IL
Illinois House Bill HB2698

Illinois 2025-2026 Regular Session

Illinois House Bill HB2698 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.
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11 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB2698 Introduced , by Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: 220 ILCS 5/13-520 new220 ILCS 5/13-521 new 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. LRB104 09290 AAS 19348 b A BILL FOR 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB2698 Introduced , by Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: 220 ILCS 5/13-520 new220 ILCS 5/13-521 new 220 ILCS 5/13-520 new 220 ILCS 5/13-521 new 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. LRB104 09290 AAS 19348 b LRB104 09290 AAS 19348 b A BILL FOR
22 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB2698 Introduced , by Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
33 220 ILCS 5/13-520 new220 ILCS 5/13-521 new 220 ILCS 5/13-520 new 220 ILCS 5/13-521 new
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66 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.
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1212 1 AN ACT concerning regulation.
1313 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
1414 3 represented in the General Assembly:
1515 4 Section 5. The Public Utilities Act is amended by adding
1616 5 Sections 13-520 and 13-521 as follows:
1717 6 (220 ILCS 5/13-520 new)
1818 7 Sec. 13-520. Prorated bill credits for internet, cable or
1919 8 video service outages.
2020 9 (a) As used in this Section:
2121 10 "Broadband Internet" means lines or wireless channels that
2222 11 terminate at an end user's location and enable the end user to
2323 12 receive a minimum service level of 25 megabits per second
2424 13 download speed and 3 megabits per second upload speed.
2525 14 "Cable or video provider" means any person or entity
2626 15 providing cable service or video service pursuant to
2727 16 authorization under (i) the Cable and Video Competition Law of
2828 17 2007; (ii) Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code;
2929 18 (iii) Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code; or (iv) a master
3030 19 antenna television, satellite master antenna television,
3131 20 direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services,
3232 21 and other providers of video programming, whatever their
3333 22 technology. "Cable or video provider" does not include a
3434 23 landlord providing only broadcast video programming to a
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3838 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2025 and 2026 HB2698 Introduced , by Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
3939 220 ILCS 5/13-520 new220 ILCS 5/13-521 new 220 ILCS 5/13-520 new 220 ILCS 5/13-521 new
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4141 220 ILCS 5/13-521 new
4242 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.
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4545 A BILL FOR
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7171 1 single-family home or other residential dwelling consisting of
7272 2 4 units or less.
7373 3 "Consumer" means any person or entity that purchases cable
7474 4 or video service for personal or business use.
7575 5 "Internet provider" means a provider of broadband Internet
7676 6 in this State.
7777 7 "Outage" means any period of time during which a
7878 8 consumer's internet, cable, or video service is unavailable,
7979 9 excluding scheduled maintenance periods of which the consumer
8080 10 has been notified at least 24 hours in advance.
8181 11 (b) Every internet provider and cable or video provider
8282 12 operating in this State shall issue a prorated bill credit to
8383 13 consumers for any service outage lasting more than one hour.
8484 14 This credit shall be calculated based on the consumer's
8585 15 monthly service rate, prorated for the duration of the outage.
8686 16 This credit shall be automatically applied to the consumer's
8787 17 next billing cycle without requiring any action or request
8888 18 from the consumer. Internet providers and cable or video
8989 19 providers shall notify consumers of the outage and the applied
9090 20 credit within 24 hours after the restoration of service.
9191 21 (c) Internet providers and cable or video providers shall
9292 22 maintain records of all outages and corresponding bill credits
9393 23 issued for a minimum period of 3 years. Those records shall be
9494 24 made available to the Illinois Commerce Commission upon
9595 25 request for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this
9696 26 Section.
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107107 1 (d) Any Internet provider or cable or video provider that
108108 2 fails to issue the required bill credits in accordance with
109109 3 this Section shall be subject to penalties, including, but not
110110 4 limited to, fines, as determined by the Illinois Commerce
111111 5 Commission.
112112 6 (220 ILCS 5/13-521 new)
113113 7 Sec. 13-521. Contract disputes; notice; credit.
114114 8 (a) As used in this Section:
115115 9 "Broadband Internet" means lines or wireless channels that
116116 10 terminate at an end user's location and enable the end user to
117117 11 receive a minimum service level of 25 megabits per second
118118 12 download speed and 3 megabits per second upload speed.
119119 13 "Cable or video provider" means any person or entity
120120 14 providing cable service or video service pursuant to
121121 15 authorization under (i) the Cable and Video Competition Law of
122122 16 2007; (ii) Section 11-42-11 of the Illinois Municipal Code;
123123 17 (iii) Section 5-1095 of the Counties Code; or (iv) a master
124124 18 antenna television, satellite master antenna television,
125125 19 direct broadcast satellite, multipoint distribution services,
126126 20 and other providers of video programming, whatever their
127127 21 technology. "Cable or video provider" does not include a
128128 22 landlord providing only broadcast video programming to a
129129 23 single-family home or other residential dwelling consisting of
130130 24 4 units or less.
131131 25 "Consumer" means any person or entity that purchases cable
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