H. B. 2382
(By Delegates Love and Kiss)
[Introduced February 7, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article two, chapter
twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the public
service commission; powers and duties of public service
commission; jurisdiction of the commission; and providing
that wireless telecommunications utilities engaged in
intrastate operation in West Virginia prior to the tenth day
of August, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, are not
required to make tariff filings with the commission.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article two, chapter twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
§24-2-1. Jurisdiction of commission; waiver of jurisdiction.
The jurisdiction of the commission shall extend to all
public utilities in this state, and shall include any utility
engaged in any of the following public services:
Common carriage of passengers or goods, whether by air,
railroad, street railroad, motor or otherwise, by express or
otherwise, by land, water or air, whether wholly or partly by
land, water or air; transportation of oil, gas or water by
pipeline; transportation of coal and its derivatives and all
mixtures and combinations thereof with other substances by
pipeline; sleeping car or parlor car services; transmission of
messages by telephone, telegraph or radio: Provided, That
wireless telecommunications utilities subject to the provisions
of this article that began intrastate operation before the tenth
day of August, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, are not
subject to tariff filing requirements; generation and
transmission of electrical energy by hydroelectric or other utilities for service to the public, whether directly or through
a distributing utility; supplying water, gas or electricity, by
municipalities or others; sewer systems servicing twenty-five or
more persons or firms other than the owner of the sewer systems;
any public service district created under the provisions of
article thirteen-a, chapter sixteen of this code; toll bridges,
wharves, ferries; solid waste facilities; and any other public
service: Provided, however, That natural gas producers who
provide natural gas service to not more than twenty-five
residential customers are exempt from the jurisdiction of the
commission with regard to the provisions of such residential
service: Provided however further, That upon request of any of
the customers of such natural gas producers, the commission may,
upon good cause being shown, exercise such authority as the
commission may deem appropriate over the operation, rates and
charges of such producer and for such length of time as the
commission may consider to be proper: And provided further, That
the jurisdiction the commission may exercise over the rates and charges of municipally operated public utilities is limited to
that authority granted the commission in section four-b of this
article: And provided further, That the decision-making
authority granted to the commission in sections four and four-a
of this article shall, in respect to an application filed by a
public service district, be delegated to a single hearing
examiner appointed from the commission staff, which hearing
examiner shall be authorized to carry out all decision-making
duties assigned to the commission by said sections, and to issue
orders having the full force and effect of orders of the
commission.
The commission may, upon application, waive its jurisdiction
and allow a utility operating in an adjoining state to provide
service in West Virginia when:
(1) An area of West Virginia cannot be practicably and
economically served by a utility licensed to operate within the
state of West Virginia;
(2) Said area can be provided with utility service by a utility which operates in a state adjoining West Virginia;
(3) The utility operating in the adjoining state is
regulated by a regulatory agency or commission of the adjoining
state; and
(4) The number of customers to be served is not substantial.
The rates the out-of-state utility charges West Virginia
customers shall be the same as the rate the utility is duly
authorized to charge in the adjoining jurisdiction.
The commission, in the case of any such utility, may revoke
its waiver of jurisdiction for good cause.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that wireless
telecommunications utilities engaged in intrastate operation in
West Virginia prior to August 10, 1994, are not required to make
tariff filings with the commission.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.