Waiver of Certain Commission Requirements Related to the Distribution of Telephone Directories

NY-ADR

7/1/20 N.Y. St. Reg. PSC-26-20-00010-P
NEW YORK STATE REGISTER
VOLUME XLII, ISSUE 26
July 01, 2020
RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
PROPOSED RULE MAKING
NO HEARING(S) SCHEDULED
 
I.D No. PSC-26-20-00010-P
Waiver of Certain Commission Requirements Related to the Distribution of Telephone Directories
PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:
Proposed Action:
The Commission is considering a petition by State Telephone Company (State Tel) for a temporary waiver of 16 NYCRR 602.10(a) and (b) pertaining to the distribution of telephone directories.
Statutory authority:
Public Service Law, section 94(2)
Subject:
Waiver of certain Commission requirements related to the distribution of telephone directories.
Purpose:
The waiver should be considered because directory publishing is temporarily not feasible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Substance of proposed rule:
The Commission is considering a petition filed on June 9, 2020 by State Telephone Company (State Tel) for a temporary waiver of New York Code of Rules and Regulations, Title 16, Sections 602.10(a) and 602.10(b) pertaining to the distribution of telephone directories.
Presently, the Commission’s rules require State Tel to distribute a directory that contains the listings of local exchange customers in the service area. In accordance with this rule, it currently provides all customers with a printed directory of residential and business white page listings along with yellow page listings. These directories are published and delivered to all customers annually.
State Tel requests authorization to temporarily discontinue the blanket distribution of directories to all customers, citing the same relief permanently granted to Verizon New York, Inc. and Frontier Communications Corporation in Case Nos. 16-C-0186 and 12-C-0060, respectively. State Tel explains that, due to COVID-19 and New York PAUSE, the revenues derived from selling advertising in the directory have halted, rendering its publisher unable to produce a new directory at this time.
If the waiver granted, State Tel will have the ability to provide current residential, business, and yellow page directory listings to customers online at no charge. The most recent printed hard copy of the directory will also be available, upon request, at no charge. State Tel asserts that it is requesting a temporary waiver, as it wishes to continue to have a traditional directory printed and distributed once the COVID-19 related issues identified above are resolved.
The full text of the petition and the full record of the proceeding may be reviewed online at the Department of Public Service web page: www.dps.ny.gov. The Commission may adopt, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the action proposed and may resolve related matters.
Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained by filing a Document Request Form (F-96) located on our website http://www.dps.ny.gov/f96dir.htm. For questions, contact:
John Pitucci, Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350, (518) 486-2655, email: [email protected]
Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:
Michelle L. Phillips, Secretary, Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350, (518) 474-6530, email: [email protected]
Public comment will be received until:
60 days after publication of this notice.
Regulatory Impact Statement, Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, Rural Area Flexibility Analysis and Job Impact Statement
Statements and analyses are not submitted with this notice because the proposed rule is within the definition contained in section 102(2)(a)(ii) of the State Administrative Procedure Act.
(20-C-0281SP1)
End of Document