summary
Introduced
02/04/2025
02/04/2025
In Committee
04/11/2025
04/11/2025
Crossed Over
Passed
Dead
Introduced Session
104th General Assembly
Bill Summary
Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that every cable or video provider operating in the State shall issue a prorated bill credit to consumers for any service outage lasting more than one hour. Provides that the credit shall be calculated based on the consumer's monthly service rate, prorated for the duration of the outage, and that the credit shall be automatically applied to the consumer's next billing cycle without requiring any action or request from the consumer. Requires cable or video providers to notify consumers of the outage and the applied credit within 24 hours after the restoration of service. Provides that internet providers and cable or video providers shall maintain records of all outages and corresponding bill credits issued for a minimum period of 3 years. Provides that the records shall be made available to the Illinois Commerce Commission upon request for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the Act. Provides that any cable or video provider that fails to issue the required bill credits in accordance with the outage provisions shall be subject to penalties as determined by the Commission. Provides that, if, due to a contract dispute, a cable or video provider will not be providing a consumer with a channel for which the consumer has been or will be billed, the cable or video provider shall, within 10 days after the cable or video provider knows that the contract dispute will result in the loss of the channel, provide each affected consumer with notice that the channel will not be provided due to a contract dispute. Provides that, if a cable or video provider does not provide a consumer with a channel for which the consumer has been billed, then the cable or video provider shall credit the consumer an amount equal to the percentage of the consumer's bill that the channel represents multiplied by the consumer's monthly service rate, which shall be prorated for each hour that the consumer was not provided with that channel due to a contract dispute. Requires that the credit be applied on the statement issued to the consumer for the next monthly billing cycle.
AI Summary
This bill amends the Public Utilities Act to establish new consumer protections for internet, cable, and video service providers in Illinois. The legislation requires providers to issue prorated bill credits to consumers for service outages lasting more than one hour, calculated based on the monthly service rate and automatically applied to the next billing cycle without requiring consumer action. Providers must notify consumers about the outage and credit within 24 hours of service restoration and maintain detailed records of outages and credits for at least three years, which must be made available to the Illinois Commerce Commission upon request. The bill defines key terms such as "broadband internet" (minimum speeds of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload), "cable or video provider" (including various types of video service providers), and "outage" (excluding scheduled maintenance). Additionally, the legislation addresses contract disputes by requiring providers to notify consumers within 10 days if a channel will be unavailable due to a contractual issue and to provide a proportional credit for the time the channel is not available. Providers who fail to comply with these requirements may be subject to penalties determined by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Committee Categories
Transportation and Infrastructure
Sponsors (2)
Last Action
Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee (on 04/11/2025)
bill text
bill summary
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bill summary
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bill summary
| Document Type | Source Location |
|---|---|
| State Bill Page | https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=2698&GAID=18&DocTypeID=HB&SessionID=114&GA=104 |
| BillText | https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/104/HB/10400HB2698.htm |
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