South Carolina General Assembly
117th Session, 2007-2008

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H. 3276

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Harvin, Kennedy and Miller
Document Path: l:\council\bills\gjk\20050sd07.doc

Introduced in the House on January 17, 2007
Currently residing in the House Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry

Summary: Local exchange carriers

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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   1/17/2007  House   Introduced and read first time HJ-9
   1/17/2007  House   Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry 
                        HJ-10

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

1/17/2007

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 58-9-315 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT ALL LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIERS SHALL ENSURE THAT DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE OPERATORS HAVE ACCESS TO RECORDS OF ALL TELEPHONE NUMBERS, EXCEPT TELEPHONE NUMBERS NOT LISTED OR PUBLISHED AT CUSTOMER REQUEST, IN THE GEOGRAPHIC AREA FOR WHICH THE LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR FURNISHING DIRECTORY LISTING SERVICE, TO PROVIDE THAT LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIERS SHALL PROVIDE UPDATES TO EACH OTHER AS NEEDED IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THE COMPLETENESS OF ALL DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE INFORMATION, AND TO PROVIDE THAT FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS SECTION SHALL SUBJECT A LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIER TO SUCH CIVIL PENALTIES AS THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION SHALL PRESCRIBE.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    (A)    The General Assembly finds that:

( 1)    competition in the local exchange market in South Carolina has resulted in certain areas of the State having more than one telephone exchange service provider;

( 2)    competition in the local exchange market has resulted in consumers changing providers for their telephone exchange service;

( 3)    consumers should be afforded the ability to change providers for telephone exchange service with no disruption to their service and in a manner that is seamless and transparent to the consumers and free of confusion, delay, and interruption;

( 4)    the ability to switch providers in a seamless and transparent manner for a consumer includes having his or her name, address, and telephone number available through the directory assistance and directory listings of all carriers in the consumer's geographic service area should the consumer so desire;

( 5)    having accurate information included with and available through directory assistance and directory listing in the printed directory white pages are significant to most consumers, and in particular small business consumers;

( 6)    incomplete records reduce the usefulness of directory assistance;

( 7)    public welfare and safety require readily available and accurate access to non-emergency telephone listings of governmental offices, public safety and law enforcement offices, and hospitals;

( 8)    directory assistance is a service in which live operators, sometimes in tandem with synthesized voice generating devices, orally provide users with telephone numbers and, in some instances, addresses of individual telephone exchange service providers;

( 9)    directory assistance operators obtain the information from databases that contain the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of telephone exchange service subscribers within particular geographic areas;

(10)    for consumers to have the ability to change providers smoothly and without delay, service problems, or interruptions, providers must work together in good faith to minimize problems and to follow consistent methods for information exchange;

(11)    consumers changing local exchange service providers has resulted in consumers' listings being omitted from either directory assistance or directory listing, or both.

(B)    In order to address the concerns and problems enumerated in subsection (A), the General Assembly has determined to enact the provisions of this act.

SECTION    2.    Article 3, Chapter 9, Title 58 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 58-9-315.    All local exchange carriers shall ensure that directory assistance operators have access to records of all telephone numbers, except telephone numbers not listed or published at customer request, in the geographic area for which the local exchange carrier is responsible for furnishing directory listing service. Local exchange carriers shall provide updates to each other as needed in order to maintain the completeness of all directory assistance information as described. Failure to comply with the requirements of this section shall subject a local exchange carrier to such civil penalties as the Public Service Commission shall prescribe."

SECTION    3.    This act takes effect July 1, 2007.

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