STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5590--A
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
June 3, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sen. MAZIARZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommuni-
cations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to implementing a
new framework for the regulation of telecommunications and cable
services
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "Telecommunications modernization act of 2012".
3 § 2. Section 5 of the public service law is amended by adding four new
4 subdivisions 7, 8, 9 and 10 to read as follows:
5 7. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no provision of this
6 chapter, and no regulation, order or settlement adopted pursuant to this
7 chapter, shall apply to any telephone corporation in any wire center in
8 which the corporation certifies to the commission there are at least two
9 providers offering voice services to retail residential customers using
10 any technology, including but not limited to providers of commercial
11 mobile services as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 332(d) and providers of Voice
12 over Internet Protocol service; provided, however, that nothing in this
13 section shall be interpreted to grant the commission any authority that
14 it did not have prior to the effective date of this subdivision; and
15 provided further that nothing in this section affects the applicability,
16 implementation, or enforcement in such areas of:
17 (a) the rights or obligations of any cable television companies with
18 respect to their operation of any cable television system under article
19 eleven of this chapter;
20 (b) any duties imposed upon the commission by the federal law;
21 (c) any entity's rights, duties or obligations under 47 U.S.C. §§ 251
22 and 252;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11933-02-1
S. 5590--A 2
1 (d) requirements relating to the level of intrastate switched access
2 rates charged by a local exchange telecommunications company;
3 (e) requirements related to telephone relay service or emergency call-
4 ing (911/E911) service;
5 (f) requirements related to changes in a customer's service provider
6 without the customer's consent;
7 (g) requirements related to telephone relay service;
8 (h) requirements related to the offering of Lifeline service at a
9 discount, provided further that any technology may be used to satisfy
10 Lifeline obligations without otherwise subjecting Lifeline services to
11 any greater regulation than non-Lifeline services provided using that
12 technology;
13 (i) consumer protection and unfair or deceptive trade practices laws
14 that apply generally to the conduct of business in the state; or
15 (j) the corporation's status and rights as a telephone corporation
16 under the transportation corporations law.
17 8. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no provision of this
18 chapter, and no regulation, order or settlement adopted pursuant to this
19 chapter, shall apply to any telephone corporation in any wire center not
20 covered by subdivision seven of this section; provided, however, that
21 nothing in this section shall be interpreted to grant the commission any
22 authority that it did not have prior to the effective date of this
23 subdivision; and provided further that nothing in this section affects
24 the applicability, implementation, or enforcement in such areas of:
25 (a) the rights, obligations, duties, and requirements that are
26 referred to in paragraphs (a) through (j) of subdivision seven of this
27 section; or
28 (b) any requirement that the corporation provide a stand alone offer-
29 ing of a basic local exchange access line plus local usage to residen-
30 tial customers in the wire center on reasonable terms and conditions.
31 9. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission shall
32 have no authority over any service, class of services, or technology
33 offered or used by a telephone corporation as defined in section two of
34 this article, or by a cable television company under section two hundred
35 twelve of this chapter, or any other provider of voice communication or
36 video programming distribution services, that it did not actively regu-
37 late as of January first, two thousand twelve. The commission shall have
38 no authority to prohibit, require or otherwise direct any entity's
39 choice of technology for any purpose.
40 10. The commission shall have no authority to require any telephone
41 corporation to use, or to prohibit such corporation from using, any
42 particular transport, distribution, switching, or other technology for
43 the provision of its services. The selection of appropriate network
44 technologies shall lie solely within the discretion of the telephone
45 corporation.
46 § 3. Section 2 of the public service law is amended by adding two new
47 subdivisions 19-a and 19-b to read as follows:
48 19-a. The term "Voice over Internet Protocol service" or "VoIP
49 service" when used in this chapter means any service that: (a) enables
50 real-time two-way voice communications that originate from or terminate
51 to the user's location in Internet Protocol (IP) or any successor proto-
52 col; (b) uses a broadband connection from the user's location; and (c)
53 permits users generally to receive calls that originate on the public
54 switched telephone network and to terminate calls to the public switched
55 telephone network.
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1 19-b. The term "Internet protocol-enabled service" or "IP-enabled
2 service" when used in this chapter means, except as provided in the
3 definition of "Voice-over-Internet Protocol service" in subdivision
4 nineteen-a of this section any service, capability, functionality, or
5 application provided using Internet Protocol (IP), or any successor
6 protocol, that enables an end user to send or receive a communication in
7 IP format, or any successor format, regardless of whether the communi-
8 cation is voice, data or video.
9 § 4. Paragraph d of subdivision 1 of section 5 of the public service
10 law, as amended by chapter 155 of the laws of 1970, is amended to read
11 as follows:
12 d. To every telephone line which lies wholly within the state and that
13 part within the state of New York of every telephone line which lies
14 partly within and partly without the state and to the persons or corpo-
15 rations owning, leasing or operating any such telephone line. Notwith-
16 standing any other provision of law to the contrary, neither the commis-
17 sion, the department, nor any other department or agency of this state,
18 or any political subdivision thereof, shall have authority to regulate
19 the entry, rates or other terms of service of voice over internet proto-
20 col service or IP-enabled service. Provided, however, that nothing in
21 this section shall be construed to divest the commission of its authori-
22 ty with respect to the rates, terms or conditions of any local exchange
23 telephone service over which the commission exercised its lawful juris-
24 diction prior to January first, two thousand twelve. Provided, further,
25 that nothing in this section shall affect the authority of the state or
26 its agencies to enforce such requirements as are otherwise expressly
27 provided for by federal law, including, but not limited to, connection
28 to 911 facilities, the collection of enhanced 911 fees, telecommuni-
29 cations relay service fees, or federal universal service fund fees on
30 voice over internet protocol services that may be determined to apply,
31 or be construed to (a) modify or affect the rights, obligations or
32 authority of any entity, including but not limited to the department, to
33 act pursuant to, or enforce the provisions of 47 U.S.C. 251, 47 U.S.C.
34 252, any applicable tariff, or any state law, rule, regulation or order
35 related to wholesale rights, duties and obligations, including the
36 rights, duties, and obligations of local exchange carriers to intercon-
37 nect and exchange voice traffic; (b) modify or affect the authority of
38 the department to implement, carry out, and enforce such provisions,
39 rights, duties, obligations or tariff through arbitration proceedings or
40 other available mechanisms and procedures; or (c) affect the payment of
41 switched network access rates or other intercarrier compensation rates,
42 as applicable. Nothing herein shall be construed to affect the applica-
43 tion or enforcement of other statues or regulations that apply generally
44 to the conduct of business in the state, including consumer protection,
45 or unfair or deceptive trade practices rules of general applicability.
46 Nothing in this section shall affect the authority of the commission
47 over cable television companies or any other entity that operates a
48 cable television system pursuant to article eleven of this chapter.
49 § 5. Subdivision 1 of section 90 of the public service law, as amended
50 by chapter 414 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as follows:
51 1. The provisions of this article shall apply to communication by
52 telegraph or telephone between one point and another within the state of
53 New York and to every telegraph corporation and telephone corporation.
54 Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, neither the
55 commission, the department, nor any other department or agency of this
56 state, or any political subdivision thereof, shall have authority to
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1 regulate the entry, rates or other terms of service of voice over inter-
2 net protocol service or IP-enabled service. Provided, however, that
3 nothing in this section shall be construed to divest the commission of
4 its authority with respect to the rates, terms or conditions of any
5 local exchange telephone service over which the commission exercised its
6 lawful jurisdiction prior to January first, two thousand twelve.
7 Provided further, however, that nothing in this section shall affect the
8 authority of the state or its agencies to enforce such requirements as
9 are otherwise expressly provided for by federal law, including, but not
10 limited to, connection to 911 facilities, the collection of enhanced 911
11 fees, telecommunications relay service fees, or federal universal
12 service fund fees on voice over internet protocol services that may be
13 determined to apply, or be construed to (a) modify or affect the rights,
14 obligations or authority of any entity, including but not limited to the
15 department, to act pursuant to, or enforce the provisions of 47 U.S.C.
16 251, 47 U.S.C. 252, any applicable tariff, or any state law, rule, regu-
17 lation or order related to wholesale rights, duties and obligations,
18 including the rights, duties, and obligations of local exchange carriers
19 to interconnect and exchange voice traffic; (b) modify or affect the
20 authority of the department to implement, carry out, and enforce such
21 provisions, rights, duties, obligations or tariff through arbitration
22 proceedings or other available mechanisms and procedures; or (c) affect
23 the payment of switched network access rates or other intercarrier
24 compensation rates, as applicable. Nothing herein shall be construed to
25 affect the application or enforcement of other statutes or regulations
26 that apply generally to the conduct of business in the state, including
27 consumer protection, or unfair or deceptive trade practices rules of
28 general applicability. Nothing in this section shall affect the authori-
29 ty of the commission over cable television companies or any other entity
30 that operates a cable television system pursuant to article eleven of
31 this chapter.
32 § 6. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 92-g to
33 read as follows:
34 § 92-g. De-tariffing of retail services. 1. Notwithstanding any other
35 provision of this chapter, or any regulation or order issued by the
36 commission pursuant to this chapter, on and after the effective date of
37 this section, no telephone corporation shall be required to: (a)
38 prepare, maintain, issue, or file with the commission any tariff or
39 schedule, or statement or description of any kind, of the rates or other
40 terms and conditions of any of its retail services; or (b) provide
41 notice to or obtain approval from the commission for any offering of a
42 retail service, any discontinuation of such an offering, or any change
43 in the terms or conditions applicable to such an offering, including
44 price.
45 2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, or any regu-
46 lation or order issued by the commission pursuant to this chapter, on
47 and after the effective date of this section the commission shall have
48 no jurisdiction to impose requirements on telephone corporations relat-
49 ing to the terms and conditions, including price, on which they may
50 offer retail services.
51 3. Any tariff or schedule for retail services filed by a telephone
52 corporation prior to the effective date of this section may be withdrawn
53 at any time after such date upon ten days' notice to the commission, but
54 shall remain in effect until such withdrawal.
55 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately.
