I

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4801

To ensure the restoration and preservation of State authority over intrastate

telecommunications.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 10, 1998

Mr. TAUZIN (for himself, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr.

ROGAN, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. KLINK, Mr. HASTERT, Mr.

WYNN, and Mr. BURR of North Carolina) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To ensure the restoration and preservation of State authority

over intrastate telecommunications.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘InterLATA Commu5 nication Improvements Act of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. STATE INTERSTATE COMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY.

7 (a) DIVISION OF AUTHORITY FOR INTERSTATE AND

8 INTRASTATE SERVICES.—Section 271(b)(1) of the Com9 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 271(b)) is amended
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1 by striking ‘‘if the Commission approves’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘if the Commission, with respect to interstate interLATA

3 services, or the State, with respect to intrastate

4 interLATA services, approves’’.

5 (b) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.—Section 271(d)

6 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 271(d))

7 is amended—

8 (1) in paragraph (1)—

9 (A) in the heading of paragraph (1), by

10 striking ‘‘TO COMMISSION’’;

11 (B) by striking ‘‘apply to the Commission

12 for authorization’’ and inserting ‘‘apply to the

13 Commission, with respect to interstate

14 interLATA services, or to the State, with re15 spect to intrastate interLATA services, for au16 thorization’’; and

17 (C) by striking the last sentence and in18 serting the following: ‘‘With respect to inter19 state interLATA services, the application shall

20 identify the originating State for which author21 ization is sought.’’;

22 (2) in the first sentence of paragraph (2)(A), by

23 inserting ‘‘ with respect to interstate interLATA

24 services’’ after ‘‘under paragraph (1)’’;

25 (3) in paragraph (2)(B)—
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1 (A) by inserting ‘‘on an application with

2 respect to interstate interLATA services’’ after

3 ‘‘determination under this subsection’’; and

4 (B) by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘The Commission shall affirm the evaluation of

6 the State concerning such compliance, unless

7 the Commission determines by clear and con8 vincing evidence that the State evaluation was

9 clearly erroneous in any material respect.’’; and

10 (4) by striking paragraphs (3) through (6) and

11 inserting the following:

12 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATION.—

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90

14 days after receiving an application under para15 graph (1), the Commission, with respect to

16 interstate interLATA service, and the State,

17 with respect to intrastate interLATA service,

18 shall issue a written determination approving or

19 denying the authorization requested in the ap20 plication. The Commission, with respect to

21 interstate interLATA service, and a State, with

22 respect to intrastate interLATA service, shall

23 approve the authorization requested in an appli24 cation submitted under paragraph (1) if it finds

25 that—
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1 ‘‘(i)(I) with respect to interstate

2 interLATA service, the Bell operating com3 pany’s compliance with subsection (c) has

4 been verified pursuant to subsection

5 (d)(2)(B); or

6 ‘‘(II) with respect to intrastate

7 interLATA service, the State has deter8 mined that the company is in compliance

9 with subsection (c); and

10 ‘‘(ii) the requested authorization is

11 consistent with the public interest, conven12 ience, and necessity.

13 ‘‘(B) RULE FOR DETERMINING PUBLIC IN14 TEREST.—On or after February 8, 1999, a de15 termination—

16 ‘‘(i) by the Commission, with respect

17 to interstate interLATA service, that a

18 Bell operating company is in compliance

19 with subparagraph (A)(i)(I); or

20 ‘‘(ii) a State, with respect to intra21 state interLATA service, that a Bell oper22 ating company is in compliance with sub23 paragraph (A)(i)(I);

24 shall be deemed to be in full satisfaction of the

25 public interest, convenience, and necessity re-
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1 quirements of subparagraph (A)(ii) and section

2 214 of the Act.

3 ‘‘(C) STATEMENT OF BASIS AND WRITTEN

4 DETERMINATION.—The Commission, with re5 spect to interstate interLATA service, or a

6 State, with respect to intrastate interLATA

7 service, shall state the basis for its approval or

8 denial of the application. Each such approval or

9 denial shall include a written determination by

10 the Commission or State indicating whether the

11 Bell operating company has complied with each

12 item of the competitive checklist and whether

13 such Bell operating company application has

14 been determined to be in the public interest,

15 convenience, and necessity.

16 ‘‘(4) SEPARATE AFFILIATE; SAFEGUARDS COM17 PLIANCE.—The Commission, with respect to inter18 state interLATA service, shall not approve the re19 quested authorization unless it determines that such

20 requested authorization will be carried out in accord21 ance with section 272. In its written determination

22 approving or denying the requested authorization,

23 the Commission shall indicate whether it has deter24 mined the Bell operating company to be in compli25 ance with section 272.
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1 ‘‘(5) APPROVAL.—If a State fails to approve or

2 disapprove an application within the 90-day period

3 specified in paragraph (3), such application shall be

4 deemed approved.

5 ‘‘(6) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Not later than 30

6 days after an approval pursuant to paragraph (5),

7 any aggrieved party may bring an action in an ap8 propriate Federal district court. The court shall

9 enter a judgment either affirming or reversing any

10 paragraph (5) approval. The court shall affirm such

11 approval unless such aggrieved party has dem12 onstrated by clear and convincing evidence that such

13 Bell operating company has not met the require14 ments of subsection (c)(2) with respect to the sub15 ject application.

16 ‘‘(7) LIMITATION ON COMMISSION AND

17 STATE.—Neither the Commission nor any State

18 may, by rule or otherwise, limit or extend the terms

19 used in the competitive checklist set forth in sub20 section (c)(2)(B).

21 ‘‘(8) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 10 days

22 after issuing a determination under paragraph (3)—

23 ‘‘(A) the Commission, with respect to

24 interstate interLATA service, shall publish in
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1 the Federal Register a brief description of its

2 determination; and

3 ‘‘(B) the State, with respect to intrastate

4 interLATA service, shall make public, in a

5 manner consistent with applicable State law, its

6 determination accompanied by a brief descrip7 tion of such determination.

8 ‘‘(9) ENFORCEMENT OF CONDITIONS.—

9 ‘‘(A) COMMISSION AND STATE AUTHOR10 ITY.—If, at any time after the approval of an

11 application under paragraph (3), the Commis12 sion, with respect to interstate interLATA serv13 ice, or a State, with respect to intrastate

14 interLATA service, determines that a Bell oper15 ating company has ceased to meet any of the

16 conditions required for such approval, after no17 tice and opportunity for a hearing—

18 ‘‘(i) the Commission or State, as the

19 case may be, may issue an order to such

20 company to correct the deficiency;

21 ‘‘(ii)(I) the Commission may impose a

22 penalty on such company pursuant to title

23 V;

24 ‘‘(II) the State may impose any pen25 alty permitted by State law; or
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1 ‘‘(iii) the Commission or State, as the

2 case may be, may suspend or revoke such

3 approval.

4 ‘‘(B) RECEIPT AND REVIEW OF COM5 PLAINTS.—The Commission with respect to

6 interstate interLATA service, and the State,

7 with respect to intrastate interLATA service,

8 shall establish procedures for the review of com9 plaints concerning the failure by a Bell operat10 ing company to meet conditions required for ap11 proval under paragraph (3). Unless the parties

12 otherwise agree, the Commission shall act on

13 each such complaint within 90 days.

14 SEC. 3. PRESENCE OF COMPETITOR.

15 (a) SIMPLIFICATION OF COMPETITOR PRESENCE

16 TEST.—Paragraph (1) of section 271(c) of the Commu17 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 271(c)(1)) is amended

18 to read as follows:

19 ‘‘(1) ACCESS OR STATEMENT.—A Bell operat20 ing company shall be deemed to have met the re21 quirements of this paragraph on and after February

22 8, 1999. Prior to that date, a Bell operating com23 pany meets the requirements of this paragraph if—

24 ‘‘(A) the Bell operating company is provid25 ing access and interconnection to its network
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1 facilities for the network facilities of one or

2 more unaffiliated competing providers of tele3 phone exchange service (as defined in section

4 3(47)(A), but excluding exchange access) to

5 residential and business subscribers; or

6 ‘‘(B) a statement of the terms and condi7 tions that the company generally offers to pro8 vide such access and interconnection has been

9 approved or permitted to take effect by the

10 State commission under section 252(f).’’.

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 271(c)(2)

12 is amended—

13 (1) by striking the heading of subparagraph (A)

14 and inserting ‘‘ACCESS OR STATEMENT REQUIRED’’;

15 and

16 (2) in subparagraph (A)(i)(I), by striking ‘‘pur17 suant to one or more agreements’’ and inserting

18 ‘‘as’’.

19 SEC. 4. RESALE.

20 Section 271(b) of the Communications Act of 1934

21 (47 U.S.C. 271(b)) is amended by adding at the end the

22 following:

23 ‘‘(5) RESALE.—On or after February 8, 1999,

24 a Bell operating company may provide interstate

25 and intrastate interLATA services originating in any
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1 State through the purchase and resale of tele2 communications services obtained from a person who

3 is not affiliated with such Bell operating company.’’

4 SEC. 5. INCIDENTAL INTERLATA SERVICES.

5 (a) DATA COMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNATIONAL

6 SERVICES.—Section 271(g) of the Communications Act of

7 1934 (47 U.S.C. 271(g)) is amended—

8 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph

9 (5);

10 (2) by striking the period at the end of para11 graph (6) and inserting a semicolon; and

12 (3) by adding at the end thereof the following:

13 ‘‘(7) of data communication; and

14 ‘‘(8) of any international telecommunications or

15 information service.’’.

16 (b) DEFINITION OF DATA SERVICES.—Section 271(i)

17 of the Communications Act of 1934 is amended by adding

18 at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(4) DATA COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘data

20 communication’ means the transmission of writing,

21 signs, signals, pictures, and sounds of all kinds by

22 aid of wire, cable, radio, or other like connection be23 tween the points of origin and reception of such

24 transmission, including the instrumentalities, facili25 ties, apparatus, and services (among other things,
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1 the receipt, forwarding, and delivery of communica2 tions) incidental to such transmission, except for 2-

3 way voice conversations.’’.

4 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

5 272(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47

6 U.S.C. 272(a)(2)(B)(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘(1), (2),

7 (3), (5), and (6)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) through (8)’’.

8 SEC. 6. REVISION OF COMMISSION REGULATIONS.

9 The Federal Communications Commission shall re10 vise its regulations to clarify that Internet traffic carried

11 by local exchange carriers is interstate in nature for pur12 poses of the reciprocal compensation provisions of section

13 251(b)(5) of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C.

14 251(b)(5)).

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