days after the | 12 |
| date of the order, the
carrier shall also provide either | 13 |
| alternative telephone service or an
additional credit of | 14 |
| $20 per day , at the customer's option until service is
| 15 |
| installed.
| 16 |
| (3) If a carrier fails to keep a scheduled repair or | 17 |
| installation
appointment when a customer premises visit | 18 |
| requires a customer to be present,
the carrier shall credit | 19 |
| the customer $25 $50 per missed appointment.
A credit | 20 |
| required by this subsection does not apply when the carrier | 21 |
| provides
the customer with 24-hour notice of its inability | 22 |
| to keep the appointment no later than 8 p.m. of the day | 23 |
| prior to the scheduled date of the appointment .
| 24 |
| (4) If the violation of a basic local exchange service | 25 |
| quality standard is
caused by a carrier other than the | 26 |
| carrier providing retail
service to the customer, the
|
|
|
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| carrier providing retail service to the customer shall | 2 |
| credit the customer as
provided
in this Section. The | 3 |
| carrier causing the violation shall
reimburse the carrier | 4 |
| providing retail service the amount credited the
customer.
| 5 |
| When applicable, an interconnection agreement shall govern | 6 |
| compensation between
the carrier causing the violation, in | 7 |
| whole or in part, and the retail carrier
providing the | 8 |
| credit to the customer.
| 9 |
| (5) (Blank) When alternative telephone service is | 10 |
| appropriate, the customer may
select one of the alternative | 11 |
| telephone services offered by the carrier. The
alternative | 12 |
| telephone service shall be provided at no
cost to the | 13 |
| customer for the provision of local service .
| 14 |
| (6) Credits required by this subsection do not apply if | 15 |
| the violation of a
service
quality standard:
| 16 |
| (i) occurs as a result of a negligent or willful | 17 |
| act on the part of the
customer;
| 18 |
| (ii) occurs as a result of a malfunction of | 19 |
| customer-owned telephone
equipment or inside wiring;
| 20 |
| (iii) occurs as a result of, or is extended by, an | 21 |
| emergency situation
as defined in
Commission rules;
| 22 |
| (iv) is extended by the carrier's inability to gain | 23 |
| access to the
customer's
premises due to the customer | 24 |
| missing an appointment, provided that the
violation is | 25 |
| not further extended by the carrier;
| 26 |
| (v) occurs as a result of a customer request to |
|
|
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| change the scheduled
appointment, provided
that the | 2 |
| violation is not further extended by the carrier;
| 3 |
| (vi) occurs as a result of a carrier's right to | 4 |
| refuse service to a
customer as provided in Commission | 5 |
| rules; or
| 6 |
| (vii) occurs as a result of a lack of facilities | 7 |
| where a customer
requests service at a geographically
| 8 |
| remote location, a customer requests service in a | 9 |
| geographic area where the
carrier is not currently | 10 |
| offering service, or there are insufficient facilities
| 11 |
| to meet the customer's request for service, subject to | 12 |
| a carrier's obligation
for reasonable facilities | 13 |
| planning.
| 14 |
| (7) The provisions of this subsection are cumulative | 15 |
| and shall not in any
way
diminish or replace other civil or | 16 |
| administrative remedies available to a
customer
or a class | 17 |
| of customers.
| 18 |
| (f) The rules shall require each telecommunications | 19 |
| carrier to provide to
the Commission, on
a quarterly basis and | 20 |
| in a form suitable for posting on the Commission's
website, a | 21 |
| public
report that includes performance data for basic local | 22 |
| exchange service quality
of service.
The performance data shall | 23 |
| be disaggregated for each geographic area and each
customer | 24 |
| class of the
State for
which the telecommunications carrier | 25 |
| internally monitored performance data as
of a date
120 days | 26 |
| preceding the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd
|
|
|
|
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| General Assembly. The report shall
include, at
a minimum, | 2 |
| performance data on basic local exchange service | 3 |
| installations,
lines out of
service for more than 30 24 hours, | 4 |
| carrier response to customer calls, trouble
reports, and
missed | 5 |
| repair and installation commitments.
| 6 |
| (g) The Commission shall establish and implement carrier to | 7 |
| carrier
wholesale service
quality rules and establish remedies | 8 |
| to ensure enforcement of the rules.
| 9 |
| (Source: P.A. 92-22, eff. 6-30-01 .)
| 10 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-804 new) | 11 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010) | 12 |
| Sec. 13-804. Broadband investment. Increased investment | 13 |
| into broadband infrastructure is critical to the economic | 14 |
| development of this State and a key component to the retention | 15 |
| of existing jobs and the creation of new jobs. The removal of | 16 |
| regulatory uncertainty will attract greater private-sector | 17 |
| investment in broadband infrastructure. Notwithstanding other | 18 |
| provisions of this Article: | 19 |
| (A) the Commission shall have the authority to certify | 20 |
| providers of wireless services, including, but not limited | 21 |
| to, private radio service, public mobile service, or | 22 |
| commercial mobile service, as those terms are defined in 47 | 23 |
| U.S.C. 332 on the effective date of this amendatory Act of | 24 |
| the 96th General Assembly or as amended thereafter, to | 25 |
| provide telecommunications services in Illinois; |
|
|
|
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| (B) the Commission shall have the authority to certify | 2 |
| providers of wireless services, including, but not limited | 3 |
| to, private radio service, public mobile service, or | 4 |
| commercial mobile service, as those terms are defined in 47 | 5 |
| U.S.C. 332 on the effective date of this amendatory Act of | 6 |
| the 96th General Assembly or as amended thereafter, as | 7 |
| eligible telecommunications carriers in Illinois, as that | 8 |
| term has the meaning prescribed in 47 U.S.C. 214 on the | 9 |
| effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General | 10 |
| Assembly or as amended thereafter; | 11 |
| (C) the Commission shall have the authority to register | 12 |
| providers of fixed or non-nomadic Interconnected VoIP | 13 |
| service as Interconnected VoIP service providers in | 14 |
| Illinois in accordance with Section 401.1 of this Article; | 15 |
| (D) the Commission shall have the authority to require | 16 |
| providers of Interconnected VoIP service to participate in | 17 |
| hearing and speech disability programs; and | 18 |
| (E) the Commission shall have the authority to access | 19 |
| information provided to the non-profit organization under | 20 |
| Section 20 of the High Speed Internet Services and | 21 |
| Information Technology Act, provided the Commission enters | 22 |
| into a proprietary and confidentiality agreement governing | 23 |
| such information. | 24 |
| Except to the extent expressly permitted by and consistent | 25 |
| with federal law, the regulations of the Federal Communications | 26 |
| Commission, this Article, Article XXI or XXII of this Act, or |
|
|
|
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| 1 |
| this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, the | 2 |
| Commission shall not regulate the rates, terms, conditions, | 3 |
| quality of service, availability, classification, or any other | 4 |
| aspect of service regarding (i) broadband services, (ii) | 5 |
| Interconnected VoIP services, (iii) information services, as | 6 |
| defined in 47 U.S.C. 153(20) on the effective date of this | 7 |
| amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly or as amended | 8 |
| thereafter, or (iv) wireless services, including, but not | 9 |
| limited to, private radio service, public mobile service, or | 10 |
| commercial mobile service, as those terms are defined in 47 | 11 |
| U.S.C. 332 on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the | 12 |
| 96th General Assembly or as amended thereafter. | 13 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-900.1 new) | 14 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010) | 15 |
| Sec. 13-900.1. Authority over 9-1-1 rates and terms of | 16 |
| service. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article, | 17 |
| the Commission retains its full authority over the rates and | 18 |
| service quality as they apply to 9-1-1 system providers, | 19 |
| including the Commission's existing authority over | 20 |
| interconnection with 9-1-1 system providers and 9-1-1 systems. | 21 |
| The rates, terms, and conditions for 9-1-1 service shall be | 22 |
| tariffed and shall be provided in the manner prescribed by this | 23 |
| Act and shall be subject to the applicable laws, including | 24 |
| rules or regulations adopted and orders issued by the | 25 |
| Commission or the Federal Communications Commission. The |
|
|
|
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| 1 |
| Commission retains this full authority regardless of the | 2 |
| technologies utilized or deployed by 9-1-1 system providers. | 3 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-900.2 new) | 4 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010) | 5 |
| Sec. 13-900.2. Access services. | 6 |
| (a) This Section shall apply to switched access rates | 7 |
| charged by all carriers other than Electing Providers whose | 8 |
| switched access rates are governed by subsection (g) of Section | 9 |
| 13-506.2 of this Act. | 10 |
| (b) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) of this | 11 |
| Section, the rates of any telecommunications carrier, | 12 |
| including, but not limited to, competitive local exchange | 13 |
| carriers, providing intrastate switched access service shall | 14 |
| be reduced to rates no higher than the carrier's rates for | 15 |
| interstate switched access service as follows: | 16 |
| (1) by January 1, 2011, each telecommunications | 17 |
| carrier must reduce its intrastate switched access rates by | 18 |
| an amount equal to 50% of the difference between its then | 19 |
| current intrastate switched access rates and its then | 20 |
| current interstate switched access rates; | 21 |
| (2) by January 1, 2012, each telecommunications | 22 |
| carrier must further reduce its intrastate switched access | 23 |
| rates by an amount equal to 50% of the difference between | 24 |
| its then current intrastate switched access rates and its | 25 |
| then current interstate switched access rates; |
|
|
|
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| 1 |
| (3) by July 1, 2012, each telecommunications carrier | 2 |
| must reduce its intrastate switched access rates to mirror | 3 |
| its then current interstate switched access rates and rate | 4 |
| structure. | 5 |
| Following 24 months after the effective date of this | 6 |
| amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, each | 7 |
| telecommunications carrier must continue to set its intrastate | 8 |
| switched access rates to mirror its interstate switched access | 9 |
| rates and rate structure. For purposes of this Section, the | 10 |
| rate for intrastate switched access service means the | 11 |
| composite, per-minute rate for that service, including all | 12 |
| applicable fixed and traffic-sensitive charges, including, but | 13 |
| not limited to, carrier common line charges. | 14 |
| (c) Subsection (b) of this Section shall not apply to | 15 |
| incumbent local exchange carriers serving 35,000 or fewer | 16 |
| access lines. | 17 |
| (d) Nothing in subsection (b) of this Section prohibits a | 18 |
| telecommunications carrier from electing to offer intrastate | 19 |
| switched access service at rates lower than its interstate | 20 |
| rates. | 21 |
| (e) The Commission shall have no authority to order a | 22 |
| telecommunications carrier to set its rates for intrastate | 23 |
| switched access at a level lower than its interstate switched | 24 |
| access rates. | 25 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-1200) |
|
|
|
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| 1 |
| (Section scheduled to be repealed on July 1, 2010) | 2 |
| Sec. 13-1200. Repealer. This Article is repealed July 1, | 3 |
| 2013 2010 . | 4 |
| (Source: P.A. 95-9, eff. 6-30-07; 96-24, eff. 6-30-09.) | 5 |
| (220 ILCS 5/22-501) | 6 |
| Sec. 22-501. Customer service and privacy protection. All | 7 |
| cable or video providers in this State shall comply with the | 8 |
| following customer service requirements and privacy | 9 |
| protections. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to an | 10 |
| incumbent cable operator prior to January 1, 2008. For purposes | 11 |
| of this paragraph, an incumbent cable operator means a person | 12 |
| or entity that provided cable services in a particular area | 13 |
| under a franchise agreement with a local unit of government | 14 |
| pursuant to Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois
Municipal Code or | 15 |
| Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code on January 1, 2007.
A | 16 |
| master antenna television, satellite master antenna | 17 |
| television, direct broadcast satellite, multipoint | 18 |
| distribution service, and other provider of video programming | 19 |
| shall only be subject to the provisions of this Article to the | 20 |
| extent permitted by federal law. | 21 |
| The following definitions apply to the terms used in this | 22 |
| Article: | 23 |
| "Basic cable or video service" means any service offering | 24 |
| or tier that
includes the retransmission of local television | 25 |
| broadcast signals. |
|
|
|
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| 1 |
| "Cable or video provider" means any person or entity | 2 |
| providing cable service or video service pursuant to | 3 |
| authorization under (i) the Cable and Video Competition Law of | 4 |
| 2007; (ii) Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code; | 5 |
| (iii) Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code; or (iv) a master | 6 |
| antenna television, satellite master antenna television, | 7 |
| direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services, | 8 |
| and other providers of video programming, whatever their | 9 |
| technology. A cable or video provider shall not include a | 10 |
| landlord providing only broadcast video programming to a | 11 |
| single-family home or other residential dwelling consisting of | 12 |
| 4
units or less. | 13 |
| "Franchise" has the same meaning as found in 47 U.S.C. | 14 |
| 522(9). | 15 |
| "Local unit of government" means a city, village, | 16 |
| incorporated town, or a county. | 17 |
| "Normal business hours" means those hours during which most | 18 |
| similar businesses in the geographic area of the local unit of | 19 |
| government are open to serve customers. In all cases, "normal | 20 |
| business hours" must include some evening hours at least one | 21 |
| night per week or some weekend hours. | 22 |
| "Normal operating conditions" means those service | 23 |
| conditions that are within the control of cable or video | 24 |
| providers. Those conditions that are not within the control of | 25 |
| cable or video providers include, but are not limited to, | 26 |
| natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, |
|
|
|
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| 1 |
| telephone network outages, and severe or unusual weather | 2 |
| conditions. Those conditions that are ordinarily within the | 3 |
| control of cable or video providers include, but are not | 4 |
| limited to, special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate | 5 |
| increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and | 6 |
| maintenance or upgrade of the cable service or video service | 7 |
| network. | 8 |
| "Service interruption" means the loss of picture or sound | 9 |
| on one or more cable service or video service on one or more | 10 |
| cable or video channels. | 11 |
| "Service line drop" means the point of connection between a | 12 |
| premises and the cable or video network that enables the | 13 |
| premises to receive cable service or video service. | 14 |
| (a) General customer service standards: | 15 |
| (1) Cable or video providers shall establish general | 16 |
| standards related to customer service, which shall | 17 |
| include, but not be limited to, installation, | 18 |
| disconnection, service and repair obligations; appointment | 19 |
| hours and employee ID requirements; customer service | 20 |
| telephone numbers and hours; procedures for billing, | 21 |
| charges, deposits, refunds, and credits; procedures for | 22 |
| termination of service; notice of deletion of programming | 23 |
| service; changes related to transmission of programming; | 24 |
| changes or increases in rates; the use and availability of | 25 |
| parental control or lock-out devices; the use and | 26 |
| availability of an A/B switch if applicable; complaint |
|
|
|
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| 1 |
| procedures and procedures for bill dispute resolution; a | 2 |
| description of the rights and remedies available to | 3 |
| consumers if the cable or video provider does not | 4 |
| materially meet its
customer service standards; and | 5 |
| special services for customers with visual, hearing, or | 6 |
| mobility disabilities. | 7 |
| (2) Cable or video providers' rates for each level of | 8 |
| service, rules, regulations, and policies related to its | 9 |
| cable service or video service described in paragraph (1) | 10 |
| of this subsection (a)
must be made available to the public | 11 |
| and displayed clearly and conspicuously on the cable or | 12 |
| video provider's site on the Internet. If a promotional | 13 |
| price or a price for a specified period of time is offered, | 14 |
| the cable or video provider shall display the price at the | 15 |
| end of the promotional period or specified period of time | 16 |
| clearly and conspicuously with the display of the | 17 |
| promotional price or price for a specified period of time. | 18 |
| The cable or video provider shall provide this information | 19 |
| upon request. | 20 |
| (3) Cable or video providers shall provide notice | 21 |
| concerning their general customer service standards to all | 22 |
| customers. This notice shall be offered when service is | 23 |
| first activated and annually thereafter. The information | 24 |
| in the notice shall include all of the information | 25 |
| specified in paragraph (1) of this subsection (a), as well | 26 |
| as the following: a listing of services offered by the |
|
|
|
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| 1 |
| cable or video providers, which shall clearly describe | 2 |
| programming for all services and all levels of service; the | 3 |
| rates for all services and levels of service; a telephone | 4 |
| number
through which customers may subscribe to, change, or | 5 |
| terminate service, request customer service, or seek | 6 |
| general or billing information; instructions on the use of | 7 |
| the cable or video services; and a description of rights | 8 |
| and remedies that the cable or video providers shall make | 9 |
| available to their customers if they do not materially meet | 10 |
| the general customer service standards described in this | 11 |
| Act. | 12 |
| (b) General customer service obligations: | 13 |
| (1) Cable or video providers shall render reasonably | 14 |
| efficient service, promptly make repairs, and interrupt | 15 |
| service only as necessary and for good cause, during | 16 |
| periods of minimum use of the system and for no more than | 17 |
| 24 hours. | 18 |
| (2) All service representatives or any other person who | 19 |
| contacts customers or potential customers on behalf of the | 20 |
| cable or video provider shall have a visible identification | 21 |
| card with their name and photograph and shall orally | 22 |
| identify themselves upon first contact with the customer. | 23 |
| Customer service representatives shall orally identify | 24 |
| themselves to callers immediately following the greeting | 25 |
| during each telephone contact with the public. | 26 |
| (3) The cable or video providers shall: (i) maintain a |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| customer service facility within the boundaries of a local | 2 |
| unit of government staffed by customer service | 3 |
| representatives that have the capacity to accept payment, | 4 |
| adjust bills, and respond to repair, installation, | 5 |
| reconnection, disconnection, or other service calls and | 6 |
| distribute or receive converter boxes, remote control | 7 |
| units, digital stereo units, or other equipment related to | 8 |
| the provision of cable or video service; (ii) provide | 9 |
| customers with bill payment facilities through retail, | 10 |
| financial, or other commercial institutions located within | 11 |
| the boundaries of a local unit of government; (iii) provide | 12 |
| an address, toll-free telephone number or electronic | 13 |
| address to accept bill payments and correspondence and | 14 |
| provide secure collection boxes for the receipt of bill | 15 |
| payments and the return of equipment, provided that if a | 16 |
| cable or video provider provides secure collection boxes, | 17 |
| it shall provide a printed receipt when items are | 18 |
| deposited; or (iv) provide an address, toll-free telephone | 19 |
| number, or electronic address to accept bill payments and | 20 |
| correspondence and provide a method for customers to return | 21 |
| equipment to the cable or video provider at no cost to the | 22 |
| customer. | 23 |
| (4) In each contact with a customer, the service | 24 |
| representatives or any other person who contacts customers | 25 |
| or potential customers on behalf of the cable or video | 26 |
| provider shall state the estimated cost of the service, |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| repair, or installation orally prior to delivery of the | 2 |
| service or before any work is performed, shall provide the | 3 |
| customer with an oral statement of the total charges before | 4 |
| terminating the telephone call or other contact in which a | 5 |
| service is ordered, whether in-person or over the Internet, | 6 |
| and shall provide a written statement of the total charges | 7 |
| before leaving the location at which the work was | 8 |
| performed. In the event that the cost of service is a | 9 |
| promotional price or is for a limited period of time, the | 10 |
| cost of service at the end of the promotion or limited | 11 |
| period of time shall be disclosed. | 12 |
| (5) Cable or video providers shall provide customers a | 13 |
| minimum of 30 days' written notice before increasing rates | 14 |
| or eliminating transmission of programming and shall | 15 |
| submit the notice to the local unit of government in | 16 |
| advance of distribution to customers, provided that the | 17 |
| cable or video provider is not in violation of this | 18 |
| provision if the elimination of transmission of | 19 |
| programming was outside the control of the provider, in | 20 |
| which case the provider shall use reasonable efforts to | 21 |
| provide as much notice as possible, and any rate decrease | 22 |
| related to the elimination of transmission of programming | 23 |
| shall be applied to the date of the change. | 24 |
| (6) Cable or video providers shall provide clear visual | 25 |
| and audio reception that meets or exceeds applicable | 26 |
| Federal Communications Commission technical standards. If |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 72 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| a customer experiences poor video or audio reception due to | 2 |
| the equipment of the cable or video provider, the cable or | 3 |
| video provider shall promptly repair the problem at its own | 4 |
| expense. | 5 |
| (c) Bills, payment, and termination: | 6 |
| (1) Cable or video providers shall render monthly bills | 7 |
| that are clear, accurate, and understandable. | 8 |
| (2) Every residential customer who pays bills directly | 9 |
| to the cable or video provider shall have at least 28 days | 10 |
| from the date of the bill to pay the listed charges. | 11 |
| (3) Customer payments shall be posted promptly. When | 12 |
| the payment is sent by United States mail, payment is | 13 |
| considered paid on the date it is postmarked. | 14 |
| (4) Cable or video providers may not terminate | 15 |
| residential service for nonpayment of a bill unless the | 16 |
| cable or video provider furnishes notice of the delinquency | 17 |
| and impending termination at least 21 days prior to the | 18 |
| proposed termination. Notice of proposed termination shall | 19 |
| be mailed, postage prepaid, to the customer to whom service | 20 |
| is billed. Notice of proposed termination shall not be | 21 |
| mailed until the 29th day after the date of the bill for | 22 |
| services. Notice of delinquency and impending termination | 23 |
| may be part of a billing statement only if the notice is | 24 |
| presented in a different color than the bill and is | 25 |
| designed to be conspicuous. The cable or video providers | 26 |
| may not assess a late fee prior to the 29th day after the |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| date of the bill for service. | 2 |
| (5) Every notice of impending termination shall | 3 |
| include all of the following: the name and address of | 4 |
| customer; the amount of the delinquency; the date on which | 5 |
| payment is required to avoid termination; and the telephone | 6 |
| number of the cable or video provider's service | 7 |
| representative to make payment arrangements and to provide | 8 |
| additional information about the charges for failure to | 9 |
| return equipment and for reconnection, if any. No customer | 10 |
| may be charged a fee for termination or disconnection of | 11 |
| service, irrespective of whether the customer initiated | 12 |
| termination or disconnection or the cable or video provider | 13 |
| initiated termination or disconnection. | 14 |
| (6) Service may only be terminated on days when the | 15 |
| customer is able to reach a service representative of the | 16 |
| cable or video providers, either in person or by telephone. | 17 |
| (7) Any service terminated by a cable or video provider | 18 |
| without good cause shall be restored without any | 19 |
| reconnection fee, charge, or penalty; good cause for | 20 |
| termination includes, but is not limited to, failure to pay | 21 |
| a bill by the date specified in the notice of impending | 22 |
| termination, payment by check for which there are | 23 |
| insufficient funds, theft of service, abuse of equipment or | 24 |
| personnel, or other similar subscriber actions. | 25 |
| (8) Cable or video providers shall cease charging a | 26 |
| customer for any or all services within one
business day |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| after it receives a request to immediately terminate | 2 |
| service or on the day requested by the customer if such a | 3 |
| date is at least 5 days from the date requested by the | 4 |
| customer. Nothing in this subsection (c) shall prohibit the | 5 |
| provider from billing for charges that the customer incurs | 6 |
| prior to the date of termination. Cable or video providers | 7 |
| shall issue a credit or a refund or return a deposit within | 8 |
| 10 business days after the close of the customer's billing | 9 |
| cycle following the request for termination or the return | 10 |
| of equipment, if any, whichever is later. | 11 |
| (9) The customers or subscribers of a cable or video | 12 |
| provider shall be allowed to disconnect their service at | 13 |
| any time within the first 60 days after subscribing to or | 14 |
| upgrading the service. Within this 60-day period, cable or | 15 |
| video providers shall not charge or impose any fees or | 16 |
| penalties on the customer for disconnecting service, | 17 |
| including, but not limited to, any installation charge or | 18 |
| the imposition of an early termination charge, except the | 19 |
| cable or video provider may impose a charge or fee to | 20 |
| offset any rebates or credits received by the customer and | 21 |
| may impose monthly service or maintenance charges, | 22 |
| including pay-per-view and premium services charges, | 23 |
| during such 60-day period. | 24 |
| (10) Cable and video providers shall guarantee | 25 |
| customer satisfaction for new or upgraded service and the | 26 |
| customer shall receive a pro-rata credit in an amount equal |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 75 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| to the pro-rata charge for the remaining days of service | 2 |
| being disconnected or replaced upon the customers request | 3 |
| if the customer is dissatisfied with the service and | 4 |
| requests to discontinue the service within the first 60 | 5 |
| days after subscribing to the upgraded service. | 6 |
| (d) Response to customer inquiries: | 7 |
| (1) Cable or video providers will maintain a toll-free | 8 |
| telephone access line that is
available to customers 24 | 9 |
| hours a day, 7
days a week to accept calls regarding | 10 |
| installation, termination, service, and complaints. | 11 |
| Trained, knowledgeable, qualified service representatives | 12 |
| of the cable or video providers will be available to | 13 |
| respond to customer telephone inquiries during normal | 14 |
| business hours. Customer service representatives shall be | 15 |
| able to provide credit, waive fees, schedule appointments, | 16 |
| and change billing cycles. Any difficulties that cannot be | 17 |
| resolved by the customer service representatives shall be | 18 |
| referred to a supervisor who shall make his or her best | 19 |
| efforts to resolve the issue immediately. If the supervisor | 20 |
| does not resolve the issue to the customer's satisfaction, | 21 |
| the customer shall be informed of the cable or video | 22 |
| provider's complaint procedures and procedures for billing | 23 |
| dispute resolution and given a description of the rights | 24 |
| and remedies available to customers to enforce the terms of | 25 |
| this Article, including the customer's rights to have the | 26 |
| complaint reviewed by the local unit of government, to |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 76 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| request mediation, and to review in a court of competent | 2 |
| jurisdiction. | 3 |
| (2) After normal business hours, the access line may be | 4 |
| answered by a service or an automated response system, | 5 |
| including an answering machine. Inquiries received by | 6 |
| telephone or e-mail after normal business hours shall be | 7 |
| responded to by a trained service representative on the | 8 |
| next business day. The cable or video provider shall | 9 |
| respond to a written billing inquiry within 10 days of | 10 |
| receipt of the inquiry. | 11 |
| (3) Cable or video providers shall provide customers | 12 |
| seeking non-standard installations with a total | 13 |
| installation cost estimate and an estimated date of | 14 |
| completion. The actual charge to the customer shall not | 15 |
| exceed 10% of the estimated cost without the written | 16 |
| consent of the customer. | 17 |
| (4) If the cable or video provider receives notice that | 18 |
| an unsafe condition exists with respect to its equipment, | 19 |
| it shall investigate such condition immediately and shall | 20 |
| take such measures as are necessary to remove or eliminate | 21 |
| the unsafe condition. The cable or video provider shall | 22 |
| inform the local unit of government promptly, but no later | 23 |
| than 2 hours after it receives notification of an unsafe | 24 |
| condition that it has not remedied. | 25 |
| (5) Under normal operating conditions, telephone | 26 |
| answer time by the cable or video provider's customer |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 77 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| representative, including wait time, shall not exceed 30 | 2 |
| seconds when the connection is made. If the call needs to | 3 |
| be transferred, transfer time shall not exceed 30 seconds. | 4 |
| These standards shall be met no less than 90% of the time | 5 |
| under normal operating conditions, measured on a quarterly | 6 |
| basis. | 7 |
| (6) Under normal operating conditions, the cable or | 8 |
| video provider's customers will receive a busy signal less | 9 |
| than 3% of the time. | 10 |
| (e) Under normal operating conditions, each of the | 11 |
| following standards related to installations, outages, and | 12 |
| service calls will be met no less than 95% of the time measured | 13 |
| on a quarterly basis: | 14 |
| (1) Standard installations will be performed within 7 | 15 |
| business days after an order has been placed. "Standard" | 16 |
| installations are those that are located up to 125 feet | 17 |
| from the existing distribution system. | 18 |
| (2) Excluding conditions beyond the control of the | 19 |
| cable or video providers, the cable or video providers will | 20 |
| begin working on "service interruptions" promptly and in no | 21 |
| event later than 24 hours after the interruption is | 22 |
| reported by the customer or otherwise becomes known to the | 23 |
| cable or video providers. Cable or video providers must | 24 |
| begin actions to correct other service problems the next | 25 |
| business day after notification of the service problem and | 26 |
| correct the problem within 48 hours after the interruption |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| is reported by the customer 95% of the time, measured on a | 2 |
| quarterly basis. | 3 |
| (3) The "appointment window" alternatives for | 4 |
| installations, service calls, and other installation | 5 |
| activities will be either a specific time or, at a maximum, | 6 |
| a 4-hour
time block during evening, weekend, and normal | 7 |
| business hours. The cable or video provider may schedule | 8 |
| service calls and other installation activities outside of | 9 |
| these hours for the express convenience of the customer. | 10 |
| (4) Cable or video providers may not cancel an | 11 |
| appointment with a customer after 5:00 p.m. on the business | 12 |
| day prior to the scheduled appointment. If the cable or | 13 |
| video provider's representative is running late for an | 14 |
| appointment with a customer and will not be able to keep | 15 |
| the appointment as scheduled, the customer will be | 16 |
| contacted. The appointment will be rescheduled, as | 17 |
| necessary, at a time that
is convenient for the customer, | 18 |
| even if the rescheduled appointment is not within normal | 19 |
| business hours. | 20 |
| (f) Public benefit obligation: | 21 |
| (1) All cable or video providers offering service | 22 |
| pursuant to the Cable and Video Competition Law of 2007, | 23 |
| the Illinois Municipal Code, or the Counties Code shall | 24 |
| provide a free service line drop and free basic service to | 25 |
| all current and future public buildings within their | 26 |
| footprint, including, but not limited to, all local unit of |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| government buildings, public libraries, and public primary | 2 |
| and secondary schools, whether owned or leased by that | 3 |
| local unit of government ("eligible buildings"). Such | 4 |
| service shall be used in a manner consistent with the | 5 |
| government purpose for the eligible building and shall not | 6 |
| be resold. | 7 |
| (2) This obligation only applies to those cable or | 8 |
| video service providers whose cable service or video | 9 |
| service systems pass eligible buildings and its cable or | 10 |
| video service is generally available to residential | 11 |
| subscribers in the same local unit of government in which | 12 |
| the eligible building is located. The burden of providing | 13 |
| such service at each eligible building shall be shared by | 14 |
| all cable and video providers whose systems pass the | 15 |
| eligible buildings in an equitable and competitively | 16 |
| neutral manner, and nothing herein shall require | 17 |
| duplicative installations by more than one cable or video | 18 |
| provider at each eligible building. Cable or video | 19 |
| providers operating in a local unit of government shall | 20 |
| meet as necessary and determine who will provide service to | 21 |
| eligible buildings under this subsection (f). If the cable | 22 |
| or video providers are unable to reach an agreement, they | 23 |
| shall meet with the local unit of government, which shall | 24 |
| determine which cable or video providers will serve each | 25 |
| eligible building. The local unit of government shall bear | 26 |
| the costs of any inside wiring or video equipment costs not |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 80 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| ordinarily provided as part of the cable or video | 2 |
| provider's basic offering. | 3 |
| (g) After the cable or video providers have offered service | 4 |
| for one year, the cable or video providers shall make an annual | 5 |
| report to the Commission, to the local unit of government, and | 6 |
| to the Attorney General that it is meeting the standards | 7 |
| specified in this Article, identifying the number of complaints | 8 |
| it received over the prior year in the State and specifying the | 9 |
| number of complaints related to each of the following: (1) | 10 |
| billing, charges, refunds, and credits; (2) installation or | 11 |
| termination of service; (3) quality of service and repair; (4) | 12 |
| programming; and (5) miscellaneous complaints that do not fall | 13 |
| within these categories. Thereafter, the cable or video | 14 |
| providers shall also provide, upon request by the local unit of | 15 |
| government where service is offered and to the Attorney | 16 |
| General, an annual public report that includes performance data | 17 |
| described in subdivisions (5) and (6) of subsection (d) and | 18 |
| subdivisions (1) and (2) of subsection (e)
of this Section for | 19 |
| cable services or video services. The performance data shall be | 20 |
| disaggregated for each requesting local unit of government or | 21 |
| local exchange, as that term is defined in Section 13-206 of | 22 |
| this
Act, in which the cable or video providers have customers. | 23 |
| (h) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or | 24 |
| video providers shall offer the lowest-cost basic cable or | 25 |
| video service as a stand-alone service to residential customers | 26 |
| at reasonable rates. Cable or video providers shall not require |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 81 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| the subscription to any service other than the lowest-cost | 2 |
| basic service or to any telecommunications or information | 3 |
| service, as a condition of access to cable or video service, | 4 |
| including programming offered on a per channel or per program | 5 |
| basis. Cable or video providers shall not discriminate between | 6 |
| subscribers to the lowest-cost basic service, subscribers to | 7 |
| other cable services or video services, and other subscribers | 8 |
| with regard to the rates charged for cable or video programming | 9 |
| offered on a per channel or per program basis. | 10 |
| (i) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or | 11 |
| video providers shall ensure that charges for changes in the | 12 |
| subscriber's selection of services or equipment shall be based | 13 |
| on the cost of such change and shall not exceed nominal amounts | 14 |
| when the system's configuration permits changes in service tier | 15 |
| selection to be effected solely by coded entry on a computer | 16 |
| terminal or by other similarly simple method. | 17 |
| (j) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or | 18 |
| video providers shall have a rate structure for the provision | 19 |
| of cable or video service that is uniform throughout the area | 20 |
| within the boundaries of the local unit of government. This | 21 |
| subsection (j) is not intended to prohibit bulk discounts to | 22 |
| multiple dwelling units or to prohibit reasonable discounts to | 23 |
| senior citizens or other economically disadvantaged groups. | 24 |
| (k) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or | 25 |
| video providers shall not charge a subscriber for any service | 26 |
| or equipment that the subscriber has not affirmatively |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 82 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| requested by name. For purposes of this subsection (k), a | 2 |
| subscriber's failure to refuse a cable or video provider's | 3 |
| proposal to provide service or equipment shall not be deemed to | 4 |
| be an affirmative request for such service or equipment. | 5 |
| (l) No contract or service agreement containing an early | 6 |
| termination clause offering residential cable services or | 7 |
| video services or any bundle including such services shall be | 8 |
| for a term longer than 2 years one year . Any contract or | 9 |
| service offering with a term of service that contains an early | 10 |
| termination fee shall limit the early termination fee to not | 11 |
| more than the value of any additional goods or services | 12 |
| provided with the cable or video services, the amount of the | 13 |
| discount reflected in the price for cable services or video | 14 |
| services for the period during which the consumer benefited | 15 |
| from the discount , or a declining fee based on the remainder of | 16 |
| the contract term . | 17 |
| (m) Cable or video providers shall not discriminate in the | 18 |
| provision of services for the hearing and visually impaired, | 19 |
| and shall comply with the accessibility requirements of 47 | 20 |
| U.S.C. 613. Cable or video providers shall deliver and pick-up | 21 |
| or provide customers with pre-paid shipping and packaging for | 22 |
| the return of converters and other necessary equipment at the | 23 |
| home of customers with disabilities. Cable or video providers | 24 |
| shall provide free use of a converter or remote control unit to | 25 |
| mobility impaired customers. | 26 |
| (n)(1) To the extent consistent with federal law, cable or |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| video providers shall comply with the provisions of 47 U.S.C. | 2 |
| 532(h) and (j). The cable or video providers shall not exercise | 3 |
| any editorial control over any video programming provided | 4 |
| pursuant to this Section, or in any other way consider the | 5 |
| content of such programming, except that a cable or video | 6 |
| provider may refuse to transmit any leased access program or | 7 |
| portion of a leased access program that
contains obscenity, | 8 |
| indecency, or nudity and may consider such content to the | 9 |
| minimum extent necessary to establish a reasonable price for | 10 |
| the commercial use of designated channel capacity by an | 11 |
| unaffiliated person. This subsection (n) shall permit cable or | 12 |
| video providers to enforce prospectively a written and | 13 |
| published policy of prohibiting programming that the cable or | 14 |
| video provider reasonably believes describes or depicts sexual | 15 |
| or excretory activities or organs in a patently offensive | 16 |
| manner as measured by contemporary community standards. | 17 |
| (2) Upon customer request, the cable or video provider | 18 |
| shall, without charge, fully scramble or otherwise fully | 19 |
| block the audio and video programming of each channel | 20 |
| carrying such programming so that a person who is not a | 21 |
| subscriber does not receive the channel or programming. | 22 |
| (3) In providing sexually explicit adult programming | 23 |
| or other programming that is indecent on any channel of its | 24 |
| service primarily dedicated to sexually oriented | 25 |
| programming, the cable or video provider shall fully | 26 |
| scramble or otherwise fully block the video and audio |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
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LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| portion of such channel so that a person who is
not a | 2 |
| subscriber to such channel or programming does not receive | 3 |
| it. | 4 |
| (4) Scramble means to rearrange the content of the | 5 |
| signal of the programming so that the programming cannot be | 6 |
| viewed or heard in an understandable manner. | 7 |
| (o) Cable or video providers will maintain a listing, | 8 |
| specific to the level of street address, of the areas where its | 9 |
| cable or video services are available. Customers who inquire | 10 |
| about purchasing cable or video service shall be informed about | 11 |
| whether the cable or video provider's cable or video services | 12 |
| are currently available to them at their specific location. | 13 |
| (p) Cable or video providers shall not disclose the name, | 14 |
| address, telephone number or other personally identifying | 15 |
| information of a cable service or video service customer to be | 16 |
| used in mailing lists or to be used for other commercial | 17 |
| purposes not reasonably related to the conduct of its business | 18 |
| unless the cable or video provider has provided to the customer | 19 |
| a notice, separately or included in any other customer service | 20 |
| notice, that clearly and conspicuously describes the | 21 |
| customer's ability to prohibit the disclosure. Cable or video | 22 |
| providers shall provide an address and telephone number for a | 23 |
| customer to use without a toll charge to prevent disclosure of | 24 |
| the customer's name and address in mailing lists or for other | 25 |
| commercial purposes not reasonably related to the conduct of | 26 |
| its business to other businesses or affiliates of the cable or |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 85 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| video provider. Cable or video providers shall comply with the | 2 |
| consumer privacy requirements of the Communications Consumer | 3 |
| Privacy Act, the Restricted Call Registry Act, and 47 U.S.C. | 4 |
| 551 that are in effect as of June 30, 2007 (the effective date | 5 |
| of Public Act 95-9)
and as amended thereafter. | 6 |
| (q) Cable or video providers shall implement an informal | 7 |
| process for handling inquiries from local units of government | 8 |
| and customers concerning billing issues, service issues, | 9 |
| privacy concerns, and other consumer complaints. In the event | 10 |
| that an issue is not resolved through this informal process, a | 11 |
| local unit of government or the customer may request nonbinding | 12 |
| mediation with the cable or video provider, with each party to | 13 |
| bear its own costs of such mediation. Selection of the mediator | 14 |
| will be by mutual agreement, and preference will be given to | 15 |
| mediation services that do not charge the consumer for their | 16 |
| services. In the event that the informal process does not | 17 |
| produce a satisfactory result to the customer or the local unit | 18 |
| of government, enforcement may be pursued as provided in | 19 |
| subdivision (4) of subsection (r) of this Section. | 20 |
| (r) The Attorney General and the local unit of government | 21 |
| may enforce all of the customer service and privacy protection | 22 |
| standards of this Section with respect to complaints received | 23 |
| from residents within the local unit of government's | 24 |
| jurisdiction, but it may not adopt or seek to enforce any | 25 |
| additional or different customer service or performance | 26 |
| standards under any other authority or provision of law. |
|
|
|
SB0107 Enrolled |
- 86 - |
LRB096 05740 MJR 15810 b |
|
| 1 |
| (1) The local unit of government may, by ordinance, | 2 |
| provide a schedule of penalties for any material breach of | 3 |
| this Section by cable or video providers in addition to the | 4 |
| penalties provided herein. No monetary penalties shall be | 5 |
| assessed for a material breach if it is out of the | 6 |
| reasonable control of the cable or video providers or its | 7 |
| affiliate. Monetary penalties adopted in an ordinance | 8 |
| pursuant to this Section shall apply on a competitively | 9 |
| neutral basis to all providers of cable service or video | 10 |
| service within the local unit of government's | 11 |
| jurisdiction. In
no event shall the penalties imposed under | 12 |
| this subsection (r) exceed $750 for each day of the | 13 |
| material breach, and these penalties shall not exceed | 14 |
| $25,000 for each occurrence of a material breach per | 15 |
| customer. | 16 |
| (2) For purposes of this Section, "material breach" | 17 |
| means any substantial
failure of a cable or video service | 18 |
| provider to comply with service quality and other standards | 19 |
| specified in any provision of this Act. The Attorney | 20 |
| General or the local unit of government shall give the | 21 |
| cable or video provider written notice of any alleged | 22 |
| material breaches of this Act and allow such provider at | 23 |
| least 30 days from receipt of the notice to remedy the | 24 |
| specified material breach. | 25 |
| (3) A material breach, for the purposes of assessing | 26 |
| penalties, shall be deemed to have occurred for each day |
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| that a material breach has not been remedied by the cable | 2 |
| service or video service provider after the expiration of | 3 |
| the period specified in subdivision (2) of this subsection | 4 |
| (r)
in each local unit of government's jurisdiction, | 5 |
| irrespective of the number of customers affected. | 6 |
| (4) Any customer, the Attorney General, or a local unit | 7 |
| of government may pursue alleged violations of this Act by | 8 |
| the cable or video provider in a court of competent | 9 |
| jurisdiction. A cable or video provider may seek judicial | 10 |
| review of a decision of a local unit of government imposing | 11 |
| penalties in a court of competent jurisdiction. No local | 12 |
| unit of government shall be subject to suit for damages or | 13 |
| other relief based upon its action in connection with its | 14 |
| enforcement or review of any of the terms, conditions, and | 15 |
| rights contained in this Act except a court may require the | 16 |
| return of any penalty it finds was not properly assessed or | 17 |
| imposed. | 18 |
| (s) Cable or video providers shall credit customers for | 19 |
| violations in the amounts stated herein. The credits shall be | 20 |
| applied on the statement issued to the customer for the next | 21 |
| monthly billing cycle following the violation or following the | 22 |
| discovery of the violation. Cable or video providers are | 23 |
| responsible for providing the credits described herein and the | 24 |
| customer is under no obligation to request the credit. If the | 25 |
| customer is no longer taking service from the cable or video | 26 |
| provider, the credit amount will be refunded to the customer by |
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| check within 30 days of the termination of service. A local | 2 |
| unit of government may, by ordinance, adopt a schedule of | 3 |
| credits payable directly to customers for breach of the | 4 |
| customer service standards and obligations contained in this | 5 |
| Article, provided the schedule of customer credits applies on a | 6 |
| competitively neutral basis to all providers of cable service | 7 |
| or video service in the local unit of government's jurisdiction | 8 |
| and the credits are not greater than the credits provided in | 9 |
| this Section. | 10 |
| (1) Failure to provide notice of customer service | 11 |
| standards upon initiation of service: $25.00. | 12 |
| (2) Failure to install service within 7 days: Waiver of | 13 |
| 50% of the installation fee or the monthly fee for the | 14 |
| lowest-cost basic service, whichever is greater. Failure | 15 |
| to install service within 14 days: Waiver of 100% of the | 16 |
| installation fee or the monthly fee for the lowest-cost | 17 |
| basic service, whichever is greater. | 18 |
| (3) Failure to remedy service interruptions or poor | 19 |
| video or audio service quality within 48 hours: Pro-rata | 20 |
| credit of total regular monthly charges equal to the number | 21 |
| of days of the service interruption. | 22 |
| (4) Failure to keep an appointment or to notify the | 23 |
| customer prior to the close of business on the business day | 24 |
| prior to the scheduled appointment: $25.00. | 25 |
| (5) Violation of privacy protections: $150.00. | 26 |
| (6) Failure to comply with scrambling requirements: |
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| $50.00 per month. | 2 |
| (7) Violation of customer service and billing | 3 |
| standards in subsections (c) and (d) of this Section: | 4 |
| $25.00 per occurrence. | 5 |
| (8) Violation of the bundling rules in subsection
(h) | 6 |
| of this Section: $25.00 per month. | 7 |
| (t) The enforcement powers granted to the Attorney General | 8 |
| in Article XXI of this
Act shall apply to this Article, except | 9 |
| that the Attorney General may not seek penalties for violation | 10 |
| of this Article
other than in the amounts specified herein. | 11 |
| Nothing in this Section shall limit or affect the powers of the | 12 |
| Attorney General to enforce the provisions of Article XXI
of | 13 |
| this
Act or the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices | 14 |
| Act. | 15 |
| (u) This Article
applies to all cable and video providers | 16 |
| in the State, including but not limited to those operating | 17 |
| under a local franchise as that term is used in 47 U.S.C. | 18 |
| 522(9), those operating under authorization pursuant to | 19 |
| Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code, those | 20 |
| operating under authorization pursuant to Section 5-1095 of the | 21 |
| Counties Code, and those operating under a State-issued | 22 |
| authorization pursuant to Article XXI of this
Act.
| 23 |
| (Source: P.A. 95-9, eff. 6-30-07; 95-876, eff. 8-21-08.)
| 24 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-402.1 rep.) | 25 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-408 rep.) |
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| (220 ILCS 5/13-409 rep.) | 2 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-505.1 rep.) | 3 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-505.7 rep.) | 4 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-506 rep.) | 5 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-511 rep.) | 6 |
| (220 ILCS 5/13-802 rep.) | 7 |
| Section 15. The Public Utilities Act is amended by | 8 |
| repealing Sections 13-402.1, 13-408, 13-409, 13-505.1, | 9 |
| 13-505.7, 13-506, 13-511, and 13-802. | 10 |
| Section 90. Nothing in this amendatory Act of the 96th | 11 |
| General Assembly shall be construed or interpreted to abate, | 12 |
| suspend, alter, or otherwise affect (i) any decision or (ii) | 13 |
| any condition that is rendered by the Illinois Commerce | 14 |
| Commission pursuant to Section 7-204 of the Illinois Public | 15 |
| Utilities Act between April 1, 2010 and July 1, 2010. | 16 |
| Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 17 |
| becoming law. |
|