Minnesota Session Laws - 1997, Regular Session

                             CHAPTER 59-H.F.No. 211 
                  An act relating to telecommunications; authorizing the 
                  installation of extended area service within combined 
                  school districts. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  [COMBINED SCHOOL DISTRICTS; EXTENDED AREA 
        SERVICE.] 
           Subdivision 1.  [AUTHORIZATION.] In order to facilitate 
        communication among school district and charter school parents, 
        teachers, students, and school administrators in the geographic 
        region of combined school districts, an organization of 
        telephone customers residing within school districts combined 
        under Minnesota Statutes, section 122.22, 122.23 or 122.241, or 
        the school district administration itself, may petition the 
        public utilities commission to install extended area service 
        within the combined school district.  
           Subd. 2.  [PETITION.] (a) The petition must be on a form 
        supplied by the commission and include:  
           (1) the name of each exchange that would be included in the 
        extended area, the principal city in each exchange, and the name 
        of each telephone company serving each exchange; 
           (2) the name, address, and telephone number of each person 
        signing the petition; 
           (3) a statement that the signing customers desire to have 
        extended area service installed within the combined school 
        district; and 
           (4) the name, address, and telephone number of the person 
        representing the petitioners to whom correspondence and the 
        commission's order may be sent.  
           (b) A copy of the petition must be served on each telephone 
        company serving each of the local telephone exchanges identified 
        in the petition.  The petition must be signed by 15 percent or 
        more of the customers of each local telephone exchange that 
        would be included in the extended area, or 600 customers of each 
        of those local telephone exchanges, whichever is less.  There 
        must be only one signature per billing number.  For a business 
        customer favoring extended area service, a duly authorized agent 
        or representative shall sign the petition.  The sponsor of the 
        petition shall certify that the signatures on the petition are 
        valid.  The petition must be kept on file and made available to 
        the public at the commission and in the local exchange office of 
        the telephone companies.  Anyone who wishes to challenge the 
        validity of signatures on the petition shall file a written 
        protest, identifying the grounds for the protest, with the 
        commission within 30 days of service of the petition.  Copies of 
        the protest must be sent to the petition sponsor and to the 
        telephone companies.  The commission and the telephone companies 
        shall use customer billing records to check the validity of the 
        signatures.  
           Subd. 3.  [CRITERIA.] The commission shall grant a petition 
        under subdivision 1 when each of the following criteria has been 
        met:  
           (1) a majority of the customers in each of the local 
        telephone exchanges identified in the petition favor extended 
        area service installation; 
           (2) at least ten percent of the customers of each local 
        telephone exchange identified in the petition are also residents 
        of the combined school district; and 
           (3) each local telephone exchange identified in the 
        petition is contiguous to another exchange identified in the 
        petition.  
           Subd. 4.  [TRAFFIC STUDY.] The commission shall order a 
        telephone traffic study between the exchanges identified in the 
        petition to be conducted, unless other, equally reliable traffic 
        study data is presently available.  
           Subd. 5.  [BASIS OF RATES; COSTS.] For a proposal to 
        install extended area service under this section, proposed rates 
        must be based on specific additional cost incurred, operating 
        expenses, actual cost for new facilities constructed 
        specifically to provide for extended area service, net book 
        value of existing facilities transferred from another service to 
        extended area service, and appropriate contributions to common 
        overheads.  
           Subd. 6.  [RATES.] The costs of providing extended area 
        service under this section must be apportioned equally among the 
        exchanges identified in the petition.  The costs must be 
        apportioned among the customers in each exchange so that the 
        relationship between the rates for classes of basic local 
        service remains the same.  The commission shall establish rates 
        that are income neutral for each affected telephone company at 
        the time at which the commission determines the extended area 
        service rates. 
           Subd. 7.  [LATA BOUNDARIES.] When the commission has 
        determined that a petition for extended area service should be 
        granted under this section, but the inclusion of a local 
        telephone exchange would place a telephone company in violation 
        of the federal prohibition on providing telephone service across 
        a local access and transport area (LATA) line, as defined in 
        Minnesota Statutes, section 237.57, subdivision 5, the 
        commission shall order the affected telephone company to seek a 
        waiver of the prohibition on providing service across the LATA 
        line to the extent necessary to include the exchange in the 
        extended service area. 
           Sec.  2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
           Section 1 is effective on the day following final enactment 
        and expires June 30, 2000.  An extended service area installed 
        under section 1 does not terminate with the expiration of that 
        section. 
           Presented to the governor April 24, 1997 
           Signed by the governor April 28, 1997, 10:40 a.m.