This website will be unavailable from Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, June 3, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.






	

Amend Floor Amendment No. 1 by Fraser to SB 21, in SECTION 13 

of the amendment, by striking added Section 56.029, Utilities Code, 

and substituting the following:

	Sec. 56.029.  UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND STUDY; ATTESTATION 

REQUIREMENT.  (a)   The commission shall conduct a review and 

evaluation of whether the universal service fund accomplishes the 

fund's purposes as prescribed by Section 56.021 and the 

commission's final orders issued in Docket No. 18515 and Docket No. 

18516.  The evaluation shall determine whether the fund's purposes 

have been sufficiently achieved, whether the fund should be 

abolished or phased out, whether the fund should be brought within 

the state's treasury, and whether the entities receiving those 

funds are spending the money for its intended purposes.  The 

evaluation must include a forward-looking, comprehensive 

assessment of the appropriate use of the money in the fund and the 

manner in which that money is collected and disbursed.

	(b)  Not later than January 1, 2006, the commission shall 

require telecommunications providers receiving disbursements under 

the universal service fund to provide to the commission the 

information  that the commission determines is necessary to 

discharge the commission's duties under this section, including 

information necessary to review and evaluate how money is collected 

for the universal service fund and expended.

	(c)  Information provided under Subsection (b) is 

confidential and is not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, 

Government Code.

	(d)  The commission may classify telecommunications 

providers as the commission considers appropriate for efficiency 

and may permit providers to share the cost of developing 

information the commission determines is necessary to discharge the 

commission's responsibilities under this section.

	(e)  Not later than January 5, 2007, the commission shall 

deliver to the legislature a report for the legislature's revision 

and approval on the results of the review and evaluation.  The 

report must:

		(1)  include recommendations that are consistent with 

the policies provided by this title;

		(2)  include the commission's assessment of the 

universal service fund, including:

			(A)  how the money in the fund should be 

collected;                 

			(B)  how the money in the fund should be disbursed 

and the purposes for which the money should be used by the 

telecommunications provider receiving the money; and

			(C)  any recommendations the commission has in 

relation to accountability for use of the money, including the 

usefulness of the attestation required by Subsection (g); and

		(3)  include recommendations that ensure that a 

telecommunications provider's support from the universal service 

fund for a geographic area is consistent with Section 56.021 and the 

commission's final orders issued in Docket No. 18515 and Docket No. 

18516.

	(f)  The evaluation shall determine whether the fund's 

purposes have been sufficiently achieved, whether the fund should 

be abolished or phased out, whether the fund should be brought 

within the state's treasury, and whether the entities receiving 

those funds are spending the money for its intended purposes.

	(g)  Not later than December 31, 2005, each 

telecommunications provider receiving universal service funds 

shall file with the commission an affidavit attesting that the 

money from the fund has been used in a manner that is consistent 

with the  purposes provided by Section 56.021 and the commission's 

final orders issued in Docket No. 18515 and Docket No. 18516.

	(h)  In addition to the study required by this section, the 

commission shall compile information necessary to determine 

whether the current funding mechanism for the universal service 

fund will be adequate in the future to sustain the purposes for 

which the fund was created considering the development of new 

technologies that are not subject to the existing funding mechanism 

and the shift in jurisdictional control from this state to the 

federal government.  Not later than January 5, 2007, the commission 

shall deliver to the legislature a report on this issue.  If the 

commission determines that the existing funding mechanism is not 

adequate, or proposes to change the manner or level of current 

funding, the commission must include recommendations for 

alternative funding and basic service pricing methods that will be 

adequate and are consistent with a policy of technology and 

competitive neutrality in the assessment of fees and other 

state-imposed economic burdens.

	(i)  This section expires September 1, 2007.