S2483.01T

To repeal sections 386.330 and 392.220, RSMo 1994, and section 386.250, RSMo Supp. 1995, relating to the regulation of certain telecommunication services provided by telephone cooperatives, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to the same subject.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Sections 386.330 and 392.220, RSMo 1994, and section 386.250, RSMo Supp. 1995, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof to be known as sections 386.250, 386.330 and 392.220, to read as follows:

386.250. The jurisdiction, supervision, powers and duties of the public service commission herein created and established shall extend under this chapter:

(1) To the manufacture, sale or distribution of gas, natural and artificial, and electricity for light, heat and power, within the state, and to persons or corporations owning, leasing, operating or controlling the same; and to gas and electric plants, and to persons or corporations owning, leasing, operating or controlling the same;

(2) To all telecommunications facilities, telecommunications services and to all telecommunications companies so far as such telecommunications facilities are operated or utilized by a telecommunications company to offer or provide telecommunications service between one point and another within this state or so far as such telecommunications services are offered or provided by a telecommunications company between one point and another within this state, except that[, until September 30, 1996,] nothing contained in this section shall be construed as conferring jurisdiction upon the commission over the rates charged by a telephone cooperative for providing telecommunications service within an exchange or within a local calling scope as determined by the commission, except for exchange access service;

(3) To all water corporations, and to the land, property, dams, water supplies, or power stations thereof and the operation of same within this state, except that nothing contained in this section shall be construed as conferring jurisdiction upon the commission over the service or rates of any municipally owned water plant or system in any city of this state except where such service or rates are for water to be furnished or used beyond the corporate limits of such municipality;

(4) To all sewer systems and their operations within this state and to persons or corporations owning, leasing, operating or controlling the same;

(5) To all public utility corporations and persons whatsoever subject to the provisions of this chapter as herein defined, except that the public service commission may, upon application of any interested person, decline jurisdiction and supervision over the sale and distribution of electricity and the owning, operating, and controlling of related plant if such sale and distribution is by a person authorized to provide such services in an adjoining state with fewer than twenty residential customers in Missouri, all of whom are located within two miles of the borders of the state of Missouri and if such customers are unable to receive utility services from an investor-owner utility or rural electric cooperative due to a natural barrier. If the public service commission shall decline such jurisdiction and supervision, the Missouri customers of such out-of-state utility shall receive services under the same terms and conditions as the utility provides service to its customers in the nearest adjoining state;

(6) To the adoption of rules as are supported by evidence as to reasonableness and which prescribe the conditions of rendering public utility service, disconnecting or refusing to reconnect public utility service and billing for public utility service. All such proposed rules shall be filed with the secretary of state and published in the Missouri Register as provided in chapter 536, RSMo, and a hearing shall be held at which affected parties may present evidence as to the reasonableness of any proposed rule; and

(7) To such other and further extent, and to all such other and additional matters and things, and in such further respects as may herein appear, either expressly or impliedly.

386.330. 1. The commission may, of its own motion, investigate or make inquiry, in a manner to be determined by it, as to any act or thing done or omitted to be done by any common carrier, railroad corporation or street railroad corporation, or by any telecommunications company, subject to its supervision, and the commission shall make such inquiry in regard to any act or thing done or omitted to be done by any such public utility, person or corporation in violation of any provision of law or in violation of any order or decision of the commission.

2. Complaints may be made to the commission by the public counsel or any person or corporation aggrieved, by petition or complaint, in writing, setting forth any thing or act done or omitted to be done by any common carrier, railroad corporation or street railroad corporation, or by any telecommunications company, in violation, or claimed to be in violation, of any provision of law or of the terms and conditions of its franchise or charter or of any order or decision of the commission. Upon the presentation of such a complaint the commission shall cause a copy thereof to be forwarded to the public utility, person or corporation complained of, which may be accompanied by an order, directed to such public utility, person or corporation, requiring that the matters complained of be satisfied, or that the charges be answered in writing within a time to be specified by the commission. If the public utility, person or corporation complained of shall make reparation for any injury alleged and shall cease to commit, or to permit, the violation of law, franchise, order or decision charged in the complaint, and shall notify the commission of that fact before the time allowed for answer, the commission need take no further action on the charges. If, however, the charges contained in such petition be not thus satisfied, and it shall appear to the commission that there are reasonable grounds therefor, it shall investigate such charges in such manner and by such means as it shall deem proper, and take such action within its powers as the facts justify.

3. Whenever the commission shall investigate any matter complained of by the public counsel or by any person or corporation aggrieved by any act or omission of a common carrier, railroad corporation or street railroad corporation, or telecommunications company, under this section, it shall be its duty, within sixty days after final submission, to make and file an order either dismissing the petition or complaint or directing the public utility, person or corporation complained of to satisfy the cause of complaint in whole or to the extent which the commission may specify and require.

4. Notwithstanding the power of the commission over telecommunications companies, the commission shall not have jurisdiction over complaints concerning yellow page listings and advertisements; however, this subsection shall not be construed in any manner to limit the commission s authority in the ratemaking process to impute to the telecommunications company the revenues and costs of the telecommunications company s parent corporation, affiliated corporations, subsidiary corporations or divisions to the extent that those revenues and costs are associated with yellow page listings or advertisements in the state of Missouri. [Until September 30, 1996,] The commission shall not have jurisdiction over complaints concerning the rates charged by a telephone cooperative for providing telecommunications service within an exchange or within a local calling scope as determined by the commission, except the rates for providing exchange access service.

392.220. 1. Every telecommunications company shall print and file with the commission schedules showing the rates, rentals and charges for service of each and every kind by or over its facilities between points in this state and between each point upon its facilities and all points upon all facilities leased or operated by it and between each point upon its facilities or upon any facility leased or operated by it and all points upon the line of any other telecommunications company whenever a through service or joint rate shall have been established between any two points. If no joint rate over through facilities has been established, the several companies joined over such through facilities shall file with the commission the separately established rates and charges applicable where through service is afforded. Such schedule shall plainly state the places between which telecommunications service will be rendered and shall also state separately all charges and all privileges or facilities granted or allowed and any rules or regulations or forms of contract which may in any wise change, affect or determine any or the aggregate of the rates, rentals or charges for the service rendered. Such schedule shall be plainly printed and kept open to public inspection. The commission shall have the power to prescribe the form of every such schedule and may from time to time prescribe, by order, changes in the form thereof. The commission shall also have power to establish rules and regulations for keeping such schedules open to public inspection and may from time to time modify the same. Every telecommunications company shall file with the commission as and when required by it a copy of any contract, agreement or arrangement in writing with any other telecommunications company or with any other corporation, association or person relating in any way to the construction, maintenance or use of telecommunications facilities or service by or rates and charges over or upon any facilities.

2. Unless the commission otherwise orders, and [until September 30, 1996,] except for the rates charged by a telephone cooperative for providing telecommunications service within an exchange or within a local calling scope as determined by the commission other than the rates for exchange access service, no change shall be made in any rate, charge or rental, or joint rate, charge or rental which shall have been filed by a telecommunications company in compliance with the requirements of sections 392.190 to 392.530, except after thirty days notice to the commission, which notice shall plainly state the changes proposed to be made in the schedule then in force and the time when the changed rate, charge or rental shall go into effect; and all proposed changes shall be shown by filing new schedules or shall be plainly indicated upon the schedules filed and in force at the time and kept open to public inspection. The commission for good cause shown may allow changes in rates, charges or rentals without requiring the thirty days notice, under such conditions as it may prescribe. All such changes shall be immediately indicated upon its schedules by such telecommunications company. No telecommunications company shall charge, demand, collect or receive a different compensation for any service rendered or to be rendered than the charge applicable to such service as specified in its schedule on file and in effect at that time. No telecommunications company shall refund or remit directly or indirectly any portion of the rate or charge so specified, nor extend to any person or corporation any form of contract or agreement, or any rule or regulation, or any privilege or facility, except such as are specified in its schedule filed and in effect at the time and regularly and uniformly extended to all persons and corporations under like circumstances for a like or substantially similar service.

3. No telecommunications company subject to the provisions of this law shall, directly or indirectly, give any free or reduced service, or any free pass or frank for the provision of telecommunications services between points within this state, except to its officers, employees, agents, surgeons, physicians, attorneys at law and their families; to persons or corporations exclusively engaged in charitable and eleemosynary work and ministers of religions; to officers and employees of other telegraph corporations and telephone corporations, railroad corporations and street railroad corporations. This subsection shall not apply to state, municipal or federal contracts.

4. Any proposed rate or charge for any new telecommunications service which has not previously been provided by a telecommunications company to its Missouri customers may be suspended by the commission for a period not to exceed sixty days from the proposed effective date of such proposed rate or charge. This subsection shall not be applicable to any new price or method of pricing for a service presently being offered by any telecommunications company to its Missouri customers. Upon proposing a rate or charge for a telecommunications service which has not previously been provided by a telecommunications company to its Missouri customers, the offeror must file with the commission its justification for considering such offering a new service and such other information as may be required by rule or regulation, and must identify that service as being noncompetitive, transitionally competitive or competitive. If the offeror is a noncompetitive or transitionally competitive telecommunications company and it proposes such service as a transitionally competitive or competitive telecommunications service, the telecommunications service shall be treated as a transitionally competitive telecommunications service until such time as the commission finally determines the appropriate classification. If the offeror is a competitive telecommunications company and it proposes such service as a competitive service, the competitive classification proposed by the offeror of the service shall apply until such time as the commission finally determines the appropriate classification. Such final determination by the commission of the appropriate classification of such service may be made by the commission after the end of the maximum sixty-day suspension period, but any such decision by the commission issued after the maximum sixty-day suspension period shall be prospective in nature. The commission shall expedite proceedings under this subsection in order to facilitate the rapid introduction of new telecommunications products and services into the marketplace. [Until September 30, 1996, the commission shall not suspend any proposed rate or charge for any telecommunications service which a telephone cooperative proposes to provide within an exchange or within a local calling scope as determined by the commission other than charges for exchange access service.]

5. Unless the commission otherwise orders, any change in rates or charges, or change in any classification or tariff resulting in a change in rates or charges, for any telephone cooperative shall be filed, on an informational basis, with the commission at least thirty days prior to the date for implementation of such change. Provided, however, nothing contained in this section shall be construed as conferring jurisdiction upon the commission over the rates charged by a telephone cooperative for providing telecommunications service within an exchange or within a local calling scope as determined by the commission, except for exchange access service.