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S1477......................................................by STATE AFFAIRS
MOBILE WIRELESS SERVICE - Amends existing law to provide that certain
surcharges shall be imposed only on customers of mobile wireless carriers
with a place of primary use in Idaho; and to define "place of primary use."
02/26 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/27 Rpt prt - to St Aff
03/04 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/05 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/07 3rd rdg - PASSED - 35-0-0
AYES -- Andreason, Boatright, Branch(Bartlett), Brandt, Bunderson,
Burtenshaw, Cameron, Darrington, Davis, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure,
Geddes, Goedde, Hawkins, Hill, Ingram, Ipsen, Keough, King-Barrutia,
Little, Lodge, Marley, Noh, Richardson, Risch, Sandy, Schroeder,
Sims, Sorensen, Stegner, Stennett, Thorne, Wheeler, Williams
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- None
Floor Sponsor - Stennett
Title apvd - to House
03/08 House intro - 1st rdg - to St Aff
03/11 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/12 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/13 3rd rdg - PASSED - 67-0-3
AYES -- Aikele, Barraclough, Barrett, Bedke, Bell, Bieter, Black,
Block, Boe, Bolz, Bradford, Bruneel, Callister, Campbell, Clark,
Collins, Crow, Cuddy, Deal, Denney, Ellis, Ellsworth, Eskridge,
Field(13), Field(20), Gould, Hammond, Harwood, Henbest, Higgins,
Hornbeck, Jaquet, Jones, Kellogg, Kendell, Kunz, Lake, Langford,
Loertscher, Mader, Martinez, McKague, Meyer, Mortensen, Moyle,
Pearce, Pischner, Pomeroy, Raybould, Ridinger, Roberts, Robison,
Sali, Schaefer, Sellman, Shepherd, Smith(33), Smith(23), Smylie,
Stevenson, Stone, Tilman, Trail, Wheeler, Wood, Young, Mr. Speaker
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Gagner, Hadley, Montgomery
Floor Sponsor - Ellsworth
Title apvd - to Senate
03/13 To enrol
03/14 Rpt enrol - Pres signed
Sp signed
03/15 To Governor
03/26 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 311
Effective: 07/01/02, All bills issued after 08/01/02
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-sixth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2002
IN THE SENATE
SENATE BILL NO. 1477
BY STATE AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE; AMENDING SECTION 56-904, IDAHO CODE,
3 TO PROVIDE THAT CERTAIN SURCHARGES SHALL BE IMPOSED ONLY ON CUSTOMERS OF
4 MOBILE WIRELESS CARRIERS WITH A PLACE OF PRIMARY USE IN IDAHO AND TO
5 DEFINE "PLACE OF PRIMARY USE"; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND PROVIDING
6 APPLICATION.
7 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
8 SECTION 1. That Section 56-904, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
9 amended to read as follows:
10 56-904. RECOVERY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE REVENUE REDUCTIONS --
11 ADMINISTRATION. (1) The Idaho public utilities commission shall determine and
12 impose a uniform statewide monthly surcharge on each end user's business, res-
13 idential and wireless access service. The surcharge shall be an amount suffi-
14 cient to reimburse each carrier of residential basic local exchange service
15 for the total amount of telephone assistance discounts provided as well as the
16 carrier's and the administrator's expenses of administering the plan. Such
17 surcharge shall be effective concurrent with the discounts given eligible sub-
18 scribers. The surcharge shall be explicitly stated on end user billings but
19 shall not be imposed on eligible subscribers.
20 (2) The Idaho public utilities commission may adopt rules or issue orders
21 necessary to receive matching federal low income telephone assistance and to
22 implement the Idaho telephone assistance program, including procedures for
23 adjustment and true-up of the subscriber surcharge. The commission may con-
24 tract with a neutral third party to collect the surcharge, distribute assis-
25 tance revenues, and perform other tasks as assigned.
26 (3) All carriers of telecommunications services shall remit the assis-
27 tance surcharge revenues to the fund administrator designated by the commis-
28 sion on a monthly basis, unless less frequent remittances are authorized by
29 order of the public utilities commission. The administrator shall distribute
30 telecommunication service assistance program revenues monthly to eligible
31 telecommunication carriers in an amount that equals their costs of administer-
32 ing the program and the monthly discount provided to eligible subscribers.
33 (4) The surcharge imposed in subsection (1) of this section, when col-
34 lected from customers of mobile wireless carriers, shall be imposed only on
35 customers with a place of primary use in Idaho. As used in this section and as
36 defined in 4 U.S.C. section 124, "place of primary use" means the residential
37 street address or the primary business street address in Idaho where the
38 customer's use of the wireless service primarily occurs.
39 SECTION 2. This act shall be in full force and effect on and after July
40 1, 2002, and shall apply to bills issued after August 1, 2002.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 12124
Passed by Congress in 2000 (PL106-252) the Mobile Telecommunications
Sourcing Act (MTSA) develops national, uniform rules for 'sourcing'
calls that is, assigning which state and local jurisdictions have
the power to tax them. It does not change tax rates or bases under
existing state laws and local ordinances.
The legislation recognizes that rules based upon wireline
communications do not work for mobile telephones. For example, cell
phone calls sometimes cross local and state boundaries during a
call. Also, the ‘two out of three rule that determines when states
have nexus to tax a call (origination, termination and billing) do
not always work for mobile calls.
A customer who signs up for wireless service will designate a
primary business address (if the phone is primarily used for
business) or a residential address. The applicable taxes at that
address - called the place of primary use - will be levied on that
customer regardless of where those calls originate or terminate.
Under the existing rules, companies had to track each call and sort
out which jurisdiction was entitled to tax. These new rules will
simplify the billing process and ensure that calls are not subject
to multiple taxation, and that they do not escape taxation
altogether.
The state will lose revenue from out-of-state customers 'roaming'
in their states due to the federal pre-emption. This revenue will
be lost regardless of whether states pass this legislation or not.
However, failure to pass this legislation will prevent states from
picking up the new revenue from in-state customers that 'roam' in
other states.
The only tax currently levied on cell phone calls is the surcharge
by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission in Idaho Code §56- 904.
FISCAL IMPACT
None.
CONTACT: Roy Eiguren Elizabeth Criner
Verizon Wireless Qwest
(388-1313) (385-8692)
Skip Smyser Ron Williams
AT&T Wireless Sprint
(342-0777) (344-0077)
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE S 1477