FORTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE

FIRST SESSION, 1999





March 16, 1999





Mr. Speaker:



Your APPROPRIATIONS AND FINANCE COMMITTEE, to whom has been referred



SENATE BILL 408, as amended



has had it under consideration and reports same with recommendation that it DO PASS, amended as follows:



1. Strike Senate Judiciary Committee Amendment 4.



2. On page 6, between lines 12 and 13, insert the following new subsection:



"E. Nothing in the Telecommunications Investment and Economic Development Act impairs any authority granted to the commission by federal law with respect to wholesale services, including:



(1) determining prices for interconnection facilities, reciprocal compensation and network elements;



(2) establishing resale discounts; and



(3) mediating or arbitrating disputes on open issues after negotiations between competing telecommunication carriers.".



3. On page 7, strike lines 14 through 23 and insert in lieu thereof:



"C. Except as provided in Subsection G of this section:



(1) the prices for residence dial tone access line services offered by a telecommunications carrier that serves more than two hundred fifty thousand access lines in New Mexico, approved and in effect on March 1, 1999, shall be reduced by two dollars forty-eight cents ($2.48) on July 1, 1999 and capped for ten years from that date;



(2) the prices for business dial tone access line services offered by a telecommunications carrier that serves more than two hundred fifty thousand access lines in New Mexico, approved and in effect on March 1, 1999, shall be reduced by two dollars forty-eight cents ($2.48) on July 1, 1999 and capped for five years from that date; and



(3) a telecommunications carrier may increase or decrease the prices of dial tone access line services that are capped pursuant to Paragraph (1) or (2) of this subsection by filing a price list pursuant to Subsection B of this section, but the proposed price shall not exceed the capped prices established for business and residence dial tone access line services pursuant to the Telecommunications Investment and Economic Development Act.".



4. On page 13, line 23, strike the period and insert in lieu thereof:



"; provided that, unless unlimited usage of long distance service is sold for a fixed amount:



(1) the rate for long distance service, including any switched access charge, shall be calculated and charged on the incremental unit of one-tenth of a minute; and



(2) any charge for long distance service sold as a fixed block of time shall be calculated on the incremental unit of one-tenth of a minute.".



5. On page 14, between lines 19 and 20, insert the following new section:



"Section 10. [NEW MATERIAL] EARNINGS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 1998.--On or before July 15, 1999, the commission shall report to the telecommunications investment and economic development committee the 1998 calendar year earnings of a telecommunications carrier that serves more than two hundred fifty thousand access lines in New Mexico. In making its report on 1998 earnings, the commission shall remove the impact of any revenue reduction required as a result of 1997 earnings. To the extent that the 1998 earnings, adjusted to remove the impact of revenue reductions for 1997 earnings, exceeds its authorized level of earnings by forty million dollars ($40,000,000), a telecommunications carrier that serves more than two hundred fifty thousand access lines in New Mexico shall amend its agreement with the state to increase the amount of its guaranteed investment by the difference between the amount of the adjusted 1998 earnings and forty million dollars ($40,000,000).".



6. Renumber the succeeding sections accordingly.





Respectfully submitted,







Max Coll, Chairman





Adopted Not Adopted

(Chief Clerk) (Chief Clerk)



Date



The roll call vote was 9 For 7 Against

Yes: 9

No: Buffett, Coll, Heaton, Parsons, Pearce, JP Taylor, Townsend

Excused: Abeyta

Absent: None





.129147.1

.128718.2

G:\BILLTEXT\AMEND_99\S0408af1