House File 277 - Reprinted
HOUSE FILE
BY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
REGULATION AND LABOR
(SUCCESSOR TO HSB 50)
Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to the deregulation of communications services
2 including considering market forces, eliminating accounting
3 plan requirements, establishing antitrust procedures and
4 remedies, eliminating reporting requirements, eliminating the
5 Iowa broadband initiative, and providing a penalty.
6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
7 HF 277
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PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. Section 476.1D, subsections 1, 2, and 3, Code
1 2 2005, are amended to read as follows:
1 3 1. Except as provided in this section, the jurisdiction of
1 4 the board as to the regulation of communications services is
1 5 not applicable to a service or facility that is provided or is
1 6 proposed to be provided by a telephone utility that is or
1 7 becomes subject to effective competition, as determined by the
1 8 board.
1 9 a. In determining whether a service or facility is or
1 10 becomes subject to effective competition, the board shall
1 11 consider, among other factors, whether a comparable service or
1 12 facility is available from a supplier other than the telephone
1 13 utility in the geographic market being considered by the board
1 14 and whether market forces in that market are sufficient to
1 15 assure just and reasonable rates without regulation.
1 16 b. When considering market forces in the market proposed
1 17 to be deregulated, the board shall consider factors including
1 18 but not limited to the presence or absence of all of the
1 19 following:
1 20 (1) Wireless communications services.
1 21 (2) Cable telephony services.
1 22 (3) Voice over internet protocol services.
1 23 (4) Economic barriers to the entry of competitors or
1 24 potential competitors in that market.
1 25 c. In addition to other services or facilities previously
1 26 deregulated, effective July 1, 2005, and at the election of
1 27 each telephone utility subject to rate regulation, the
1 28 jurisdiction of the board is not applicable to the retail rate
1 29 regulation of business and retail local exchange services
1 30 provided throughout the state except for single line flat=
1 31 rated residential and business service rates provided by a
1 32 telephone utility subject to rate regulation on January 1,
1 33 2005. For each such telephone utility, the initial single
1 34 line flat=rated residential and business service rates shall
1 35 be the corresponding rates charged by the utility as of
2 1 January 1, 2005. The initial single flat=rated residential
2 2 monthly service rates may be increased by an amount not to
2 3 exceed one dollar per twelve=month period beginning July 1,
2 4 2005, and ending June 30, 2008. The initial single flat=rated
2 5 business monthly service rates may be increased by an amount
2 6 not to exceed two dollars per twelve=month period beginning
2 7 July 1, 2005, and ending June 30, 2008. However, the single
2 8 line flat=rated residential service rate shall not exceed
2 9 nineteen dollars per month and the single line flat=rated
2 10 business service rate shall not exceed thirty=eight dollars
2 11 per month prior to July 1, 2008, not including charges for
2 12 extended area service, regulatory charges, taxes, and other
2 13 fees. Each telephone utility's extended area service rates
2 14 shall not be greater than the corresponding rates charged by
2 15 the telephone utility as of January 31, 2005. The board shall
2 16 determine a telephone utility's extended area service rates
2 17 for new extended area service established on or after July 1,
2 18 2005. If a telephone utility fails to impose the rate
2 19 increase during any twelve=month period, the utility shall not
2 20 impose the unused increase in any subsequent year. In
2 21 addition to the rate increases permitted pursuant to this
2 22 section, the telephone utility may adjust its single line
2 23 flat=rated residential and business service rates by a
2 24 percentage equal to the most recent annual percentage change
2 25 in the gross domestic product price index as published by the
2 26 federal government. The board may also authorize additional
2 27 changes in the monthly rates for single line flat=rated
2 28 residential and business services to reflect exogenous factors
2 29 beyond the control of the telephone utility.
2 30 A telephone utility that elects to increase single line
2 31 flat=rated residential or business service rates pursuant to
2 32 this paragraph "c" shall offer digital subscriber line
2 33 broadband service in all of the telephone utility's exchanges
2 34 in this state within eighteen calendar months of the first
2 35 rate increase made pursuant to this paragraph "c" by the
3 1 telephone utility. The board may extend this deadline by up
3 2 to nine calendar months for good cause. The board may assess
3 3 a civil penalty or require a refund of all incremental revenue
3 4 resulting from the rate increase initiated pursuant to this
3 5 paragraph "c" if the telephone utility fails to offer digital
3 6 subscriber line broadband service within the time period
3 7 required by this unnumbered paragraph.
3 8 Effective July 1, 2008, the retail rate jurisdiction of the
3 9 board shall not be applicable to single line flat=rated
3 10 residential and business service rates unless the board during
3 11 the first six calendar months of 2008 extends its retail rate
3 12 jurisdiction over single line flat=rated residential and
3 13 business service rates provided by a previously rate=regulated
3 14 telephone utility. The board may extend its jurisdiction
3 15 pursuant to this paragraph for not more than two years and may
3 16 do so only after the board finds that such action is necessary
3 17 for the public interest. The board shall provide the general
3 18 assembly with a copy of any order to extend its jurisdiction
3 19 and shall permit any telephone utility subject to the
3 20 extension to increase single line flat=rated residential and
3 21 business monthly service rates by an amount up to two dollars
3 22 during each twelve=month period of the extension. If a
3 23 telephone utility fails to impose such a rate increase during
3 24 any twelve=month period, the utility may not impose the unused
3 25 increase in any subsequent year.
3 26 2. Deregulation Except as provided in subsection 1,
3 27 paragraph "c", deregulation of a service or facility for a
3 28 utility is effective only after all of the following:
3 29 a. A a finding of effective competition by the board.
3 30 b. Election by a utility providing the service or facility
3 31 to file a deregulation accounting plan.
3 32 c. Approval of a utility's deregulation accounting plan by
3 33 the board.
3 34 3. If the board determines finds that a service or
3 35 facility is subject to effective competition and approves the
4 1 utility's deregulation accounting plan, the board shall
4 2 deregulate the service or facility within a reasonable time.
4 3 Sec. 2. Section 476.55, Code 2005, is amended to read as
4 4 follows:
4 5 476.55 COMPLAINT OF ANTITRUST ACTIVITIES.
4 6 1. An application for new or changed rates, charges,
4 7 schedules or regulations filed under this chapter, or an
4 8 application for a certificate or an amendment to a certificate
4 9 submitted under chapter 476A, by an electric transmission line
4 10 utility or a gas pipeline utility or a subsidiary of either
4 11 shall not be approved by the board if, upon complaint by an
4 12 Iowa electric or gas utility, the board finds activities which
4 13 create or maintain a situation inconsistent with antitrust
4 14 laws and the policies which underlie them. The board may
4 15 grant the rate or facility certification request once it
4 16 determines that those activities which led to the antitrust
4 17 complaint have been eliminated. However, this subsection does
4 18 not apply to an application for new or changed rates, charges,
4 19 schedules or regulations after the expiration of the ten=
4 20 month limitation and applicable extensions.
4 21 2. Notwithstanding section 476.1D, the board may receive a
4 22 complaint from a local exchange carrier that another local
4 23 exchange carrier has engaged in an activity that is
4 24 inconsistent with antitrust laws and the policies which
4 25 underlie them. For purposes of this subsection, "local
4 26 exchange carrier" means the same as defined in section 476.96
4 27 and includes a city utility authorized pursuant to section
4 28 388.2 to provide local exchange services. If, after notice
4 29 and opportunity for hearing, the board finds that a local
4 30 exchange carrier has engaged in an activity that is
4 31 inconsistent with antitrust laws and the policies which
4 32 underlie them, the board may order any of the following:
4 33 a. The local exchange carrier to adjust retail rates in an
4 34 amount sufficient to correct the antitrust activity.
4 35 b. The local exchange carrier to pay any costs incurred by
5 1 the complainant for the pursuit of the complaint.
5 2 c. The local exchange carrier to pay a civil penalty.
5 3 d. Either the local exchange carrier or the complainant to
5 4 pay the costs of the complaint proceeding before the board,
5 5 and the other party's reasonable attorney fees.
5 6 This subsection shall not be construed to modify, restrict,
5 7 or limit the right of a person to bring a complaint under any
5 8 other provision of this chapter.
5 9 Sec. 3. Section 476.97, subsection 12, Code 2005, is
5 10 amended by striking the subsection.
5 11 Sec. 4. Section 476.98, Code 2005, is repealed.
5 12 HF 277
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