wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > SB 6329 > Original Bill
The legislature hereby finds and declares that access to high-speed broadband is a necessity and essential to participation in the economy, education, and civic life. Closing gaps in broadband availability is a matter of deployment, affordability, and ensuring networks are resilient, high quality, and facilitate public safety. Because voice over internet protocol has replaced traditional voice telephone service for a large segment of the population, ensuring its reliability is in the public interest and consistent with public safety goals. State regulators require unambiguous authority and a clear mandate to establish and enforce appropriate oversight and regulation of broadband and voice over internet protocol in order to meet the state's goals of universal, high quality, and affordable access.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
"Broadband service" means a mass market retail service that provides the capability to transmit data from all or substantially all internet endpoints, including any capabilities that are incidental to and enable the operation of the communications service. "Broadband service" does not include dial-up services.
"Internet service provider" means any person, business, or organization qualified to do business in this state that provides individuals, corporations, or other entities with the ability to connect to the internet with a broadband service.
"Jitter" means the variance in end-to-end delay of information traveling on a network. Jitter is measured through the difference between actual time of arrival and expected time of arrival.
"Latency" means the measure of time it takes in milliseconds, defined as either one-way or round trip, for a packet to travel from one point in a network to another.
"Packet loss" is defined as the event where sent information is not acknowledged by the receiver or it is received with a round trip latency delay that is greater than three seconds.
"Voice over internet protocol" or "VoIP" means an interconnected voice over internet protocol service that:
Enables real-time two-way voice communications;
Requires a broadband connection from the user's location;
Requires internet protocol compatible customer premises equipment; and
Permits users generally to receive calls that originate on the public switched telephone network and to terminate calls to the public switched telephone network.
The utilities and transportation commission shall be authorized to exercise oversight in regard to internet service providers that provide broadband and voice over internet protocol services. The commission is authorized to exercise oversight of internet service providers that is separate and distinct from telecommunications companies.
The utilities and transportation commission shall make rules necessary to implement effective oversight of the quality, reliability, and resiliency of broadband service and VoIP service. The rules must include, but are not limited to:
Resiliency and reliability of broadband infrastructure;
Reporting by internet service providers regarding network reliability and outages;
Requirements related to broadband services maintaining their networks to ensure reliable, safe, and adequate services;
Regular assessments of the adequacy of the broadband service provider's plans for emergency preparedness and postemergency network restoration;
Establishment of minimum power backup requirements for broadband service providers;
Establishment of minimum customer service standards that may include:
Standard operating hours for customer service centers and alternative means of accessing customer support;
Criteria for maximum response times from customer support representatives;
Access to in-person or mail customer service inquiries;
Maximum allowable timelines for management of billing inquiries; and
Exemptions when the above requirements do not need to be met;
Establishment of minimum latency, jitter, packet loss, and network delivery standards, as well as standard reporting procedures for these metrics; and
Minimum data collection and reporting requirements related to the deployment and availability of services, including pricing and adoption of VoIP and broadband services.
Based on complaints received or data collected from service providers, the utilities and transportation commission may conduct evaluations and audits of a provider's facilities and infrastructure used to provide broadband or VoIP services in order to evaluate service quality, public safety, or network resiliency.
The utilities and transportation commission may order a broadband service provider to undertake remedial actions if the utilities and transportation commission finds that the practices, facilities, or service of any broadband service provider are:
Unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, improper, or inadequate to ensure network reliability, resiliency, and public safety; and
Fail to meet the standards adopted by rule as required by subsection (1) of this section.
Beginning July 1, 2027, the utilities and transportation commission shall report annually to the appropriate committees of the legislature on progress toward achieving goals of resiliency, public safety, and quality of broadband and VoIP services.
Every internet service provider shall file with the utilities and transportation commission and shall print and keep open to public inspection schedules in such form as the commission may prescribe, showing all rates and charges made, established or enforced, or to be charged or enforced, all forms of contract or agreement, all rules and regulations relating to rates, charges or service, used or to be used, and all general privileges and facilities granted or allowed by such internet service provider.
Internet service providers are required to complete service orders within five business days unless one or more of the following circumstances exists:
Declaration of a state of emergency by the governor related to disasters or electric grid outages;
Natural catastrophes, with the exception of drought, that are not declared as states of emergency;
Active public safety power shutoffs;
Third-party cable cuts;
Incidents of cable theft or vandalism;
Unplanned loss of commercial power that exceeds any applicable state or federal backup power requirements;
Customer's request to change appointment; and
Lack of access to premises.
All applicable exemptions must be substantiated by an incident report, police report, customer service request report, or other relevant information that documents allowable exemption events.
Internet service providers shall compile monthly reports about service orders and submit that data to the utilities and transportation commission.
If a service order is not fulfilled within five business days, the commission shall assess a base fine amount of $5 per day beginning on the sixth day as an automatic customer credit. This automatic customer credit is required to be reflected on the customer's bill within 60 days after the last day of the initial billing period for the fulfilled service order. For unfulfilled service orders, checks must be sent to the customer within 60 days from the end of the calendar month. This automatic customer credit fine mechanism will continue until service orders are fulfilled.
Internet service providers are required to restore broadband outage tickets within 24 hours unless a circumstance described in section 6(1) of this act is present.
For outage tickets that are not repaired within 24 hours, the utilities and transportation commission shall assess an automatic customer credit equal to 1/30th of the service's monthly bill for each day that exceeds the 24-hour repair standard for each access line. Applicable automatic customer credit must be reflected on the customer's bill within 60 days after the last day of the billing period during which the credit applies.
Every internet service provider subject to regulation by the utilities and transportation commission shall, on or before the date specified by the commission for filing annual reports under RCW 80.04.080, file with the commission a statement on oath showing its gross operating revenue from intrastate operations for the preceding calendar year or portion thereof and pay to the commission a fee equal to one-tenth of one percent of the first $50,000 of gross operating revenue, plus four-tenths of one percent of any gross operating revenue in excess of $50,000. However, the commission may, by rule, set minimum fees that do not exceed the cost of collecting the fees. The commission may, by rule, waive any or all of the minimum fee established pursuant to this subsection.
Any payment of the fee imposed by subsection (1) of this section made after its due date shall include a late fee of two percent of the amount due. Delinquent fees shall accrue interest at the rate of one percent per month.
The utilities and transportation commission shall:
Exercise all the powers and perform all the duties prescribed by this title and by Title 81 RCW, or by any other law.
Regulate in the public interest, as provided by the public service laws, all persons engaging in the transportation of persons or property within this state for compensation.
Regulate in the public interest, as provided by the public service laws, the rates, services, facilities, and practices of all persons engaging within this state in the business of supplying any utility service, broadband service, or commodity to the public for compensation.
Make rules and regulations necessary to carry out its other powers and duties.
The definitions in this section apply throughout this title unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
"Automatic location identification" means a system by which information about a caller's location, including the seven-digit number or 10-digit number used to place a 911 call or a different seven-digit number or 10-digit number to which a return call can be made from the public switched network, is forwarded to a public safety answering point for display.
"Automatic number identification" means a system that allows for the automatic display of the seven-digit or 10-digit number used to place a 911 call.
"Battery charging facility" includes a "battery charging station" and a "rapid charging station" as defined in RCW 82.08.816.
"Cogeneration facility" means any machinery, equipment, structure, process, or property, or any part thereof, installed or acquired for the primary purpose of the sequential generation of electrical or mechanical power and useful heat from the same primary energy source or fuel.
"Commission" means the utilities and transportation commission.
"Commissioner" means one of the members of such commission.
"Competitive telecommunications company" means a telecommunications company which has been classified as such by the commission pursuant to RCW 80.36.320.
"Competitive telecommunications service" means a service that has been classified as such by the commission pursuant to RCW 80.36.330.
"Corporation" includes a corporation, company, association or joint stock association.
"Department" means the department of health.
"Electric plant" includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property operated, 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 for hire; and any conduits, ducts, or other devices, materials, apparatus, or property for containing, holding, or carrying conductors used or to be used for the transmission of electricity for light, heat, or power.
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"Electrical company" includes any corporation, company, association, joint stock association, partnership and person, their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever (other than a railroad or street railroad company generating electricity solely for railroad or street railroad purposes or for the use of its tenants and not for sale to others), and every city or town owning, operating, or managing any electric plant for hire within this state. An electrical company may own, operate, or manage any thermal energy network within this state.
"Electrical company" does not include a company or person employing a cogeneration facility solely for the generation of electricity for its own use or the use of its tenants or for sale to an electrical company, state or local public agency, municipal corporation, or quasi municipal corporation engaged in the sale or distribution of electrical energy, but not for sale to others, unless such company or person is otherwise an electrical company.
"Facilities" means lines, conduits, ducts, poles, wires, cables, cross-arms, receivers, transmitters, instruments, machines, appliances, instrumentalities and all devices, real estate, easements, apparatus, property, and routes used, operated, owned, or controlled by any telecommunications company to facilitate the provision of telecommunications service.
"Gas company" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock association, partnership, and person, their lessees, trustees, or receiver appointed by any court whatsoever, and every city or town, owning, controlling, operating, or managing any gas plant within this state. A gas company may own, control, operate, or manage any thermal energy network within this state.
"Gas plant" includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property, owned, leased, controlled, used, or to be used for or in connection with the transmission, distribution, sale, or furnishing of natural gas, or the manufacture, transmission, distribution, sale, or furnishing of other type gas, for light, heat, or power.
"LATA" means a local access transport area as defined by the commission in conformance with applicable federal law.
"Local exchange company" means a telecommunications company providing local exchange telecommunications service.
"Noncompetitive telecommunications service" means any service that has not been classified as competitive by the commission.
"Person" includes an individual, a firm, or partnership.
"Private shared telecommunications services" includes the provision of telecommunications and information management services and equipment within a user group located in discrete private premises in building complexes, campuses, or high-rise buildings, 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 a local exchange and to interexchange telecommunications companies.
"Private switch automatic location identification service" means a service that enables automatic location identification to be provided to a public safety answering point for 911 calls originating from station lines served by a private switch system.
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"Private telecommunications system" means a telecommunications system controlled by a person or entity for the sole and exclusive use of such person, entity, or affiliate thereof, including the provision of private shared telecommunications services by such person or entity.
"Private telecommunications system" does not include a system offered for hire, sale, or resale to the general public.
"Public service company" includes every gas company, electrical company, telecommunications company, wastewater company, and water company. Ownership or operation of a cogeneration facility does not, by itself, make a company or person a public service company.
"Radio communications service company" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock association, partnership, and person, their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court, and every city or town making available facilities to provide radio communications service, radio paging, or cellular communications service for hire, sale, or resale.
"Service" is used in this title in its broadest and most inclusive sense.
"System of sewerage" means collection, treatment, and disposal facilities and services for sewerage, or storm or surface water runoff.
"Telecommunications" is the transmission of information by wire, radio, optical cable, electromagnetic, or other similar means. As used in this definition, "information" means knowledge or intelligence represented by any form of writing, signs, signals, pictures, sounds, or any other symbols. Telecommunications does not include broadband service as defined in section 2 of this act.
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"Telecommunications company" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock association, partnership, and person, their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, and every city or town owning, operating, or managing any facilities used to provide telecommunications for hire, sale, or resale to the general public within this state.
"Telecommunications company" does not include internet service providers that are subject to the laws and rules adopted under sections 2 through 7 of this act.
"Thermal energy" means piped noncombustible fluids used for transferring heat into and out of buildings for the purpose of either: (a) Eliminating any resultant on-site greenhouse gas emissions of all types of heating and cooling processes including, but not limited to, comfort heating and cooling, domestic hot water, and refrigeration; (b) improving energy efficiency; or (c) both (a) and (b) of this subsection.
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"Thermal energy company" means any private person, company, association, partnership, joint venture, or corporation engaged in or proposing to engage in thermal energy services, and may additionally engage in developing and producing thermal energy.
A thermal energy company does not include any gas company, electrical company, or public utility district that owns, controls, operates, or manages a thermal energy network.
A thermal energy company does not include a homeowners' association providing service to units solely within its own buildings.
A thermal energy company does not include a company that develops, produces, or provides thermal energy independently from the company involved in the thermal energy distribution system.
"Thermal energy network" means all real estate, fixtures, and personal property operated, owned, used, or to be used for or in connection with or to facilitate a utility-scale distribution infrastructure project that supplies thermal energy. A thermal energy network may not rely on combustion to create thermal energy, except for emergency backup purposes.
"Thermal energy services" means transmitting, distributing, delivering, furnishing, or selling to or for the public thermal energy from a thermal energy system for any beneficial use other than electricity generation and includes such ancillary services as energy audits, metering, billing, maintenance, and repairs related to thermal energy.
"Thermal energy system" means any system that provides thermal energy for space heating, space cooling, or process uses from a central plant, distributed plant, or combined heat and power facility, and that distributes the thermal energy to two or more buildings through a network of pipes. A thermal energy system includes, but is not limited to, a thermal energy network.
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"Wastewater company" means a corporation, company, association, joint stock association, partnership, and person, their lessees, trustees, or receivers that owns or proposes to develop and own a system of sewerage that is designed for a peak flow of 27,000 to 100,000 gallons per day if treatment is by a large on‑site sewerage system, or to serve 100 or more customers.
For purposes of commission jurisdiction, wastewater company does not include: (i) Municipal, county, or other publicly owned systems of sewerage; or (ii) wastewater company service to customers outside of an urban growth area as defined in RCW 36.70A.030.
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"Water company" includes every corporation, company, association, joint stock association, partnership, and person, their lessees, trustees, or receivers appointed by any court whatsoever, and every city or town owning, controlling, operating, or managing any water system for hire within this state.
For purposes of commission jurisdiction, "water company" does not include any water system serving less than 100 customers where the average annual gross revenue per customer does not exceed $300 per year, which revenue figure may be increased annually by the commission by rule adopted pursuant to chapter 34.05 RCW to reflect the rate of inflation as determined by the implicit price deflator of the United States department of commerce. The measurement of customers or revenues must include all portions of water companies having common ownership or control, regardless of location or corporate designation.
"Control" is defined by the commission by rule and does not include management by a satellite agency as defined in chapter 70A.100 RCW if the satellite agency is not an owner of the water company.
"Water company" also includes, for auditing purposes only, nonmunicipal water systems that are referred to the commission pursuant to an administrative order from the department, or the city or county as provided in RCW 80.04.110.
Water companies exempt from commission regulation are subject to the provisions of chapter 19.86 RCW. A water company cannot be removed from regulation except with the approval of the commission. Water companies subject to regulation may petition the commission for removal from regulation if the number of customers falls below 100 or the average annual revenue per customer falls below $300. The commission is authorized to maintain continued regulation if it finds that the public interest so requires.
"Water system" includes all real estate, easements, fixtures, personal property, dams, dikes, head gates, weirs, canals, reservoirs, flumes, or other structures or appliances operated, owned, used, or to be used for or in connection with or to facilitate the supply, storage, distribution, sale, furnishing, diversion, carriage, apportionment, or measurement of water for power, irrigation, reclamation, manufacturing, municipal, domestic, or other beneficial uses for hire.
This act may be known and cited as the broadband resiliency, public safety, and quality act.