Opinion ID: 1560388
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Whether the Public Service Commission erred in holding it retained regulatory authority over switched access and single-line flat rate voice communication services.

Text: ¶ 9. AT & T first argues the PSC lacked authority to deny its requested rate change because of amendments to Mississippi Code Section 77-3-35. The authority the PSC previously had to determine whether or not a requested rate increase was just and reasonable was removed by the amendments, according to AT & T. ¶ 10. The authority of the PSC to regulate the rates charged by telecommunications providers springs from Mississippi Code Section 77-3-33: (1) No rate made, deposit or service charge demanded or received by any public utility shall exceed that which is just and reasonable. Such public utility, the rates of which are subject to regulation under the provisions of this article, may demand, collect and receive fair, just and reasonable rates for the services rendered or to be rendered by it to any person. Rates prescribed by the commission shall be such as to yield a fair rate of return to the utility furnishing service, upon the reasonable value of the property of the utility used or useful in furnishing service. Miss.Code Ann. § 77-3-33 (Rev.2000). ¶ 11. The full text of the disputed portion of statute, Mississippi Code Section 77-3-35, as amended in 2006, which provides for regulation of switched access service and single-line flat rate voice communication service, reads: (4)(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article or any other statute to the contrary, and consistent with the provisions herein, for those public utilities of the type defined in Section 77-3-3(d)(iii) that are subject to the competitive requirements set forth in 47 USCS Section 251 or those public utilities that have waived a suspension granted by the commission of the requirements of 47 USCS Section 251(b) and (c) as authorized by 47 USCS Section 251(f)(2), the Legislature has determined that, in the provision of all services other than switched access service and single-line flat rate voice communication service, competition or other market forces adequately protect the public interest. Therefore, the commission is only authorized to regulate the rates, terms and conditions of switched access service and single-line flat rate voice communication service within a traditional local calling area, with access to 911, with touch tone dialing and with access to long distance, so long as such single-line flat rate service is not combined with any other service, feature or product. The retail rates for such single-line flat rate voice communication service beginning January 1, 2007, and every succeeding January 1 may only be increased during the calendar year by an amount that does not exceed the rates for such service on January 1 of the previous year, plus the increase in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers as reported by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Miss.Code Ann. § 77-3-35 (Supp.2008)(emphasis added.) ¶ 12. AT & T's first argument requires this Court to determine the meaning of this particular amended statute and its impact upon the PSC's regulatory functions and authority. AT & T argues the amended statute limits the PSC to the ministerial act of determining whether or not a requested rate increase complies with the statutory cap. If so, AT & T argues, the PSC lacks the discretion to deny the increase. The PSC disagrees, stating it has retained all its prior authority to regulate the statutorily designated types of telecommunication services. ¶ 13. An agency's interpretation of its enabling statutes is to be accorded deference, so long as that interpretation is not contrary to the plain statutory language. Gill v. Mississippi Dep't of Wildlife Conservation, 574 So.2d 586, 593 (Miss.1990). See also Sherman v. Mississippi Employment Sec. Comm'n, 989 So.2d 398, 400 (Miss.2008). ¶ 14. A reading of the statute shows it is unambiguous in both its wording and effect, particularly when read in pari materia with other relevant statutes. Section 77-3-33 specifically grants the PSC authority to regulate telecommunications rates, including fulfilling the obligation of determining whether proposed rate increases are fair and just. The amended Section 77-3-35 merely limits that duty to two particular types of service, the legislature having decided all other types of service have sufficient market and/or competitive forces at work to safeguard the public interest. ¶ 15. By its very terms, the statute's revocation of regulatory authority does not apply to switched access service and single-line flat rate voice communication service. To the contrary, the statute specifically reserves to the PSC regulatory authority over those two types of service. Nothing in the statute, either implicitly or explicitly, limits the PSC's regulatory function to mere ministerial approval or disapproval after doing the math, and the PSC's interpretation is reasonable and appropriate. ¶ 16. The cap on the limit of annual increases reads as exactly that: a cap on the amount retail rates for the two particular services may be increased in a given year. AT & T argues the reservation of regulatory authority sentence in the statute (therefore, the commission is only authorized to regulate ...) is a general statement followed by a specific sentence (the retail rates for such single-line flat rate voice communication ...) such that the specific sentence takes priority and is controlling. AT & T cites McCrory v. State, 210 So.2d 877 (Miss.1968) for this proposition. However, this rule of construction only applies when there is a conflict or overlap between different code sections. See Harrison v. State, 800 So.2d 1134, 1137 (Miss.2001) (This Court has also recognized that in resolving the conflict of specific versus general statutory provisions: To the extent that two constitutional or statutory provisions overlap or conflict, specific provisions control over general provisions.) (internal quotation marks omitted). [2] ¶ 17. The sentences are neither overlapping nor conflicting. The former reserves authority for regulation, the latter provides a rule of law for use in conjunction with that regulation. When the language used by the Legislature is plain and unambiguous and the statute conveys a clear and definite meaning, as here, the Court will have no occasion to resort to the rules of statutory interpretation. Marx v. Broom, 632 So.2d 1315, 1318 (Miss.1994). ¶ 18. Whether one chooses to view this provision as a cap on the amount a telecommunications provider may request or a cap on the amount the PSC may approve, nothing in the language appears to eliminate the regulatory requirement that the amount, whether it is at or below the maximum permitted, still be just and reasonable. The PSC retains authority to make the just and reasonable determination for requested rate increases for the designated services.