October 14, 1999


NOTICE OF REVISED PROCESS AND PROCEDURAL SCHEDULE

(October 29, 1999)

NOTICE OF STATUS CONFERENCE

(November 3, 1999)

Re: In Re the Application of GTE Corporation and Bell Atlantic Corporation
 Docket No. UT-981367

TO PARTIES OF RECORD:

On September 28, 1999, the Commission granted a third request for continuance 
in this proceeding to permit further settlement negotiations.  On October 11, 
1999, counsel for Commission Staff filed a Request for Continuance, which 
states as its basis that “Joint Applicants GTE and Bell Atlantic, Public 
Counsel, and Commission Staff have reached a settlement agreement in 
principle.”  The Request notes that the Commission was informed of this 
development by telephone contact on October 1, 1999.

Staff requests on behalf of the indicated parties that the procedural schedule 
be revised to continue indefinitely the October 11, 1999 date for the filing of 
briefs.  Staff’s Request states these parties intend to file a Proposed 
Stipulation and Settlement Agreement “no later than October 29, 1999.”  Staff’s 
Request also relates that the settlement process in this case “involves the 
simultaneous resolution of two additional, pending GTE dockets . . ..”  
Finally, Staff states that the other parties to this proceeding, intervenors 
AT&T and Sprint, do not oppose the Request.

The Commission finds good cause shown and that it is in the public interest to 
grant the Request for Continuance.  Since any need for briefs remains uncertain 
pending the Commission’s review of the anticipated Stipulation and Settlement 
Agreement, it is appropriate to grant an indefinite continuance of the October 
11, 1999 date for briefs. No other procedural dates are pending currently.

Indefinite continuances, however, are disfavored under the Commission’s rules.  
WAC 480-09-440 (5).  It is appropriate, therefore, to establish October 29, 
1999 as a fixed date by which the indicated parties must file their Stipulation 
and Settlement Agreement.  If the parties find they are unable to meet that 
deadline, they must file another request for continuance and any such request 
is required to report the parties’ progress toward producing a written 
agreement.  Any further request also must recommend a specific date as a 
revised deadline by which the parties anticipate filing will be possible.

The Commission will conduct a status conference at its offices in Olympia, 
Washington, beginning at 9:30 a.m., on November 3, 1999.  The purpose of the 
conference will be to establish the process by which the Commission will 
consider a proposed Stipulation and Settlement Agreement in this proceeding and 
any resolution of the other “pending GTE dockets” to which Staff refers in its 
Request.  The Commission anticipates in connection with this proceeding that 
there will be at least one day required for a public hearing to receive the 
parties’ Stipulation and Settlement Agreement into evidence, to receive other 
evidence and inquire into the proposal, and to permit argument, as appropriate 
to the circumstances of the case.  Additional time may be required to consider 
any agreements achieved in the other, as yet unidentified “GTE dockets.”  To 
expedite matters, the Commission establishes November 22, 1999, as a tentative 
date for this hearing process and reserves November 23, 1999, as an additional 
date on which further process may be conducted in the three dockets.

Sincerely,


DENNIS J. MOSS
Administrative Law Judge