I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3118 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to revisit the universal 

service support program under section 254 of the Communications Act 

of 1934 to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 6, 2011 

Mr. FARENTHOLD (for himself, Mr. FLORES, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. 

KINGSTON, Mr. PAUL, Mr. KELLY, Mr. NUNNELEE, Mr. HARRIS, and 

Mr. MULVANEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To direct the Federal Communications Commission to revisit 

the universal service support program under section 254 

of the Communications Act of 1934 to reduce waste, 

fraud, and abuse, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. UNIVERSAL SERVICE PROGRAM. 

4 (a) FORBEARANCE AUTHORITY RESCINDED.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—As of the date of enactment 

6 of this Act, the Federal Communications Commis7 sion may not forbear from the requirements of secVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:35 Oct 07, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3118.IH H3118

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1 tion 214(e)(1) of the Communications Act of 1934 

2 (47 U.S.C. 214(e)(1)) with respect to the designa3 tion of an eligible telecommunications carrier. 

4 (2) TRANSITION PERIOD.—On the 120th day 

5 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal 

6 Communications Commission shall suspend the des7 ignation of a telecommunications carrier as an eligi8 ble telecommunications carrier if such designation 

9 was received through forbearance of the require10 ments of such section. 

11 (3) AMENDMENT.—Section 214(e) of the Com12 munications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 214(e)) is 

13 amended by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(7) CLARIFICATION.—The charges referred to 

15 in paragraph (1)(B) for such services shall be more 

16 than zero.’’. 

17 (b) CONTRIBUTION.— 

18 (1) AMOUNT.—The amount collected to support 

19 universal service under section 254 of the Commu20 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) each year 

21 shall be the same amount that was collected for fis22 cal year 2011. 

23 (2) SAVINGS REDUCTION.—Of this amount, 

24 $500,000,000 shall be transferred each year to the 


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1 General Fund of the Treasury and shall not be 

2 available for obligation or expenditure. 

3 (c) REFORM LIFELINE AND LINK-UP PROGRAMS.— 

4 Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of 

5 this Act, the Federal Communications Commission shall 

6 complete a rulemaking to implement the following reforms 

7 to the programs providing universal service support to low 

8 income consumers, commonly known as the Lifeline and 

9 Link-up programs, under such section 254: 

10 (1) To ensure that the programs are only sup11 porting service for 1 telephone connection per house12 hold (regardless of whether that telephone is pro13 vided through a landline or a commercial mobile 

14 service), the Commission shall establish a database 

15 and shall require an eligible telecommunications car16 rier under section 214(e) of such Act to— 

17 (A) include participation information in 

18 the database on all households that qualify and 

19 are receiving service from such carrier through 

20 the Lifeline or Link-Up programs; and 

21 (B) use the database to determine if a 

22 Lifeline or Link-Up customer is already being 

23 served by another provider before establishing 

24 new service or continuing service. 


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1 (2) The Commission shall update the form used 

2 by an eligible telecommunications carrier to make a 

3 reimbursement claim from the universal service sup4 port mechanisms under section 254 of such Act to 

5 provide information sufficient to identify and pre6 vent duplicate reimbursements. 

7 (3) The Commission shall require all eligible 

8 telecommunications carriers providing commercial 

9 mobile services to implement a 60-day inactivity pol10 icy. 

11 (4) The Commission shall implement guidance 

12 for the Universal Service Administrative Company 

13 on how to recover improper payments made to eligi14 ble telecommunications carriers. 

Æ 


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