Bill Text: FL S1368 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Interruption of Services
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2018-03-10 - Died in Community Affairs [S1368 Detail]
Download: Florida-2018-S1368-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2018 SB 1368 By Senator Mayfield 17-00970B-18 20181368__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to interruption of services; amending 3 s. 180.06, F.S.; prohibiting a municipality or private 4 company from charging for garbage pick-up services 5 that are not rendered within a specified period; 6 requiring a municipality or private company to issue a 7 credit on a monthly bill or a refund within a 8 specified timeframe; providing for the calculation of 9 the credit or refund; requiring the payment to the 10 customer of a specified penalty if a credit or refund 11 is not issued within a specified timeframe; amending 12 s. 364.04, F.S.; prohibiting a telecommunications 13 company from charging for services that are 14 interrupted for longer than a specified period; 15 requiring a telecommunications company to issue a 16 credit on a customer’s monthly bill or a refund within 17 a specified timeframe; providing for the calculation 18 of the credit or refund; requiring payment to the 19 customer of a specified penalty if a credit or refund 20 is not issued within a specified timeframe; 21 authorizing the Public Service Commission to adopt 22 rules for a certain purpose; amending s. 610.108, 23 F.S.; prohibiting a cable and video service provider 24 from charging for services that are interrupted for 25 longer than a specified period; requiring a cable or 26 video service provider to issue a credit on a monthly 27 bill or a refund within a specified timeframe; 28 providing for the calculation of the credit or refund; 29 requiring payment to the customer of a specified 30 penalty if a credit or refund is not issued within a 31 specified timeframe; providing an effective date. 32 33 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 34 35 Section 1. Section 180.06, Florida Statutes, is amended to 36 read: 37 180.06 Activities authorized by municipalities and private 38 companies; garbage pick-up services.— 39 (1) Any municipality or private company organized for the 40 purposes contained in this chapter, is authorized: 41 (a)(1)To clean and improve street channels or other bodies 42 of water for sanitary purposes; 43 (b)(2)To provide means for the regulation of the flow of 44 streams for sanitary purposes; 45 (c)(3)To provide water and alternative water supplies, 46 including, but not limited to, reclaimed water, and water from 47 aquifer storage and recovery and desalination systems for 48 domestic, municipal or industrial uses; 49 (d)(4)To provide for the collection and disposal of 50 sewage, including wastewater reuse, and other liquid wastes; 51 (e)(5)To provide for the collection and disposal of 52 garbage; 53 (f)(6)And incidental to such purposes and to enable the 54 accomplishment of the same, to construct reservoirs, sewerage 55 systems, trunk sewers, intercepting sewers, pumping stations, 56 wells, siphons, intakes, pipelines, distribution systems, 57 purification works, collection systems, treatment and disposal 58 works; 59 (g)(7)To construct airports, hospitals, jails and golf 60 courses, to maintain, operate and repair the same, and to 61 construct and operate in addition thereto all machinery and 62 equipment; 63 (h)(8)To construct, operate and maintain gas plants and 64 distribution systems for domestic, municipal and industrial 65 uses; and 66 (i)(9)To construct such other buildings and facilities as 67 may be required to properly and economically operate and 68 maintain said works necessary for the fulfillment of the 69 purposes of this chapter. 70 71 However, a private company or municipality shall not construct 72 any system, work, project or utility authorized to be 73 constructed hereunder in the event that a system, work, project 74 or utility of a similar character is being actually operated by 75 a municipality or private company in the municipality or 76 territory immediately adjacent thereto, unless such municipality 77 or private company consents to such construction. 78 (2) A municipality or private company, as applicable, may 79 not charge a customer for garbage pick-up service that was not 80 provided on a normally scheduled pick-up date if the garbage 81 pick-up service is not provided within 3 business days after the 82 originally scheduled pick-up date. The municipality or private 83 company, as applicable, shall issue a credit or refund on the 84 customer’s monthly bill to adjust on a prorated basis the number 85 of times the garbage was not picked up within 60 days. A 86 municipality or private company, as applicable, that fails to 87 provide such credit or refund within this period shall pay to 88 each customer whose garbage pick-up was not timely provided as 89 specified in this section a penalty equal to 10 times the amount 90 of the credit or refund that the company failed to timely remit 91 as specified in this subsection. 92 Section 2. Subsection (1) of section 364.04, Florida 93 Statutes, is amended to read: 94 364.04 Schedules of rates, tolls, rentals, and charges; 95 filing; service interruptions; public inspection.— 96 (1)(a) Every telecommunications company shall publish 97 through electronic or physical media schedules showing the 98 rates, tolls, rentals, and charges of that company for service 99 to be offered within the state. The commission shall have no 100 jurisdiction over the content or form or format of such 101 published schedules. A telecommunications company may, as an 102 option, file the published schedules with the commission or 103 publish its schedules through other reasonably publicly 104 accessible means, including on a website. A telecommunications 105 company that does not file its schedules with the commission 106 shall inform its customers where a customer may view the 107 telecommunications company’s schedules. 108 (b) A telecommunications company may not charge a customer 109 for service that has been interrupted for longer than 24 110 consecutive hours unless the service interruption is caused by a 111 negligent or willful act by the customer or as a result of 112 damage on the customer’s side of the service demarcation point 113 that prevents the receipt or use of service that is otherwise 114 available. Restoration of service for less than 1 hour during 115 the service interruption does not toll the time for purposes of 116 calculating the period of the service interruption. A credit or 117 refund shall be calculated by identifying the number of days 118 beyond the first 24 hours that service was interrupted, dividing 119 that number by the number of days in the billing period, and 120 multiplying the resulting number by the normal billing amount. 121 The credit or refund must be provided within 30 days after the 122 service is restored or the date of the customer’s next bill 123 following service restoration, whichever is later. 124 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a telecommunications 125 company that fails to provide such credit or refund within this 126 period must pay to each customer whose service was interrupted 127 as specified in this paragraph a penalty equal to 10 times the 128 amount of the credit or refund that the company failed to timely 129 remit as specified in this paragraph. The commission may adopt 130 rules to implement this paragraph. 131 Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 610.108, Florida 132 Statutes, is amended to read: 133 610.108 Customer service standards.— 134 (1)(a) All cable or video service providers shall comply 135 with customer service requirements in 47 C.F.R. s. 76.309(c). 136 (b) A cable or video service provider may not charge a 137 customer for cable or video service that has been interrupted 138 for longer than 24 consecutive hours unless the service 139 interruption is caused by a negligent or willful act by the 140 customer or as a result of damage on the customer’s side of the 141 service demarcation point that prevents the receipt or use of 142 service that is otherwise available. Restoration of service for 143 less than 1 hour during the service interruption does not toll 144 the calculation of time for purposes of determining the length 145 of the service interruption. A credit or refund shall be 146 calculated by identifying the number of days beyond the first 24 147 hours that service was interrupted, dividing that number by the 148 number of days in the billing period, and multiplying the 149 resulting number by the normal billing amount. The credit or 150 refund must be provided within 30 days after the service is 151 restored or the date of the customer’s next bill following 152 service restoration, whichever is later. Notwithstanding any 153 other provision of law, a cable or video service provider that 154 fails to provide such credit or refund within this period must 155 pay to each customer whose service was interrupted as specified 156 in this paragraph a penalty equal to 10 times the amount of the 157 credit or refund that the provider failed to timely remit as 158 specified in this paragraph. 159 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.