I 
★ 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1582
To equitably distribute universal service support throughout rural America, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 3, 2003
Mr. TERRY (for himself, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mrs. WILSON of New 
Mexico, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. CANNON, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. OTTER, Mr. SIMP-
SON, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. RENZI, Mr. DICKS, Mr. 
OSBORNE, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. MCINNIS, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. HASTINGS of 
Washington, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. KLINE, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr. 
RUSH, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, 
Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. BASS, and Mr. BEAUPREZ) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To equitably distribute universal service support throughout 
rural America, and for other purposes.
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 Fair-
ness Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
HR 1582 IH1S 
(1) Consumers living in rural, insular, and high 
cost areas should have access to universal services at 
affordable rates. 
(2) Under the Federal Communication Commis-
sion’s high cost support program for certain car-
riers, two states receive approximately 70 percent of 
the Federal support, while 42 states receive no sup-
port. 
(3) Calculating Federal universal service sup-
port exclusively on a statewide average basis improp-
erly places responsibility on most State governments 
to support high cost areas with minimal assistance 
from the Federal Government. 
(4) Federal universal service support should be 
calculated and targeted to small geographic regions 
within a State to provide greater assistance to the 
rural consumers most in need of support. 
(5) Federal and State support mechanisms for 
high cost areas must be reviewed to determine the 
extent to which high cost support reform is nec-
essary. 
(b) PURPOSES.—It is therefore the purpose of this 
Act to provide Federal universal service support to con-
sumers living in rural, insular, and high cost areas by—
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(1) spreading the benefits of the existing Fed-
eral support mechanism more equitably across the 
nation; 
(2) facilitating removal of implicit State sup-
port; and 
(3) ensuring that the Federal Communications 
Commission develops a Federal support mechanism 
that will promote rate comparability between rural 
and urban areas. 
SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT 
FOR HIGH COST AREAS. 
Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 254) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(m) UNIVERSAL SERVICE SUPPORT FOR HIGH COST 
AREAS.—
‘‘(1) CALCULATING
SUPPORT.—In calculating 
Federal universal service support for eligible tele-
communications carriers that serve rural, insular, 
and high cost areas, the Commission shall, subject 
to the provisions of paragraphs (2) and (3), revise 
the Commission’s support mechanism for high cost 
areas to provide support to each wire center in 
which the incumbent local exchange carrier’s average