By: Rodriguez, Harless, Turner of Harris, H.B. No. 232
Naishtat, Guillen, et al.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to grants for community-based telephone voice-mail
services for individuals in crisis or in transition and to the rate
and uses of the universal service fund fee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 56.021, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 56.021. UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND ESTABLISHED. The
commission shall adopt and enforce rules requiring local exchange
companies to establish a universal service fund to:
(1) assist telecommunications providers in providing
basic local telecommunications service at reasonable rates in high
cost rural areas;
(2) reimburse the telecommunications carrier that
provides the statewide telecommunications relay access service
under Subchapter D;
(3) finance the specialized telecommunications
assistance program established under Subchapter E;
(4) reimburse the department, the Texas Commission for
the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the commission for costs incurred
in implementing this chapter and Chapter 57;
(5) reimburse a telecommunications carrier providing
lifeline service as provided by 47 C.F.R. Part 54, Subpart E, as
amended;
(6) finance the implementation and administration of
an integrated eligibility process created under Section 17.007 for
customer service discounts relating to telecommunications
services, including outreach expenses the commission determines
are reasonable and necessary;
(7) reimburse a designated provider under Subchapter
F;
(8) reimburse a successor utility under Subchapter G;
[and]
(9) finance the program established under Subchapter
H;
(10) fund grants under the program established under
Subchapter I; and
(11) maintain services for all consumers at reasonable
costs by assessing a fee that is no more than 3.4 percent of taxable
communications receipts.
SECTION 2. Section 56.022, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 56.022. UNIFORM CHARGE. (a) The universal service
fund is funded by a statewide uniform charge payable by each
telecommunications provider that has access to the customer base.
(b) A telecommunications provider shall pay the charge in
accordance with procedures approved by the commission.
(c) The uniform charge is on services and at rates the
commission determines. In establishing the charge and the services
to which the charge will apply, the commission may not:
(1) grant an unreasonable preference or advantage to a
telecommunications provider;
(2) assess the charge on pay telephone service; [or]
(3) subject a telecommunications provider to
unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage; or
(4) assess a fee for the purposes of Section 56.021 or
Subchapter I of this chapter that is in excess of 3.4 percent of
taxable communications receipts.
SECTION 3. Chapter 56, Utilities Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter I to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER I. TELEPHONE VOICE-MAIL GRANT PROGRAM
Sec. 56.351. TELEPHONE VOICE-MAIL-BOX ASSISTANCE GRANTS.
(a) The commission by rule shall establish and implement a
commission program to provide from the universal service fund
funding for a grant program to assist the service administrators of
telephone voice-mail-box services for individuals who are
homeless, are in transition, or cannot afford telephone services.
The grant program may not fully fund a voice-mail-box service
program. To be eligible for a grant under the program, the service
administrator must be:
(1) a publicly funded nonprofit organization; or
(2) an organization exempt from federal income tax
under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being
listed as exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of that code.
(b) Rules adopted under this section must:
(1) include accountability measures and provisions
for loss of eligibility for failure to comply with the measures;
(2) require grant recipients to provide the commission
with information on program outcomes; and
(3) limit the grant program in accordance with Section
56.022(c)(4) of this chapter.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.