Rhode Island General Laws 39-2-5. Exceptions to anti-discrimination provisions
The provisions of § 39-2-2 — § 39-2-4 shall be subject to the following exceptions:
(1) A public utility may issue or give free transportation or service to its employees and their families, its officers, agents, surgeons, physicians, and attorneys at law, and to the officers, agents, and employees, and their families of any other public utility.
(2) With the approval of the division, any public utility may give free transportation or service, upon such conditions as the public utility may impose, or grant special rates therefor to the state, to any town or city, or to any water or fire district, and to the officers thereof, for public purposes, and also to any special class or classes of persons, not otherwise referred to in this section, in cases where the same shall seem to the division just and reasonable, or required in the interests of the public, and not unjustly discriminatory.
(3) With the approval of the division, any public utility operating a railroad or street railway may furnish to the publishers of newspapers and magazines, and to their employees, passenger transportation in return for advertising in the newspapers or magazines at full rates.
(4) With the approval of the division, any public utility may exchange its service for the service of any other public utility furnishing a different class of service.
(5) Nothing in this section or any other provision of the law shall be construed to prohibit the giving by any public utility, of free or reduced-rate service to an elderly person as defined by the division.
(6) Any motor carrier of persons, as defined in chapter 13 of this title, may elect to file a tariff providing for a rate reduction of twenty-five percent (25%) below its one-way-fare tariff applying to any person who is sixty-five (65) years of age or older and any person assisting and traveling with a blind passenger who is not required to pay any fare pursuant to the provisions of § 39-2-13 for bus rides between the hours of ten o’clock (10:00) a.m. and three o’clock (3:00) p.m. of each day. In such event, the reduced fare shall be paid in part by the passenger and in part by the state. That part of the reduced fare payable by the state shall be one-half (½) of the reduced fare adjusted upward to end in the nearest zero (0) or five cents (.05), and that part payable by the passenger shall be the balance of the reduced fare. Payments by the state under this section shall be paid monthly under procedures agreed upon by the department of transportation and the carrier.
(7) [Deleted by P.L. 2004, ch. 378, § 4, and by P.L. 2004, ch. 504, § 4.]
(8) Any person, firm, or corporation or any officer, agent, servant, or employee thereof who shall violate the provisions of subsection (7) of this section by fraudulently obtaining a telecommunications device shall, upon conviction, be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.
(9)(i) Nothing in this section or any other provision of the general laws shall be construed to prohibit the commission from taking actions to enable the state to participate in a Federal Communications Commission telephone lifeline program. The commission may set a subscriber-funded, monthly residence basic exchange lifeline telephone service credit in an amount not to exceed the federal subscriber line access charge or the monthly basic-service charge, whichever is less, for those persons who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC), general public assistance (GPA), aid from the Rhode Island medical assistance program, or food stamps issued pursuant to the Food Stamp Act of 1964 as amended (Pub. L. No. 88-525 and amendments made thereto, 7 U.S.C. § 2011 et seq.), assistance from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) as administered by the department of administration, division of planning, and effective April 1, 1993, assistance from the Rhode Island pharmaceutical assistance program administered by the office of healthy aging. The public utilities commission may promulgate regulations to implement this section. The department of human services and the department of administration, division of planning, shall certify subscriber eligibility for the programs in accordance with public utilities commission and Federal Communications Commission guidelines.
(ii) The department of human services shall report monthly to the governor and to the house of representatives fiscal advisor the number of persons newly eligible for the lifeline telephone service credit hereunder solely by virtue of their eligibility to receive food stamp assistance and the department of administration, division of planning, shall, also, report monthly to the governor and to the house of representatives fiscal advisor the number of persons newly eligible for the lifeline telephone service credit hereunder solely by virtue of their participation in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
(10) Nothing in this section or any other provision of the general laws shall be construed to prohibit any public utility with the approval of the commission, from forgiving arrearages of any person in accordance with the provisions of § 39-2-1(d).
(11) Nothing in this section or any other provision of the law shall be construed to prohibit any utility company from cutting, disconnecting, or removing mains, poles, wires, conduits, or fixtures free of charge to nonprofit housing development corporations prior to moving a building to be used as affordable housing for at least a ten-year (10) period.
(12) Nothing in this section or any other provision of the general laws shall be construed to prohibit any telecommunications provider, with the approval of the commission, from offering any residential customer a reduced rate, provided such rate covers all costs. A telecommunications provider may offer a business customer a reduced rate without commission approval; provided that the rate covers all costs.
(13) A gas or electric distribution company may provide discounts to low-income customers in accordance with the affordable energy plan provisions of § 42-141-5(d) [repealed]. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit the continuation of any low-income discounts approved by the commission prior to January 1, 2006, and in effect as of that date.
History of Section.
P.L. 1912, ch. 795, § 42; G.L. 1923, ch. 253, § 42; G.L. 1938, ch. 122, § 39; G.L. 1956, § 39-2-5; P.L. 1971, ch. 256, § 3; P.L. 1976, ch. 113, § 1; P.L. 1983, ch. 216, § 1; P.L. 1985, ch. 48, § 1; P.L. 1986, ch. 352, § 1; P.L. 1987, ch. 226, § 1; P.L. 1988, ch. 388, § 1; P.L. 1988, ch. 580, § 2; P.L. 1989, ch. 306, § 1; P.L. 1990, ch. 182, § 1; P.L. 1991, ch. 113, § 1; P.L. 1992, ch. 136, § 1; P.L. 1993, ch. 115, § 5; P.L. 1995, ch. 168, § 1; P.L. 1997, ch. 326, § 105; P.L. 2004, ch. 378, § 4; P.L. 2004, ch. 504, § 4; P.L. 2006, ch. 236, § 7; P.L. 2006, ch. 237, § 7; P.L. 2008, ch. 475, § 20; P.L. 2011, ch. 132, § 1; P.L. 2011, ch. 148, § 1.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 39-2-5
- Commission: means the public utilities commission. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Company: means and includes a person, firm, partnership, corporation, quasi-municipal corporation, association, joint-stock association or company, and his, her, its, or their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- 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: means a company taking service from an electric distribution company at a single point of delivery or meter location. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- Division: means the division of public utilities and carriers. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Electric distribution company: means a company engaging in the distribution of electricity or owning, operating, or controlling distribution facilities and shall be a public utility pursuant to subsection (20) of this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
- Public utility: means and includes every company that is an electric distribution company and every company operating or doing business in intrastate commerce and in this state as a railroad, street railway, common carrier, gas, liquefied natural gas, water, telephone, telegraph, and pipeline company, and every company owning, leasing, maintaining, managing, or controlling any plant or equipment, or any part of any plant or equipment, within this state for manufacturing, producing, transmitting, distributing, delivering, or furnishing natural or manufactured gas, directly or indirectly, to or for the public, or any cars or equipment employed on, or in connection with, any railroad or street railway for public or general use within this state, or any pipes, mains, poles, wires, conduits, fixtures, through, over, across, under, or along any public highways, parkways, or streets, public lands, waters, or parks for the transmission, transportation, or distribution of gas for sale to the public for light, heat, cooling, or power for providing audio or visual telephonic or telegraphic communication service within this state, or any pond, lake, reservoir, stream, well, or distributing plant or system employed for the distribution of water to the consuming public within this state, including the water supply board of the city of Providence; provided, that, except as provided in § 39-16-9 and in P. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Railroad: means and includes every railroad other than a street railway, by whatsoever power, operated for public use in the conveyance in this state of persons or property for compensation, with all bridges, ferries, tunnels, switches, spurs, tracks, stations, wharves, and terminal facilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled, leased, or owned by or in connection with any railroad. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- Street railway: means and includes every railway by whatsoever power operated or any extension or extensions, branch, or branches thereof, for public use in the conveyance in this state of persons or property for compensation, being mainly upon, along, above, or below any street, avenue, road, highway, bridge, or public place in any city or town, and including all switches, spurs, tracks, rights of trackage, subways, tunnels, stations, terminals, and terminal facilities of every kind, used, operated, controlled, or owned by or in connection with any street railway. See Rhode Island General Laws 39-1-2
- town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9