View Daily Data Tracking History
View Bill Text
View Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact
H0516aa....................................................by STATE AFFAIRS
TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE - Adds to and amends existing law to establish a
Universal Service Fund to provide financial assistance to eligible
telecommunications carriers, to alter the eligibility criteria and increase
the monthly discount of the telecommunications service assistance program
and to provide for remittance and distribution of revenues from the monthly
surcharges on each end-user's business, residential and wireless access
service.
01/27 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
01/28 Rpt prt - to St Aff
02/02 Rpt out - to Gen Ord
02/04 Rpt out amen - to engros
02/05 Rpt engros - 1st rdg - to 2nd rdg as amen
02/05 1st rdg - to 2nd rdg as amen
02/06 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg as amen
02/09 3rd rdg as amen - PASSED - 64-5-1
AYES -- Alltus, Barraclough, Barrett, Bivens, Black(15), Black(23),
Boe, Bruneel, Campbell, Clark, Crane, Crow, Cuddy, Deal, Denney,
Ellsworth, Field(13), Field(20), Gagner, Geddes, Gould, Hadley,
Hansen, Henbest, Hornbeck, Jaquet, Jones(9), Jones(22), Jones(20),
Judd, Kellogg, Kempton, Kendell, Kjellander, Kunz, Lake, Linford,
Loertscher, Mader, McKague, Meyer, Miller, Mortensen, Newcomb,
Pischner, Pomeroy, Reynolds, Richman, Ridinger, Sali, Schaefer,
Stevenson, Stoicheff, Stone, Stubbs, Taylor, Tilman, Tippets, Trail,
Watson, Wheeler, Wood, Zimmermann, Mr Speaker
NAYS -- Bieter, Callister, Chase, Marley, Robison
Absent and excused -- Bell
Floor Sponsor - Kjellander
Title apvd - to Senate
02/10 Senate intro - 1st rdg as amen - to St Aff
02/19 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg as amen
02/20 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg as amen
03/10 3rd rdg as amen - PASSED - 34-0-1
AYES--Andreason, Boatright, Branch, Bunderson, Burtenshaw, Cameron,
Crow, Danielson, Darrington, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure, Geddes, Hansen,
Hawkins, Ingram, Ipsen, Keough, King, Lee, McLaughlin, Noh, Parry,
Richardson, Riggs, Risch, Sandy, Schroeder, Stennett, Sweeney,
Thorne, Twiggs, Wheeler, Whitworth
NAYS--None
Absent and excused--Sorensen
Floor Sponsors - Hansen, Sweeney
Title apvd - to House
03/11 To enrol
03/12 Rpt enrol - Sp signed
03/13 Pres signed
03/16 To Governor
03/17 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 37
Effective: 03/17/98
H0516|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO |||| Fifty-fourth Legislature Second Regular Session - 1998IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE BILL NO. 516, As Amended BY STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES; AMENDING SECTION 62-610, IDAHO CODE, 3 TO PROVIDE FOR APPLICATION OF THE UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND TO ELIGIBLE TELE- 4 COMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS; AMENDING CHAPTER 6, TITLE 62, IDAHO CODE, BY THE 5 ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION 62-610A, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE THE PURPOSE OF 6 THE ACT; AMENDING CHAPTER 6, TITLE 62, IDAHO CODE, BY THE ADDITION OF A 7 NEW SECTION 62-610B, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS; AMENDING CHAPTER 8 6, TITLE 62, IDAHO CODE, BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION 62-610C, IDAHO 9 CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE; AMENDING CHAPTER 6, TITLE 62, 10 IDAHO CODE, BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION 62-610D, IDAHO CODE, TO PRO- 11 VIDE FOR DESIGNATION OF ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS; AMENDING 12 CHAPTER 6, TITLE 62, IDAHO CODE, BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION 62-610E, 13 IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR DESIGNATION OF SERVICE AND SUPPORT AREAS; 14 AMENDING CHAPTER 6, TITLE 62, IDAHO CODE, BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION 15 62-610F, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR HIGH COST SUPPORT, ADMINISTRATION AND 16 TRANSITION; AMENDING SECTION 56-901, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE THAT THE TELE- 17 COMMUNICATIONS SERVICE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM SHALL MAXIMIZE SPECIFIED FEDERAL 18 CONTRIBUTIONS TO IDAHO'S LOW-INCOME CUSTOMERS AND TO PROVIDE A DEFINITION; 19 AMENDING SECTION 56-902, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE CORRECT NOMENCLATURE, TO 20 INCREASE THE ASSISTANCE RATE DISCOUNT AND TO PROVIDE FOR WAIVERS TO CARRI- 21 ERS OF RESIDENTIAL BASIC LOCAL EXCHANGE SERVICE FROM PROVIDING CERTAIN 22 SERVICES; AMENDING SECTION 56-903, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE THAT ASSISTANCE 23 ELIGIBILITY SHALL BE BASED ON INCOME CRITERIA AND TO PROVIDE THAT LISTS OF 24 ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS SHALL BE PROVIDED TO ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CAR- 25 RIERS; AMENDING SECTION 56-904, IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR A STATEWIDE 26 MONTHLY SURCHARGE ON EACH END USER'S BUSINESS, RESIDENTIAL AND WIRELESS 27 ACCESS SERVICE, TO PROVIDE FOR ISSUANCE OF ORDERS BY THE PUBLIC UTILITIES 28 COMMISSION, TO PROVIDE FOR A THIRD PARTY ADMINISTRATOR, AND TO PROVIDE FOR 29 REMITTANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF ASSISTANCE SURCHARGE REVENUES; AND DECLAR- 30 ING AN EMERGENCY. 31 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 32 SECTION 1. That Section 62-610, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 33 amended to read as follows: 34 62-610. UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND. (1) The commission shall establish a uni- 35 versal service fund (USF) for the purpose of maintaining the universal avail- 36 ability of local exchange service at reasonable rates and to promote the 37 availability of message telecommunications service (MTS) at reasonably compa- 38 rable prices throughout the state of Idaho. 39 (2) The USF shall be funded by imposing a statewide end user surcharge on 40 local exchange service and MTS and WATS type services. 41 (a) The local exchange surcharge shall be a cents per line charge with a 42 business-residential differential equal to the statewide average business- 43 residential price ratio. Providers of local exchange service shall remit 2 1 the local exchange surcharge revenues to the fund administrator on a 2 monthly basis, unless less frequent remittances are authorized by order or 3 rule of the commission. 4 (b) The MTS and WATS surcharge shall be recovered on a percentage basis 5 through a surcharge applied to the monthly bill of each end user or by a 6 cents per minute charge applied to the bills of all end users. Providers 7 of MTS or WATS services shall remit the revenues derived from such sur- 8 charge to the fund administrator on a monthly basis, unless less frequent 9 remittances are authorized by order or rule of the commission. 10 (c) The surcharges set forth in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection 11 shall be collected by all telephone corporations, including telephone cor- 12 porations subject to the provisions of this chapter and mutual nonprofit 13 and cooperative telephone corporations, providing the services upon which 14 the surcharge is levied. 15 (3)Telephone corporationsEligible telecommunications 16 carriers that provide local exchange service and access service for 17 MTS/WATS providers and that have rates for these respective services that meet 18 both of the following criteria shall be eligible for distributions from the 19 USF: 20 (a) Thetelephone corporation'seligible telecommuni- 21 cations carrier's average residence and business local exchange 22 service rates for one-party single line service are in excess of one hun- 23 dred and twenty-five percent (125%) of the weighted statewide average 24 rates for residence and business local exchange service rates for one- 25 party single line service respectively, and 26 (b) Thetelephone corporation'seligible telecommuni- 27 cations carrier's average per minute charge for MTS/WATS access 28 services it provides is in excess of one hundred percent (100%) of the 29 weighted statewide average for the same or similar MTS/WATS access ser- 30 vices. 31 (4) Distributions from the fund shall be available to the individual 32telephone corporationseligible telecommunications carrier 33 in Idaho providing basic local exchange service to meet residual reve- 34 nue requirements remaining after deducting the revenue generated by all intra- 35 state telecommunication services, from thetelephone corporation's36eligible telecommunications carrier's total intrastate 37 telecommunication service revenue requirement as determined by the commission, 38 including local exchange priced at one hundred twenty-five percent (125%) or 39 more of the weighted statewide average and MTS/WATS access services priced at 40 one hundred percent (100%) or more of the statewide average and contributions 41 from the federal universal service fund. The commission shall provide, by 42 order, for not less than seventy-five percent (75%) nor more than one hundred 43 percent (100%) of the residual revenue requirement of the individual44telephone corporationeligible telecommunications carrier 45 to be funded by the universal service fund. The commission shall retain its 46 authority to approve rate design consistent with this subsection, but notwith- 47 standing such authority, the commission shall supply full funding for any com- 48 mission determined revenue requirement. Distributions from the fund shall be 49 made monthly. 50 (5) The commission shall: 51 (a) Adopt rules for the implementation and administration of the univer- 52 sal service fund established in this section; 53 (b) Determine which telephone corporations meet the eligibility stan- 54 dards; 55 (c) Provide for the receipt and collection of the surcharge for the uni- 3 1 versal service fund; and 2 (d) Provide for the administration and distribution of the fund to3telephone corporationseligible telecommunications carriers 4 in a manner determined by the commission. 5 (6) "Local Exchange Service," as used in section 62-610, Idaho Code, 6 means the provision of access lines to customers with the associated transmis- 7 sion of two-way interactive switched voice communication within a local 8 exchange area. 9 SECTION 2. That Chapter 6, Title 62, Idaho Code, be, and the same is 10 hereby amended by the addition thereto of a NEW SECTION , to be 11 known and designated as Section 62-610A, Idaho Code, and to read as follows: 12 62-610A. PURPOSE. The purpose of this act is to authorize the Idaho pub- 13 lic utilities commission to establish a competitively and technologically neu- 14 tral funding mechanism which will operate in coordination with federal univer- 15 sal service support mechanisms. All consumers in this state, without regard to 16 their location, should have comparable accessibility to basic telecommunica- 17 tion services at just and reasonable rates. 18 SECTION 3. That Chapter 6, Title 62, Idaho Code, be, and the same is 19 hereby amended by the addition thereto of a NEW SECTION , to be 20 known and designated as Section 62-610B, Idaho Code, and to read as follows: 21 62-610B. DEFINITIONS. For purposes of section 62-610, Idaho Code, and 22 sections 62-610A through 62-610F, Idaho Code, the following words and phrases 23 shall have the following meanings: 24 (1) "Eligible telecommunications carrier" means a telecommunications car- 25 rier designated by the commission who has the obligation to provide universal 26 service throughout the service area for which the designation is received. 27 (2) "Fund" means the Idaho telecommunications universal service fund 28 established by the commission pursuant to sections 62-610A and 62-610F, Idaho 29 Code. 30 (3) The "service area" served by a rural telephone company means the 31 company's "study area(s)" as established by the federal communications commis- 32 sion and the public utilities commission. In the case of a nonrural telecommu- 33 nications company the service area shall be the eligible telecommunications 34 carrier's current or commission approved service territory. 35 (4) "Support area" means a geographic area designated by the commission 36 as a high-cost area for which eligible telecommunications carrier(s) serving 37 such area may receive financial assistance from the universal service fund. 38 The commission shall consider population distribution, geographic factors, 39 cost model capabilities and other relevant considerations in making such a 40 determination. 41 (5) "Telecommunications carrier" means a telephone corporation providing 42 telecommunication services for compensation within this state, and shall, for 43 the purposes of sections 62-610A through 62-610F, Idaho Code, include munici- 44 pal, cooperative or mutual telephone companies and telecommunications compa- 45 nies providing wireless, cellular, personal communications services and mobile 46 radio services for compensation. 47 (6) "Universal service" means basic local exchange service and other 48 telecommunication services designated by the commission as services which 49 should be widely available to consumers in all regions of the state at just 50 and reasonable rates. 51 (7) All other terms, words or phrases shall have the meaning set forth in 4 1 section 62-603, Idaho Code. 2 SECTION 4. That Chapter 6, Title 62, Idaho Code, be, and the same is 3 hereby amended by the addition thereto of a NEW SECTION , to be 4 known and designated as Section 62-610C, Idaho Code, and to read as follows: 5 62-610C. UNIVERSAL SERVICE. (1) Universal service is an evolving level of 6 telecommunication services to which consumers in all regions of the state 7 should have access. 8 (2) The commission shall review the level of telecommunication services 9 within the state on a periodic basis and designate those service(s) which 10 should be made available to consumers by eligible telecommunications carriers 11 to meet their obligation to provide universal service. The commission shall, 12 if services in addition to basic local exchange service are to be designated, 13 consider the extent to which such other telecommunication services: 14 (a) Have, through the operation of market choices by customers, been sub- 15 scribed to by a substantial majority of residential customers; 16 (b) Are being deployed in public telecommunications networks by telecom- 17 munications carriers; and 18 (c) Are consistent with the public interest, convenience and necessity. 19 (d) The commission shall also consider definitions of universal service 20 adopted by the federal communications commission pursuant to the telecom- 21 munications act of 1996. 22 SECTION 5. That Chapter 6, Title 62, Idaho Code, be, and the same is 23 hereby amended by the addition thereto of a NEW SECTION , to be 24 known and designated as Section 62-610D, Idaho Code, and to read as follows: 25 62-610D. ELIGIBLE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS. (1) Only a telecommunica- 26 tions carrier designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier by the com- 27 mission shall be eligible to receive universal service fund support. 28 (2) The commission shall upon its own motion or upon request designate a 29 telecommunications carrier that meets the requirements of subsection (3) of 30 this section as an eligible telecommunications carrier for a service area des- 31 ignated by the commission. Upon request and consistent with the public inter- 32 est, convenience and necessity, the commission may, in the case of an area 33 served by a rural telephone company, and shall, in the case of all other 34 areas, designate more than one (1) telecommunications carrier as an eligible 35 telecommunications carrier for a service area designated by the commission, so 36 long as the requesting telecommunications carrier meets the requirements set 37 forth in this section. Before designating an additional eligible telecommuni- 38 cations carrier for an area served by a rural telephone company, the commis- 39 sion shall find that the designation is in the public interest. 40 (3) A telecommunications carrier requesting designation as an eligible 41 telecommunications carrier shall, throughout the service area for which the 42 designation is made: 43 (a) Offer the services which are within the definition of universal ser- 44 vice adopted by the commission, using its own facilities or a combination 45 of its own facilities and resale of another telecommunications carrier's 46 services (including the services offered by another eligible telecommuni- 47 cations carrier); and 48 (b) Advertise the availability of such services and the charges therefor 49 using media of general distribution. 50 (c) For the purpose of being eligible to receive support from the fund, 51 the eligible telecommunications carrier shall also offer low-income tele- 5 1 communication services pursuant to chapter 9, title 56, Idaho Code. 2 (4) The commission shall permit an eligible telecommunications carrier to 3 relinquish its designation as such a carrier in any area served by more than 4 one (1) eligible telecommunications carrier. An eligible telecommunications 5 carrier that seeks to relinquish its eligible telecommunications carrier des- 6 ignation for an area served by more than one (1) eligible telecommunications 7 carrier shall give no less than thirty (30) days notice to the commission of 8 its intent to relinquish such designation. Prior to permitting a telecommuni- 9 cations carrier designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier to cease 10 providing universal service in an area served by more than one (1) eligible 11 telecommunications carrier, the commission shall require the remaining eligi- 12 ble telecommunications carrier or carriers to ensure that all customers served 13 by the relinquishing carrier will continue to be served. 14 SECTION 6. That Chapter 6, Title 62, Idaho Code, be, and the same is 15 hereby amended by the addition thereto of a NEW SECTION , to be 16 known and designated as Section 62-610E, Idaho Code, and to read as follows: 17 62-610E. DESIGNATING SERVICE AND SUPPORT AREAS. The commission shall des- 18 ignate geographic service areas for the purpose of determining universal ser- 19 vice obligations of eligible telecommunications carriers. The commission shall 20 also designate geographic support areas for the purpose of determining areas 21 for which financial assistance shall be made available from the fund to assist 22 eligible telecommunications carriers to meet universal service obligations. 23 SECTION 7. That Chapter 6, Title 62, Idaho Code, be, and the same is 24 hereby amended by the addition thereto of a NEW SECTION , to be 25 known and designated as Section 62-610F, Idaho Code, and to read as follows: 26 62-610F. HIGH-COST SUPPORT -- ADMINISTRATION -- TRANSITION. (1) On or 27 before March 1, 1999, the commission shall establish a universal service fund 28 to enable eligible telecommunications carriers to make universal service 29 widely available to all persons within the state of Idaho at reasonable rates. 30 Eligible telecommunication carriers receiving financial support shall use that 31 support only for the provision, maintenance and upgrading of services and 32 facilities for which the support is intended. 33 (2) The commission shall initiate a proceeding to determine and adopt the 34 appropriate methodology and mechanisms to collect and distribute financial 35 assistance which are specific, predictable and sufficient in conjunction with 36 federal universal service support mechanisms to preserve and advance universal 37 service within the state of Idaho. Revenue for the fund shall be collected 38 through a uniform universal service fund surcharge as calculated by the com- 39 mission. The surcharge shall be imposed on end users of all retail telecommu- 40 nication services originating and terminating within the state of Idaho and 41 collected by the telecommunications carrier providing telecommunication ser- 42 vices to such end user. Disbursements from the fund shall be used to defray 43 the costs, as determined by the commission, of providing universal service to 44 customers within a geographic support area. Those costs shall be calculated 45 using a forward-looking cost methodology. When providing disbursements from 46 the fund, the commission shall take such actions as may be necessary to pre- 47 vent redundant cost recovery by recipients of such funds including the reduc- 48 tion of access charges subject to title 61 or 62, Idaho Code. 49 (3) The commission shall establish procedures to administer the universal 50 service fund and shall contract with a neutral third party for administration 51 of the fund. The administrator shall perform the duties required by the com- 6 1 mission including data gathering, collecting the surcharge revenues, disburs- 2 ing funds, and notifying the commission of any fund violations. 3 (4) The commission shall develop procedures and provide for a transition 4 period to begin no earlier than January 1, 2001, for rural telephone companies 5 to replace funding available pursuant to section 62-610, Idaho Code, with the 6 funding mechanism established pursuant to this section for the support of uni- 7 versal service. 8 SECTION 8. That Section 56-901, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 9 amended to read as follows: 10 56-901. TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM -- DEFINI- 11 TIONS . (1) A telecommunications service assistance program 12 is hereby established within the department of health and welfare to provide 13 eligible recipients with a reduction in costs of telecommunications services 14 to promote universal service . The program shall be administered 15 by the department of health and welfare in accordance with the provisions of 16 this chapter and rules and regulations promulgated in compliance with chapter 17 52, title 67, Idaho Code, to administer the program. The telecommunica- 18 tions service assistance program adopted shall maximize federal "lifeline" and 19 "link-up" contributions to Idaho's low-income customers. 20 (2) For the purposes of this chapter, a "telecommunications carrier" 21 means a telephone corporation providing telecommunication services for compen- 22 sation within this state, and shall include municipal, cooperative, or mutual 23 nonprofit telephone companies, and telecommunication corporations providing 24 wireless, cellular, personal communications services and mobile radio services 25 for compensation. 26 SECTION 9. That Section 56-902, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 27 amended to read as follows: 28 56-902. ASSISTANCE RATE DISCOUNT -- FORM -- APPLICABLE SERVICES -- AMOUNT 29 -- APPLICATION. (1)On the effective date of this chapter and after the30federal communications commission has certified the program, the telephone31corporationsTelecommunication carriers providing residen- 32 tial basic local exchange service shall provide assistance in the form of a 33 monthly discount to eligible subscribers of residential basic local exchange 34 service ofeither twothree dollars and fifty 35 cents ($2.03.5 0) orthe same36 an amountasauthorized by the federal 37 communication commission's subscriber line charge,whichever is 38 greater. In no case will the discount exceed the rate charged for the grade 39 of residential basic local exchange service subscribed to by each eligible 40 individual. The Idahotelephonetelecommunications service 41 assistance plan shall only be used to provide for a single residence 42 line at the principal residence of the eligible subscriber. 43 (2) The providers of residential basic local exchange service and the 44 Idaho department of health and welfare shall comply with all requirements 45 expressly provided by federal order, regulation and statute for eligible sub- 46 scribers to qualify for the federal "lifeline" and "link-up" 47 telephone assistance program.The Idaho telephone assistance program48shall be submitted to the federal communications commission for certification49and waiver of the federal subscriber line charge. Upon approval of the50waiver and certification, the assistance provided by the local exchange tele-51phone company shall be increased to include a waiver of the subscriber line7 1chargeIn accordance with federal law, the Idaho public utilities 2 commission may grant waivers to carriers of residential basic local exchange 3 service from providing certain services to eligible subscribers . 4 SECTION 10. That Section 56-903, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 5 amended to read as follows: 6 56-903. ASSISTANCE ELIGIBILITY. (1) In order to beconsidered7eligible for the telecommunications service assistance 8 program, an applicantsshall be the head of a 9 household, shall be sixty (60) years of age or olderand10participate in the low income home energy assistance program (LIHEAP)11 shall meet narrowly targeted eligibility criteria based solely on income 12 or factors directly related to income established by the department of health 13 and welfare . The department of health and welfare shall develop proce- 14 dures for taking applications for assistance and for determining and certify- 15 ing program eligibility. Such applications shall contain the disclosure of 16 information authorization necessary to process the assistance discounts. 17 Individuals who qualify for assistance under this chapter must be periodically 18 recertified by the department of health and welfare. 19 (2) At least once each year the department shall provide a n elec- 20 tronic list of names, addresses and, if applicable, telephone numbers 21 of all eligible recipients to eachlocal exchange telephone company22telecommunications carrier designated as an eligible telecommuni- 23 cations carrier by the public utilities commission . Thelocal24exchange telephone companyeligible telecommunications carrier 25 shall determine from the list those recipients to whom the company pro- 26 vides service. 27 SECTION 11. That Section 56-904, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 28 amended to read as follows: 29 56-904. RECOVERY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE REVENUE REDUCTIONS 30 -- ADMINISTRATION . (1) The Idaho public utilities commission shall 31 determine and impose acompany specificuniform statewide 32 monthly surcharge on each end user's business , 33andresidential and wireless access34line inservice. The surcharge shall be an amount suffi- 35 cient to reimburse eachprovidercarrier of residen- 36 tial basic local exchange service for the total amount of telephone assistance 37 discounts provided as well as the carrier's and the 38 administrator's expense s of administering the plan. Such 39 surcharge shall be effective concurrent with the discounts given eligible sub- 40 scribers. The surcharge shall be explicitly stated on end user billings 41 but shall not be imposed on eligible subscribers. 42 (2) The Idaho public utilities commission may adopt rules or issue 43 orders necessary to receive matching federal low income telephone 44 assistance and to implement the Idaho telephone assistance program, including 45 procedures for adjustment and true-up of the subscriber surcharge. The 46 commission may contract with a neutral third party to collect the surcharge, 47 distribute assistance revenues, and perform other tasks as assigned. 48 (3)The public utilities commission shall monitor the effectiveness49of the telephone assistance program and issue annual reports to the legisla-50tureAll carriers of telecommunications services shall remit the 51 assistance surcharge revenues to the fund administrator designated by the com- 8 1 mission on a monthly basis, unless less frequent remittances are authorized by 2 order of the public utilities commission. The administrator shall distribute 3 telecommunication service assistance program revenues monthly to eligible 4 telecommunication carriers in an amount that equals their costs of administer- 5 ing the program and the monthly discount provided to eligible subscribers 6 . 7 SECTION 12. An emergency existing therefor, which emergency is hereby 8 declared to exist, this act shall be in full force and effect on and after its 9 passage and approval.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS07733
This bill authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to establish, after opportunity for hearing
and comment, a new universal service fund which will operate in coordination with federal
universal service support mechanisms. This will allow for all consumers in this state, without
regard to their location, to have comparable accessibility to basic telecommunication
services at just and reasonable rates.
It also amends the Idaho Telecommunications Service Assistance Program for low income
customers to maximize the federal contributions available for the "lifeline" and "link-up"
programs and conforms the state eligibility criteria with the federal regulations.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no impact on the Public Utilities Fund. The requirements of this act will be
incorporated into the ongoing duties of the Public Utilities Commission.
The fiscal impact to the general fund for FY99 is $55,969.
The general fund impact analysis was prepared by the Department of Health and Welfare for
its cost of administering the Idaho Telecommunications Service Assistance Program (ITAP).
CONTACT
Name: Tonya Clark
Agency: Idaho Public Utilities Commission
Phone: 334-0316
Statement of Purpose/Fiscal Impact
H 516