1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to utilities; establishing conditions for 
  1.3             telephone company depreciation deregulation; amending 
  1.4             Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 237.22. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 237.22, is 
  1.7   amended to read: 
  1.8      237.22 [DEPRECIATION; AMORTIZATION.] 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [RATES AND METHODS.] The commission shall 
  1.10  fix proper and adequate rates and methods of depreciation and 
  1.11  amortization with respect to telephone company property and 
  1.12  every telephone company shall conform its depreciation accounts 
  1.13  for property used in whole or in part to provide noncompetitive 
  1.14  services to the rates and methods fixed by the commission. 
  1.15     Subd. 2.  [EXCEPTIONS.] Subdivision 1 does not apply to a 
  1.16  telephone company that has less than 50,000 subscribers in 
  1.17  service within Minnesota if any one of the following conditions 
  1.18  exist: 
  1.19     (a) The telephone company has received a bona fide request 
  1.20  to interconnect within the meaning of the federal 
  1.21  Telecommunications Act of 1996. 
  1.22     (b) The telephone company does not impose a rate increase 
  1.23  for basic residential and business service during the same 
  1.24  calendar year of an increase in the composite annual rate of 
  1.25  depreciation. 
  2.1      (c) The composite annual rate of depreciation for a 
  2.2   telephone company's property used for regulated 
  2.3   telecommunication purposes does not exceed 12 percent.