REPORT TITLE:
Digital Communications


DESCRIPTION:
Transfers jurisdiction over digital communications to the
department of commerce and consumer affairs.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2439
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO TECHNOLOGY.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the department of
 
 2 commerce and consumer affairs, which currently regulates cable
 
 3 television systems under chapter 440G, Hawaii Revised Statutes,
 
 4 is better equipped and staffed, and accordingly the more
 
 5 appropriate agency to regulate digital communications than the
 
 6 public utilities commission.
 
 7      The purpose of this Act is to give the department of
 
 8 commerce and consumer affairs jurisdiction to regulate all
 
 9 digital communications.
 
10      SECTION 2.  Chapter 269, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
11 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
12 read as follows:
 
13      "§269-    Public utilities commission; jurisdiction over
 
14 communications.  (a)  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary,
 
15 the commission shall have jurisdiction over, and the authority to
 
16 regulate, all forms of communication not regulated by the
 
17 department of commerce and consumer affairs.
 

 
 
Page 2                                                     2439
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (b)  As used in this section:
 
 2      "Communication" means any facilities or services that
 
 3 transmit, carry, or receive data that represents encoded
 
 4 information or interpersonal communications through wired or
 
 5 wireless transmission media, regardless of whether the unencoded
 
 6 content is text, audio, image, or video in its original format."
 
 7      SECTION 3.  Chapter 440G, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 8 amended as follows:
 
 9      1.  By adding a new section to be appropriately designated
 
10 and to read:
 
11      "§440G-     Department of commerce and consumer affairs;
 
12 jurisdiction over digital communications.  (a)  Notwithstanding
 
13 any law to the contrary, the department of commerce and consumer
 
14 affairs shall have jurisdiction over, and the authority to
 
15 regulate, all forms of digital communication through rules
 
16 adopted under chapter 91.
 
17      (b)  As used in this section:
 
18      "Digital communication" means any facilities or services
 
19 that, at point of connection to consumer, transmit, carry, or
 
20 receive binary data that represents encoded information or
 
21 interpersonal communications through wired or wireless
 
22 transmission media, regardless of whether the unencoded content
 
23 is text, audio, image, or video in its original format."
 

 
Page 3                                                     2439
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      2.  By amending the title to read:
 
 2              "DIGITAL AND CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEMS"
 
 3      SECTION 4.  Section 269-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 4 amended by amending the definition of "public utility" to read as
 
 5 follows:
 
 6      ""Public utility" includes every person who may own,
 
 7 control, operate, or manage as owner, lessee, trustee, receiver,
 
 8 or otherwise, whether under a franchise, charter, license,
 
 9 articles of association, or otherwise, any plant or equipment, or
 
10 any part thereof, directly or indirectly for public use, for the
 
11 transportation of passengers or freight, or the conveyance or
 
12 transmission of telecommunications messages[,] other than
 
13 telecommunications regulated by the department of commerce and
 
14 consumer affairs; or the furnishing of facilities for the
 
15 transmission of intelligence by electricity by land or water or
 
16 air within the State, or between points within the State, or for
 
17 the production, conveyance, transmission, delivery, or furnishing
 
18 of light, power, heat, cold, water, gas, or oil, or for the
 
19 storage or warehousing of goods, or the disposal of sewage;
 
20 provided that the term:
 
21      (1)  Shall include any person insofar as that person owns or
 
22           operates a private sewer company or sewer facility;
 

 
 
 
Page 4                                                     2439
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      (2)  Shall include telecommunications carrier or
 
 2           telecommunications common carrier[;] other than
 
 3           telecommunications carriers regulated by the department
 
 4           of commerce and consumer affairs;
 
 5      (3)  Shall not include any person insofar as that person
 
 6           owns or operates an aerial transportation enterprise;
 
 7      (4)  Shall not include persons owning or operating taxicabs,
 
 8           as defined in this section;
 
 9      (5)  Shall not include common carriers transporting only
 
10           freight on the public highways, unless operating within
 
11           localities or along routes or between points that the
 
12           public utilities commission finds to be inadequately
 
13           serviced without regulation under this chapter;
 
14      (6)  Shall not include persons engaged in the business of
 
15           warehousing or storage unless the commission finds that
 
16           regulation thereof is necessary in the public interest;
 
17      (7)  Shall not include:
 
18           (A)  The business of any carrier by water to the extent
 
19                that the carrier enters into private contracts for
 
20                towage, salvage, hauling, or carriage between
 
21                points within the State and the carriage is not
 
22                pursuant to either an established schedule or an
 
23                undertaking to perform carriage services on behalf
 
24                of the public generally; and
 

 
Page 5                                                     2439
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           (B)  The business of any carrier by water,
 
 2                substantially engaged in interstate or foreign
 
 3                commerce, transporting passengers on luxury
 
 4                cruises between points within the State or on
 
 5                luxury round-trip cruises returning to the point
 
 6                of departure;
 
 7      (8)  Shall not include any person who:
 
 8           (A)  Controls, operates, or manages plants or
 
 9                facilities for the production, transmission, or
 
10                furnishing of power primarily or entirely from
 
11                nonfossil fuel sources; and
 
12           (B)  Provides, sells, or transmits all of that power,
 
13                except such power as is used in its own internal
 
14                operations, directly to a public utility for
 
15                transmission to the public;
 
16      (9)  Shall not include a telecommunications provider only to
 
17           the extent determined by the commission pursuant to
 
18           section 269-16.9[;] or already regulated by the
 
19           department of commerce and consumer affairs;
 
20     (10)  Shall not include any person who controls, operates, or
 
21           manages plants or facilities developed pursuant to
 
22           chapter 167 for conveying, distributing, and
 

 
 
 
Page 6                                                     2439
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           transmitting water for irrigation and such other
 
 2           purposes that shall be held for public use and purpose;
 
 3           and
 
 4     (11)  Shall not include any person who owns, controls,
 
 5           operates, or manages plants or facilities for the
 
 6           reclamation of wastewater; provided that:
 
 7           (A)  The services of the facility shall be provided
 
 8                pursuant to a service contract between the person
 
 9                and a state or county agency and at least ten per
 
10                cent of the wastewater processed is used directly
 
11                by the State or county which has entered into the
 
12                service contract;
 
13           (B)  The primary function of the facility shall be the
 
14                processing of secondary treated wastewater that
 
15                has been produced by a municipal wastewater
 
16                treatment facility that is owned by a state or
 
17                county agency;
 
18           (C)  The facility shall not make sales of water to
 
19                residential customers;
 
20           (D)  The facility may distribute and sell recycled or
 
21                reclaimed water to entities not covered by a state
 
22                or county service contract; provided that, in the
 
23                absence of regulatory oversight and direct
 

 
Page 7                                                     2439
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                competition, the distribution and sale of recycled
 
 2                or reclaimed water shall be voluntary and its
 
 3                pricing fair and reasonable.  For purposes of this
 
 4                [[]subparagraph[]], "recycled water" and
 
 5                "reclaimed water" mean treated wastewater that by
 
 6                design is intended or used for a beneficial
 
 7                purpose; and
 
 8           (E)  The facility shall not be engaged, either directly
 
 9                or indirectly, in the processing of food wastes.
 
10      In the event the application of this chapter is ordered by
 
11 the commission in any case provided in paragraphs (5), (6), (9),
 
12 and (10), the business of any public utility that presents
 
13 evidence of bona fide operation on the date of the commencement
 
14 of the proceedings resulting in the order shall be presumed to be
 
15 necessary to public convenience and necessity, but any
 
16 certificate issued under this proviso shall nevertheless be
 
17 subject to such terms and conditions as the commission may
 
18 prescribe, as provided in sections 269-16.9 and 269-20."
 
19      SECTION 5.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
20 New statutory material is underscored.
 
21      SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.