79R17697 CLE-D


By:  Driver                                                       H.R. No. 1750



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, Texas law provides for the imposition and 
authorization of fees and surcharges to fund 9-1-1 services, 
including a monthly assessment of 50 cents collected by wireless 
service providers from subscribers for each wireless 
telecommunications connection; and
	WHEREAS, The applicability of fees and surcharges to prepaid 
wireless telecommunications service is an unclear area of the law, 
with a history of inconsistent collection practices whereby some 
providers are paying, others are not, and still others were paying 
previously but have stopped; and
	WHEREAS, The Commission on State Emergency Communications, 
in consultation with the office of the comptroller, has 
contemplated a rulemaking initiative on the subject but has 
postponed that effort to defer to lawmakers the opportunity to 
express legislative intent on the subject; and
	WHEREAS, Users of prepaid wireless cards purchase them from 
providers indirectly through intermediary retailers, without 
subscription, in a manner analogous to buying a newspaper or 
magazine occasionally from the newsstand rather than obtaining 
direct delivery on a regular basis from the publisher; and
	WHEREAS, No fee or surcharge is collected at the retail point 
of sale presently, and if fees or surcharges are collected instead 
from card providers, ultimate purchasers are anonymous 
nonsubscribers to those providers, and there is no means to pass 
forward such assessments to the prepaid card purchasers, who 
benefit as do other Texans from 9-1-1 service; and
	WHEREAS, As new telecommunications services appear,  related 
law sometimes lags behind, and the achievement of a level playing 
field for providers and customers would benefit from study of the 
subject, including approaches adopted by other states to 
simultaneously achieve economic fairness while supporting 9-1-1 
funding; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas 
Legislature hereby request the speaker of the house, under powers 
granted to the speaker by House Rule 1, Section 17, and House Rule 
4, Chapter F, to provide for an interim study by the House Committee 
on Regulated Industries regarding emergency service fees and 
surcharges for prepaid wireless telecommunications services; and, 
be it further
	RESOLVED, That the study investigate methods for charging and 
collecting emergency service fees and surcharges on prepaid 
wireless telecommunications services and on other new 
telecommunications connections that are not charged such fees or 
surcharges.