| (2) Ballot format. No later than 30 days after the
presiding officer's order directing the ILEC serving the petitioning
exchange to begin balloting, that ILEC shall distribute a ballot,
written in English and Spanish, to each subscriber in the petitioning
exchange. The ballot shall require a separate vote from each subscriber
for each petitioned exchange. The ballot must be in a standard form
approved by the commission and each ballot shall include:
(A) a statement explaining ELCS;
(B) a statement that subscribers in the petitioning
exchange have petitioned to expand the toll-free local calling area
into the named exchange(s);
(C) a description of the proposed ELCS area, including
the name, area code and prefix of the petitioning exchange and each
petitioned exchange for which toll-free local calling is sought;
(D) a statement that if at least 70% of those subscribers
responding vote "yes" as to any petitioned exchange:
(i) subscribers in the petitioning exchange will be
billed, in addition to the company's local exchange service rates,
a monthly ELCS fee of up to $3.50 per residential line and up to $7.00
per business line for the first five petitioned exchanges granted,
with an additional $1.50 per line for each exchange in excess of five,
whether obtained as the result of one or more petitions; and
(ii) in addition to the ELCS fee billed to petitioning
subscribers, an ELCS surcharge may, if necessary, be billed to all
of the ILEC's Texas subscribers to recover the costs of implementing
ELCS; and
(iii) the amount of the monthly ELCS fee and ELCS surcharge
will depend on the revenue lost and costs incurred by the company
providing the service;
(E) unambiguous instructions for voting, including
the following statement in large print: "It is important that you
return this ballot. If you are in favor of obtaining Expanded Toll-Free
Local Calling to a listed exchange, check the box labeled 'YES' next
to that exchange. If you do not want Expanded Toll-Free Local Calling
to a listed exchange, check the box labeled 'NO' next to that exchange";
(F) a statement that a petitioned exchange will be
included in the expanded toll-free local calling area only if at least
70% of the petitioning subscribers responding vote affirmatively for
ELCS to that exchange;
(G) the date by which the returned ballot must be postmarked,
which shall be 15 days from the date the ballot is mailed to the customer;
(H) the address to which the ballot should be returned
upon completion of voting, identifying the commission as the recipient
of returned ballots; and
(I) a unique identification number assigned by the
ILEC serving the petitioning exchange to each subscriber in that exchange.
(3) Master list of subscribers. No later than 35 days
after the presiding officer's order to the ILEC serving the petitioning
exchange to begin balloting, that ILEC shall submit to the commission
a master list of all subscribers within the petitioning exchange in
an electronic spreadsheet format prescribed by the commission. The
ILEC shall classify the master list as confidential, and the list
shall be treated as such under the provisions of the Government Code,
Title 5, Chapter 552. The master list shall be arranged sequentially
by billing number and shall include for each subscriber in the petitioning
exchange:
(A) the billing name;
(B) the billing number;
(C) the service address;
(D) the mailing address;
(E) the class of service; and
(F) the unique identification number assigned to the
subscriber by the ILEC
(4) Response to balloting. The commission shall, no
later than 15 days after the date stated on the ballot for return
of the ballot, notify the presiding officer, the contact person, and
affected ILEC(s) of the results of the ballot by filing a ballot report.
The ballot report shall specify the results of the ballot for each
petitioned exchange.
(A) Affirmative vote.
(i) If at least 70% of petitioning subscribers responding
vote affirmatively as to any petitioned exchange, the ILEC serving
the petitioning exchange shall file with the commission, within 30
days after the filing of the commission's ballot report, an application
to establish ELCS fees pursuant to PURA §55.048(b). The ILEC's
application shall include the ILEC's proposed implementation schedule
and proposed schedule of fees as well as other information described
in §26.221(e)(1) - (9) of this title (relating to Applications
to Establish or Increase Expanded Local Calling Service Surcharges).
(ii) The implementation of ELCS shall be scheduled
for completion within five months after an order is issued by the
presiding officer acknowledging the ballot results. The ILEC shall
explain and justify the reasons for any implementation delay beyond
five months.
(iii) No later than 15 days after the ILEC's filing
of its application to establish ELCS fees, the presiding officer shall
issue an order granting interim approval of the ILEC's proposed fees,
which may be billed as of the first billing cycle following implementation
of ELCS from the petitioning exchange. All fees given interim approval
are subject to refund.
(iv) No later than 30 days after the ILEC's filing
of its implementation schedule, the presiding officer shall issue
an order approving, modifying, or denying the schedule.
(B) Negative vote. If less than 70% of those responding
vote in favor of ELCS to a petitioned exchange, the presiding officer
shall, within 10 days after the filing of the commission's ballot
report, deny the request for ELCS to that specific petitioned exchange.
(g) Calculation of ELCS Fees. ELCS fees shall be calculated
using the formula described in this subsection unless the presiding
officer, for good cause, modifies the formula. Key formula terms are
defined in §26.221(b) of this title.
(1) Regulatory case expenses. In accordance with PURA §55.048(d),
an ILEC may not recover regulatory case expenses under this subsection
by surcharging petitioning subscribers.
(2) ELCS fee formula. First, sum lost revenues and
costs incurred to determine the ILEC's annual ELCS requirement. Divide
the annual ELCS requirement by 12 to obtain the monthly requirement,
which is the numerator. Second, obtain the most current count of access
lines in the petitioning exchange. Multiply the number of business
lines by two. Add the doubled business lines to the number of residential
lines. This total is the denominator. Third, divide the numerator
by the denominator to obtain the monthly ELCS fee per residential
line. Multiply the monthly ELCS fee per residential line by two to
obtain the monthly ELCS fee per business line. Round ELCS fees up
or down to the nearest penny.
(3) ELCS fee maximums. The monthly ELCS fee per residential
line shall not exceed $3.50 for up to five petitioned exchanges. The
monthly ELCS fee per business line shall equal twice the monthly ELCS
fee per residential line; however, the monthly ELCS fee per business
line shall not exceed $7.00 for up to five petitioned exchanges. For
each additional petitioned exchange beyond five, the monthly ELCS
fee shall not exceed an additional $1.50 per residential or business
line.
(4) ELCS surcharge. If ELCS fees do not recover the
annual ELCS requirement, an ILEC may request establishment of an ELCS
surcharge under §26.221 of this title.
(h) Docketing. Within 30 days of the issuance of an
order under subsection (f)(4)(A)(iii) of this section granting interim
approval of fees to be billed by the ILEC serving the petitioning
exchange, any intervenor or the commission may request that the presiding
officer docket the project. Docketing may be requested in order to
allow further investigation of the ILEC's application or, for good
cause shown, any other reason. Upon receipt of a request for docketing,
the presiding officer shall docket the project and shall establish
a procedural schedule. Upon docketing, discovery may commence in accordance
with the commission's Procedural Rules, Chapter 22, Subchapter H of
this title (relating to Discovery Procedures).
(i) Final approval. If no request for docketing is
timely filed under subsection (h) of this section, the presiding officer
shall, within 60 days after the order granting interim approval of
fees, issue an order granting final approval to or modification of
the ELCS fees to be billed by the ILEC serving the petitioning exchange.
Upon final approval by the presiding officer of either the proposed
or modified tariff sheets, the fees shall be considered permanent
unless modified in the future, for good cause, by the commission.
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