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SECTION 1. Effective January
1, 2014, Section 56.022, Utilities Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 56.022. UNIFORM CHARGE. (a)
In this section:
(1) "Lifeline
service" has the meaning assigned by Section 55.015(e).
(2) "Voice over
Internet Protocol service" has the meaning assigned by Section 51.002.
(3) "Working
telephone number" does not include a telephone number used for network
administration or for another purpose that is not related to providing
end-user voice communication service.
(b) The universal
service fund is funded by a statewide uniform charge assessed against
[payable by] each telecommunications provider and each Voice over
Internet Protocol service provider that has access to the customer
base. Each [(b) A telecommunications] provider against
whom the charge is assessed shall pay the charge in accordance with
procedures approved by the commission.
(c) The uniform charge is assessed
on each working telephone number, and each equivalent of a working
telephone number, that has access to the public switched telephone network
in an amount [services and at rates] the commission determines. In
determining the amount of [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 against
whom the charge may be assessed;
(2) assess the charge on lifeline
[pay telephone] service; or
(3) subject a [telecommunications]
provider against whom the charge may be assessed to unreasonable
prejudice or disadvantage.
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No
equivalent provision.
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SECTION 2. Section 56.031,
Utilities Code, as effective September 1, 2013, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 56.031. TEXAS HIGH
COSTS UNIVERSAL SERVICE PLAN ADJUSTMENTS. (a) In this section:
(1) "Consumer price
index" has the meaning assigned by Section 56.032.
(2) "Forward-looking
common costs" means economic costs efficiently incurred in providing a
group of services that cannot be attributed directly to an individual
service.
(3) "Forward-looking
economic cost" means the sum of total service long run incremental
cost and a reasonable allocation of forward-looking common costs.
(4) "Total service
long run incremental cost" means the average incremental cost over the
long run based on the total demand for service using the existing locations
of an incumbent local exchange company's switches that provide service to
the exchange, measured by the use of the most efficient technology and
engineering practices.
(b) Except as provided by
Subsection (d), the [The] commission may revise the monthly per
line support amounts to be made available from the Texas High Cost
Universal Service Plan [and from the Small and Rural Incumbent Local
Exchange Company Universal Service Plan at any time after September 1,
2007,] only after notice and an opportunity for a contested
case hearing. The commission shall determine [In determining]
appropriate monthly per line support amounts under this subsection for
residential lines and business lines in each regulated exchange of an
incumbent local exchange company based on the difference between
forward-looking economic cost per line of providing basic local
telecommunications service in that exchange and the statewide average
revenue per line for that company [, the commission shall consider
the adequacy of basic rates to support universal service].
(c) In computing
forward-looking economic cost and statewide average revenue under
Subsection (b), the commission shall:
(1) use a forward-looking
economic cost model or methodology that:
(A) is capable of determining
the cost to the incumbent local exchange company of providing basic local
telecommunications service, including any mandatory extended area service,
for existing residential and for existing business customer locations;
(B) reflects the territory
being served; and
(C) uses items of
information that reflect the scale and scope of the incumbent local
exchange company; and
(2) determine the
statewide average revenue per residential line and per business line for
basic local telecommunications service, including any mandatory extended
area service, provided in regulated exchanges that receive support under
the Texas High Cost Universal Service Plan.
(d) The commission
administratively may decrease a telecommunications provider's per line
monthly support by an amount that does not exceed the estimated amount of
increase in additional revenue the telecommunications provider would
receive if the telecommunications provider's rates for flat rate
residential local exchange telephone service in a regulated exchange that
receives Texas High Cost Universal Service Plan support increased by a rate
equal to the rate of increase in the consumer price index. The commission
may not implement a decrease for a telecommunications provider under this
subsection more than once in any 12-month period and must provide
reasonable notice of the intended decrease. In estimating the amount of
increase in additional revenue for purposes of this subsection, the
commission must impute the increased rate for flat rate residential local
exchange telephone service to all packages of the provider that include
that type of service. This subsection does not apply to a
telecommunications provider that on or before January 1, 2017, as provided
by commission rule, elects not to seek or receive support from the Texas
High Cost Universal Service Plan after January 1, 2017.
(e) The commission by rule
may require a telecommunications provider to provide to the commission,
after reasonable notice, any information necessary to determine the amount
of a decrease under Subsection (d), including rates and line counts.
(f) A telecommunications
provider that disputes the accuracy of the commission's computation of a
decrease in the telecommunications provider's per line monthly support
under Subsection (d) may seek commission reconsideration and may seek
judicial review of the decrease after that reconsideration is made or
denied.
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No
equivalent provision.
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SECTION 3. Sections 56.032(f)
and (h), Utilities Code, are amended to read as follows:
No
equivalent provision.
No
equivalent provision.
No
equivalent provision.
No
equivalent provision.
(f) The commission shall administratively review requests filed under Subsection
[Subsections (c) and] (d). Except for good cause, the commission
shall 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) This section and any monthly support amount approved under this section expire on September 1, 2019 [2013].
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SECTION 1. Sections
56.032(b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (h), 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, 2015
[2013].
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SECTION 4. (a) Sections
56.032(b) and (c), Utilities Code, as added by Chapter 535 (H.B. 2603),
Acts of the 82nd Legislature, Regular Session, 2011, are repealed.
(b) Section 3, Chapter 535
(H.B. 2603), Acts of the 82nd Legislature, Regular Session, 2011, which
amended Section 56.031, Utilities Code, is repealed.
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No
equivalent provision.
SECTION 2. Section 3, Chapter
535 (H.B. 2603), Acts of the 82nd Legislature, Regular Session, 2011, which
amended Section 56.031, Utilities Code, is repealed
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