§ 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.