I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6356 
To reform the collection and distribution of universal service support under 
the Communications Act of 1934. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2008 
Mr. BARTON of Texas (for himself and Mr. STEARNS) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To reform the collection and distribution of universal service 
support under the Communications Act of 1934. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Universal Service Re-
form, Accountability, and Efficiency Act of 2008’’. 
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SEC. 2. UNIVERSAL SERVICE PRINCIPLES, SUPPORTED 
SERVICES, CONTRIBUTION MECHANISM, AND 
SUPPORT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 254 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended by striking 
subsections (b) through (e) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(b) UNIVERSAL SERVICE PRINCIPLES.—The Com-
mission and the Joint Board shall base policies to advance 
the goal of universal service while reforming the universal 
service support and contribution mechanisms on all of the 
following principles: 
‘‘(1) AFFORDABILITY.—Voice communications 
service shall be available to low-income households 
and households in high cost areas at rates that are 
affordable to such households. 
‘‘(2) EFFICIENCY.—Universal service support 
and contribution mechanisms for the provision of 
services described in subsection (c) shall impose the 
lowest possible costs on telecommunications service 
subscribers and users. 
‘‘(3) CONTRIBUTION
AND
DISTRIBUTION
RE-
QUIREMENTS.—Neither the provision of universal 
service support nor the contribution mechanisms for 
the provision of universal service shall favor any par-
ticular provider of voice communications service or 
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any particular technology used to provide voice com-
munications service. 
‘‘(4) TRANSPARENCY.—The rules governing 
both the provision of and contribution to universal 
service support shall— 
‘‘(A) be clear and enforceable; and 
‘‘(B) clearly define, and require the annual 
measurement of, the goals and outcomes of uni-
versal service, including the performance meas-
ures developed under section 4 of the Universal 
Service Reform, Accountability, and Efficiency 
Act of 2008. 
‘‘(5) CONSUMER
FOCUSED.—The paramount 
goal of the universal service program shall be to sup-
port the availability of affordable voice communica-
tions service for consumers in low-income households 
and households in high cost areas throughout the 
United States, rather than to provide financial sup-
port to any new or existing carrier, service provider, 
or vendor. 
‘‘(6) ACCESS
TO
ADVANCED
TELECOMMUNI-
CATIONS SERVICES FOR SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES, AND 
RURAL HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS.—Elementary and 
secondary schools, libraries, and rural health care 
providers should have access to advanced tele-
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communications and information services as de-
scribed in subsection (h). 
‘‘(c) DEFINITION OF SERVICES SUPPORTED.— 
‘‘(1) VOICE
COMMUNICATIONS
SERVICE
SUP-
PORT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
paragraph (2), universal service support is to be 
used solely to provide voice communications 
service to consumers in households in high cost 
areas throughout the United States and to con-
sumers in low-income households. 
‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 
section, the following definitions apply: 
‘‘(i) HIGH COST AREA.—The Commis-
sion shall define the meaning of the term 
‘high cost area’. 
‘‘(ii) VOICE
COMMUNICATIONS
SERV-
ICE.—The term ‘voice communications 
service’ includes any service using any 
technology that provides real-time inter-
active communications by voice utilizing 
the public switched telephone network, in-
cluding IP-enabled voice service. 
‘‘(iii) IP-ENABLED VOICE SERVICE.— 
The term IP-enabled voice service means 
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the provision of real-time voice communica-
tions offered to the public, or such classes 
of users as to be effectively available to the 
public, 
transmitted 
through 
customer 
premises equipment using Internet pro-
tocol, or a successor protocol, with inter-
connection capability such that the service 
can originate traffic to, or terminate traffic 
from, the public switched telephone net-
work. 
‘‘(2) SPECIAL
SERVICES.—In addition to the 
services supported under paragraph (1), the Com-
mission may designate additional services to receive 
universal service support for use by schools, librar-
ies, and health care providers in accordance with 
subsection (h). 
‘‘(d) CONTRIBUTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) BASIS
FOR
CONTRIBUTIONS.—In estab-
lishing under the principles set forth in subsection 
(b) the contribution mechanism for the support of 
universal service, the Commission shall evaluate its 
current contribution mechanism and consider alter-
native mechanisms. The Commission shall have the 
authority to select any contribution mechanism that 
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