Texas 2009 - 81st Regular

Texas House Bill HB232 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Rodriguez, Harless, Turner of Harris, H.B. No. 232
2	2	Naishtat, Guillen, et al.
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to grants for community-based telephone voice-mail
8	8	services for individuals in crisis or in transition and to the rate
9	9	and uses of the universal service fund fee.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. Section 56.021, Utilities Code, is amended to
12	12	read as follows:
13	13	Sec. 56.021. UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND ESTABLISHED. The
14	14	commission shall adopt and enforce rules requiring local exchange
15	15	companies to establish a universal service fund to:
16	16	(1) assist telecommunications providers in providing
17	17	basic local telecommunications service at reasonable rates in high
18	18	cost rural areas;
19	19	(2) reimburse the telecommunications carrier that
20	20	provides the statewide telecommunications relay access service
21	21	under Subchapter D;
22	22	(3) finance the specialized telecommunications
23	23	assistance program established under Subchapter E;
24	24	(4) reimburse the department, the Texas Commission for
25	25	the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the commission for costs incurred
26	26	in implementing this chapter and Chapter 57;
27	27	(5) reimburse a telecommunications carrier providing
28	28	lifeline service as provided by 47 C.F.R. Part 54, Subpart E, as
29	29	amended;
30	30	(6) finance the implementation and administration of
31	31	an integrated eligibility process created under Section 17.007 for
32	32	customer service discounts relating to telecommunications
33	33	services, including outreach expenses the commission determines
34	34	are reasonable and necessary;
35	35	(7) reimburse a designated provider under Subchapter
36	36	F;
37	37	(8) reimburse a successor utility under Subchapter G;
38	38	[and]
39	39	(9) finance the program established under Subchapter
40	40	H;
41	41	(10) fund grants under the program established under
42	42	Subchapter I; and
43	43	(11) maintain services for all consumers at reasonable
44	44	costs by assessing a fee that is no more than 3.4 percent of taxable
45	45	communications receipts.
46	46	SECTION 2. Section 56.022, Utilities Code, is amended to
47	47	read as follows:
48	48	Sec. 56.022. UNIFORM CHARGE. (a) The universal service
49	49	fund is funded by a statewide uniform charge payable by each
50	50	telecommunications provider that has access to the customer base.
51	51	(b) A telecommunications provider shall pay the charge in
52	52	accordance with procedures approved by the commission.
53	53	(c) The uniform charge is on services and at rates the
54	54	commission determines. In establishing the charge and the services
55	55	to which the charge will apply, the commission may not:
56	56	(1) grant an unreasonable preference or advantage to a
57	57	telecommunications provider;
58	58	(2) assess the charge on pay telephone service; [or]
59	59	(3) subject a telecommunications provider to
60	60	unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage; or
61	61	(4) assess a fee for the purposes of Section 56.021 or
62	62	Subchapter I of this chapter that is in excess of 3.4 percent of
63	63	taxable communications receipts.
64	64	SECTION 3. Chapter 56, Utilities Code, is amended by adding
65	65	Subchapter I to read as follows:
66	66	SUBCHAPTER I. TELEPHONE VOICE-MAIL GRANT PROGRAM
67	67	Sec. 56.351. TELEPHONE VOICE-MAIL-BOX ASSISTANCE GRANTS.
68	68	(a) The commission by rule shall establish and implement a
69	69	commission program to provide from the universal service fund
70	70	funding for a grant program to assist the service administrators of
71	71	telephone voice-mail-box services for individuals who are
72	72	homeless, are in transition, or cannot afford telephone services.
73	73	The grant program may not fully fund a voice-mail-box service
74	74	program. To be eligible for a grant under the program, the service
75	75	administrator must be:
76	76	(1) a publicly funded nonprofit organization; or
77	77	(2) an organization exempt from federal income tax
78	78	under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being
79	79	listed as exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of that code.
80	80	(b) Rules adopted under this section must:
81	81	(1) include accountability measures and provisions
82	82	for loss of eligibility for failure to comply with the measures;
83	83	(2) require grant recipients to provide the commission
84	84	with information on program outcomes; and
85	85	(3) limit the grant program in accordance with Section
86	86	56.022(c)(4) of this chapter.
87	87	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.