Download Zipped Enrolled WP 6.1 HB0071.ZIP 12,702 Bytes
[Introduced][Amended][Status][Bill Documents][Fiscal Note][Bills Directory]
H.B. 71 Enrolled
AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES; PROVIDING DEFINITIONS; DESIGNATING
AN EXPIRATION AND TRANSFER OF REMAINING BALANCE; AUTHORIZING
THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION TO ESTABLISH AND ADMINISTER A
UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND.
This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
AMENDS:
54-8b-2, as last amended by Chapter 269, Laws of Utah 1995
54-8b-12, as last amended by Chapter 37, Laws of Utah 1992
ENACTS:
54-8b-15, Utah Code Annotated 1953
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 54-8b-2 is amended to read:
54-8b-2. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(1) (a) "Aggregator" means any person or entity that:
(i) is not a telecommunications corporation;
(ii) in the ordinary course of its business makes operator assisted services available to the
public or to customers and transient users of its business or property through an operator service
provider; and
(iii) receives from an operator service provider by contract, tariff, or otherwise,
commissions or compensation for calls delivered from the aggregator's location to the operator
service provider.
(b) "Aggregator" may include any hotel, motel, hospital, educational institution,
government agency, or coin or coinless telephone service provider so long as that entity qualifies
under Subsection (a).
(2) "Certificate" means a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the
commission authorizing a telecommunications corporation to provide specified public
telecommunications services within a defined geographic service territory in the state.
(3) "Essential facility or service" means any portion, component, or function of the network
or service offered by a provider of local exchange services:
(a) that is necessary for a competitor to provide a public telecommunications service;
(b) that cannot be reasonably duplicated; and
(c) for which there is no adequate economic alternative to the competitor in terms of quality,
quantity, and price.
(4) "Federal Telecommunications Act" means the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996,
Pub. L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56.
[
or assigns, which, as of May 1, 1995, held a certificate to provide local exchange services in a
defined geographic service territory in the state.
[
service in which the information transmitted originates and terminates within the boundaries of this
state.
[
the associated transmission of two-way interactive, switched voice communication within the
geographic area encompassing one or more local communities as described in maps, tariffs, or rate
schedules filed with and approved by the commission.
[
telecommunications corporation which that corporation has never offered before.
(b) "New public telecommunications service" does not include:
(i) a tariff, price list, or competitive contract that involves a new method of pricing any
existing public telecommunications service;
(ii) a package of public telecommunications services that includes an existing public
telecommunications service; or
(iii) a public telecommunications service that is a direct replacement for:
(A) a fully regulated service;
(B) an existing service offered pursuant to a tariff, price list, or competitive contract; or
(C) an essential facility or an essential service as defined in Subsection 54-8b-2(3).
[
or charging of a telephone call, either through live intervention or automated intervention.
[
a caller, operator assisted services.
[
by Section 54-8b-2.3.
[
signals, writing, images, sounds, messages, data, or other information of any nature by wire, radio,
lightwaves, or other electromagnetic means offered to the public generally.
[
lessees, trustees, receivers, or trustees appointed by any court, owning, controlling, operating,
managing, or reselling a public telecommunications service.
[
cost to a telecommunications corporation caused by providing the entire quantity of a public
telecommunications service, network function, or group of public telecommunications services or
network functions, by using forward-looking technology, reasonably available, without assuming
relocation of existing plant and equipment. The "long-run" means a period of time long enough so
that cost estimates are based on the assumption that all inputs are variable.
Section 2. Section 54-8b-12 is amended to read:
54-8b-12. Trust fund established -- Requirements -- Expiration -- Transfer of balance.
(1) The commission may establish an expendable trust fund for the purpose of maintaining
the universal availability of intrastate telecommunications services at just and reasonable rates.
(2) The fund established under this section shall meet the following requirements:
(a) Fund revenues shall be generated by statewide surcharges to the providers and users of
intrastate telecommunications services. The surcharges shall be determined by the commission in
accordance with Section 54-8b-11 and subject to the following restrictions:
(i) No more than 50% of the fund revenues may be derived from surcharges to local
exchange services.
(ii) The surcharge for local exchange services may not exceed $.07 per month.
(iii) The surcharge for all long distance-type services may not exceed $.005 per minute.
(b) Only telecommunications corporations that provide local exchange service and hold a
certificate of public convenience and necessity from the commission shall be eligible for receiving
distributions from the fund.
(3) Rules governing the administration of the fund shall be made by the commission.
(4) All telecommunications corporations, persons, or entities, including corporations,
persons, and entities which provide fixed or mobile radio services having direct or automated user
access to the local exchange service networks, that provide and bill intrastate local or long
distance-type public telecommunications services, shall bill, collect and submit surcharges, whether
or not the corporation, person, or entity is otherwise regulated by the commission.
(5) The commission may direct any telecommunications corporation, person, or entity to
make available its books and records or other information for inspection by the commission or the
Division of Public Utilities in a form required by the commission to ensure that surcharges as
authorized under this section and determined by the commission have been billed, collected, and
submitted.
(6) Any telecommunications corporation, person, or entity which fails to bill, collect, and
submit surcharges or which fails to obey the directive of the commission concerning its books and
records or other information pursuant to this subsection is subject to a penalty of not less than $500
nor more than $2,000 for each offense.
(7) (a) Each violation of this section by a telecommunications corporation, person, or entity
is a separate offense.
(b) In the case of a continuing failure to comply, each day the violation continues is a
separate offense.
(8) In construing and enforcing the provisions of this section relating to penalties, the act,
commission, or failure of an officer, agent, or employee of the telecommunications corporation,
person, or entity, acting within the scope of his official duties or employment, shall in each case be
considered the act, commission, or failure of that telecommunications corporation, person, or entity.
(9) On or before December 31, 1999, the commission shall dissolve this fund and any
remaining balance shall be transferred to the Universal Public Telecommunications Service Support
Fund established in Section 54-8b-15.
Section 3. Section 54-8b-15 is enacted to read:
54-8b-15. Universal Public Telecommunications Service Support Fund -- Established.
(1) For purposes of this section:
(a) "Basic telephone service" means local exchange service and may include such other
functions and elements, if any, as the commission determines to be eligible for support by the fund.
(b) "Fund" means the Universal Public Telecommunications Service Support Fund
established in this section.
(2) The commission shall establish an expendable trust fund known as the Universal Public
Telecommunications Service Support Fund, which is to be implemented by January 1, 1998.
(3) The commission shall:
(a) institute a proceeding within 30 days of the effective date of this section to establish rules
governing the administration of the fund; and
(b) issue those rules by October 1, 1997.
(4) The rules in Subsection (3) shall:
(a) include rules governing the mechanics of phasing out the trust fund established under
Section 54-8b-12;
(b) specify the relationship between the payments made to the trust fund in Section 54-8b-12
and the payments made to the fund established in this section; and
(c) be consistent with the Federal Telecommunications Act.
(5) Operation of the fund shall be nondiscriminatory and competitively and technologically
neutral in the collection and distribution of funds, neither providing a competitive advantage for, nor
imposing a competitive disadvantage upon, any telecommunications provider operating in the state.
(6) The fund shall be designed to:
(a) promote equitable cost recovery of basic telephone service through the imposition of just
and reasonable rates for telecommunications access and usage; and
(b) preserve and promote universal service within the state by ensuring that customers have
access to affordable basic telephone service.
(7) To the extent not funded by a federal universal service fund or other federal jurisdictional
revenues or by the fund established pursuant to Section 54-8b-12, the fund shall be used to defray
the costs, as determined by the commission, of any qualifying telecommunications corporation in
providing public telecommunications services to:
(a) customers that qualify for a commission-approved lifeline program; and
(b) customers, where the basic telephone service rate considered affordable by the
commission in a particular geographic area is less than the costs, as determined by the commission
for that geographic area, of basic telephone service.
(8) The fund shall be portable among qualifying telecommunications corporations.
Requirements to qualify for funds under this section shall be defined by rules established by the
commission.
(9) As necessary to accomplish the purposes of this section, the fund shall provide a
mechanism for specific, predictable, and sufficient funds in addition to those provided under the
federal universal service fund.
(10) (a) Each telecommunications corporation that provides intrastate public
telecommunication service shall contribute to the fund on an equitable and nondiscriminatory basis.
(b) For purposes of funding the fund, the commission shall have the authority to require all
corporations that provide intrastate telecommunication services in this state to contribute monies to
the fund through explicit charges determined by the commission.
(c) Any charge in Subsection (b) shall not apply to wholesale services, including access and
interconnection. Charges associated with being a provider of public telecommunications service
shall be in the form of end-user surcharges applied to intrastate retail rates.
(d) In establishing any surcharge under this section, the commission is not limited by the
restrictions in Subsection 54-8b-12(2).
(11) Nothing in this section shall be construed to enlarge or reduce the commission's
jurisdiction or authority, as provided in other provisions of this title.
(12) Any telecommunications corporation failing to make contributions to this fund or
failing to comply with the directives of the commission concerning its books, records, or other
information required to administer this section shall be subject to applicable penalties.
(13) The commission shall have a bill prepared for the 1998 General Session of the
Legislature to place in statute as much of the regulation implemented by rule pursuant to the act the
commission believes is practicable.
[Bill Documents][Bills Directory]