I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 727

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for explicit and

stable funding for Federal support of universal telecommunications services through the creation of a Telecommunications Trust Fund.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 11, 1999

Mr. KLINK (for himself, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. GREEN of Texas, and Mr. ENGLISH) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in addition

to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to provide for

explicit and stable funding for Federal support of universal telecommunications services through the creation of

a Telecommunications Trust Fund.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Telecommunications

5 Trust Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

2 It is the purpose of this Act to prevent the imposition

3 of additional telephone charges to support the provision

4 of universal telecommunications services by dedicating to

5 such support the revenues of telephone excise taxes al6 ready in effect on the date of enactment of this Act.

7 SEC. 3. PROVISION OF UNIVERSAL SERVICES FROM APPRO8 PRIATIONS OF EXCISE TAXES.

9 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 254 of the Communica10 tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding

11 at the end the following new subsection:

12 ‘‘(l) PROVISION OF UNIVERSAL SERVICES FROM AP13 PROPRIATIONS OF EXCISE TAXES.—

14 ‘‘(1) TERMINATION OF CONTRIBUTIONS; EX15 CLUSIVE SOURCE OF FUNDS.—The contributions of

16 providers of interstate telecommunications services

17 pursuant to subsections (b)(4) and (d) shall cease to

18 be required for any period beginning on or after the

19 date on which funds appropriated pursuant to para20 graph (2) of this subsection are first available for

21 Federal universal service support. The Commission

22 may continue to distribute any balances of such con23 tributions that remain unallocated on such date, but,

24 other than such balances, the funds appropriated

25 under paragraph (2) shall constitute the exclusive

26 source of funds for the provision of any type of Fed-
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1 eral universal service support, including rural, high2 cost, lifeline, programs under subsection (h), or any

3 other program of Federal universal service support.

4 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

5 There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal

6 year 1999 and each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years,

7 from the Telecommunications Trust Fund estab8 lished by section 9511 of the Internal Revenue Code,

9 such sums as may be necessary to provide Federal

10 universal service support pursuant to this section,

11 including support pursuant to subsection (h) of this

12 section.

13 ‘‘(3) AVAILABILITY ON SCHOOL YEAR BASIS.—

14 Appropriations for any fiscal year that are available

15 to carry out subsection (h) may, in accordance with

16 regulations of the Commission, be made available for

17 obligation by the recipient on the basis of an aca18 demic or school year differing from such fiscal year.

19 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, unless

20 enacted in specific limitation of the provisions of this

21 subsection, any funds from such appropriations dur22 ing any fiscal year which are not obligated and ex23 pended prior to the beginning of the fiscal year suc24 ceeding the fiscal year for which such funds were ap-
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1 propriated shall remain available for obligation and

2 expenditure during such succeeding fiscal year.

3 ‘‘(4) APPORTIONMENT OF FUNDS.—Funds from

4 any such appropriation shall be apportioned in ac5 cordance with regulations prescribed by the Commis6 sion to carry out the purposes of this section.’’.

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 254(d) of

8 such Act is amended by adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘This subsection and subsection (b)(4) shall cease to be

10 effective on the date described in subsection (l)(1).’’.

11 SEC. 4. ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS TRUST FUND.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 98 of the Internal Reve13 nue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after section

14 9510 the following:

15 ‘‘SEC. 9511. TELECOMMUNICATIONS TRUST FUND.

16 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab17 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund

18 to be known as the ‘Telecommunications Trust Fund’,

19 consisting of such amounts as may be appropriated or

20 credited pursuant to this section or section 9602(b).

21 ‘‘(b) TRANSFER TO ADVANCED TELECOMMUNI22 CATIONS TRUST FUND AMOUNTS EQUIVALENT TO CER23 TAIN TAXES.—There are hereby appropriated to the Tele24 communications Trust Fund amounts equivalent to 100

25 percent of the taxes received in the Treasury after Decem-
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1 ber 31, 1998, under section 4251 (relating to tax on com2 munications).

3 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM ADVANCED TELE4 COMMUNICATIONS TRUST FUND.—Amounts in the Tele5 communications Trust Fund shall be available, as pro6 vided in appropriations Acts, only to provide for Federal

7 universal service support mechanisms pursuant to section

8 254 of the Communications Act of 1934.’’.

9 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATES; TRANSITION.

10 (a) EFFECTIVE DATES.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para12 graph (2), this Act and the amendments made by

13 this Act shall be effective on July 1, 1999.

14 (2) EXCEPTIONS.—Notwithstanding paragraph

15 (1)—

16 (A) the authorization of appropriations in

17 section 254(l)(2) of the Communications Act of

18 1934, as amended by section 3 of this Act, is

19 effective upon enactment; and

20 (B) the Federal Communications Commis21 sion may prescribe such regulations or take

22 such other action as is necessary to the imple23 mentation of the amendments made by this Act

24 at any time after such date of enactment.
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1 (b) TRANSITION.—In order to effect a transition to

2 the provision of telecommunications services in accordance

3 with the amendments made by this Act, the Federal Com4 munications Commission shall prescribe such regulations

5 and take such other actions as may be necessary to pro6 vide for the allocation or refund of unused universal serv7 ice contributions and obligations.

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