It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 39-2-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 39-2 entitled "Duties of Utilities and Carriers" is hereby amended to read as follows:

{ADD 39-2-5. Exceptions to anti-discrimination provisions. -- ADD} The provisions of sections 39-2-2 to 39-2-4, inclusive, shall be subject to the following exceptions:

(a) 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.

(b) 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.

(c) 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.

(d) 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.

(e) Nothing in this section nor any other provision of the law shall be construed to prohibit the giving by any public utility, free or reduced rate service to an elderly person as defined by the division.

(f) 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 per cent (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 section 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 (1/2) of the the reduced fare adjusted upward to end in the nearest zero (0) or five (.05) cents, and that part payable by the passenger shall be the balance of the the reduced fare. Payments by the state hereunder shall be paid monthly under procedures agreed upon by the department of transportation and the carrier.

(g) Nothing in this section nor any other provision of the law shall be construed to prohibit the commission from designing and implementing a program to provide a telecommunications device capable of servicing the needs of the deaf, severely hearing impaired, severely speech impaired or those suffering from neuro-muscular damage or disease for use with a single party telephone line, at no additional charge to the basic exchange rate, to any subscriber who is certified as deaf, severely hearing impaired, severely speech impaired, or suffering from neuro-muscular damage or disease by a licensed physician, audiologist, speech pathologist or a qualified state agency. The commission shall establish a funding mechanism whereby the regulated telephone utilities will impose a monthly surcharge on residential, nonbusiness subscribers until seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($750,000) to fund the adaptive telephone equipment loan program is realized. This program shall be phased in by the commission over a four (4) year period ending June 30, 1987.

(h) Any person, firm, or corporation or any officer, agent, servant, or employee thereof who shall violate the provisions of subsection (g) 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 (1) year.

(i)(1) Nothing in this section nor any other provision of the general laws shall be construed to prohibit the commission from taking actions to enable the state of Rhode Island 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 social security income (SSI), aid to families with dependent children (AFDC), general public assistance (GPA), aid from the Rhode Island medical assistance program , food stamps issued pursuant to the Food Stamp Act of 1964 as amended (public law 88-525 and amendments made thereto [7 USC 2011 et. seq.]), assistance from the low-income home energy assistance program (LIHEAP) as administered by the governor's office of housing, energy and intergovernmental relations (GOHEIR), and effective April 1, 1993, assistance from the Rhode Island Pharmaceutical Assistance Program administered by the department of elderly affairs. The public utilities commission may promulgate regulations to implement this section. The department of human services and the Governor's Office of Housing Energy and Intergovernmental Relations (GOHEIR) shall certify subscriber eligibility for the programs in accordance with public utilities commission and federal communications commission guidelines.

(2) 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 Governor's Office of Housing Energy and Intergovernmental Relations (GOHEIR) 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).

(j) Nothing in this section nor 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 terms of percentage of income payment plan administered by the governor's office of energy assistance for low-income households who are eligible to receive funds under the federal low income home energy assistance program.

all 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 (10) year period.

{ADD (l) Nothing in this section nor any other provision of the general laws shall be construed to prohibit any telecommunications provider, with the approval of the commission, from offering any person, firm or corporation a reduced rate, provided such rate covers all costs. ADD}

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.