2003-2004 Bill 4473: Telephone Utilities, Telecommunications, Bundling - South Carolina

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 115th Session, 2003-2004 3 4 H. 4473 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Reps. Cato, Sandifer and Hinson 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\dka\3686dw04.doc 11 12 Introduced in the House on January 13, 2004 13 Currently residing in the House Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry 14 15 Summary: Telephone utilities, telecommunications, "bundling" 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 12/17/2003 House Prefiled 22 12/17/2003 House Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry 23 1/13/2004 House Introduced and read first time HJ-87 24 1/13/2004 House Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry HJ-88 25 1/22/2004 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Hinson 26 27 28 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 29 30 12/17/2003 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND SECTION 58-9-280, AS AMENDED, CODE OF 12 LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE 13 REQUIREMENTS FOR A TELEPHONE UTILITY TO BE 14 GRANTED A CERTIFICATE OF NECESSITY BEFORE THE 15 CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION, OR EXTENSION OF A 16 PLANT OR SYSTEM, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT 17 TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS THAT HAVE 18 ELECTED TO HAVE RATES, TERMS, AND CONDITIONS 19 DETERMINED PURSUANT TO THE PLAN DESCRIBED IN 20 SECTION 58-9-576(B) SHALL PROVIDE THESE 21 CONTRACTS TO THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION AS 22 REQUIRED; AND TO AMEND SECTION 58-9-576, AS 23 AMENDED, RELATING TO THE ELECTION A LOCAL 24 EXCHANGE CARRIER MAY MAKE WITH REGARD TO ITS 25 REGULATION, SO AS TO DEFINE “ABUSE OF MARKET 26 POSITION” AND REQUIRE THE COMMISSION TO 27 RESOLVE COMPLAINTS WITHIN ONE HUNDRED TWENTY 28 DAYS, TO DEFINE “BUNDLED OFFERING” AND 29 “CONTRACT OFFERING” AND TO PROHIBIT THE 30 COMMISSION FROM REGULATING A BUNDLED 31 OFFERING OR CONTRACT OFFERING BY A CARRIER AND 32 REQUIRE A CARRIER TO ADHERE TO AN ALTERNATIVE 33 REGULATORY PLAN UNTIL IT EXPIRES OR IS 34 TERMINATED BY THE COMMISSION, WHICHEVER IS 35 SOONER. 36 37 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 38 Carolina: 39 40 SECTION 1. Section 58-9-280(I) of the 1976 Code, as last 41 amended by Act 354 of 1996, is further amended to read: 42

1 [4473] 1 1 “(I) The incumbent LEC’s subject to this section shall must be 2 authorized to meet the offerings of any local exchange carrier 3 serving the same area by packaging services together, using 4 volume discounts and term discounts, and by offering individual 5 contracts for services, except as restricted by federal law. 6 Individual contracts for services or contracts with other providers 7 of telecommunications services shall must not be filed with the 8 commission, except as required by federal law, provided that 9 telecommunications carriers that have not elected to have rates, 10 terms, and conditions determined pursuant to the plan described in 11 Section 58 - 9 - 576(B) shall provide access to such these contracts to 12 the commission as required.” 13 14 SECTION 2. Section 58-9-576(B)(5) of the 1976 Code, as added 15 by Act 354 of 1996, is amended to read: 16 17 “(5) The LEC’s shall set rates for all other services on a basis 18 that does not unreasonably discriminate between similarly situated 19 customers; provided, however, that. All such of these rates are 20 subject to a complaint process for abuse of market position in 21 accordance with guidelines to be adopted by the commission. The 22 commission shall resolve the complaint within one hundred twenty 23 days of the date it is filed with the commission. As used in this 24 section, ‘abuse of market position’ means any anticompetitive 25 pricing action that prohibits a new firm from entering a market or 26 that causes a firm to exit a market.” 27 28 SECTION 3. Section 58-9-576(B)(7) of the 1976 Code, as added 29 by Act 354 of 1996, is amended to read: 30 31 “(7)(a) As used in this subsection: 32 (i) ‘bundled offering’ means an offering of two or more 33 products or services to customers at a single price provided that 34 each regulated product or service in the offering is available on a 35 stand - along basis under a tariff on file with the commission; and 36 (ii) ‘contract offering’ means any contractual agreement 37 by which the LEC offers any tariff product or service to any 38 customer at rates, terms, and conditions that differ from those set 39 forth in the LEC’s tariffs. 40 (b) The commission shall not: 41 (i) impose any requirements related to the terms, 42 conditions, rates, or availability of any bundled offering or contract 43 offering of any LEC operating under this section; or

1 [4473] 2 1 (ii) otherwise regulate any bundled offering or contract 2 offering of any LEC operating under this section. 3 (8) Any An incumbent LEC operating under an alternative 4 regulatory plan approved by the commission before the effective 5 date of this section must shall adhere to such the plan until such 6 the plan expires or is terminated by the commission, whichever is 7 sooner.” 8 9 SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the 10 Governor. 11 ----XX---- 12

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