Title 80, PUBLIC UTILITIES

Any telecommunications company, or the lessees thereof, doing business in this state, shall have the right to construct and maintain all necessary telecommunications lines for public traffic along and upon any public road, street or highway, along or across the right-of-way of an…

Every railroad operated in this state, and carrying freight and passengers for hire, or doing business in this state, is and shall be designated a "post road," and the corporation or company owning the same shall allow telecommunications companies to construct and maintain teleco…

Any person who wilfully and maliciously does any injury to any telecommunications property mentioned in RCW 80.36.070, is liable to the company for five times the amount of actual damages sustained thereby, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction. [ 1985 c 450 s 20…

Any person who injures or destroys, through want of proper care, any necessary or useful fixtures of any telecommunications company, is liable to the company for all damages sustained thereby. Any vessel which, by dragging its anchor or otherwise, breaks, injures or destroys the …

All rates, tolls, contracts and charges, rules and regulations of telecommunications companies, for messages, conversations, services rendered and equipment and facilities supplied, whether such message, conversation or service to be performed be over one company or line or over …

Every telecommunications company operating in this state shall provide and maintain suitable and adequate buildings and facilities therein, or connected therewith, for the accommodation, comfort and convenience of its patrons and employees. Every telecommunications company shall,…

(1) Every telecommunications company shall file with the commission and shall print and keep open to public inspection at such points as the commission may designate, schedules showing the rates, tolls, rentals, and charges of such companies for messages, conversations and servic…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, unless the commission otherwise orders, no change shall be made in any rate, toll, rental, or charge, that was filed and published by any telecommunications company in compliance with the requirements of RCW 80.36.100, exc…

The names of the several companies which are parties to any joint rates, tolls, contracts or charges of telecommunications companies for messages, conversations and service to be rendered shall be specified therein, and each of the parties thereto, other than the one filing the s…

(1) Except as provided in RCW 80.04.130 and 80.36.150, no telecommunications company shall charge, demand, collect or receive different compensation for any service rendered or to be rendered than the charge applicable to such service as specified in its schedule on file and in e…

(1) The legislature declares that: (a) Changes in technology and the structure of the telecommunications industry may produce conditions under which traditional rate of return, rate base regulation of telecommunications companies may not in all cases provide the most efficient an…

Whenever the commission shall find, after a hearing had upon its own motion or upon complaint, that the rates, charges, tolls or rentals demanded, exacted, charged or collected by any telecommunications company for the transmission of messages by telecommunications, or for the re…

(1) The legislature declares that the availability of an alternative abbreviated formal procedure for use by the commission instead of a full adjudicative proceeding may in appropriate circumstances advance the public interest by reducing the time required by the commission for d…

(1) Every telecommunications company shall file with the commission, as and when required by it, a copy of any contract, agreement or arrangement in writing with any other telecommunications company, or with any other corporation, association or person relating in any way to the …

In order to provide toll telephone service where no such service is available, or to promote the most expeditious handling or most direct routing of toll messages and conversations, or to prevent arbitrary or unreasonable practices which may result in the failure to utilize the t…

No telecommunications company shall make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any person, corporation or locality, or subject any particular person, corporation or locality to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever. T…

No telecommunications company shall, directly or indirectly, or by any special rate, rebate, drawback or other device or method, unduly or unreasonably charge, demand, collect or receive from any person or corporation a greater or less compensation for any service rendered or to …

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, no telecommunications company shall offer a discounted message toll service based on volume that prohibits aggregation of volumes across all territory with respect to which that company functions as an interexchange carrier. Th…

Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, no telecommunications company providing noncompetitive services shall, as to the pricing of or access to noncompetitive services, make or grant any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to itself or to any other person …

No telecommunications company subject to the provisions of this title shall charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transmission of any long distance conversation or message of like kind for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line, in t…

Each telecommunications company providing intrastate interexchange voice transmission service shall offer discounts from otherwise applicable long distance rates for service used in conjunction with the statewide relay service authorized under RCW 43.20A.725. Such long distance d…

Every telecommunications company operating in this state shall receive, transmit and deliver, without discrimination or delay, the messages of any other telecommunications company. [ 1985 c 450 s 34; 1961 c 14 s 80.36.200. Prior: 1911 c 117 s 45; RRS s 10381.]

It shall be the duty of any telegraph company, doing business in this state, to transmit all dispatches in the order in which they are received, under the penalty of one hundred dollars, to be recovered with costs of suit, by the person or persons whose dispatch is postponed out …

Telecommunications companies shall receive, exchange and transmit each other's messages without delay or discrimination, and all telecommunications companies shall receive and transmit messages for any person. In case of the refusal or neglect of any telecommunications company to…

All telecommunications companies and customer-owned, pay telephone providers doing business in this state and utilizing pay telephones shall provide a system whereby calls may be made to the operator without charge and without requiring the use of credit cards or other payment de…

The commission is hereby granted the power to prescribe exchange area boundaries and/or territorial boundaries for telecommunications companies. [ 1985 c 450 s 37; 1961 c 14 s 80.36.230. Prior: 1941 c 137 s 1; Rem. Supp. 1941 s 11358-1.]

The commission in conducting hearings, promulgating rules, and otherwise proceeding to make effective the provisions of RCW 80.36.230 and 80.36.240, shall be governed by, and shall have the powers provided in this title, as amended; all provisions as to review of the commission's…

The commission may investigate all interstate rates and charges, classifications, or rules or practices relating thereto, for or in relation to the transmission of messages or conversations. Where any acts in relation thereto take place within this state which, in the opinion of …

Whenever the commission shall find, after a hearing had on its own motion or upon complaint, that repairs or improvements to, or changes in, any telecommunications line ought reasonably be made, or that any additions or extensions should reasonably be made thereto in order to pro…

Nothing in this title shall be construed to prevent any telecommunications company from continuing to furnish the use of its line, equipment or service under any contract or contracts in force on June 7, 1911 or upon the taking effect of any schedule or schedules of rates subsequ…

The legislature declares it is the policy of the state to: (1) Preserve affordable universal telecommunications service; (2) Maintain and advance the efficiency and availability of telecommunications service; (3) Ensure that customers pay only reasonable charges for telecommunica…

(1) Telecommunications companies may petition to be classified as competitive telecommunications companies under RCW 80.36.320 or to have services classified as competitive telecommunications services under RCW 80.36.330. The commission may initiate classification proceedings on …

(1) The commission shall classify a telecommunications company as a competitive telecommunications company if the services it offers are subject to effective competition. Effective competition means that the company's customers have reasonably available alternatives and that the …

(1) The commission may classify a telecommunications service provided by a telecommunications company as a competitive telecommunications service if the service is subject to effective competition. Effective competition means that customers of the service have reasonably availabl…

(1) A noncompetitive telecommunications company may petition to have packages or bundles of telecommunications services it offers be subject to minimal regulation. The commission shall grant the petition where: (a) Each noncompetitive service in the packages or bundle is readily …

(1) Until June 30, 2007, a telecommunications company may continue to maintain on file with the commission any price list that, pursuant to RCW 80.36.100, 80.36.320, and 80.36.330, was on file and in effect before June 7, 2006. The price list is subject to the statutes and rules …

Each company withdrawing a filed price list shall provide each customer receiving service under the price list with information about the rates, terms, and conditions under which the service will continue to be provided. If the rates, terms, and conditions do not change upon with…

The commission may approve a tariff which includes banded rates for any telecommunications service if such tariff is in the public interest. "Banded rate" means a rate which has a minimum and a maximum rate. The minimum rate in the rate band shall cover the cost of the service. R…

Each telecommunications company not operating under tariff in Washington on January 1, 1985, shall register with the commission before beginning operations in this state. The registration shall be on a form prescribed by the commission and shall contain such information as the co…

For the purposes of RCW 19.86.170, actions or transactions of competitive telecommunications companies, or associated with competitive telecommunications services, shall not be deemed otherwise permitted, prohibited, or regulated by the commission. [ 1985 c 450 s 8.]

The commission shall not regulate the following: (1) One way broadcast or cable television transmission of television or radio signals; (2) Private telecommunications systems; (3) Telegraph services; (4) Any sale, lease, or use of customer premises equipment except such equipment…

(1) If a personal wireless service provider applies to site several microcells, minor facilities, or a small cell network in a single geographical area: (a) If one or more of the microcells and/or minor facilities are not exempt from the requirements of RCW 43.21C.030(2)(c), loca…

(1)(a) As used in this section, "telephone solicitation" means the unsolicited initiation of a telephone call by a commercial or nonprofit company or organization to a person for the purpose of encouraging the person to purchase property, goods, or services, wrongfully obtaining …

(1) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise. (a)(i) "Assist in the transmission" means actions taken to provide substantial assistance or support, which enables any person to formulate, originate, initiate, or…

(1) The legislature finds that universal telephone service is an important policy goal of the state. The legislature further finds that: (a) Recent changes in the telecommunications industry, such as federal access charges, raise concerns about the ability of low-income persons t…

The Washington telephone assistance program may be available to participants of programs set forth in RCW 80.36.470. Within funds specifically appropriated by the legislature for the Washington telephone assistance program, assistance may consist of the following components: (1) …