HB 0995 2003
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to telecommunications service; amending s.
3	364.025, F.S., relating to universal telecommunications
4	service; extending the period each local exchange
5	telecommunications company is required to furnish basic
6	local exchange telecommunications service to certain
7	persons; extending the transitional period for interim
8	mechanisms for maintaining universal service objectives
9	and funding carrier-of-last-resort obligations; extending
10	the period in which a party may petition the Florida
11	Public Service Commission for a change of the interim
12	mechanism; extending the time for establishment of a
13	permanent universal service mechanism by the Legislature;
14	revising the time after which an alternative local
15	exchange telecommunications company may petition said
16	commission to become the universal service provider and
17	carrier of last resort; providing an effective date.
18
19	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
20
21	Section 1. Section 364.025, Florida Statutes, is amended
22	to read:
23	364.025 Universal service.--
24	(1) For the purposes of this section, the term "universal
25	service" means an evolving level of access to telecommunications
26	services that, taking into account advances in technologies,
27	services, and market demand for essential services, the
28	commission determines should be provided at just, reasonable,
29	and affordable rates to customers, including those in rural,
30	economically disadvantaged, and high-cost areas. It is the
31	intent of the Legislature that universal service objectives be
32	maintained after the local exchange market is opened to
33	competitively provided services. It is also the intent of the
34	Legislature that during this transition period the ubiquitous
35	nature of the local exchange telecommunications companies be
36	used to satisfy these objectives. Until January 1, 2006For a
37	period of 8 years after January 1, 1996, each local exchange
38	telecommunications company shall be required to furnish basic
39	local exchange telecommunications service within a reasonable
40	time period to any person requesting such service within the
41	company's service territory.
42	(2) The Legislature finds that each telecommunications
43	company should contribute its fair share to the support of the
44	universal service objectives and carrier-of-last-resort
45	obligations. For a transitional period not to exceed January 1,
46	20062004, the interim mechanism for maintaining universal
47	service objectives and funding carrier-of-last-resort
48	obligations shall be established by the commission, pending the
49	implementation of a permanent mechanism. The interim mechanism
50	shall be applied in a manner that ensures that each alternative
51	local exchange telecommunications company contributes its fair
52	share to the support of universal service and carrier-of-last-
53	resort obligations. The interim mechanism applied to each
54	alternative local exchange telecommunications company shall
55	reflect a fair share of the local exchange telecommunications
56	company's recovery of investments made in fulfilling its
57	carrier-of-last-resort obligations, and the maintenance of
58	universal service objectives. The commission shall ensure that
59	the interim mechanism does not impede the development of
60	residential consumer choice or create an unreasonable barrier to
61	competition. In reaching its determination, the commission shall
62	not inquire into or consider any factor that is inconsistent
63	with s. 364.051(1)(c). The costs and expenses of any government
64	program or project required in part II of this chapter shall not
65	be recovered under this section.
66	(3) In the event any party, prior to January 1, 20062004,
67	believes that circumstances have changed substantially to
68	warrant a change in the interim mechanism, that party may
69	petition the commission for a change, but the commission shall
70	grant such petition only after an opportunity for a hearing and
71	a compelling showing of changed circumstances, including that
72	the provider's customer population includes as many residential
73	as business customers. The commission shall act on any such
74	petition within 120 days.
75	(4)(a) Prior to January 1, 20062004, the Legislature
76	shall establish a permanent universal service mechanism upon the
77	effective date of which any interim recovery mechanism for
78	universal service objectives or carrier-of-last-resort
79	obligations imposed on alternative local exchange
80	telecommunications companies shall terminate.
81	(b) To assist the Legislature in establishing a permanent
82	universal service mechanism, the commission, by February 15,
83	1999, shall determine and report to the President of the Senate
84	and the Speaker of the House of Representatives the total
85	forward-looking cost, based upon the most recent commercially
86	available technology and equipment and generally accepted design
87	and placement principles, of providing basic local
88	telecommunications service on a basis no greater than a wire
89	center basis using a cost proxy model to be selected by the
90	commission after notice and opportunity for hearing.
91	(c) In determining the cost of providing basic local
92	telecommunications service for small local exchange
93	telecommunications companies, which serve less than 100,000
94	access lines, the commission shall not be required to use the
95	cost proxy model selected pursuant to paragraph (b) until a
96	mechanism is implemented by the Federal Government for small
97	companies, but no sooner than January 1, 2001. The commission
98	shall calculate a small local exchange telecommunications
99	company's cost of providing basic local telecommunications
100	services based on one of the following options:
101	1. A different proxy model; or
102	2. A fully distributed allocation of embedded costs,
103	identifying high-cost areas within the local exchange area the
104	company serves and including all embedded investments and
105	expenses incurred by the company in the provision of universal
106	service. Such calculations may be made using fully distributed
107	costs consistent with 47 C.F.R. parts 32, 36, and 64. The
108	geographic basis for the calculations shall be no smaller than a
109	census block group.
110	(5) After January 1, 20062001, an alternative local
111	exchange telecommunications company may petition the commission
112	to become the universal service provider and carrier of last
113	resort in areas requested to be served by that alternative local
114	exchange telecommunications company. Upon petition of an
115	alternative local exchange telecommunications company, the
116	commission shall have 120 days to vote on granting in whole or
117	in part or denying the petition of the alternative local
118	exchange company. The commission may establish the alternative
119	local exchange telecommunications company as the universal
120	service provider and carrier of last resort, provided that the
121	commission first determines that the alternative local exchange
122	telecommunications company will provide high-quality, reliable
123	service. In the order establishing the alternative local
124	exchange telecommunications company as the universal service
125	provider and carrier of last resort, the commission shall set
126	the period of time in which such company must meet those
127	objectives and obligations and shall set up any mechanism needed
128	to aid such company in carrying out these duties.
129	Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.