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1995 SESSION

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HB 2290 Telephone companies; countywide local service areas.

Introduced by: William K. Barlow | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY:

Telephone companies; contiguous exchanges. Requires the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), upon the resolution of a governing body of a county for a countywide local services area, to initiate a proceeding concerning an extension or reduction of a local telephone service area to include or exclude a contiguous local exchange or exchanges. Under current law, such a proceeding can be initiated only upon the petition of five percent, but in no case less then 25, of the subscribers in an established local telephone exchange. The SCC then orders the affected company or companies to poll those subscribers whose monthly rates for telephone service would change if the proposed changes were adopted. Under this bill, the SCC is required to determine, prior to estimating the approximate rate change, which exchanges within a county have a “community of interest calling percentage” (the percentage of customers in an exchange who make one or more calls per month to another exchange within the county) that is 50 percent or greater in at least one direction to at least one other exchange within the county. The bill also provides that whenever a county's governing body passes a resolution for a countywide local service area and the poll for such services is defeated, the governing body is required to reimburse the affected company or companies for the costs of the poll. Finally, the bill requires the SCC to give the highest priority to petitions or resolutions that involve local telephone exchanges in rural areas.


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