Title XXVII, Railroads and Other Regulated Utilities

For the purpose of financing or refinancing the cost of a project or projects, any municipality, authority, board, commission, or other public body which is an electric utility as defined in this act and is a participant in a project under this act may exercise all the powers in …

The powers conferred by this act shall be in addition, and supplementary, to existing powers and statutes, and this act shall not be construed as altering, repealing, or limiting any of the provisions of any other law, general, local, or special, or of any articles of incorporati…

Except as provided in s. 10, Art. VII of the State Constitution, no joint electric supply projects authorized under this statute shall lend or use its taxing power or credit to aid any corporation, association, partnership, or person. The private interest portion of such joint pr…

(1) The provisions of this part, being necessary for the welfare and prosperity of the state and its inhabitants, shall be liberally construed to effect its purposes.(2) Chapter 82-53, Laws of Florida, shall be deemed to be enacted for the purpose of further implementing the prov…

Any telegraph or telephone company chartered by this or another state, or any individual operating or desiring to operate a telegraph or telephone line, or lines, in this state, may erect posts, wires and other fixtures for telegraph or telephone purposes on or beside any public …

Any telegraph or telephone company now organized or which may hereafter be organized under the laws of this or any other state shall have the right to construct, maintain and operate lines of telegraph or telephone along and upon the right-of-way of any railroad in the state, and…

(1) The Florida Public Service Commission shall exercise over and in relation to telecommunications companies the powers conferred by this chapter.(2) It is the legislative intent to give exclusive jurisdiction in all matters set forth in this chapter to the Florida Public Servic…

The following services are exempt from oversight by the commission, except to the extent delineated in this chapter:(1) Intrastate interexchange telecommunications services.(2) Broadband services, regardless of the provider, platform, or protocol.(3) VoIP.(4) Wireless telecommuni…

(1) In order to promote commission coordination with federal policymakers and regulatory agencies, the commission shall maintain continuous liaisons with appropriate federal agencies whose policy decisions and rulemaking authority affect those telecommunications companies over wh…

Broadband service and the provision of voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) are exempt from commission jurisdiction and shall be free of state regulation, except as delineated in this chapter, regardless of the provider, platform, or protocol. Notwithstanding the exemptions in thi…

The Legislature finds that violations of commission orders or rules, in connection with the impairment of a telecommunications company’s operations or service, constitute irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy at law. The commission is authorized to seek relief in…

The commission has the authority to assess a telecommunications company for reasonable travel costs associated with reviewing the records of the telecommunications company and its affiliates when such records are kept out of state. The telecommunications company may bring the rec…

As used in this chapter, the term:(1) “Basic local telecommunications service” means voice-grade, single-line, flat-rate residential local exchange service that provides dial tone, local usage necessary to place unlimited calls within a local exchange area, dual tone multifrequen…

A local government shall treat each telecommunications company in a nondiscriminatory manner when exercising its authority to grant franchises to a telecommunications company or to otherwise establish conditions or compensation for the use of rights-of-way or other public propert…

(1) Every telecommunications company shall publish through electronic or physical media schedules showing the rates, tolls, rentals, and charges of that company for service to be offered within the state. The commission shall have no jurisdiction over the content or form or forma…

(1)(a) An eligible telecommunications carrier shall provide a Lifeline Assistance Plan to qualified residential subscribers, as defined in the eligible telecommunications carrier’s published schedules. For the purposes of this section, the term “eligible telecommunications carrie…

Each local exchange telecommunications company shall offer discounted residential basic local telecommunications service at 70 percent of the residential local telecommunications service rate for any Lifeline subscriber who no longer qualifies for Lifeline. A Lifeline subscriber …

(1) Personal identifying information of a participant in a telecommunications carrier’s Lifeline Assistance Plan under s. 364.10 held by the Public Service Commission is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.(2) Information made …

(1) The Legislature finds that the competitive provision of local exchange service requires appropriate continued regulatory oversight of carrier-to-carrier relationships in order to provide for the development of fair and effective competition.(2) It is the intent of the Legisla…

For purposes of this section, the term “network access service” is defined as any service provided by a local exchange telecommunications company to a telecommunications company certificated under this chapter or licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to access the loc…

(1) The commission shall have access to all records of a telecommunications company which are reasonably necessary for the disposition of matters within the commission’s jurisdiction. The commission may require a telecommunications company to file records, reports or other data d…

(1) Any servicemember, as defined in s. 250.01, may terminate his or her telecommunications service contract by providing the telecommunications company with a written notice of termination, effective on the date specified in the notice, which date shall be at least 30 days after…

(1) Except as otherwise deemed by law, any officer or person in the employ of any telecommunications company, or any person in charge of any office, exchange, or place where messages or communications are sent, received, or heard by telephone, who shall disclose or make known to …

(1) A customer of a telecommunications company operating within the state may use telecommunications services only for lawful purposes.(2) If a local, state, or federal law enforcement officer acting within the scope of the officer’s duties obtains evidence that telecommunication…

(1) The commission shall have the power to impose upon any entity subject to its jurisdiction under this chapter which is found to have refused to comply with or to have willfully violated any lawful rule or order of the commission or any provision of this chapter a penalty for e…

(1) Any telecommunications company operating within the state subject to the provisions of this chapter, having more than one point of connection with or through any other telecommunications company, is hereby authorized and permitted to use and enjoy any of its points of connect…

(1) “Person” means:(a) Any natural person, firm, association, county, municipality, corporation, business, trust, or partnership owning, leasing, or operating any facility used in the furnishing of public telecommunications service within this state; and(b) A cooperative, nonprof…

A person may not provide telecommunications services to the public without a certificate of necessity or a certificate of authority. After July 1, 2011, the commission shall cease to issue certificates of necessity, but existing certificates of necessity remain valid. A certifica…

(1) Each applicant for a certificate of authority shall:(a) Provide the following information:1. The applicant’s official name and, if different, any name under which the applicant will do business.2. The street address of the principal place of business of the applicant.3. The f…

(1) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, each telecommunications company licensed or operating under this chapter, for any part of the preceding 6-month period, shall pay to the commission, within 30 days following the end of each 6-month period, a fee that may not exceed 0.2…

(1)(a) A person may not provide pay telephone service without first obtaining from the commission a certificate of authority or necessity to provide such service, except that the certification provisions of this subsection do not apply to a local exchange telecommunications compa…

As authorized by s. 3(b)(2), Art. V of the State Constitution, the Supreme Court shall review, upon petition, any action of the commission relating to rates or service of telecommunications companies. For purposes of judicial review, a telecommunications company is a telephone co…

The rates and charges for network access service approved by the commission in accordance with the decisions set forth in Order Nos. PSC 03-1469-FOF-TL and PSC 04-0456-FOF-TL, and which are in effect immediately prior to July 1, 2007, shall remain in effect and such rates and cha…

(1)(a) The commission shall submit to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives, on August 1, on an annual basis, a report on the status of competition in the tele…

(1) As used in this section, the term:(a) “Affiliate” means an entity related through a parent cooperative’s controlling interest. The term includes a subsidiary or any other entity under common control with the cooperative.(b) “Cooperative” means a rural electric cooperative est…

(1) Whoever:(a) Makes a telephone call to a location at which the person receiving the call has a reasonable expectation of privacy; during such call makes any comment, request, suggestion, or proposal which is obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, vulgar, or indecent; and by such c…

(1) For purposes of this section, the term:(a) “Deviate sexual intercourse” means sexual conduct between persons consisting of contact between the penis and the anus, the mouth and the penis, or the mouth and the vulva.(b) “Female genitals” includes the labia minora, labia majora…

(1) It is unlawful for any person to use a machine that electronically transmits facsimiles of documents through connection with a telephone network to transmit within this state unsolicited advertising material for the sale of any real property, goods, or services.(2) The Attorn…

(1) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the “Florida Emergency Communications State Plan Act.”(2) LEGISLATIVE INTENT.—It is the intent of the Legislature that the communications number “911” be the designated emergency communications number. A public safety agency may not a…

(1) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the “Emergency Communications Act.”(2) LEGISLATIVE INTENT.—It is the intent of the Legislature to:(a) Establish and implement a comprehensive statewide emergency communications and response capability using modern technologies and met…

(1) REVENUES.—(a) Revenues derived from the fee levied on subscribers under s. 365.172(8) must be paid by the board into the State Treasury on or before the 15th day of each month. Such moneys must be accounted for in a special fund to be designated as the Emergency Communication…

(1)(a) All proprietary confidential business information submitted by a provider to the board or the office is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.(b) Statistical abstracts of information collected by the board or the office ma…

(1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:(a) “Automatic location identification” or “ALI” means the automatic display at the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) of the caller’s telephone number, the address or location of the telephone, and supplementary emergency serv…

(1) This section may be cited as the “Florida Call-Blocking Act.”(2) As used in this section, the term:(a) “Caller identification service” means a service that allows a telephone subscriber to have the telephone number and, if available, the name of the calling party transmitted …

(1) The office shall develop a plan by December 30, 2023, to upgrade all 911 public safety answering points within the state to allow the transfer of an emergency call from one local, multijurisdictional, or regional E911 system to another local, multijurisdictional, or regional …

(1) As used in this section, the term:(a) “First responder agency” includes each law enforcement agency and fire service agency, other than a state agency, and each emergency medical services provider, that is designated as a primary first responder for the service area in which …