Terms Used In Missouri Laws > Chapter 386 - Public Service Commission

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Basic local telecommunications service: two-way switched voice service within a local calling scope as determined by the commission comprised of any of the following services and their recurring and nonrecurring charges:

  (a) Multiparty, single line, including installation, touchtone dialing, and any applicable mileage or zone charges. See Missouri Laws 386.020

• Cable television service: the one-way transmission to subscribers of video programming or other programming service and the subscriber interaction, if any, which is required for the selection of such video programming or other programming service. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Carrier of last resort: any telecommunications company which is obligated to offer basic local telecommunications service to all customers who request service in a geographic area defined by the commission and cannot abandon this obligation without approval from the commission. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Commission: the "Public Service Commission" hereby created. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Commissioner: one of the members of the commission. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Competitive telecommunications company: a telecommunications company which has been classified as such by the commission pursuant to section 392. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Competitive telecommunications service: a telecommunications service which has been classified as such by the commission pursuant to section 392. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: includes a corporation, company, association and joint stock association or company. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Customer-owned pay telephone: a privately owned telecommunications device that is not owned, leased or otherwise controlled by a local exchange telecommunications company and which provides telecommunications services for a use fee to the general public. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Electric plant: includes all real estate, fixtures and personal property operated, controlled, owned, used or to be used for or in connection with or to facilitate the generation, transmission, distribution, sale or furnishing of electricity for light, heat or power. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Electrical corporation: includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, other than a railroad, light rail or street railroad corporation generating electricity solely for railroad, light rail or street railroad purposes or for the use of its tenants and not for sale to others, owning, operating, controlling or managing any electric plant except where electricity is generated or distributed by the producer solely on or through private property for railroad, light rail or street railroad purposes or for its own use or the use of its tenants and not for sale to others. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Exchange: a geographical area for the administration of telecommunications services, established and described by the tariff of a telecommunications company providing basic local telecommunications service. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Exchange access service: a service provided by a local exchange telecommunications company which enables a telecommunications company or other customer to enter and exit the local exchange telecommunications network in order to originate or terminate interexchange telecommunications service. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Gas corporation: includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, operating, controlling or managing any gas plant operating for public use under privilege, license or franchise now or hereafter granted by the state or any political subdivision, county or municipality thereof. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Gas plant: includes all real estate, fixtures and personal property owned, operated, controlled, used or to be used for or in connection with or to facilitate the manufacture, distribution, sale or furnishing of gas, natural or manufactured, for light, heat or power. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Heating company: includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers, appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, operating, managing or controlling any plant or property for manufacturing and distributing and selling, for distribution, or distributing hot or cold water, steam or currents of hot or cold air for motive power, heating, cooking, or for any public use or service, in any city, town or village in this state. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• hereafter: means the time after the statute containing it takes effect. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Heretofore: means any time previous to the day when the statute containing it takes effect. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• information: means knowledge or intelligence represented by any form of writing, signs, signals, pictures, sounds, or any other symbols. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interconnected voice over internet protocol service: service that:

  (a) Enables real-time, two-way voice communications. See Missouri Laws 386.020

• Interexchange telecommunications company: any company engaged in the provision of interexchange telecommunications service. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Interexchange telecommunications service: telecommunications service between points in two or more exchanges. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• InterLATA: interexchange telecommunications service between points in different local access and transportation areas. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• IntraLATA: interexchange telecommunications service between points within the same local access and transportation area. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• LATA: contiguous geographic area approved by the U. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Light rail: includes every rail transportation system in which one or more rail vehicles are propelled electrically by overhead catenary wire upon tracks located substantially within an urban area and are operated exclusively in the transportation of passengers and their baggage, and including all bridges, tunnels, equipment, switches, spurs, tracks, stations, used in connection with the operation of light rail. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Line: includes route. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local exchange telecommunications company: any company engaged in the provision of local exchange telecommunications service. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Local exchange telecommunications service: telecommunications service between points within an exchange. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Long-run incremental cost: the change in total costs of the company of producing an increment of output in the long run when the company uses least cost technology, and excluding any costs that, in the long run, are not brought into existence as a direct result of the increment of output. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Month: means a calendar month, and "year" means a calendar year unless otherwise expressed, and is equivalent to the words year of our Lord. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Municipality: includes a city, village or town. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Noncompetitive telecommunications company: a telecommunications company other than a competitive telecommunications company or a transitionally competitive telecommunications company. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Noncompetitive telecommunications service: a telecommunications service other than a competitive or transitionally competitive telecommunications service. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Operator services: operator-assisted interexchange telecommunications service by means of either human or automated call intervention and includes, but is not limited to, billing or completion of calling card, collect, person-to-person, station-to-station or third number billed calls. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Operator services contract: any agreement between a traffic aggregator and a certificated interexchange telecommunications company to provide operator services at a traffic aggregator location. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes an individual, and a firm or copartnership. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action and evidences of debt. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• Private shared tenant services: includes the provision of telecommunications and information management services and equipment within a user group located in discrete private premises as authorized by the commission by a commercial-shared services provider or by a user association, through privately owned customer premises equipment and associated data processing and information management services and includes the provision of connections to the facilities of local exchange telecommunications companies and to interexchange telecommunications companies. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Private telecommunications system: a telecommunications system controlled by a person or corporation for the sole and exclusive use of such person, corporation or legal or corporate affiliate thereof. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Property: includes real and personal property. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public utility: includes every pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telecommunications company, water corporation, heating company or refrigerating corporation, and sewer corporation, as these terms are defined in this section, and each thereof is hereby declared to be a public utility and to be subject to the jurisdiction, control and regulation of the commission and to the provisions of this chapter. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Railroad: includes every railroad and railway, other than street railroad or light rail, by whatsoever power operated for public use in the conveyance of persons or property for compensation, with all bridges, ferries, tunnels, equipment, switches, spurs, tracks, stations, real estate and terminal facilities of every kind used, operated, controlled or owned by or in connection with any such railroad. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Railroad corporation: includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, holding, operating, controlling or managing any railroad as defined in this section, or any cars or other equipment used thereon or in connection therewith. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Rate: every individual or joint rate, fare, toll, charge, reconsigning charge, switching charge, rental or other compensation of any corporation, person or public utility, or any two or more such individual or joint rates, fares, tolls, charges, reconsigning charges, switching charges, rentals or other compensations of any corporation, person or public utility or any schedule or tariff thereof. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Resale of telecommunications service: the offering or providing of telecommunications service primarily through the use of services or facilities owned or provided by a separate telecommunications company, but does not include the offering or providing of private shared tenant services. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Service: includes not only the use and accommodations afforded consumers or patrons, but also any product or commodity furnished by any corporation, person or public utility and the plant, equipment, apparatus, appliances, property and facilities employed by any corporation, person or public utility in performing any service or in furnishing any product or commodity and devoted to the public purposes of such corporation, person or public utility, and to the use and accommodation of consumers or patrons. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Sewer corporation: includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership or person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court, owning, operating, controlling or managing any sewer system, plant or property, for the collection, carriage, treatment, or disposal of sewage anywhere within the state for gain, except that the term shall not include sewer systems with fewer than twenty-five outlets. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Sewer system: includes all pipes, pumps, canals, lagoons, plants, structures and appliances, and all other real estate, fixtures and personal property, owned, operated, controlled or managed in connection with or to facilitate the collection, carriage, treatment and disposal of sewage for municipal, domestic or other beneficial or necessary purpose. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Street railroad: includes every railroad by whatsoever type of power operated, and all extensions and branches thereof and supplementary facilities thereto by whatsoever type of vehicle operated, for public use in the conveyance of persons or property for compensation, mainly providing local transportation service upon the streets, highways and public places in a municipality, or in and adjacent to a municipality, and including all cars, buses and other rolling stock, equipment, switches, spurs, tracks, poles, wires, conduits, cables, subways, tunnels, stations, terminals and real estate of every kind used, operated or owned in connection therewith but this term shall not include light rail as defined in this section. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Telecommunications company: includes telephone corporations as that term is used in the statutes of this state and every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, operating, controlling or managing any facilities used to provide telecommunications service for hire, sale or resale within this state. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Telecommunications facilities: includes lines, conduits, ducts, poles, wires, cables, crossarms, receivers, transmitters, instruments, machines, appliances and all devices, real estate, easements, apparatus, property and routes used, operated, controlled or owned by any telecommunications company to facilitate the provision of telecommunications service. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Telecommunications service: the transmission of information by wire, radio, optical cable, electronic impulses, or other similar means. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Telephone cooperative: every corporation defined as a telecommunications company in this section, in which at least ninety percent of those persons and corporations subscribing to receive local telecommunications service from the corporation own at least ninety percent of the corporation's outstanding and issued capital stock and in which no subscriber owns more than two shares of the corporation's outstanding and issued capital stock. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Traffic aggregator: any person, firm, partnership or corporation which furnishes a telephone for use by the public and includes, but is not limited to, telephones located in rooms, offices and similar locations in hotels, motels, hospitals, colleges, universities, airports and public or customer-owned pay telephone locations, whether or not coin operated. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Transitionally competitive telecommunications company: an interexchange telecommunications company which provides any noncompetitive or transitionally competitive telecommunications service, except for an interexchange telecommunications company which provides only noncompetitive telecommunications service. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Transitionally competitive telecommunications service: a telecommunications service offered by a noncompetitive or transitionally competitive telecommunications company and classified as transitionally competitive by the commission pursuant to section 392. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
• voter: is used in the laws of this state it shall mean registered voter, or legal voter. See Missouri Laws 1.035
• Water corporation: includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock company or association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, owning, operating, controlling or managing any plant or property, dam or water supply, canal, or power station, distributing or selling for distribution, or selling or supplying for gain any water. See Missouri Laws 386.020
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.