Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 56 > Chapter 15 - Telegraph and Telephone Companies

• Abuse: means any act or failure to act by an employee or other person responsible for the care of an individual in a facility or program operated, licensed, or funded by the Department, excluding those operated by the Department of Corrections, that was performed or was failed to be performed knowingly, recklessly, or intentionally, and that caused or might have caused physical or psychological harm, injury, or death to an individual receiving care or treatment for mental illness, developmental disabilities, or substance abuse. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or older. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• ALI: means a telecommunications network capability that enables the automatic display of information defining the geographical location of the telephone used to place a wireless enhanced 9-1-1 call. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• ALI: means the automatic display at a PSAP of information defining the emergency call location, which information shall identify the floor name or number, room name or number, building name or number, cubicle name or number, and office name or number, as applicable, or imparts other information that is sufficiently specific to provide the emergency responders with the ability to locate the telephone station from which the emergency call was placed. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Alternative method of providing call location information: means a method of maintaining and operating a multiline telephone system that ensures that:

  1. See Virginia Code 56-484.19

• ANI: means a telecommunications network capability that enables the automatic display of the telephone number used to place a wireless Enhanced 9-1-1 call. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• ANI: means the automatic display at a PSAP of a telephone number that a PSAP may use to call the telephone station from which the emergency call was placed. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Board: means the 9-1-1 Services Board created pursuant to this article. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• Board: means the State Board of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Calling party information: means information that is delivered by the MLTS provider to the PSAP that is used to provide the ANI and ALI function. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Central office system: means a business telephone service offered by a provider of communications services that provides features similar to a private branch exchange by transmitting data over telecommunications equipment or cable lines. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Centrex: means a business telephone service offered by a local exchange company from a local central office; a normal single line telephone service with added custom calling features including but not limited to intercom, call forwarding, and call transfer. See Virginia Code 56-468.1
• Child in need of services: means (i) a child whose behavior, conduct or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the well-being and physical safety of the child or (ii) a child under the age of 14 whose behavior, conduct or condition presents or results in a serious threat to the well-being and physical safety of another person; however, no child who in good faith is under treatment solely by spiritual means through prayer in accordance with the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination shall for that reason alone be considered to be a child in need of services, nor shall any child who habitually remains away from or habitually deserts or abandons his family as a result of what the court or the local child protective services unit determines to be incidents of physical, emotional or sexual abuse in the home be considered a child in need of services for that reason alone. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• CIO: means the Chief Information Officer appointed pursuant to § 2. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• CMRS: means mobile telecommunications service as defined in the federal Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act, 4 U. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• CMRS provider: means an entity authorized by the Federal Communications Commission to provide CMRS within the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Community services board: means the public body established pursuant to § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• company: includes all corporations created by acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, or under the general incorporation laws of this Commonwealth, or doing business therein, and shall exclude all municipal corporations, other political subdivisions, and public institutions owned or controlled by the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Coordinator: means the Virginia Public Safety Communications Systems Coordinator employed by the Division. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Division: means the Division of Public Safety Communications created in § 44-146. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• Emergency call: means a telephone call that enables the user to reach a PSAP by dialing the digits "9-1-1" and, if applicable, any additional digit or digits that must be dialed in order to permit the user to access the public switched telephone network. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Emergency call location: means the location of the telephone station on an MLTS from which an emergency call is placed and to which a PSAP may dispatch emergency responders based upon ALI provided via the emergency call. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Emergency responders: means fire services, law enforcement, emergency medical services, and other public services or agencies that may be dispatched by a PSAP in response to an emergency call. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• 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}
• ESInet: means a shared public safety agency-managed Internet protocol (IP) network that (i) is used for emergency services communications, (ii) provides an IP transport infrastructure that is capable of carrying voice and data and that supports next generation 9-1-1 service core functions such as routing and location validation of emergency service requests, and (iii) is engineered, managed, and intended to support emergency public safety communications and 9-1-1 service. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• ESInet point of interconnection: means the demarcation point at which the NG9-1-1 Service Provider receives and assumes responsibility for 9-1-1 call traffic from originating service providers. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• 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.
• Facility: means real estate and improvements used principally for or as a (i) hotel as defined in § 35. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Facility: means a state or licensed hospital, training center, psychiatric hospital, or other type of residential or outpatient mental health or developmental services facility. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Family member: means an immediate family member of an individual receiving services or the principal caregiver of that individual. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• 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.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Interexchange telephone service: means telephone service between points in two or more exchanges that is not classified as local exchange telephone service. See Virginia Code 56-1
• ISDN Primary Rate Interface: means digital communications service containing 24 bearer channels, each of which is a full 64,000 bits-per-second. See Virginia Code 56-468.1
• 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.
• law: means the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Law embraced in this chapter. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• 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}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• licensed: means a state hospital and a licensed hospital that provides care and treatment for persons with mental illness. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local exchange carrier: means any public service company granted a certificate to furnish public utility service for the provision of local exchange telephone service pursuant to Chapter 10. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• Local exchange telephone service: means telephone service provided in a geographical area established for the administration of communication services and consists of one or more central offices together with associated facilities which are used in providing local exchange service. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Mail: includes electronic mail and other forms of electronic communication when the customer has requested or authorized electronic bill delivery or other electronic communications. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Mental illness: means a disorder of thought, mood, emotion, perception, or orientation that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to address basic life necessities and requires care and treatment for the health, safety, or recovery of the individual or for the safety of others. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• minor: means a person who is (i) younger than 18 years of age or (ii) for purposes of the Fostering Futures program set forth in Article 2 (§ 63. See Virginia Code 16.1-228
• MLTS: means a telephone system, including network-based or premises-based systems, whether owned or leased by a public or private entity, operated in the Commonwealth, that serves a facility, has more than one telephone station, and is comprised of common control units, telephones, and control hardware and software that share a common interface to the public switched telephone network, whether by a private branch exchange or central office system, without regard to whether the system utilizes VoIP technology. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• MLTS provider: means a person who operates a facility at which telephone service is provided, with or without compensation, through a multiline telephone system. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• MLTS service provider: means a person offering or operating third party services that combine communications services, private branch exchange or central office systems, and multiline telephone systems where such services are provided to an MLTS provider on a fee-for-service basis. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Network Access Register: means a central office register associated with Centrex service that is required in order to complete a call involving access to the public switched telephone network outside the confines of that Centrex company. See Virginia Code 56-468.1
• 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.
• Originating service provider: means the local exchange carrier, VoIP provider, or CMRS provider that serves the end user over which a 9-1-1 call, 9-8-8 call, call to the crisis call center, as defined in § 37. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• 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.
• PBX: means public branch exchange and is telephone switching equipment owned by the customer and located on the customer's premises. See Virginia Code 56-468.1
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Person: includes individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• Place of primary use: has the meaning as defined in the federal Mobile Telecommunications Sourcing Act, 4 U. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• population: shall mean either population according to the latest United States census or the latest population estimate of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service of the University of Virginia, whichever is more recent. See Virginia Code 56-468.1
• 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.
• Private emergency answering point: means an answering point that is equipped and staffed during all hours that the facility is occupied to provide adequate means of responding to calls to the digits "9-1-1" from telephones on a multiline telephone system by reporting incidents to a PSAP in a manner that identifies the emergency response location from which the call to the answering point was placed. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Provider of local telecommunications service: means a public service corporation or locality holding a certificate issued by the State Corporation Commission to provide local exchange telephone service and any other person who provides local telephone services to the public for a fee, other than a CMRS provider as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 56-468.1
• PSAP: means a facility (i) equipped and staffed on a 24-hour basis to receive and process 9-1-1 calls or (ii) that intends to receive and process 9-1-1 calls and has notified CMRS providers in its jurisdiction of its intention to receive and process such calls. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• PSAP: means a communications operation operated by or on behalf of a governmental entity that is equipped and staffed on a 24-hour basis to receive and process telephone calls for emergency assistance from an individual by dialing, in addition to any digits required to obtain an outside line, the digits "9-1-1. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Public highway: means , for purposes of computing the Public Rights-of-Way Use Fee, the centerline mileage of highways and streets which are part of the primary state highway system as defined in § Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Service area: means the city or county or combination of cities and counties or counties or cities that is served by a community services board or behavioral health authority or the cities and counties that are served by a state facility. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Special justice: means a person appointed by a chief judge of a judicial circuit for the purpose of performing the duties of a judge pursuant to § 37. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• Subscriber: means a person who receives video programming, as defined in 47 U. See Virginia Code 56-468.1
• Substance abuse: means the use of drugs, enumerated in the Virginia Drug Control Act (§ 54. See Virginia Code 37.2-100
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• Telephone call: means the use of a telephone to initiate an ordinary voice transmission placed through the public switched telephone network. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• telephone station: includes any telephone on a multiline telephone system located in an administrative office, nursing station, lobby, waiting area, or other area accessible to the general public but does not include a telephone located in the room of a patient or resident. See Virginia Code 56-484.19
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• 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 the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• VoIP service: means interconnected voice over Internet protocol service as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 47, Part 9, section 9. See Virginia Code 56-484.12
• VoIP service: means any service that: (i) enables real-time, two-way voice communications that originate or terminate from the user's location using Internet protocol or any successor protocol and (ii) uses a broadband connection from the user's location. See Virginia Code 56-1