AN ACT to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §24-2E-2, relating generally to improving competition among telephone public utilities providing landline services to business customers; limiting termination fees charged by telephone public utilities for landline service to business customers and providing method of computing termination fee; specifying how this act applies to existing landline business customer services agreements, whether in their original term or in a rollover term; and providing that act does not apply to services agreements between two telephone public utilities.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §24-2E-2, to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2E. REQUIREMENTS FOR PHONE SERVICE SALES.
§24-2E-2. Telephone services agreements.
(a) Limitation on termination fees. -- On and after the effective date of this section, no telephone public utility may, in connection with its continued provision of landline telephone service pursuant to an automatic renewal provision contained in a customer service agreement with a business customer, impose a termination fee that is greater than the charges for one month's service, which fee shall be computed by averaging the service charges invoiced to the terminating customer during the preceding four months.
(b) Service agreements already automatically renewed. -- If, as of the effective date of this section, a telephone public utility is providing landline telephone service to a customer pursuant to an automatic renewal provision contained in a customer service agreement with a business customer, the telephone public utility may not impose a termination fee that is greater than the charges for two months' service, which fee shall be computed by averaging the service charges invoiced to the terminating customer during the preceding four months.
(c) Limitation on applicability. --
(1) Nothing herein shall be construed as preventing a telephone public utility and its business customers from entering into customer service agreements, governing, among other matters, any termination fee that may be imposed on the customer for terminating the service agreement during its initial term.
(2) The provisions of this section do not apply to service agreements between one telephone public utility and another telephone public utility.