Bill Text: TX SB583 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to eligibility for support from the universal service fund.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-14 - Effective on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [SB583 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SB583-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 583

AN ACT
relating to eligibility for support from the universal service
fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 56.023, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (f), (g), (h), (i),
(j), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), (p), and (q) to read as follows:
(b) The eligibility criteria must require that a
telecommunications provider, in compliance with the commission's
quality of service requirements:
(1) offer service to each consumer within an exchange
in the company's certificated area for which the incumbent local
exchange company receives support under a plan established under
Section 56.021(1) and to any permanent residential or business
premises to which the company is designated to provide services
under Subchapter F; and
(2) render continuous and adequate service within an
exchange in the company's certificated area for which the incumbent
local exchange company receives support under a plan established
under Section 56.021(1) and to any permanent residential or
business premises to which the company is designated to provide
services under Subchapter F.
(f) Except as provided by Subsection (g), for an incumbent
local exchange company or cooperative that served greater than
31,000 access lines in this state on September 1, 2013, or a company
or cooperative that is a successor to such a company or cooperative,
the support that the company or cooperative is eligible to receive
on December 31, 2016, under a plan established under Section
56.021(1)(A) is reduced:
(1) on January 1, 2017, to 75 percent of the level of
support the company or cooperative is eligible to receive on
December 31, 2016;
(2) on January 1, 2018, to 50 percent of the level of
support the company or cooperative is eligible to receive on
December 31, 2016; and
(3) on January 1, 2019, to 25 percent of the level of
support the company or cooperative is eligible to receive on
December 31, 2016.
(g) After the commission has adopted rules under Subsection
(j), an incumbent local exchange company or cooperative that is
subject to Subsection (f) may petition the commission to initiate a
contested case proceeding as necessary to determine the eligibility
of the company or cooperative to receive support under a plan
established under Section 56.021(1)(A). A company or cooperative
may not file more than one petition under this subsection. On
receipt of a petition under this subsection, the commission shall
initiate a contested case proceeding to determine the eligibility
of the company or cooperative to receive continued support under a
plan established under Section 56.021(1)(A) for service in the
exchanges that are the subject of the petition. To be eligible to
receive support for service in an exchange under this subsection,
the company or cooperative must demonstrate that it has a financial
need for continued support. The commission must issue a final order
on the proceeding not later than the 330th day after the date the
petition is filed with the commission. Until the commission issues
a final order on the proceeding, the company or cooperative is
entitled to receive the total amount of support the company or
cooperative was eligible to receive on the date the company or
cooperative filed the petition. A company or cooperative that
files a petition under this subsection is not subject to Subsection
(f) after the commission issues a final order on the proceeding. If
the commission determines that a company or cooperative has
demonstrated financial need for continued support under this
subsection, it shall set the amount of support in the same
proceeding. The amount of support set by the commission for an
exchange under this subsection may not exceed:
(1) 100 percent of the amount of support that the
company or cooperative will be eligible to receive on December 31,
2016, if the petition is filed before January 1, 2016;
(2) 75 percent of the amount of support that the
company or cooperative will be eligible to receive on December 31,
2016, if the petition is filed on or after January 1, 2016, and
before January 1, 2017;
(3) 50 percent of the amount of support the company or
cooperative is eligible to receive on December 31, 2016, if the
petition is filed on or after January 1, 2017, and before January 1,
2018; or
(4) 25 percent of the amount of support that the
company or cooperative is eligible to receive on December 31, 2016,
if the petition is filed on or after January 1, 2018, and before
January 1, 2019.
(h) Except as provided by Subsection (i), for an incumbent
local exchange company that is an electing company under Chapter 58
or 59 or a cooperative that served greater than 31,000 access lines
in this state on September 1, 2013, or a company or cooperative that
is a successor to such a company or cooperative, the support that
the company or cooperative is eligible to receive on December 31,
2017, under a plan established under Section 56.021(1)(B) is
reduced:
(1) on January 1, 2018, to 75 percent of the level of
support the company or cooperative is eligible to receive on
December 31, 2017;
(2) on January 1, 2019, to 50 percent of the level of
support the company or cooperative is eligible to receive on
December 31, 2017; and
(3) on January 1, 2020, to 25 percent of the level of
support the company or cooperative is eligible to receive on
December 31, 2017.
(i) After the commission has adopted rules under Subsection
(j), an incumbent local exchange company or cooperative that is
subject to Subsection (h) may petition the commission to initiate a
contested case proceeding as necessary to determine the eligibility
of the company or cooperative to receive support under a plan
established under Section 56.021(1)(B). A company or cooperative
may not file more than one petition under this subsection. On
receipt of a petition under this subsection, the commission shall
initiate a contested case proceeding to determine the eligibility
of the company or cooperative to receive continued support under a
plan established under Section 56.021(1)(B) for service in the
exchanges that are the subject of the petition. To be eligible to
receive support for service in an exchange under this subsection,
the company or cooperative must demonstrate that it has a financial
need for continued support. The commission must issue a final order
on the proceeding no later than the 330th day after the date the
petition is filed with the commission. Until the commission issues
a final order on the proceeding, the company or cooperative shall
continue to receive the total amount of support it was eligible to
receive on the date the company or cooperative filed a petition
under this subsection. A company or cooperative that files a
petition under this subsection is not subject to Subsection (h)
after the commission issues a final order on the proceeding. If the
commission determines that a company or cooperative has
demonstrated financial need for continued support under this
subsection, it shall set the amount of support in the same
proceeding. The amount of support set by the commission for an
exchange under this subsection may not exceed:
(1) 100 percent of the amount of support that the
company or cooperative will be eligible to receive on December 31,
2017, if the petition is filed before January 1, 2017;
(2) 75 percent of the amount of support that the
company or cooperative will be eligible to receive on December 31,
2017, if the petition is filed on or after January 1, 2017, and
before January 1, 2018;
(3) 50 percent of the amount of support that the
company or cooperative is eligible to receive on December 31, 2017,
if the petition is filed on or after January 1, 2018, and before
January 1, 2019; or
(4) 25 percent of the amount of support that the
company or cooperative is eligible to receive on December 31, 2017,
if the petition is filed on or after January 1, 2019, and before
January 1, 2020.
(j) The commission by rule shall establish the standards and
criteria for an incumbent local exchange company or cooperative to
demonstrate under Subsection (g) or (i) that the company or
cooperative has a financial need for continued support for
residential and business lines under a plan established under
Section 56.021(1).
(k) Subsections (g) and (i) do not authorize the commission
to initiate a contested case hearing concerning a local exchange
company that has elected to participate in a total support
reduction plan under 16 T.A.C. Section 26.403 that requires the
company to forego funding under a plan established under Section
56.021(1) after January 1, 2017. This section does not affect any
obligation of a local exchange company subject to such a total
support reduction plan.
(l) Subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i) do not apply to an
incumbent local exchange company that elects, not later than March
1, 2014, to eliminate, not later than September 1, 2018, the support
it receives under a plan established under Section 56.021(1).
(m) Nothing in this chapter relieves any party of an
obligation entered into in the commission's Docket No. 40521.
(n) Nothing in this section is intended to affect the rate
rebalancing proceeding in the commission's Docket No. 41097.
(o) Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, the
commission has no authority, except as provided by Subsections (f),
(g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (m), and (n) to reduce support provided to
an incumbent local exchange company that is an electing company
under Chapter 58 or 59 or is a cooperative that served greater than
31,000 access lines in this state on September 1, 2013:
(1) under a plan established under Section
56.021(1)(A) before January 1, 2019; or
(2) under a plan established under Section
56.021(1)(B) before January 1, 2020. This subsection expires on
January 2, 2020.
(p) If an incumbent local exchange company or cooperative is
ineligible for support under a plan established under Section
56.021(1) for services in an exchange, a plan established under
Section 56.021(1) may not provide support to any other
telecommunications providers for services in that exchange, except
that an eligible telecommunications provider that is receiving
support under Section 56.021(1)(A) in that exchange shall continue
to receive such support for a 24-month period following the date the
incumbent local exchange provider or cooperative ceases receiving
support in that exchange. The support received by the eligible
telecommunications provider during the 24-month period shall be at
the same monthly per line support level in effect for that exchange
as of the date the incumbent local exchange provider or cooperative
ceases receiving funding in that exchange.
(q) Notwithstanding the period for continued support
specified by Subsection (p), if the eligible telecommunications
provider receiving continued support under that subsection is a
cooperative or an affiliate of a cooperative, the
telecommunications provider is entitled to continued support
through December 31, 2017, at the same monthly per-line support
amount as the provider is receiving as of the date the support
ceases for that exchange for the incumbent local exchange company
or cooperative. Support authorized under this subsection ceases
December 31, 2017.
SECTION 2. Section 56.024, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read
as follows:
(b) A report or information the commission requires a
telecommunications provider to provide under Subsection (a) is
confidential and not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552,
Government Code.
(c) A telecommunications provider shall file with the
commission the provider's annual earnings report if the provider:
(1) is not a local exchange company subject to a total
support reduction plan under 16 T.A.C. Section 26.403 or that has
made an election under Section 56.023(l);
(2) serves greater than 31,000 access lines; and
(3) receives support under a plan established under
Section 56.021(1).
(d) A report filed under Subsection (c) is confidential and
not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code.
SECTION 3. Section 56.025, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (g) to read as
follows:
(a) In addition to the authority provided by Section 56.021:
(1) [,] for each local exchange company that serves
fewer than 31,000 access lines and each cooperative, the
commission[:
[(1)] may adopt a mechanism necessary to maintain
reasonable rates for local exchange telephone service; and
(2) for each local exchange company and each
cooperative that serves 31,000 or fewer access lines and that on
June 1, 2013, is not an electing company under Chapter 58 or 59, the
commission shall adopt rules to expand the universal service fund
in the circumstances prescribed by this section.
(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
after December 31, 2013, the commission may not distribute support
granted under this section, including any support granted before
that date, to a local exchange company or cooperative that serves
greater than 31,000 access lines or that is an electing company
under Chapter 58 or 59 on June 1, 2013.
SECTION 4. Section 56.026, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 56.026. PROMPT AND EFFICIENT [UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND]
DISBURSEMENTS. [(a) A revenue requirement showing is not required
for a disbursement from the universal service fund under this
subchapter.
[(b)] The commission shall make each disbursement from the
universal service fund promptly and efficiently so that a
telecommunications provider does not experience an unnecessary
cash-flow change as a result of a change in governmental policy.
SECTION 5. Subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (h),
Section 56.032, Utilities Code, as added by Chapter 535 (H.B.
2603), Acts of the 82nd Legislature, Regular Session, 2011, are
amended to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsections [(c),] (d) and[,] (e),
[and (f),] the commission may revise the monthly support amounts to
be made available from the Small and Rural Incumbent Local Exchange
Company Universal Service Plan by any mechanism, including support
reductions resulting from rate rebalancing approved by the
commission, [by revising the monthly per line support amounts,]
after notice and an opportunity for hearing. In determining
appropriate monthly [per line] support amounts, the commission
shall consider the adequacy of basic rates to support universal
service.
(c) A [On the written request of a small or rural incumbent
local exchange] company that receives frozen monthly [per line]
support amounts as prescribed by a final order issued by the
commission in the commission's Docket No. 39643 is entitled to
continue to receive that monthly support until the support is
revised under Subsection (b)[, the commission shall disburse funds
to the company in fixed monthly amounts based on the company's
annualized amount of recovery for the calendar year ending on
December 31, 2010. A company may submit only one request under this
subsection and must submit the request on or before December 31,
2011].
(d) For each [On the written request of a] small or rural
incumbent local exchange company that is not receiving frozen
support amounts as described by Subsection (c) and is not an
electing company under Chapter 58 or 59, the commission annually
shall set the company's monthly support amounts for the following
12 months by dividing by 12 the annualized support amount
calculated under this subsection. The commission shall calculate
the annualized amount:
(1) for the initial 12-month period for which a
company makes an election under this subsection, by[:
[(A)] determining the annualized support amount
received by the company as of January 1, 2013 [calculated for the
requestor in the final order issued by the commission in Docket No.
18516; and
[(B) adjusting the support amount determined
under Paragraph (A) at the beginning of each calendar year by a
factor equal to the most recent consumer price index published at
that time, beginning with the 1999 calendar year and ending in the
year the company makes an election under this subsection]; and
(2) for [the 12-month period following the initial
period for which a company made an election under this subsection
and for] subsequent 12-month periods, by adjusting the most recent
annualized support amount calculated by the commission by a factor
equal to the percentage change in the consumer price index for the
most recent 12-month period.
(e) The [If a company elects to receive monthly support
amounts under Subsection (d), the] commission, on its own motion or
on the written request of the company, may initiate a proceeding to
recalculate the most recent annualized support amount to be used as
the basis for adjustment for a subsequent 12-month period under
Subsection (d)(2). If, based on the recalculation, the commission
by order adjusts a company's most recent annualized support amount,
the adjusted support amount supersedes the annualized support
amount calculated in accordance with Subsection (d).
(f) [The commission shall administratively review requests
filed under Subsections (c) and (d).] Except for good cause, the
commission shall establish monthly support amounts under
Subsection (d) [approve the request] not later than the 60th day
after the date the commission determines the company is eligible
[and has met all the procedural requirements under this
subchapter].
(h) Subsections (a), (c), (d), (e), and (f) [This section]
and any monthly support amount approved under those subsections
[this section] expire [on] September 1, 2017 [2013].
SECTION 6. Section 3, Chapter 535 (H.B. 2603), Acts of the
82nd Legislature, Regular Session, 2011, which amended Section
56.031, Utilities Code, is repealed.
SECTION 7. The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
adopt rules under Subsection (j), Section 56.023, Utilities Code,
as added by this Act, not later than December 1, 2014. The
commission shall initiate the rulemaking proceeding not later than
January 1, 2014.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect June 1, 2013, if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary to take effect on
that date, this Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day
of the legislative session.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 583 passed the Senate on
April 17, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 20, 2013, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 583 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 15, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 146,
Nays 0, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor