Chapter 135
2013 -- S 0309 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 06/24/13
A N A C T
RELATING TO
PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS - WIRELESS TELEPHONE
REGULATORY
MODERNIZATION ACT
Introduced By: Senator Roger Picard
Date Introduced: February 13, 2013
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Legislative findings.
The general assembly finds and declares that:
(1)
Wireless communications and broadband technology are economic forces that
contribute to the growth and stability of the
(2)
Policies in
wireless communications market without unreasonable,
industry-specific regulation as the best
means of promoting universal service, economic efficiency,
technological innovation, expanded
consumer choice and empowerment, and investment in and
deployment of advanced
communications services in the state; and
(3)
Stating such policies in statute will provide additional certainty and
continuity of this
policy and is necessary to attract new investment in
wireless, broadband and other advanced
networks, encourage technology deployment and promote the
creation of new jobs in Rhode
Island, while at the same time
ensuring that consumers of wireless service continue to benefit
from the consumer protection laws that apply to consumers
generally; and
(4)
The great majority of other states have already enshrined similar policies in
statute;
and
(5)
nation, with over ninety-nine percent (99%) of residents
having access to three (3) or more
wireless providers; and
(6)
Countless other industries, trades, and businesses in
open and competitive wireless market; and
(7)
A leading-edge wireless industry with investments in up-to-date technology is a
competitive advantage for
(8)
The interstate, and often international, nature of the wireless communication
industry
makes a state-by-state regulatory approach problematic and
may limit access and increase costs
for consumers.
SECTION 2. Section 39-1-2 of the General Laws in Chapter
39-1 entitled "Public
Utilities Commission"
is hereby amended to read as follows:
39-1-2.
Definitions. -- Terms used in this title shall be
construed as follows, unless
another meaning is expressed or is clearly apparent from the
language or context:
(1)
"Administrator" means the administrator of the division of public
utilities and
carriers;
(2) "Airport"
and "landing field" mean and include all airports and landing fields
other
than those owned by the state;
(3) "Chairperson"
means the chairperson of the public utilities commission;
(4) "Charter
carrier" means and includes all carriers for hire or compensation within
this
state not included in the definition of common carrier;
(5)
"Commission" means the public utilities commission;
(6)
"Commissioner" means a member of the public utilities commission;
(7) "Common
carrier", except when used in chapters 12, 13, and 14 of this title, means
and includes all carriers for hire or compensation
including railroads, street railways, express,
freight and freight line companies, dining car companies,
steam boat, motor boat, power boat,
hydrofoil, and ferry companies and all other companies
operating any agency or facility for
public use in this conveyance over fixed routes, or between
fixed termini within this state or
persons or property by or by a combination of land, air, or
water;
(8) "Company"
means and includes a person, firm, partnership, corporation, quasi-
municipal corporation, association, joint stock association or
company, and his, her, its, or their
lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court;
(9)
"Customer" means a company taking service from an electric
distribution company at
a single point of delivery or meter location;
(10) "Distribution
facility" means plant or equipment used for the distribution of
electricity and which is not a transmission facility;
(11)
"Division" means the division of public utilities and carriers;
(12) "Electric distribution company" means a company engaging in the
distribution of
electricity or owning, operating, or controlling distribution
facilities and shall be a public utility
pursuant to section 39-1-2(20);
(13) "Electric transmission company" means a company engaging in the
transmission of
electricity or owning, operating, or controlling transmission
facilities. An electric transmission
company shall not be subject to regulation as a public
utility except as specifically provided in the
general laws, but shall be regulated by the federal energy
regulatory commission and shall
provide transmission service to all nonregulated
power producers and customers, whether
affiliated or not, on comparable, nondiscriminatory prices and
terms. Electric transmission
companies shall have the power of eminent domain exercisable
following a petition to the
commission pursuant to section 39-1-31;
(14) "Liquefied
natural gas" means a fluid in the liquid state composed predominantly of
methane and which may contain minor quantities of ethane,
propane, nitrogen, or other
components normally found in natural gas;
(15)
"Manufacturing customers" means all
customers that have on file with an electric
distribution company a valid certificate of exemption from the
the customer's status as a manufacturer pursuant to
section44-18-30;
(16) "Motor
carriers" means any carrier regulated by the administrator pursuant to
Chapters 3, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of this title;
(17) "Natural
gas" means the combustible gaseous mixture of low-molecular-weight,
paraffin hydrocarbons, generated below the surface of the
earth containing mostly methane and
ethane with small amounts of propane, butane, and
hydrocarbons, and sometimes nitrogen,
carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and helium;
(18) "Nonprofit
housing development corporation" means a
nonprofit corporation, which
has been approved as a section501(c)(3), 26 U.S.C. section501(c)(3),
corporation by the internal
revenue service, and which is organized and operated
primarily for the purpose of providing
housing for low and moderate income persons;
(19) "Nonregulated power producer" means a company engaging
in the business of
producing, manufacturing, generating, buying, aggregating,
marketing or brokering electricity for
sale at wholesale or for retail sale to the public;
provided however, that companies which
negotiate the purchase of electric generation services on
behalf of customers and do not engage in
the purchase and resale of electric generation services
shall be excluded from this definition. A
nonregulated power producer shall not be subject to regulation as
a public utility except as
specifically provided in the general laws;
(20) "Public
utility" means and includes every company that is an electric distribution
company and every company operating or doing business in
intrastate commerce and in this state
as a railroad, street railway, common carrier, gas,
liquefied natural gas, water, telephone,
telegraph, and pipeline company, and every company owning,
leasing, maintaining, managing, or
controlling any plant or equipment or any part of any plant or
equipment within this state for
manufacturing, producing, transmitting, distributing, delivering,
or furnishing natural or
manufactured gas, directly or indirectly to or for the public, or
any cars or equipment employed
on or in connection with any railroad or street railway
for public or general use within this state,
or any pipes, mains, poles, wires, conduits, fixtures,
through, over, across, under, or along any
public highways, parkways or streets, public lands, waters,
or parks for the transmission,
transportation, or distribution of gas for sale to the public for
light, heat, cooling, or power for
providing audio or visual telephonic or telegraphic
communication service within this state or any
pond, lake, reservoir, stream, well, or distributing plant
or system employed for the distribution of
water to the consuming public within this state including
the water supply board of the city of
public laws, 1933, as amended, this definition shall not be
construed to apply to any public
waterworks or water service owned and furnished by any city,
town, water district, fire district, or
any other municipal or quasi-municipal corporation,
excepting the water supply board of the city
of
corporation obtains water from a source owned or leased by the
water resources board, either
directly or indirectly, or obtains a loan from the board
pursuant to the provisions of chapter 15 of
title 46, or sells water, on a wholesale or retail basis,
inside and outside the territorial limits of the
city or town, water district, fire district, municipal or
quasi-municipal corporation, except,
however, that a public waterworks or water service owned and
furnished by any city, town, water
district, fire district, or any other municipal or
quasi-municipal corporation which sells water, on
a wholesale or retail basis, inside and outside its
territorial limits shall not be construed as a
public utility if it has fewer than one-thousand five
hundred (1500) total customer service
connections and provided outside sales do not exceed ten percent
(10%) of the total water service
connections or volumetric sales and provided the price charged to
outside customers, per unit of
water, is not greater than the price charged to inside
customers for the same unit of water, nor to
the
or water by
North Kingstown; and the term "public
utility" shall also mean and include the
water quality management district commission; and provided
that the ownership or operation of a
facility by a company which dispenses alternative fuel or
energy sources at retail for use as a
motor vehicle fuel or energy source, and the dispensing of
alternative fuel or energy sources at
retail from such a facility, does not make the company a
public utility within the meaning of this
title solely because of that ownership, operation, or sale;
and provided further that this exemption
shall not apply to presently regulated public utilities
which sell natural gas or are dispensers of
other energy sources; and provided further, that the term
"public utility" shall not include any
company;
(i)
Producing or distributing steam or heat from a fossil fuel fired cogeneration
plant
located at the university of Rhode Island South Kingstown,
Rhode Island and;
(ii) Producing and/or
distributing thermal energy and/or electricity to a state owned
facility from a plant located on an adjacent site regardless
of whether steam lines cross a public
highway; and
(iii) Providing
wireless service.
(21) "Purchasing
cooperatives" shall mean any association of electricity consumers
which join for the purpose of negotiating the purchase of
power from a nonregulated power
producer, provided however, that purchasing cooperatives shall
not be required to be legal entities
and are prohibited from being engaged in the re-sale of
electric power;
(22)
"Railroad" means and includes every railroad other than a street
railway, by
whatsoever power operated for public use in the conveyance in
this state of persons or property
for compensation, with all bridges, ferries, tunnels,
switches, spurs, tracks, stations, wharves, and
terminal facilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled,
leased, or owned by or in connection
with any railroad;
(23) "Retail
access" means the use of transmission and distribution facilities owned by
an electric transmission company or an electric
distribution company to transport electricity sold
by a nonregulated power
producer to retail customers pursuant to section39-1-27.3;
(24) "Street
railway" means and includes every railway by whatsoever power operated or
any extension or extensions, branch, or branches thereof,
for public use in the conveyance in this
state of persons or property for compensation, being mainly
upon, along, above, or below any
street, avenue, road, highway, bridge, or public place in
any city or town, and including all
switches, spurs, tracks, rights of trackage,
subways, tunnels, stations, terminals and terminal
facilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled, or owned
by or in connection with any street
railway;
(25) "Transmission
facility" means plant or equipment used for the transmission of
electricity as determined by the federal energy regulatory
commission pursuant to federal law as
of the date of the property transfers pursuant to
section39-1-27(c);
(26) Notwithstanding
any provision of this section or any provision of the act entitled,
"An Act Relating to the Utility Restructuring Act
of 1996" (hereinafter "Utility Restructuring
Act"), upon request by the affected electric
utility, the commission may exempt from the Utility
Restructuring Act or any provision(s) thereof, an
electric utility which meets the following
requirements: (i) the utility is not
selling or distributing electricity outside of the service territory
in effect for that utility on the date of passage of the
Utility Restructuring Act; and (ii) the number
of kilowatt hours sold or distributed annually by the
utility to the public is less than five percent
(5%) of the total kilowatt hours
consumed annually by the state.
Provided however that nothing
contained in this section shall prevent the commission from allowing
competition in the
generation of electricity in service territories of utilities
exempted in whole or in part from the
Utility Restructuring Act pursuant to this section, as
long as such allowance of competition is
conditioned upon payment to the exempted electric utility of a nonbypassable transition charge
calculated to recover the elements comparable in nature to the
elements in section39-1-27.4(b)
and (c) taking into consideration any unique
circumstances applicable to the exempted electric
utility.
(27) "Wireless
service" means communication services provided over spectrum licensed
by or subject to the jurisdiction of the federal
communications commission.
SECTION 3. Title 39 of the General Laws entitled
"PUBLIC UTILITIES AND
CARRIERS" is hereby
amended by adding thereto the following chapter:
CHAPTER
29
WIRELESS
TELEPHONE REGULATORY MODERNIZATION ACT
39-29-1.
Jurisdiction over wireless service. Notwithstanding
any general or public
law to the contrary, the commission and the division
shall have no jurisdiction or authority over
wireless service.
39-29-2.
Authority unaffected. Nothing in this chapter
shall be construed to modify or
affect the jurisdiction or authority of the commission or
the division over exchange access rates or
the rights or obligations of any carrier pursuant to 47
U.S.C. section 251 or 47 U.S.C. section 252.
Nor shall this chapter be construed to modify or
affect the authority of the commission to
designate eligible telecommunications carriers pursuant to
federal law.
39-29-3.
Residential local exchange service. Nothing
in this chapter shall be construed
to modify the jurisdiction or authority of the
commission or the division over standalone
residential local exchange service, meaning residential service
that only provides access to E911
and voice telephone calling wholly within a local service
calling area on a measured or unlimited
service basis.
39-29-4.
Consumer protection. Nothing in this chapter
shall derogate from or be
construed as a limitation on the common law or statutory
authority of the attorney general to
enforce consumer protection or unfair or deceptive trade
practice statutes and regulations.
39-29-5. Unaffected fees. Nothing in this chapter shall
be construed to affect, mandate,
or prohibit the assessment of nondiscriminatory enhanced
911 fees, telecommunications
education access fund fees, or telecommunications relay service
fees.
39-29-6.
No effect on tax obligations. Nothing in this
chapter shall be construed to
modify or affect any tax obligations imposed by section
44-13-4.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC00946/SUB A
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