PRINTER'S NO. 2318
No. 1798 Session of 1983
INTRODUCED BY LAUGHLIN, MANDERINO, IRVIS, BURNS, BELFANTI, COY,
STEIGHNER, McCALL, ITKIN, DOMBROWSKI, GALLAGHER, ALDERETTE,
DURHAM, KUKOVICH, KOSINSKI, KOWALYSHYN, McHALE, FREEMAN,
LLOYD, WAMBACH, DEAL, WIGGINS, BARBER, MAYERNIK, VAN HORNE,
TRUMAN, DeLUCA, MARKOSEK, HASAY AND HERSHEY, DECEMBER 12,
1983
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, DECEMBER 12, 1983
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, adding provisions relating to
3 telephone access charges.
4 The General Assembly finds that events occurring since the
5 divestiture of American Telephone and Telegraph Company,
6 including actions of the Federal Communications Commission, have
7 undermined one of the decree's principal assumptions and
8 purposes, that the fostering of competition in the
9 telecommunications field need not and should not be the cause of
10 increases in local telephone rates. Further, the General
11 Assembly endorses and adopts the principle of universal
12 telephone service, which is that everyone, regardless of income,
13 should have access to basic low-cost telephone service, in
14 recognition of the fact that the service is a necessity rather
15 than a luxury.
16 The General Assembly further finds that the assessment of
1 telephone access charges against residential subscribers and
2 single-line commercial subscribers, with the prospect of
3 significant escalation of the charges in the future, is
4 antithetical to the principle of universal telephone service and
5 will likely foreclose or sharply limit telephone access to many
6 low-income or otherwise needy citizens of this Commonwealth who
7 are dependent upon the telephone for many aspects of their
8 existence.
9 It is the purpose of this act to foster the principle of
10 universal telephone service and, with regard to intrastate
11 Pennsylvania telephone calls and service and access thereto, to
12 prohibit the assessment of access charges against residential
13 subscribers and single-line commercial subscribers located
14 within this Commonwealth. This General Assembly intends to the
15 fullest extent of its jurisdiction, to assure the availability
16 to all the people of Pennsylvania of affordable, reliable and
17 efficient communications services which are essential to full
18 participation in the Nation's economic, political and social
19 life.
20 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
21 hereby enacts as follows:
22 Section 1. Chapter 13 of Title 66 of the Pennsylvania
23 Consolidated Statutes is amended by adding a subchapter heading
24 and a subchapter to read:
25 CHAPTER 13
26 RATES AND RATE MAKING
27 SUBCHAPTER A
28 GENERAL PROVISIONS
29 * * *
30 SUBCHAPTER B
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1 REGULATION OF TELEPHONE ACCESS CHARGES
2 Sec.
3 1331. Short title of subchapter.
4 1332. Definitions.
5 1333. Prohibition of intrastate-related access charges.
6 1334. Jurisdiction of commission.
7 1335. Universal service charge and surcharge.
8 § 1331. Short title of subchapter.
9 This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the
10 Telephone Service Presentation Act.
11 § 1332. Definitions.
12 The following words and phrases when used in this subchapter
13 shall have the meanings given to them in this subchapter unless
14 the context clearly indicates otherwise:
15 "Access charge." Any change, however denominated, to a
16 residential subscriber or single-line commercial subscriber,
17 from a local telephone company, for the service of making
18 available to the subscriber the local telephone network to send
19 or receive telephone calls between or among origination and
20 termination points located solely in this Commonwealth.
21 "Interchange carrier." A carrier which provides telephone
22 communications services among points in more than one exchange
23 area.
24 "Residential subscriber." A resident of this Commonwealth
25 who subscribes to telephone service provided to a residence or
26 residential unit maintained and occupied by him in this
27 Commonwealth.
28 "Single-line commercial subscriber." A commercial enterprise
29 located in this Commonwealth and which is serviced by a local
30 telephone company with a single line as opposed to switchboard
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1 or multiline connections.
2 § 1333. Prohibition of intrastate-related access charges.
3 No telephone company may assess an access charge against a
4 residential subscriber or single-line commercial subscriber with
5 respect to intrastate Pennsylvania telephone service or access
6 to such service. This prohibition shall apply to exchange
7 carriers and interexchange carriers alike.
8 § 1334. Jurisdiction of commission.
9 (a) Interexchange carriers.--The commission is hereby
10 specifically vested with jurisdiction over the intrastate
11 Pennsylvania aspects of the operations of interexchange
12 carriers, to a like extent as the commission has and exercises
13 jurisdiction over exchange carriers and other telephone
14 utilities within this Commonwealth. The commission is directed
15 to exercise jurisdiction and to regulate the interexchange
16 carriers to the same extent that the commission has jurisdiction
17 over and currently regulates or has the power to regulate
18 exchange carriers and other telephone companies.
19 (b) Promulgation of regulations.--The commission shall, by
20 regulations subject to legislative oversight, establish rules
21 and accounting procedures to the fullest extent possible to
22 insure that interexchange carriers are correctly and properly
23 assigning costs and charges and fairly compensating exchange
24 carriers for their costs of providing exchange access to the
25 interexchange carriers.
26 § 1335. Universal service charge and surcharge.
27 (a) Establishment of schedule.--The commission shall
28 establish a schedule which provides for the collection of a
29 universal service charge that is payable by any interexchange
30 carrier or which offers, owns, operates or controls any
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1 transmission facilities or services used as a substitute for
2 voice grade or equivalent transmission facilities or services
3 offered by exchange carriers. The schedule shall also provide
4 for the collection of a universal service surcharge that is
5 payable by any interexchange carrier or other person using the
6 services of exchange companies through direct or indirect
7 connection.
8 (b) Exclusion from charges.--The charge or surcharge shall
9 not apply with respect to record communications services, as
10 defined in section 222 of the Federal Communications Act of
11 1934.
12 (c) Purpose of charges.--The purpose of the charge and
13 surcharge is to afford reimbursement to those exchange carriers
14 or other telephone companies which establish that they have
15 suffered a loss of revenue by their inability to assess access
16 charges against residential subscribers or single-line
17 commercial subscribers because of this subchapter, or who
18 establish that their corresponding charges and assessments
19 against multiline commercial subscribers have accordingly
20 increased to such an extent that the latter subscribers have
21 bypassed the telephone network with a substitute communications
22 system, thereby resulting in the loss of such commercial
23 subscriber revenue to the exchange carriers.
24 (d) Promulgation of regulations.--The commission shall, by
25 regulations subject to legislative oversight, establish rules
26 and procedures for the equitable assessment of the charge and
27 surcharge, for the presentation of satisfactory proof of revenue
28 loss and reimbursement entitlement by the exchange carriers, and
29 for the payment of the proceeds of the charge and surcharge
30 collections to the duly entitled exchange carriers.
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1 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 90 days.
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