[ Search ] [ Legislation ]
[ Home ] [ Back ] [ Bottom ]
91_HR0761
LRB9113792LDpr
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Safe, reliable, and efficient telephone service
3 is a necessity, Illinois telephone customers rely upon such
4 service to conduct their professional and personal business,
5 and, as a result, Illinois telephone customers need adequate
6 notice and a period of time to verify and resolve any
7 outstanding "past due bills" before they can be disconnected
8 by the local exchange carrier; and
9 WHEREAS, Recently a telephone service provider was
10 publicly accused of threatening to discontinue telephone
11 service to a consumer based upon a "past due bill" from many
12 years prior for which the provider did not maintain records
13 of the past due bill; and
14 WHEREAS, Public utilities have certain monopolies in the
15 State of Illinois, and unreasonable debt collection practices
16 undermine the public confidence of the system for providing
17 public utilities; it is therefore critical to the State of
18 Illinois that these providers not discontinue service for a
19 past due bill unless the provider maintains records to
20 support such an allegation; and
21 WHEREAS, The Public Utilities Act and the Illinois
22 Commerce Commission regulations do not define the term "past
23 due bill", the Illinois Commerce Commission regulations do
24 not require Ameritech and other local exchange carriers to
25 maintain their customer records beyond 2 years, and, in
26 addition, Illinois Commerce Commission regulations do not
27 prohibit Ameritech and local exchange carriers from
28 collecting "past due bills" when the companies no longer
29 maintain records of the outstanding bills; therefore, be it
30 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
31 NINETY-FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
32 we urge the Illinois Commerce Commission to initiate a
-2- LRB9113792LDpr
1 rulemaking proceeding to revise its Part 735 regulations
2 pertaining to a local exchange carrier's credit, billing,
3 deposits, and termination of service procedures; and be it
4 further
5 RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois Commerce Commission
6 to include a definition for the term "past due bill" and
7 state the following:
8 The term "past due bill" means any amount owed to the
9 local exchange carrier, but is limited to amounts for
10 which the local exchange carrier currently maintains
11 records of the amounts owed and, upon written request of
12 the customer, is capable of producing such record, at
13 least 15 days prior to termination of service; and be it
14 further
15 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
16 presented to each of the members of the Illinois Commerce
17 Commission.